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Right, its about time that I actually posted my birth story (although its a bit pointless now as i have left it so long!!) 
14 days ago, on the 2nd Jan, I gave birth to my son Aiden Leigh. He was 7lb 1oz and 49.4cm long. He arrived 4 days after his due date.
I was in labour for a total of 46.5 hours and it didn't go anything like I had planned.
It started in the early hours of New Years Eve. I put the contractions timer app on my phone to see how far apart they were and time the duration of each. They started at 7 mins apart and lasted about 45 seconds. Like very bad period pain - bad enough to stop me from getting sleep.
I called the hospital to ask for advice later in the day and they said to take painkillers and have a bath and call back when the contractions were 5 mins apart. When they were (and i was in quite a bit of pain as they were lasting 1.5 mins!!) they told me to have another bath and take more pain killers then call back when i had 3 contractions in 10 mins! Hours later they were pretty much unbearable but still not getting closer together. They'd actually gone back to 7-10 mins apart. I called again and the midwife said it sounded like i wasnt coping, and as i didnt know whether my waters had broken or not (thanks to all the baths Id had), they advised me to go in. Hmmf!
At 10.30am on 1st Jan, I got to hospital and went on the monitor for a bit to see how Aiden was. All fine there. Then they inserted the speculum to see if my waters had broken... they had!
As we had no idea how long it had been since the waters had gone they kept me in and i went onto the ward. A bit later I had the internal examination to see how dilated I was VERY painful for me!! And even after all that time (approx 35 hours) I was only 1cm dilated!
Again, I was attached to the monitors and they gave me the gas and air to help with the pain, which made me have a weird reaction and pass out on the first attempt. Lol, The midwife said she was very close to pushing the emergency button because it looked like I was starting to have a fit. The anaesthetist said there was nothing in it that should cause a fit so continue to use it.
A bit later they checked again and I was only 3cm. By this time I was in agony, so they gave me the epidural, and it started to work wonders. They attached a probe thing to Aidens head to monitor his heartbeat better. I no longer needed the gas and air after the epidural but unfortunately it slowed the contractions down and I was stuck on 3cm.
They gave me the hormone drip to speed things up. Aiden didnt like this. During each contraction, his heartbeat dropped from over 160 down to 52, so that was turned off. I was checked again and was 5cm. I had started to feel the contractions again so the epidural was turned up. This was done a few times throughout the labour. The hormone drip was put on again and I very quickly went from 5 to 8cm and the midwife said i was ready to push in after what felt like a few mins. I never actually felt the urge to push. She had to tell me i was ready lol. My legs were completely dead by this point but I could still feel pain in my back and some in my groin. They put my legs up on the stirrups and I pushed for no more than 10 minutes before he arrived.
Those last 10 mins scared the hell out of me and I had started to panic. I was getting quite angry with Dan and the staff and was swearing because I just couldnt do what they wanted me to.
I was extremely frustrated because of the lack of feeling in my legs and bum but immense pain in my back! I had a room full of people, and one of them kept knocking the damn cannula in my hand. 
I needed only 1 stitch for a 2nd degree tear. The reason the epidural stopped working is because I had somehow pulled it out of place!
Next time I hope to be more mobile and not be confined to the bed because of an epidural. I would like gravity to help bring the baby down, or even have a water birth (like I wanted this time!)
Our story since the birth
I was stuck in hospital for a few days because Aiden couldnt regulate his own temperature, so had to be monitored whilst on a heated mat in the cot. Then they said he was jaundiced and dehydrated and had to have blood tests - these were done twice and neither could be used because they clotted. Then they didnt want to discharge me because I was having some issues with breastfeeding.
I finally got out, and when the midwife came over to weigh Aiden, he had lost 13% of his birth weight, so had gone from 7lb 1oz down to 6lb 4oz, so we were sent to hospital to get checked out. We have had to give him formula now because I just cant produce enough breast milk for him.
The last time he was weighed, he was 7lb 3oz, so he is making great progress. He will be weighed again on Thurs.
For the last few days, he has had sticky eyes, so we took him to the docs after seeing the health visitor today, and they said he has got conjunctivitis, so we have some drops for him.
Anyway, thanks to those that manage to read all this waffle haha. I was meant to do my birth story as soon as i was home, but ive been a bit busy
Less than 1 hour old
14 days ago, on the 2nd Jan, I gave birth to my son Aiden Leigh. He was 7lb 1oz and 49.4cm long. He arrived 4 days after his due date.
I was in labour for a total of 46.5 hours and it didn't go anything like I had planned.
It started in the early hours of New Years Eve. I put the contractions timer app on my phone to see how far apart they were and time the duration of each. They started at 7 mins apart and lasted about 45 seconds. Like very bad period pain - bad enough to stop me from getting sleep.
I called the hospital to ask for advice later in the day and they said to take painkillers and have a bath and call back when the contractions were 5 mins apart. When they were (and i was in quite a bit of pain as they were lasting 1.5 mins!!) they told me to have another bath and take more pain killers then call back when i had 3 contractions in 10 mins! Hours later they were pretty much unbearable but still not getting closer together. They'd actually gone back to 7-10 mins apart. I called again and the midwife said it sounded like i wasnt coping, and as i didnt know whether my waters had broken or not (thanks to all the baths Id had), they advised me to go in. Hmmf!
At 10.30am on 1st Jan, I got to hospital and went on the monitor for a bit to see how Aiden was. All fine there. Then they inserted the speculum to see if my waters had broken... they had!
As we had no idea how long it had been since the waters had gone they kept me in and i went onto the ward. A bit later I had the internal examination to see how dilated I was VERY painful for me!! And even after all that time (approx 35 hours) I was only 1cm dilated!
Again, I was attached to the monitors and they gave me the gas and air to help with the pain, which made me have a weird reaction and pass out on the first attempt. Lol, The midwife said she was very close to pushing the emergency button because it looked like I was starting to have a fit. The anaesthetist said there was nothing in it that should cause a fit so continue to use it.
A bit later they checked again and I was only 3cm. By this time I was in agony, so they gave me the epidural, and it started to work wonders. They attached a probe thing to Aidens head to monitor his heartbeat better. I no longer needed the gas and air after the epidural but unfortunately it slowed the contractions down and I was stuck on 3cm.
They gave me the hormone drip to speed things up. Aiden didnt like this. During each contraction, his heartbeat dropped from over 160 down to 52, so that was turned off. I was checked again and was 5cm. I had started to feel the contractions again so the epidural was turned up. This was done a few times throughout the labour. The hormone drip was put on again and I very quickly went from 5 to 8cm and the midwife said i was ready to push in after what felt like a few mins. I never actually felt the urge to push. She had to tell me i was ready lol. My legs were completely dead by this point but I could still feel pain in my back and some in my groin. They put my legs up on the stirrups and I pushed for no more than 10 minutes before he arrived.
Those last 10 mins scared the hell out of me and I had started to panic. I was getting quite angry with Dan and the staff and was swearing because I just couldnt do what they wanted me to.
I was extremely frustrated because of the lack of feeling in my legs and bum but immense pain in my back! I had a room full of people, and one of them kept knocking the damn cannula in my hand. I needed only 1 stitch for a 2nd degree tear. The reason the epidural stopped working is because I had somehow pulled it out of place!
Next time I hope to be more mobile and not be confined to the bed because of an epidural. I would like gravity to help bring the baby down, or even have a water birth (like I wanted this time!)
Our story since the birth
I was stuck in hospital for a few days because Aiden couldnt regulate his own temperature, so had to be monitored whilst on a heated mat in the cot. Then they said he was jaundiced and dehydrated and had to have blood tests - these were done twice and neither could be used because they clotted. Then they didnt want to discharge me because I was having some issues with breastfeeding.
I finally got out, and when the midwife came over to weigh Aiden, he had lost 13% of his birth weight, so had gone from 7lb 1oz down to 6lb 4oz, so we were sent to hospital to get checked out. We have had to give him formula now because I just cant produce enough breast milk for him.
The last time he was weighed, he was 7lb 3oz, so he is making great progress. He will be weighed again on Thurs.
For the last few days, he has had sticky eyes, so we took him to the docs after seeing the health visitor today, and they said he has got conjunctivitis, so we have some drops for him.
Anyway, thanks to those that manage to read all this waffle haha. I was meant to do my birth story as soon as i was home, but ive been a bit busy
Less than 1 hour old
