Marlowe Joan finally decided to make her grand entrance on the 24th June 2008. It all started very late on Sunday night (11:59) with my first contraction. I told my DH that I thought I had just felt a contraction, and he noted the time. I lay down not believing that I would actually go into labour. I mean, she was already 10 days late, I had just resigned myself to the fact that she would be induced. Well 10 minutes later, I felt another contraction, then again 10 minutes later. I told my DH to stay in bed as it was probably false labour, and I was going to go and time them. As soon as I started timing them, they went from every 10 minutes to every 5-8 minutes and they got quite painful.
Anyway, I rode out the contractions through the night, still not believing I was in 'real labour'. I walked around the flat and called my sister who lives in Las Vegas so it was daytime there. She took my mind off the contractions. I couldn't sleep a wink as the contractions were too painful. Finally, around 7:30 I decided to wake my DH to hang out with me as the contractions were getting very painful. He rubbed my back and at 10 Monday am, I called the hospital as the contractions were steadily at 5 minutes apart.
When we got to the hospital, we had to wait in the waiting room for over an hour as I was having contractions. Finally a midwife saw me and was very rude, not believing I was in labour. She told me that 1st pregnancies take a long time to go into real labour and she didn't see the point in checking me. I told her I wanted her to check me anyway. So, she did with a look of scorn and then sounding surprised said that I was 3 cm and definitely going into labour (I TOLD her!!). She then said that I should go home for another couple of hours and then come back in 2-3 hours to be admitted.
So DH and I went home and waited until my contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart and lasting well over a minute. Back at the hospital I was 4-5 cm dilated and the midwife said I could be admitted, but as there were no beds, did I mind walking around the corridors for a bit? Walked around for about 15 minutes, holding onto DH everytime a contraction came (they were about 2 min apart by then, so we didn't get far) then I finally got a room.
As I needed an epidural to keep my heartrate down as I have a weird beat, the anesthetist came in soon afterwards and relief was upon me about an hour after getting a bed. Can I just say if I wasn't already married, I would have married that man? I loved the epidural and it made the rest of the night pass much easier. I even got some sleep.
Anyway, I was admitted at 5PM on te Monday, and fully dilated by 2am Tuesday. Started pushing and after pushing for an hour and a half, I was worn out and didn't feel I could go on, but I thought I was getting somewhere, so I kept going. The doctors came in to check on me however, and I heard the midwife tell them that the baby hadn't even descended into the birth canal and was stuck. I started throwing up at this point, and the doctors madea quick decision to try ventouse, then forceps, then a c-section if there was no other way. I was quickly wheeled into theatre and my epi was upped. Couldn't feel a thing! The doctor couldn't even try ventouse as she was too high up, so they tried the forceps. The first try failed, but the second try was a success and at 5:10 am, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long, Marlowe Joan was born showing off her lungs. I was so worn out by this point, that I could barely hold her in my arms.
I'm pretty much back to my old self now. I needed an episiotomy but the stitches and cut have healed, and other than a few pains, I can almost walk as quickly as I used to be able to, which is fantastic as my DH was getting sick of me asking him to constantly slow down.
Marlowe is very healthy and has no lasting effects from the forceps. I'm getting to know her more and more everyday and love her to pieces!
Anyway, I rode out the contractions through the night, still not believing I was in 'real labour'. I walked around the flat and called my sister who lives in Las Vegas so it was daytime there. She took my mind off the contractions. I couldn't sleep a wink as the contractions were too painful. Finally, around 7:30 I decided to wake my DH to hang out with me as the contractions were getting very painful. He rubbed my back and at 10 Monday am, I called the hospital as the contractions were steadily at 5 minutes apart.
When we got to the hospital, we had to wait in the waiting room for over an hour as I was having contractions. Finally a midwife saw me and was very rude, not believing I was in labour. She told me that 1st pregnancies take a long time to go into real labour and she didn't see the point in checking me. I told her I wanted her to check me anyway. So, she did with a look of scorn and then sounding surprised said that I was 3 cm and definitely going into labour (I TOLD her!!). She then said that I should go home for another couple of hours and then come back in 2-3 hours to be admitted.
So DH and I went home and waited until my contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart and lasting well over a minute. Back at the hospital I was 4-5 cm dilated and the midwife said I could be admitted, but as there were no beds, did I mind walking around the corridors for a bit? Walked around for about 15 minutes, holding onto DH everytime a contraction came (they were about 2 min apart by then, so we didn't get far) then I finally got a room.
As I needed an epidural to keep my heartrate down as I have a weird beat, the anesthetist came in soon afterwards and relief was upon me about an hour after getting a bed. Can I just say if I wasn't already married, I would have married that man? I loved the epidural and it made the rest of the night pass much easier. I even got some sleep.
Anyway, I was admitted at 5PM on te Monday, and fully dilated by 2am Tuesday. Started pushing and after pushing for an hour and a half, I was worn out and didn't feel I could go on, but I thought I was getting somewhere, so I kept going. The doctors came in to check on me however, and I heard the midwife tell them that the baby hadn't even descended into the birth canal and was stuck. I started throwing up at this point, and the doctors madea quick decision to try ventouse, then forceps, then a c-section if there was no other way. I was quickly wheeled into theatre and my epi was upped. Couldn't feel a thing! The doctor couldn't even try ventouse as she was too high up, so they tried the forceps. The first try failed, but the second try was a success and at 5:10 am, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long, Marlowe Joan was born showing off her lungs. I was so worn out by this point, that I could barely hold her in my arms.
I'm pretty much back to my old self now. I needed an episiotomy but the stitches and cut have healed, and other than a few pains, I can almost walk as quickly as I used to be able to, which is fantastic as my DH was getting sick of me asking him to constantly slow down.
Marlowe is very healthy and has no lasting effects from the forceps. I'm getting to know her more and more everyday and love her to pieces!
