Well ladies i updated yesterday to say that i had my beautiful boy Leo Sydney Holland at 11:01 on Tuesday morning, as promised here is my birth story, enjoy!
Went to the hospital on Monday evening at 10pm as Leo was 12 days overdue. Got taken up to the ward and was examined by a midwife who advised that me cervix was nice and soft and the baby was far down but i wasnt dialated at all so would have to have a pessary inserted. This was done at around 12pm. My partner left to go home at around 1am so i got into bed and prepared for a long stay in hospital.
tried to get comfy in the bed but found that I had a bit of a backache, thought it was from being in a different bed so just tried my best to get comfy. Kept needing a wee so had to keep getting up. Everytime i came back to bed i tried to get comfortable but this backache just kept coming back. After about an hour the backache was getting worse and was followed by some pains in my tummy, it slowly dawned on me that these could actually be contractions so i started timing them. At this point they were roughly around 7 minutes apart but lasting about a minute each time.
I went out into the corridor and told the midwife and she gave me some paracetamol and just advised to keep timing but try and rest as it would probably be a long while still.
The paracetamol didnt have any affect at all so at around 4 or 5am (sorry, but the timings are all a bit of a blur!) i went back and found the midwife. I was actually quite embaressed to keep going out to her because i honestly thought this was just the start of things to come. I was actually starting to wonder how i would cope with proper contractions as these were getting so painful!
She gave me some cocodamol? but again, these had no effect. Stayed on my bed until around 6:00am but by this time the pain was really getting unbearable, I was silent with each contraction as there were two ladies next to me trying to sleep but inside i was screaming. I went back out and told the midwife that i was in a lot of pain, the contractions seemed to be pretty much constant with not much space in between.
A midwife came in and put a moniter on me and said she would moniter for half an hour. She said that if the monitor picked up any contractions then she would examine me to see if i was starting to dialate. She came back to check a few times and said that the monitor was picking up movements in my uterus.
By the time it got to 7am i literally couldnt stay sitting on the bed any longer, the pain was too much so i ripped the moniter of and jumped out of bed as earlier on in the night id found that standing and walking eased the pain.
My partner was due to be coming back at around 9am but i just he needed to be there asap. I sent him a quick txt and said that i thought things were moving and to come in at 8am. He send a message to say that he would be there at 8.
Well it was with the next contraction that things changed, i started to feel one coming and leant over the bed, the next thing i know my whole body was pushing down (without my control), it really felt like his head was just about to pop out. I pressed the emergency buzzer and the midwife came back, told her that i needed to push and that i could feel his head moving down. she told me to get back on the bed and try and calm down and she would send someone to come and check my cervix. 10 mins later nobody had come (they were changing shift) so with each contraction i was desparately trying to not push but it was so hard. Grabbed my phone and rang alan, told him he needed to come right now because the baby was coming, he said he would be as quick as he could.
With i felt a bit wet in my knickers and thought it might be my waters but when i pulled my pants down they were soaked with blood and id pushed the pessary out, it was in my pants! this panicked me a bit. The lady in the bed next to me heard me and was so lovely, she went and got the midwife for me.
I got on the bed and a midwife started to examine me, i got the feeling that they thought i was over reacting slightly and that i wouldnt be very far dialated. Next thing, shes shouting to another midwife that im 9cm dialated and moving fast, she was telling them to get the lift ready and phone to delivery ward. It was a bit of a dash to get me down as i thought he was going to start coming out in the lift, i was phoning alan to tell him to hurry, bless him, he just kept saying "hold on, im 2 seconds away"!
Got into the delivery room and laid on the bed on my side, got given gas and air straight away which was amazing, completely took the pain off so it was more of a pressure now rather than a pain. Alan arrived and held my hand. Had a lovely midwife and a student, they were absoloutly brillant, they were so calm and encouraged me to try lots of different positions.
My waters still hadnt broken but she said that each time i pushed they were bulging so she just encouraged me to push hard with each contraction. The pushing stage lasted around three hours. I ended up on all fours which wasnt exactly comfortable but i knew that it would get him out quicker.
Now im not going to lie, when his head started to crown it felt like i was being torn in two and was excrutiating...but with each push i just told myself that i would soon see my baby and the quicker i pushed the quicker it would be over. That really helped and just trying to stay calm also made it easier. His head was right there and i thought "right, im going for it" gave the biggest push i could through the pain and then felt a pop, his head was out.
Alan was telling me how much hair he had and i knew that with the next contraction he would be out, that was such a relief. Felt the next contraction building and went for it, one big push and the rest of him was out.
To look down and see my baby on the bed was the most amazing feeling in the world, i would do it all again just for that feeling.. it was eurphoric. We were both in tears and just couldnt stop staring at each other and laughing, dont think we could beleive it really. Next thing he was in my arms looking at me.
He was actually born in his waters so his head was bruised from the pressure. He was also born with his fist in his face wich made the crowning part a bit harder. he had pooed on the way out and swallowed a small amount but nothing to worry about.
He weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and is absoloute perfection. We got home yesterday and hes settled in really well. Still cant stop staring at him and just cannot beleive hes mine.
Wow didnt realise it was that long, well done if you managed to get to the end!
To all the ladies that are overdue, your day will come and trust me they are worth every second wait. and to all the ladies worried about induction, this proves that its not all bad. My entire labour from first contraction to birth was around 9 hours, and was pushing for three of that so really couldnt have gone better. I was so upset that i was having to be induced but at the end of the day it didnt matter at all.
Thanks for reading ladies and enjoy!xxxxxxxxx
Went to the hospital on Monday evening at 10pm as Leo was 12 days overdue. Got taken up to the ward and was examined by a midwife who advised that me cervix was nice and soft and the baby was far down but i wasnt dialated at all so would have to have a pessary inserted. This was done at around 12pm. My partner left to go home at around 1am so i got into bed and prepared for a long stay in hospital.
tried to get comfy in the bed but found that I had a bit of a backache, thought it was from being in a different bed so just tried my best to get comfy. Kept needing a wee so had to keep getting up. Everytime i came back to bed i tried to get comfortable but this backache just kept coming back. After about an hour the backache was getting worse and was followed by some pains in my tummy, it slowly dawned on me that these could actually be contractions so i started timing them. At this point they were roughly around 7 minutes apart but lasting about a minute each time.
I went out into the corridor and told the midwife and she gave me some paracetamol and just advised to keep timing but try and rest as it would probably be a long while still.
The paracetamol didnt have any affect at all so at around 4 or 5am (sorry, but the timings are all a bit of a blur!) i went back and found the midwife. I was actually quite embaressed to keep going out to her because i honestly thought this was just the start of things to come. I was actually starting to wonder how i would cope with proper contractions as these were getting so painful!
She gave me some cocodamol? but again, these had no effect. Stayed on my bed until around 6:00am but by this time the pain was really getting unbearable, I was silent with each contraction as there were two ladies next to me trying to sleep but inside i was screaming. I went back out and told the midwife that i was in a lot of pain, the contractions seemed to be pretty much constant with not much space in between.
A midwife came in and put a moniter on me and said she would moniter for half an hour. She said that if the monitor picked up any contractions then she would examine me to see if i was starting to dialate. She came back to check a few times and said that the monitor was picking up movements in my uterus.
By the time it got to 7am i literally couldnt stay sitting on the bed any longer, the pain was too much so i ripped the moniter of and jumped out of bed as earlier on in the night id found that standing and walking eased the pain.
My partner was due to be coming back at around 9am but i just he needed to be there asap. I sent him a quick txt and said that i thought things were moving and to come in at 8am. He send a message to say that he would be there at 8.
Well it was with the next contraction that things changed, i started to feel one coming and leant over the bed, the next thing i know my whole body was pushing down (without my control), it really felt like his head was just about to pop out. I pressed the emergency buzzer and the midwife came back, told her that i needed to push and that i could feel his head moving down. she told me to get back on the bed and try and calm down and she would send someone to come and check my cervix. 10 mins later nobody had come (they were changing shift) so with each contraction i was desparately trying to not push but it was so hard. Grabbed my phone and rang alan, told him he needed to come right now because the baby was coming, he said he would be as quick as he could.
With i felt a bit wet in my knickers and thought it might be my waters but when i pulled my pants down they were soaked with blood and id pushed the pessary out, it was in my pants! this panicked me a bit. The lady in the bed next to me heard me and was so lovely, she went and got the midwife for me.
I got on the bed and a midwife started to examine me, i got the feeling that they thought i was over reacting slightly and that i wouldnt be very far dialated. Next thing, shes shouting to another midwife that im 9cm dialated and moving fast, she was telling them to get the lift ready and phone to delivery ward. It was a bit of a dash to get me down as i thought he was going to start coming out in the lift, i was phoning alan to tell him to hurry, bless him, he just kept saying "hold on, im 2 seconds away"!
Got into the delivery room and laid on the bed on my side, got given gas and air straight away which was amazing, completely took the pain off so it was more of a pressure now rather than a pain. Alan arrived and held my hand. Had a lovely midwife and a student, they were absoloutly brillant, they were so calm and encouraged me to try lots of different positions.
My waters still hadnt broken but she said that each time i pushed they were bulging so she just encouraged me to push hard with each contraction. The pushing stage lasted around three hours. I ended up on all fours which wasnt exactly comfortable but i knew that it would get him out quicker.
Now im not going to lie, when his head started to crown it felt like i was being torn in two and was excrutiating...but with each push i just told myself that i would soon see my baby and the quicker i pushed the quicker it would be over. That really helped and just trying to stay calm also made it easier. His head was right there and i thought "right, im going for it" gave the biggest push i could through the pain and then felt a pop, his head was out.
Alan was telling me how much hair he had and i knew that with the next contraction he would be out, that was such a relief. Felt the next contraction building and went for it, one big push and the rest of him was out.
To look down and see my baby on the bed was the most amazing feeling in the world, i would do it all again just for that feeling.. it was eurphoric. We were both in tears and just couldnt stop staring at each other and laughing, dont think we could beleive it really. Next thing he was in my arms looking at me.
He was actually born in his waters so his head was bruised from the pressure. He was also born with his fist in his face wich made the crowning part a bit harder. he had pooed on the way out and swallowed a small amount but nothing to worry about.
He weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and is absoloute perfection. We got home yesterday and hes settled in really well. Still cant stop staring at him and just cannot beleive hes mine.
Wow didnt realise it was that long, well done if you managed to get to the end!
To all the ladies that are overdue, your day will come and trust me they are worth every second wait. and to all the ladies worried about induction, this proves that its not all bad. My entire labour from first contraction to birth was around 9 hours, and was pushing for three of that so really couldnt have gone better. I was so upset that i was having to be induced but at the end of the day it didnt matter at all.
Thanks for reading ladies and enjoy!xxxxxxxxx
x
Still no epidural is fantastic and well done you for coping so well. xxx
