My due date of 12th April came and went with no sign of our yellow bump making a grand entrance. At 40+2 I had a sweep at my 40 week check-up. I got very excited when MW told me I was already 2.5cm dilated & 50% effaced, thinking our bubs will be here by the weekend.
But the sweep did nothing! No show, no bleeding, no pain zilch! DH & I DTD a lot that weekend as instructed by the MW. But by Monday I was desperate, so phoned MW & managed to book in for another sweep on Tues afternoon. I wanted our baby out! Couldnt help thinking that my body was just not going to do it & induction was coming my way. I had nothing in the way of twinges or shows there was just no sign that this baby was ever going to appear. Peoples texts & calls asking about the baby just made it worse!
At 2nd sweep (41w) I was still 2.5cm dilated (I dreamt on Mon night that MW told me my cervix had closed up!) but now 75% effaced. She couldnt believe I was still hanging on. I cried on DH that night that I was going to be preggo forever & that my body was faulty!
Went to bed on Tues evening about 11pm and was woken up at 12.30am (41+1) by a huge gush of warm water. Woop my waters had broke! Bit inconvenient in bed, but exciting! DH got me a towel, I sat on loo until the water stopped, stripped bed & got into another set of PJs. Still no pains! Hosp had told us at antenatal class to wait 2 hours after waters breaking if pain didnt start and then ring. So decided to try and have another couple of hours sleep as Id need my energy! So we went back to bed & just as I laid down, a second huge gush of water came out! This time darent go back to bed & we were too excited anyway!
By 1am I was having some twinges but they honestly werent painful at all. I wasnt even sure they really were contractions! But started to time them and they were every 6 mins so figured they were. They started to hot up & were coming every 5 mins so we rang hosp. Predictably, they told me to take 2 paracetamol, sit in a warm bath & phone back in an hour. DH grabbed the last few things we needed for our hosp bag glad Id pinned a last minute list to the bag so he could grab what we needed cos I couldnt have concentrated on it!
Ran a bath & when I got in I was still able to breathe through contractions whilst shouting to DH in the next room when they started/stopped so he could time them. After about 30 mins in bath they were coming every 2-3mins and I was finding it hard to breathe through them anymore. I also couldnt sit in the bath anymore wanted to be on my feet & moving about. So got out of bath & DH phoned hosp back & they said we could go in.
Car journey was not enjoyable! Managed to get in the car in between contractions but having to sit down was not comfy at all! Hung my head out the window like a dog & concentrated on breathing! Thank god it was 3am & the roads were empty! Getting to the labour ward was also a pain. Our hosp has a maternity entrance but its only open 7am-7pm so we had to go through main entrance, which meant parking in main car park quite a trek with me contacting about every 2 mins! DH put me in a wheel chair & wheeled me to labour ward lot faster than me having to stop every few metres!
We were met by a MW in labour ward. You could tell from the moment we arrived that she didnt believe I was in established labour. She asked me about the pains & where I was feeling them & when I said only really down the bottom of my bump, you could see in her face she thought this was just early labour. She then wanted to check that it was my waters that had gone. There was no bloody mistaking it in mine & DHs eyes but she was having none of it.
So I had to lay flat on my back on the bed for 30 mins whilst the fluid pooled inside me so she could check it was amniotic fluid. This was worst 30 mins of my life! I was literally crawling the walls, I couldnt keep still & really couldnt breathe through the contractions anymore. I told DH that if this was just the beginning then I deffo needed an epi. In the end I buzzed the MW back & told her I couldnt lay there anymore & was also sopping wet through Id gone through my pad & through my knickers & trakkie bottoms. She begrudgingly agreed that as 30 mins was nearly up, shed examine the waters. So out came the speculum sure enough it was my waters. Really, love?! I could have told you that 30 mins prior! So she then manually examined me to see how dilated I was again you could tell she didnt think I was in established labour. But she said oh, do you want the good news?. I was 8 cm dilated & hadnt been allowed any pain relief & made to lay bloody still! (Looking back, I am annoyed by this MWs attitude you could tell because I was a first time mum she thought I was just hamming it up.)
At last was allowed to get off the awful bed and onto my feet and got some G&A. After using it for the next contraction I said I didnt want it as it made me feel woozey & drunk. But she told me to stick at it & glad I did cos its good stuff! Weird though, doesnt take the pain away just somehow helps. I spent the next hour leaning on the bed & sucking on the G&A. I was starting to feel the need to push & was making some weird animal type noises during my contractions! So she got me up on the bed & examined me & I was fully dilated so allowed to start pushing. The MW made me stay laid down for this which I didnt like. I thought Id be better off with gravity on my side, stood up like Id been for the contractions. But I did as I was told.
I dont know if it was cos the urge the push came on or the change in position, but I couldnt really feel my contractions anymore & they slowed down a little. But managed to start pushing. After 45 mins of pushing I wasnt getting far the head just wasnt getting round the U-bend. By this time it was 7am & the shifts changed over, so I got a new MW and a student & the student MW was actually the one who delivered me. These two were way nicer & Im so glad the first MW didnt stay to deliver my baby. They could see I was struggling to hold my own legs up & push, so they got the leg supports up for me. By this time I was saying to DH that I couldnt do it & wasnt going to be able to push it out. They allow you an hour of pushing before they start to look at other options. So I pushed like mad for the next 15mins, but the head just still wasnt coming. They were monitoring baby after each contractions & the heart rate was fine, so the new MW said as long as it stayed that way, they wouldnt call the doctor. She then suggested that maybe a small cut (as she put it!) would help but I was dead set against this. So I started to push with all the energy I could summon & I managed to get to head to stay beyond the U-bend. The head crowned & I got up to the ears out but then had to wait for another contraction & my god, that was agony the burning was horrendous! With another push I got the shoulders out and with one last push, out came our baby!
Rex Charlie was born at 7.41am weighing 9lb 1.5oz. Our yellow bump was a boy after all my gut feeling was right! As were all the old wives tales & gender predictions. The wedding ring test, Chinese calendar & loads of others like the blood vessel in the eye, the lack of morning sickness & the way I carried, all said boy. So maybe theres some truth in them!
Rex came straight onto my chest & me & DH were smitten straight away. All that pain & struggling to get him out were totally worth it. The placenta delivered no problems whilst I enjoyed our first cuddle gunk & all! DH cut the cord too.
Unbelievably I had no external tears but did have a small internal one thanks to Rex trying to come down twisted with his shoulder in the way also the reason why I found it so hard to push him out. But these stitches havent been painful at all I was worried they sting but from what Ive read, internal stitches are less painful than external ones which sting when you wee & these dont! My back passage however was very painful for about 3 days afterwards felt really really bruised, but thankfully thats gone now too. Poor Rex also had quite a bad cone head due to the awkward position he was in!
About an hour after birth Rex latched on really easily for his first feed & both sets of our parents arrived to meet their new grandson. I then had a shower & some toast & we were moved up to the ward about 11am and we stayed in overnight before coming home last Thurs afternoon.
Phew that was a long one well done if youre still reading! But I used to love reading detailed birth stories whilst waiting for him to arrive so just returning the favour! xxx
But the sweep did nothing! No show, no bleeding, no pain zilch! DH & I DTD a lot that weekend as instructed by the MW. But by Monday I was desperate, so phoned MW & managed to book in for another sweep on Tues afternoon. I wanted our baby out! Couldnt help thinking that my body was just not going to do it & induction was coming my way. I had nothing in the way of twinges or shows there was just no sign that this baby was ever going to appear. Peoples texts & calls asking about the baby just made it worse!
At 2nd sweep (41w) I was still 2.5cm dilated (I dreamt on Mon night that MW told me my cervix had closed up!) but now 75% effaced. She couldnt believe I was still hanging on. I cried on DH that night that I was going to be preggo forever & that my body was faulty!
Went to bed on Tues evening about 11pm and was woken up at 12.30am (41+1) by a huge gush of warm water. Woop my waters had broke! Bit inconvenient in bed, but exciting! DH got me a towel, I sat on loo until the water stopped, stripped bed & got into another set of PJs. Still no pains! Hosp had told us at antenatal class to wait 2 hours after waters breaking if pain didnt start and then ring. So decided to try and have another couple of hours sleep as Id need my energy! So we went back to bed & just as I laid down, a second huge gush of water came out! This time darent go back to bed & we were too excited anyway!
By 1am I was having some twinges but they honestly werent painful at all. I wasnt even sure they really were contractions! But started to time them and they were every 6 mins so figured they were. They started to hot up & were coming every 5 mins so we rang hosp. Predictably, they told me to take 2 paracetamol, sit in a warm bath & phone back in an hour. DH grabbed the last few things we needed for our hosp bag glad Id pinned a last minute list to the bag so he could grab what we needed cos I couldnt have concentrated on it!
Ran a bath & when I got in I was still able to breathe through contractions whilst shouting to DH in the next room when they started/stopped so he could time them. After about 30 mins in bath they were coming every 2-3mins and I was finding it hard to breathe through them anymore. I also couldnt sit in the bath anymore wanted to be on my feet & moving about. So got out of bath & DH phoned hosp back & they said we could go in.
Car journey was not enjoyable! Managed to get in the car in between contractions but having to sit down was not comfy at all! Hung my head out the window like a dog & concentrated on breathing! Thank god it was 3am & the roads were empty! Getting to the labour ward was also a pain. Our hosp has a maternity entrance but its only open 7am-7pm so we had to go through main entrance, which meant parking in main car park quite a trek with me contacting about every 2 mins! DH put me in a wheel chair & wheeled me to labour ward lot faster than me having to stop every few metres!
We were met by a MW in labour ward. You could tell from the moment we arrived that she didnt believe I was in established labour. She asked me about the pains & where I was feeling them & when I said only really down the bottom of my bump, you could see in her face she thought this was just early labour. She then wanted to check that it was my waters that had gone. There was no bloody mistaking it in mine & DHs eyes but she was having none of it.
So I had to lay flat on my back on the bed for 30 mins whilst the fluid pooled inside me so she could check it was amniotic fluid. This was worst 30 mins of my life! I was literally crawling the walls, I couldnt keep still & really couldnt breathe through the contractions anymore. I told DH that if this was just the beginning then I deffo needed an epi. In the end I buzzed the MW back & told her I couldnt lay there anymore & was also sopping wet through Id gone through my pad & through my knickers & trakkie bottoms. She begrudgingly agreed that as 30 mins was nearly up, shed examine the waters. So out came the speculum sure enough it was my waters. Really, love?! I could have told you that 30 mins prior! So she then manually examined me to see how dilated I was again you could tell she didnt think I was in established labour. But she said oh, do you want the good news?. I was 8 cm dilated & hadnt been allowed any pain relief & made to lay bloody still! (Looking back, I am annoyed by this MWs attitude you could tell because I was a first time mum she thought I was just hamming it up.)
At last was allowed to get off the awful bed and onto my feet and got some G&A. After using it for the next contraction I said I didnt want it as it made me feel woozey & drunk. But she told me to stick at it & glad I did cos its good stuff! Weird though, doesnt take the pain away just somehow helps. I spent the next hour leaning on the bed & sucking on the G&A. I was starting to feel the need to push & was making some weird animal type noises during my contractions! So she got me up on the bed & examined me & I was fully dilated so allowed to start pushing. The MW made me stay laid down for this which I didnt like. I thought Id be better off with gravity on my side, stood up like Id been for the contractions. But I did as I was told.
I dont know if it was cos the urge the push came on or the change in position, but I couldnt really feel my contractions anymore & they slowed down a little. But managed to start pushing. After 45 mins of pushing I wasnt getting far the head just wasnt getting round the U-bend. By this time it was 7am & the shifts changed over, so I got a new MW and a student & the student MW was actually the one who delivered me. These two were way nicer & Im so glad the first MW didnt stay to deliver my baby. They could see I was struggling to hold my own legs up & push, so they got the leg supports up for me. By this time I was saying to DH that I couldnt do it & wasnt going to be able to push it out. They allow you an hour of pushing before they start to look at other options. So I pushed like mad for the next 15mins, but the head just still wasnt coming. They were monitoring baby after each contractions & the heart rate was fine, so the new MW said as long as it stayed that way, they wouldnt call the doctor. She then suggested that maybe a small cut (as she put it!) would help but I was dead set against this. So I started to push with all the energy I could summon & I managed to get to head to stay beyond the U-bend. The head crowned & I got up to the ears out but then had to wait for another contraction & my god, that was agony the burning was horrendous! With another push I got the shoulders out and with one last push, out came our baby!
Rex Charlie was born at 7.41am weighing 9lb 1.5oz. Our yellow bump was a boy after all my gut feeling was right! As were all the old wives tales & gender predictions. The wedding ring test, Chinese calendar & loads of others like the blood vessel in the eye, the lack of morning sickness & the way I carried, all said boy. So maybe theres some truth in them!
Rex came straight onto my chest & me & DH were smitten straight away. All that pain & struggling to get him out were totally worth it. The placenta delivered no problems whilst I enjoyed our first cuddle gunk & all! DH cut the cord too.
Unbelievably I had no external tears but did have a small internal one thanks to Rex trying to come down twisted with his shoulder in the way also the reason why I found it so hard to push him out. But these stitches havent been painful at all I was worried they sting but from what Ive read, internal stitches are less painful than external ones which sting when you wee & these dont! My back passage however was very painful for about 3 days afterwards felt really really bruised, but thankfully thats gone now too. Poor Rex also had quite a bad cone head due to the awkward position he was in!
About an hour after birth Rex latched on really easily for his first feed & both sets of our parents arrived to meet their new grandson. I then had a shower & some toast & we were moved up to the ward about 11am and we stayed in overnight before coming home last Thurs afternoon.
Phew that was a long one well done if youre still reading! But I used to love reading detailed birth stories whilst waiting for him to arrive so just returning the favour! xxx
well done for just using gas and air, it really is good stuff.
x
