Thank you everyone! Sorry it's been a while - as you can imagine i've been pretty busy recently!
So most of you know i was absolutely gutted that i was going to be induced. Mostly because it meant i wouldn't be allowed to do early labour at home and wouldn't be allowed to use the birth pool
Anyway - I was booked in to hospital for sunday night to start the induction, so of course i started contracting on my own 4 hours prior to this!
Because i'd started contractions i phoned the hospital hoping they wouldn't need to induce me after all. I agreed to go in to be checked and was hopeful because i was having contractions about 10 mins apart lasting for about 30 seconds. Sadly these didn't actually get much more regular so about 4 hours later they decided to induce me anyway. By this time it was midnight. They examined me and put in a propess - this felt very strange as they needed to wedge it inside my cervix and then i had this weird string hanging out of me - i was completely paranoid it was going to fall out ...
i was told this could take 24 hours to work and they'd check me tomorrow.. They sent my husband home and i settled in for a lonely night on an empty ward (i was the only one!) though just 3 hours later i was having really regular contractions (uncomfortable enough to stop me sleeping but not enough to be in established labour) At around 4am the midwife ran me a warm bath. it really did help so i stayed in for nearly 2 hours - just adding in more and more hot water to stop it getting cold. So at 6 i went back to bed but kept getting woken up by contractions, the midwife offered me paracetamol and codine,so i could try to sleep but it wasn't really helping much so i got dressed and got on the gymball - i had the whole bay to myself so it wasn't like i was disturbing anyone. I had to wait until 9am before Mr Socks was allowed back in. When he did get in he looked like he'd definitely had a worse night than me!
We spent the whole day basically walking around the hospital trying to help labour progress. I honestly must have walked miles.... we came back to the ward for lunch and then went out walking around the hospital again. I spent the whole day walking around the hospital or on the gymball, coming back to the ward for food, meds and to be monitored. Because i'd been induced they wanted to check baby was ok regularly. As i was finding it more and more difficult to keep moving, especially as the contractions were getting more intense, the midwife agreed to examine me. This was a bit devastating for me, not the actual procedure but that she then told me i was 2 cm dilated after about 20 hours of contractions! grr
After tea my mother-in-law asked if she could pop in to see us. I hadn't really wanted either of our mothers there but making it clear she couldn't stay, i agreed, not knowing that she was also going to bring father-in-law and brother-in-law (who is 16 and looked very uncomfortable to be there!)This was a bit fun because the midwife then produced a student midwife to examine me as well... so this then prompted the visitors to leave. The midwives discussed and then agreed to send me to the delivery suite.. just as my mum and dad turned up! argh!
Feeling bad that my mum and dad had travelled to visit me, i agreed for my mum to see me to the delivery suite but that she was not allowed to stay. By now it was about 9 pm. On arrival to the delivery suite i was introduced to a stern-looking midwife who immediately wanted to examine me, she the pronounced that i "wasn't even in established labour yet!" - i was ready to kick her, this was the most uninspiring statement i'd heard all day, i felt ill at the idea that i wasn't even nearly there and had this huge unimaginable road ahead of me. The midwife left. I announced that i didn't like this midwife and then promptly threw up all over the floor, bedside table, wall, under the bed and my own feet! the stern-looking midwife had to come back and wash my vomit-y feet
After clearing up all the sick (there was loads) the midwives agreed to help me make more mess by breaking my waters. It wasn't too bad but it was a very odd sensation- can't believe how warm it felt... i then had to be monitored again so i sat on the bed leaking.
Satisfied that all looked good the stern-looking midwife allowed me to have a bath to help with the pain and to wash off all the sick and fluid. She seemed to think this made up for not being allowed in the birthing pool, it didn't. and it made me question her about what was the difference? - how was i allowed in the bath but not the pool?!!
We fell out about the bath as well because i wanted to lay on my side but she wanted me on my back so i gave up and got out... ended up kneeling on the bathroom floor naked, leaning on a gymball. midwife again told me off because this wasn't a convenient place for me to sit, so i crawled through to the bedroom, with the ball, and knelt on the floor next to the bed where i'd previously been sick/ leaked fluid! Again, this was apparently a problem with midwife who told me it was bad for my knees (!) so i grabbed a pillow from the bed and knelt on that.
I asked for gas and air (up until this point i'd been only on paracetamol and codine). She didn't want me to have it because i'd already been sick everywhere and she thought it would make it worse) i had it anyway but didn't do very well with it because i was unreasonably paranoid about being sick. Midwife then wanted me off the gas and air and to have pethidine instead... i eventually agreed.
I wish i hadn't though because i really did not get on with the pethidine - i was completely out of it unless i was having a contraction and then i felt like the pain was out of control and couldn't think about anything else anyway I was pushing involuntarily with every contraction and was really confused about what was actually happening. Luckily it wasn't long before the head started to appear, the first warning was that it felt like my bladder was going to burst. the head felt weird - soft and hairy and in my pethidine-induced confusion it took a while to even realise it was the head! The midwife had to cut me because i was tearing, but i hardly noticed. Barely seconds later i had my amazing baby girl placed on my chest and like i'd been told would happen - suddenly nothing else mattered. Baby Emilia Willow - born at 2.25 am - 8lb 5oz
So most of you know i was absolutely gutted that i was going to be induced. Mostly because it meant i wouldn't be allowed to do early labour at home and wouldn't be allowed to use the birth pool
Anyway - I was booked in to hospital for sunday night to start the induction, so of course i started contracting on my own 4 hours prior to this!Because i'd started contractions i phoned the hospital hoping they wouldn't need to induce me after all. I agreed to go in to be checked and was hopeful because i was having contractions about 10 mins apart lasting for about 30 seconds. Sadly these didn't actually get much more regular so about 4 hours later they decided to induce me anyway. By this time it was midnight. They examined me and put in a propess - this felt very strange as they needed to wedge it inside my cervix and then i had this weird string hanging out of me - i was completely paranoid it was going to fall out ...
i was told this could take 24 hours to work and they'd check me tomorrow.. They sent my husband home and i settled in for a lonely night on an empty ward (i was the only one!) though just 3 hours later i was having really regular contractions (uncomfortable enough to stop me sleeping but not enough to be in established labour) At around 4am the midwife ran me a warm bath. it really did help so i stayed in for nearly 2 hours - just adding in more and more hot water to stop it getting cold. So at 6 i went back to bed but kept getting woken up by contractions, the midwife offered me paracetamol and codine,so i could try to sleep but it wasn't really helping much so i got dressed and got on the gymball - i had the whole bay to myself so it wasn't like i was disturbing anyone. I had to wait until 9am before Mr Socks was allowed back in. When he did get in he looked like he'd definitely had a worse night than me!
We spent the whole day basically walking around the hospital trying to help labour progress. I honestly must have walked miles.... we came back to the ward for lunch and then went out walking around the hospital again. I spent the whole day walking around the hospital or on the gymball, coming back to the ward for food, meds and to be monitored. Because i'd been induced they wanted to check baby was ok regularly. As i was finding it more and more difficult to keep moving, especially as the contractions were getting more intense, the midwife agreed to examine me. This was a bit devastating for me, not the actual procedure but that she then told me i was 2 cm dilated after about 20 hours of contractions! grr
After tea my mother-in-law asked if she could pop in to see us. I hadn't really wanted either of our mothers there but making it clear she couldn't stay, i agreed, not knowing that she was also going to bring father-in-law and brother-in-law (who is 16 and looked very uncomfortable to be there!)This was a bit fun because the midwife then produced a student midwife to examine me as well... so this then prompted the visitors to leave. The midwives discussed and then agreed to send me to the delivery suite.. just as my mum and dad turned up! argh!
Feeling bad that my mum and dad had travelled to visit me, i agreed for my mum to see me to the delivery suite but that she was not allowed to stay. By now it was about 9 pm. On arrival to the delivery suite i was introduced to a stern-looking midwife who immediately wanted to examine me, she the pronounced that i "wasn't even in established labour yet!" - i was ready to kick her, this was the most uninspiring statement i'd heard all day, i felt ill at the idea that i wasn't even nearly there and had this huge unimaginable road ahead of me. The midwife left. I announced that i didn't like this midwife and then promptly threw up all over the floor, bedside table, wall, under the bed and my own feet! the stern-looking midwife had to come back and wash my vomit-y feet
After clearing up all the sick (there was loads) the midwives agreed to help me make more mess by breaking my waters. It wasn't too bad but it was a very odd sensation- can't believe how warm it felt... i then had to be monitored again so i sat on the bed leaking.
Satisfied that all looked good the stern-looking midwife allowed me to have a bath to help with the pain and to wash off all the sick and fluid. She seemed to think this made up for not being allowed in the birthing pool, it didn't. and it made me question her about what was the difference? - how was i allowed in the bath but not the pool?!!
We fell out about the bath as well because i wanted to lay on my side but she wanted me on my back so i gave up and got out... ended up kneeling on the bathroom floor naked, leaning on a gymball. midwife again told me off because this wasn't a convenient place for me to sit, so i crawled through to the bedroom, with the ball, and knelt on the floor next to the bed where i'd previously been sick/ leaked fluid! Again, this was apparently a problem with midwife who told me it was bad for my knees (!) so i grabbed a pillow from the bed and knelt on that.
I asked for gas and air (up until this point i'd been only on paracetamol and codine). She didn't want me to have it because i'd already been sick everywhere and she thought it would make it worse) i had it anyway but didn't do very well with it because i was unreasonably paranoid about being sick. Midwife then wanted me off the gas and air and to have pethidine instead... i eventually agreed.
I wish i hadn't though because i really did not get on with the pethidine - i was completely out of it unless i was having a contraction and then i felt like the pain was out of control and couldn't think about anything else anyway
I was pushing involuntarily with every contraction and was really confused about what was actually happening. Luckily it wasn't long before the head started to appear, the first warning was that it felt like my bladder was going to burst. the head felt weird - soft and hairy and in my pethidine-induced confusion it took a while to even realise it was the head! The midwife had to cut me because i was tearing, but i hardly noticed. Barely seconds later i had my amazing baby girl placed on my chest and like i'd been told would happen - suddenly nothing else mattered. Baby Emilia Willow - born at 2.25 am - 8lb 5oz
