I know I'm really late putting this up, but I finally managed to tear myself away from LO and type it up! I know it is very long-winded but I just put things down as they occured to me. It is mostly positive, and the not-so-great bit comes with a warning if you want to skip over it 
I had been in latent labour for roughly a week before my first sweep. It was a frustrating time, with painless contractions at a frequency of 8-10 minutes for several hours every day. There were even a couple of occasions where they came down to every 5-6 minutes and then just stopped. By this point, I was convinced that I’d never go into labour.
At my first sweep, the midwife told me that things had already started happening and I’d probably go into labour “soon”. By the morning of my third sweep a week later on the 19th of September (at 41+3), I’d been having contractions for two weeks and had lost hope that I’d avoid the induction that was booked for four days later.
I had my sweep at 10 that morning. Half an hour later, by the time I returned home, the contractions had kicked in again. They were more intense than the ones I had been having, but still only coming every 5-6 minutes. Another false alarm, I was sure, but rang L&D nonetheless. The midwife told me that it was too early to be certain, and they could be a reaction to the sweep. I decided to spend some time resting, plugged in my hypnobirthing relaxation music and dozed off. The next thing I felt was two distinct “pops” and a gush of fluid. My waters had broken! We were finally going to meet little one! I couldn’t believe just how much fluid there was. It gushed out every time I moved.
The contractions kicked into gear immediately; at this point every three minutes and stronger than they had been before. They didn’t feel painful per se, more like intense cramping at the very bottom of my bump. I wonder how much of that I can attribute to hypnobirthing and the relaxation exercises. The next thirty minutes are a haze of rushing around getting everything together, calling the hospital and informing them that I’d need to come in (the midwife didn’t believe that I was in established labour because I was still speaking through my contractions) , and getting there in a taxi.
After the initial examination at the hospital where they determined that it was really my waters, and that I was having contractions roughly every 3 minutes, I requested a birthing pool. I have to say that I didn’t pay much attention to the room that I was put into. I kept myself occupied until the pool was full enough for me to get into – walking around, a little bit of time spent on the exercise ball, deep breathing. I got into the pool at 2:30 pm and it was fantastic – the warm water made a huge difference and I was able to relax that much more. I found a position that was comfortable for me and refused to budge from it, and then I really put the hypnobirthing into practice. The next few hours are a blur to me. I asked for gas and air at some point, but I don’t know how much it actually helped and how much of it was focusing on breathing through a mouth-piece and establishing a routine with my husband. He was an absolutely fantastic birth partner – knew just what I needed, realized that he could provide an anchor by gripping my arm every time I had a contraction, taking care of the midwife’s queries. By this point I was deep within myself, and vaguely aware of what was going on around me but not feeling the need to respond. I remember asking a few times whether my husband was comfortable. He always responded telling me not to worry about him. They kept trying to get me to eat, but that was the last thing that I wanted. I did, however, manage to sip lucozade now and then although not as much as they would have liked me to. I remember the midwife comment that I was sleeping between contractions, but I actually wasn’t. They were having trouble timing my contractions because I was breathing through some of them without gas and air. My husband left at some point to take a break and get a bite to eat, and I remember that it bothered me that he was gone, but I told myself to soldier on. I asked for the time at some point, and was shocked when they told me it was 5:30. I honestly thought that only half an hour had passed since getting into the pool!
By 6:30, I was feeling the urge to push very strongly. Since I had requested as few vaginal examinations as possible, the midwife had planned one for 7:30 and we decided to stick to that plan. She told me to go with my body, and so I pushed when I felt like it with occasional help from the gas and air. I got out of the pool at 7:15 so they could empty it and refill it with fresh water, since I wanted a water birth. When I was examined, they told me that I was fully dilated and could push whenever/however I felt like. The urge to do so was extremely strong, but I had to stop myself from pushing too hard before getting back in the pool. If baby’s head had made an appearance, they wouldn’t have let me back in. When I got back into the water, I felt excited and exhilarated. The journey that we had started nine months ago was almost at its climax! I smiled at my husband and told him that I was fine and then got down to the business of bringing our baby into the world, without the need for any anaesthetic. The hypnobirthing breathing exercises certainly helped while pushing. Although I didn’t understand quite how strong the urge would be and could not have “breathed the baby down” for the life of me, I was able to stay relaxed and breathe through the process. It stung when he was crowning, but I reached down and felt his head and hubby walked around to have a quick look. Baby was born in the pool after less than an hour of pushing. I remember the midwife telling me to pick him up, so I reached down and brought him out of the water. He didn’t cry at all, just lay in my arms, opened his eyes and looked at me. I said, “Hello, baby”. I still remember exactly what I felt in that moment. The wonder of it was incredible. They weren’t happy that he wasn’t moving or crying so they cut his cord and took him to the cart that had been wheeled into the room. All it took was a wipe with a towel and he found his lungs! They handed our 3.1 kg and 52 cm bundle of perfection back to me and I held him for a little longer before giving him to hubby so I could get out of the pool.
For those of you interested in hypnobirthing, I would highly recommend it. It helped me stay relaxed, and I knew that I could cope with everything. It’s almost four weeks since the birth (how time flies!) and our little bundle is a bit bigger and is sleeping next to me. I have nothing but positive memories associated with the birth, and would not have wanted anything different. After it was all over, I actually took a look around the room. The facilities were fantastic, and the midwives went over the call of duty. Five star service all around!
This is where the drama starts, so please don’t read ahead if you don’t want to knowAs I was getting out of the pool, I noticed that the water was quite red and asked aloud whether that was normal. The answer from the midwife was suitably vague. Turns out that I had some postpartum haemorrhage. This was likely mainly because I was dehydrated and had not eaten anything since breakfast and it was 9 pm by this point. They gave me two injections – one to deliver the placenta and a second to stop the bleeding. While waiting for the second injection to work, the midwife sutured up my deep second degree tear. Unfortunately, the bleeding wasn’t stopping. My uterus was simply too tired to contract (note to self: if you ever do this again, keep hydrated and make sure you have enough fuel!). I lost a litre of blood after getting out of the pool, likely more than 1.5 litres due to the amount that was in the pool. I was moved up to the delivery unit where they put me on an IV dose of syntometrine along with fluids. Fortunately the drip worked and I was moved down to the ward the following morning. I thought I would be discharged that evening, but passed a larger-than-fist-sized clot later that morning. I spent a couple of nights in the hospital, and was probably the happiest person in the world when it was time to come home. They sent me home with an iron supplement and advice to eat red meat (and other things) for iron. Not a problem at all. Just the excuse I needed to indulge in a medium-rare steak or three.
I had been in latent labour for roughly a week before my first sweep. It was a frustrating time, with painless contractions at a frequency of 8-10 minutes for several hours every day. There were even a couple of occasions where they came down to every 5-6 minutes and then just stopped. By this point, I was convinced that I’d never go into labour.
At my first sweep, the midwife told me that things had already started happening and I’d probably go into labour “soon”. By the morning of my third sweep a week later on the 19th of September (at 41+3), I’d been having contractions for two weeks and had lost hope that I’d avoid the induction that was booked for four days later.
I had my sweep at 10 that morning. Half an hour later, by the time I returned home, the contractions had kicked in again. They were more intense than the ones I had been having, but still only coming every 5-6 minutes. Another false alarm, I was sure, but rang L&D nonetheless. The midwife told me that it was too early to be certain, and they could be a reaction to the sweep. I decided to spend some time resting, plugged in my hypnobirthing relaxation music and dozed off. The next thing I felt was two distinct “pops” and a gush of fluid. My waters had broken! We were finally going to meet little one! I couldn’t believe just how much fluid there was. It gushed out every time I moved.
The contractions kicked into gear immediately; at this point every three minutes and stronger than they had been before. They didn’t feel painful per se, more like intense cramping at the very bottom of my bump. I wonder how much of that I can attribute to hypnobirthing and the relaxation exercises. The next thirty minutes are a haze of rushing around getting everything together, calling the hospital and informing them that I’d need to come in (the midwife didn’t believe that I was in established labour because I was still speaking through my contractions) , and getting there in a taxi.
After the initial examination at the hospital where they determined that it was really my waters, and that I was having contractions roughly every 3 minutes, I requested a birthing pool. I have to say that I didn’t pay much attention to the room that I was put into. I kept myself occupied until the pool was full enough for me to get into – walking around, a little bit of time spent on the exercise ball, deep breathing. I got into the pool at 2:30 pm and it was fantastic – the warm water made a huge difference and I was able to relax that much more. I found a position that was comfortable for me and refused to budge from it, and then I really put the hypnobirthing into practice. The next few hours are a blur to me. I asked for gas and air at some point, but I don’t know how much it actually helped and how much of it was focusing on breathing through a mouth-piece and establishing a routine with my husband. He was an absolutely fantastic birth partner – knew just what I needed, realized that he could provide an anchor by gripping my arm every time I had a contraction, taking care of the midwife’s queries. By this point I was deep within myself, and vaguely aware of what was going on around me but not feeling the need to respond. I remember asking a few times whether my husband was comfortable. He always responded telling me not to worry about him. They kept trying to get me to eat, but that was the last thing that I wanted. I did, however, manage to sip lucozade now and then although not as much as they would have liked me to. I remember the midwife comment that I was sleeping between contractions, but I actually wasn’t. They were having trouble timing my contractions because I was breathing through some of them without gas and air. My husband left at some point to take a break and get a bite to eat, and I remember that it bothered me that he was gone, but I told myself to soldier on. I asked for the time at some point, and was shocked when they told me it was 5:30. I honestly thought that only half an hour had passed since getting into the pool!
By 6:30, I was feeling the urge to push very strongly. Since I had requested as few vaginal examinations as possible, the midwife had planned one for 7:30 and we decided to stick to that plan. She told me to go with my body, and so I pushed when I felt like it with occasional help from the gas and air. I got out of the pool at 7:15 so they could empty it and refill it with fresh water, since I wanted a water birth. When I was examined, they told me that I was fully dilated and could push whenever/however I felt like. The urge to do so was extremely strong, but I had to stop myself from pushing too hard before getting back in the pool. If baby’s head had made an appearance, they wouldn’t have let me back in. When I got back into the water, I felt excited and exhilarated. The journey that we had started nine months ago was almost at its climax! I smiled at my husband and told him that I was fine and then got down to the business of bringing our baby into the world, without the need for any anaesthetic. The hypnobirthing breathing exercises certainly helped while pushing. Although I didn’t understand quite how strong the urge would be and could not have “breathed the baby down” for the life of me, I was able to stay relaxed and breathe through the process. It stung when he was crowning, but I reached down and felt his head and hubby walked around to have a quick look. Baby was born in the pool after less than an hour of pushing. I remember the midwife telling me to pick him up, so I reached down and brought him out of the water. He didn’t cry at all, just lay in my arms, opened his eyes and looked at me. I said, “Hello, baby”. I still remember exactly what I felt in that moment. The wonder of it was incredible. They weren’t happy that he wasn’t moving or crying so they cut his cord and took him to the cart that had been wheeled into the room. All it took was a wipe with a towel and he found his lungs! They handed our 3.1 kg and 52 cm bundle of perfection back to me and I held him for a little longer before giving him to hubby so I could get out of the pool.
For those of you interested in hypnobirthing, I would highly recommend it. It helped me stay relaxed, and I knew that I could cope with everything. It’s almost four weeks since the birth (how time flies!) and our little bundle is a bit bigger and is sleeping next to me. I have nothing but positive memories associated with the birth, and would not have wanted anything different. After it was all over, I actually took a look around the room. The facilities were fantastic, and the midwives went over the call of duty. Five star service all around!
This is where the drama starts, so please don’t read ahead if you don’t want to knowAs I was getting out of the pool, I noticed that the water was quite red and asked aloud whether that was normal. The answer from the midwife was suitably vague. Turns out that I had some postpartum haemorrhage. This was likely mainly because I was dehydrated and had not eaten anything since breakfast and it was 9 pm by this point. They gave me two injections – one to deliver the placenta and a second to stop the bleeding. While waiting for the second injection to work, the midwife sutured up my deep second degree tear. Unfortunately, the bleeding wasn’t stopping. My uterus was simply too tired to contract (note to self: if you ever do this again, keep hydrated and make sure you have enough fuel!). I lost a litre of blood after getting out of the pool, likely more than 1.5 litres due to the amount that was in the pool. I was moved up to the delivery unit where they put me on an IV dose of syntometrine along with fluids. Fortunately the drip worked and I was moved down to the ward the following morning. I thought I would be discharged that evening, but passed a larger-than-fist-sized clot later that morning. I spent a couple of nights in the hospital, and was probably the happiest person in the world when it was time to come home. They sent me home with an iron supplement and advice to eat red meat (and other things) for iron. Not a problem at all. Just the excuse I needed to indulge in a medium-rare steak or three.
congrats and well done you! You sound like super mum xx
