I cant believe its finally my turn to write one of these, its a bit late but here goes...
I had had the most straight forward pregnancy, no sickness, no problems, I had been very lucky. My due date was the Tuesday 3rd of July on that day I had a midwife appointment and she attempted to do a stretch and sweep but couldn't as my cervix was to far back and closed so off I went thinking I was never going to have my baby girl and would need to be induced....
A couple more days past with not so much as a twinge but me getting increasingly annoyed at the barrage of texts, phone calls and "have you not had that baby yets." Until Saturday morning (4 days late) when I woke up at 5am for what seemed like my millionth toilet trip of the night and started loosing my plug. Logic told me it could still be days but I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep and went downstairs to bounce on my ball and hope something happened.
All of Saturday was spent walking around shops and hoping things were about to start but by mid afternoon I was feeling very disheartened as all I felt were a few period like cramps but nothing major.
At 5pm I started having mild pains that were coming and going so I started timing them and sure enough they were about 6 minutes apart. Me and OH tried not to get to excited and just carried on with normal things and had some dinner etc for a few hours as gradually the pains started getting stronger and closer together, I had a bath for a few hours and then sent OH to bed for a few hours as I knew we were in for a long night. (didnt last long as i think he was to excited as well and I was secretly glad lol!) At around half 11 I decided I wanted to call the hospital just to make them aware. I was still coping well with the pain so stayed at home till about half 1 when i decided I wanted to go see what was happening but I was fully expecting to be sent home.
We arrived at the hospital and luckily they were really quiet so got taken straight into a room and the midwife came in to examine me, this was extremely painful for me and she had to get another midwife in to help her do it as I really couldn't cope with the pain. i felt so embarrassed that I was coping with contractions but couldn't handle an examination! Anyway she said that I was about 2cm and I could either go home or have a shot of pethidine, try and get some sleep and then they would re examine me in the morning. I chose to stay as I was scared of going home things getting bad and having to come all the way back (about 40 mins from hospital). So they gave me a shot and put mats on the floor for OH and left us to it. Didn't really get any sleep but was able to rest which was good. At about 6 a midwife came round and told me that they would wait for the day shift to come on duty to examine me which would be at half 7. I started pacing round and bouncing on my ball because I knew that if they examined me and I hadn't progressed they were going to send me home and I really didnt feel I could cope with that.
Half 7 came around I was examined, I coped a little bit better with it this time, and was 4cm at a push, not great but it meant I could stay and at this point that is what I cared about. I was still coping fairly well with the pain so decided to go have a bath...I had always wanted an epidural and the midwife said that she would re examine me in 2 hours and I should be able to have one then. I laboured in the bath for a while and then me and OH went back to our room, this is when the contractions started to pick up a bit and I began to feel ready for an epidural! was re-examined at about half 9 and was 4-5 so she paged the anaethatist (sp) she then went about putting in the canula which wasn't as bad as I thought and got under way with the epidural which again for anyone worried about it didn't hurt at all!
The relief was fab! My Mum had arrived during this process to be my second birthing partner. I was now pain free and just had to wait...we watched the Wimbledon final and the F1 lol! there was a few examinations throughout the day and i was progressing but very slowly, I also had about ten top ups of the epi because I was scared of it wearing off lol! By 7 pm I was ten cms but had a anterior lip left so was told it would be about 2 hours until I could start pushing, I got upset at this point as it was seeming to take forever!!
At about 8 o'clock I started having a spot of strong pain, they gave me another top up but it just wouldn't go. 8:45 they said we will be pushing at 9, I felt fairly calm at this point but my Mum and OH were pacing the room while I tried to calm them down lol!
9pm and it was time to start pushing I felt a strange sort of pain at this point but had no desire to push. As soon as I began pushing I felt a pain like I cant describe. I couldn't feel when I was having a contraction so was having issues with knowing when to push and it hurt so much. They all kept encouraging me and saying how close I was and that they could see the head etc, it felt like it was taking forever and I truly started to feel like I couldn't do this, they told me that 5 more minutes and my baby would be here so I pushed with everything I had and she came out all in one go!
She started crying straight away, so did mum and OH! they put her straight onto me and I joined in with the crying she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
I didnt feel very well and my arms felt very weak. The midwife then cam back in (hadnt noticed her leave) with the doctor who told me I needed to go to surgery as I had torn extremely badly. I started crying even more as it meant leaving the baby. They said it would take them ten minutes to get set up and then they would come get me in the meantime the midwife just held a load of padding against me to stem the flow of blood.
They came and took me into theatre, and I cried the whole way down, they said it should only take about half an hour but they had difficulty numbing me and then the stitching took longer than thought so I was in there for about 2 and a half hours. They eventually wheeled me into recovery where my mum, OH and beautiful baby girl were waiting for me. I tried breastfeeding but was so out of it it just wasn't happening and was making me really upset so I decided in the moment to give her formula. It wasn't until about 4:30 am that they took me to the ward and everyone had to leave. I didnt get any sleep and the lights came on etc at 6am!!
My OH was back in by 11am and it was throughout the day that I was able to bond with my baby girl. It was a traumatic end to a long birth but its true what they say about being totally worth it.
the stats:
Bella Louise Ann Ashbolt
08.07.2012
10:44pm
7lb 8oz
29 hour labour
I'm writing this on the laptop which doesn't have all the pics on but she truly is the most beautiful baby in the world
Sorry its really long but I enjoyed these while I was pregnant so wanted to put in a lot of detail. I cant be bothered to read through it so I apologise for any mistakes!
I had had the most straight forward pregnancy, no sickness, no problems, I had been very lucky. My due date was the Tuesday 3rd of July on that day I had a midwife appointment and she attempted to do a stretch and sweep but couldn't as my cervix was to far back and closed so off I went thinking I was never going to have my baby girl and would need to be induced....
A couple more days past with not so much as a twinge but me getting increasingly annoyed at the barrage of texts, phone calls and "have you not had that baby yets." Until Saturday morning (4 days late) when I woke up at 5am for what seemed like my millionth toilet trip of the night and started loosing my plug. Logic told me it could still be days but I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep and went downstairs to bounce on my ball and hope something happened.
All of Saturday was spent walking around shops and hoping things were about to start but by mid afternoon I was feeling very disheartened as all I felt were a few period like cramps but nothing major.
At 5pm I started having mild pains that were coming and going so I started timing them and sure enough they were about 6 minutes apart. Me and OH tried not to get to excited and just carried on with normal things and had some dinner etc for a few hours as gradually the pains started getting stronger and closer together, I had a bath for a few hours and then sent OH to bed for a few hours as I knew we were in for a long night. (didnt last long as i think he was to excited as well and I was secretly glad lol!) At around half 11 I decided I wanted to call the hospital just to make them aware. I was still coping well with the pain so stayed at home till about half 1 when i decided I wanted to go see what was happening but I was fully expecting to be sent home.
We arrived at the hospital and luckily they were really quiet so got taken straight into a room and the midwife came in to examine me, this was extremely painful for me and she had to get another midwife in to help her do it as I really couldn't cope with the pain. i felt so embarrassed that I was coping with contractions but couldn't handle an examination! Anyway she said that I was about 2cm and I could either go home or have a shot of pethidine, try and get some sleep and then they would re examine me in the morning. I chose to stay as I was scared of going home things getting bad and having to come all the way back (about 40 mins from hospital). So they gave me a shot and put mats on the floor for OH and left us to it. Didn't really get any sleep but was able to rest which was good. At about 6 a midwife came round and told me that they would wait for the day shift to come on duty to examine me which would be at half 7. I started pacing round and bouncing on my ball because I knew that if they examined me and I hadn't progressed they were going to send me home and I really didnt feel I could cope with that.
Half 7 came around I was examined, I coped a little bit better with it this time, and was 4cm at a push, not great but it meant I could stay and at this point that is what I cared about. I was still coping fairly well with the pain so decided to go have a bath...I had always wanted an epidural and the midwife said that she would re examine me in 2 hours and I should be able to have one then. I laboured in the bath for a while and then me and OH went back to our room, this is when the contractions started to pick up a bit and I began to feel ready for an epidural! was re-examined at about half 9 and was 4-5 so she paged the anaethatist (sp) she then went about putting in the canula which wasn't as bad as I thought and got under way with the epidural which again for anyone worried about it didn't hurt at all!
The relief was fab! My Mum had arrived during this process to be my second birthing partner. I was now pain free and just had to wait...we watched the Wimbledon final and the F1 lol! there was a few examinations throughout the day and i was progressing but very slowly, I also had about ten top ups of the epi because I was scared of it wearing off lol! By 7 pm I was ten cms but had a anterior lip left so was told it would be about 2 hours until I could start pushing, I got upset at this point as it was seeming to take forever!!
At about 8 o'clock I started having a spot of strong pain, they gave me another top up but it just wouldn't go. 8:45 they said we will be pushing at 9, I felt fairly calm at this point but my Mum and OH were pacing the room while I tried to calm them down lol!
9pm and it was time to start pushing I felt a strange sort of pain at this point but had no desire to push. As soon as I began pushing I felt a pain like I cant describe. I couldn't feel when I was having a contraction so was having issues with knowing when to push and it hurt so much. They all kept encouraging me and saying how close I was and that they could see the head etc, it felt like it was taking forever and I truly started to feel like I couldn't do this, they told me that 5 more minutes and my baby would be here so I pushed with everything I had and she came out all in one go!
She started crying straight away, so did mum and OH! they put her straight onto me and I joined in with the crying she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
I didnt feel very well and my arms felt very weak. The midwife then cam back in (hadnt noticed her leave) with the doctor who told me I needed to go to surgery as I had torn extremely badly. I started crying even more as it meant leaving the baby. They said it would take them ten minutes to get set up and then they would come get me in the meantime the midwife just held a load of padding against me to stem the flow of blood.
They came and took me into theatre, and I cried the whole way down, they said it should only take about half an hour but they had difficulty numbing me and then the stitching took longer than thought so I was in there for about 2 and a half hours. They eventually wheeled me into recovery where my mum, OH and beautiful baby girl were waiting for me. I tried breastfeeding but was so out of it it just wasn't happening and was making me really upset so I decided in the moment to give her formula. It wasn't until about 4:30 am that they took me to the ward and everyone had to leave. I didnt get any sleep and the lights came on etc at 6am!!
My OH was back in by 11am and it was throughout the day that I was able to bond with my baby girl. It was a traumatic end to a long birth but its true what they say about being totally worth it.
the stats:
Bella Louise Ann Ashbolt
08.07.2012
10:44pm
7lb 8oz
29 hour labour
I'm writing this on the laptop which doesn't have all the pics on but she truly is the most beautiful baby in the world
Sorry its really long but I enjoyed these while I was pregnant so wanted to put in a lot of detail. I cant be bothered to read through it so I apologise for any mistakes!
I hope you are feeling well!
