maybethisit
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Well bubs is two weeks old today and today is her due date, so I thought I'd better get round to writing her birth story if I'm going to ever do it! Will be looking excitedly out for the other 30th July-ish mummies birth stories over next few days too, whether they're here already or not (been a bit too busy to keep up with b&b recently!)
I was in and out of hospital from about 35 1/2 weeks with suspected pre-eclampsia, but as it was a 'non-standard' presentation (lots of protein in urine, swelling and raised blood pressure, but bp never sky high - highest was 156/93 and that was brief - mostly it was around 140/78, which was high for my normal of 110/60 but not by pre-e standards - hence confusion...) My legs were hugely swollen from the feet up to the knees, but weirdly hardly anyone bothered to check above the ankles - when they did they went 'oooo...just how far does that go...?' and looked worried, but most of the time it seemed to get missed and it's only afterwards I've realised I shouldn't have relied on them to look at everything they ought to without me mentioning it. You just don't like to make a fuss, do you, but that's probably a dangerous attitude to have at times.
There was a lot of debate as to what to do with us - literally I'd be admitted one evening with the consultant saying would have to induce at 36 weeks, then discharged the next day with another consultant saying it should be fine to wait. Was sent to the hospital 6 times in two weeks and admitted 3 times, and by the end of it was in a real state of anxiety and confusion as nobody seemed able to agree what was going on or how to deal with it.
Eventually they booked us for an induction on 16th July at 38 weeks, but the day before my bp spiked and protein hit 4 pluses, and what I expected to be another 'yeah, you'll be alright, you can go' type episode ended with a consultant perkily popping a head round the curtain and saying 'we need to bring this induction forwards to tonight!' before disappearing again.
This totally freaked me out - so not prepared for it that I ended up crying on the phone to my husband in the corridor that I wasn't ready to have a baby - being pregnant was what I was used to, not giving birth - and that I wanted to go home...(when I got back to the labour ward they all looked really relieved - apparently they thought I'd done a runner...)
My husband hared up from work to the hospital and fortunately the labour and baby bags were in the car. We were given a brilliant room on the labour ward as due to the pre-e they couldn't start the induction on ante-natal, they said, as 'too high risk'. This was something that seemed to get forgotten later on.
The tablet pessary was put in at about 8pm and didn't hurt, but I started to get regular contractions soon after which lasted all night, every 2-3 minutes. These were uncomfortable and a quite painful but I had hired a tens machine which really helped.
At the end of the night I thought I must have got somewhere, what with them being so regular, but when the midwife examined me she said I was not quite 3cm and not in active labour - and that they had a crisis overcrowding situation on the labour ward with one person having just given birth on the antenatal ward, and another in the patient waiting room (this looks quite like a labour room but is off the ward)!
She said that if she broke my waters now I'd go into full labour, but that they had two more people about to deliver and nowhere to put them, and would we mind if they sent us to the antenatal ward for a bit to make room...?? Well, poor things, couldn't really say no could we, but I was a bit anxious after all the 'high risk' stuff. But we got transfered back and settled in to wait a couple of hours or so.
About 12 hours later we were STILL on the antenatal ward. CTG traces confirmed the baby was still happy and healthy but I was in bits by then - all the contractions had stopped and they had just taken my neighbour down to the labour ward before us even though I knew she was only 3cm and hadn't started off down there AND had no complications! I knew I shouldn't be resentful but at that point I hated her, poor innocent stranger... I just felt I couldn't take any more being stuck in that antenatal ward not knowing what was going on, being told there were risks for us but nobody agreeing on what, and nobody seeming to follow anything through - after two weeks of it over and over again.
Eventually, about 6pm, someone came for us and I sobbed my way onto labour ward like a big girly wimp - they were very nice to me there and I did manage to pull myself together, but by then I'd been awake for 36 hours and anxious and in pain for quite a lot of those, and I just didn't feel able to face labour any more...
We were given another room and my poor husband tried valiantly to convince me that I did want to have a baby really. Then the midwife appeared and turned out to be one who remembered me from one of my recent admissions, and remembered all the stuff that had gone on for me so was very understanding of the state I was in by then and was just brilliant, and I started to feel more positive.
She broke my waters, for which gas and air I have to say was very handy as it hurt quite a bit, then she said that I was still not even 3cm and that the cervix was very posterior - she said this was why it had hurt breaking the waters, cos she had to reach right back past the baby's head. Clearly it was going to be a long time before anything much happened, so at 6.20pm she suggested we go for a walk.
20 minutes into the walk I started to get hit by stronger, more painful contractions than anything so far and we headed back to the labour ward. I had to stop and lean on things each time one came and cranking up the TENS, I felt sure that we were on our way. We got back to the labour room about 7pm and the midwife took one look at me and said 'you don't look like you're in labour, frankly'...which was NOT what I wanted to hear. Tried not to sulk as she promised to come and examine me again at 8pm, and she left to attend to someone else.
About ten to 8, I got hit by an enormous back-ache contraction and suddenly everything changed. I threw the TENS controller away and grabbed the gas-and-air; within a minute another huge contraction hit and I started to panic - the pain was instantly more intense than either of my previous labours and it was mostly in my back - I knew that the baby had turned to be posterior facing a few days before and had tried not to worry about back labour, but here it was and it was a lot worse than I had expected...
Around 8 the midwife returned and she could obviously see straight away that things had kicked off. She waited for a break in contractions then examined me, and...STILL not quite 3cm.
At this point I cried - I knew that I just couldn't deal with hours of this and I asked for an epidural - well actually, I think i was begging - I was a bit out of it on gas and air - but the midwife was saying 'you can't have an epidural just because you're panicking', and I was saying something along the lines of panicking being a good idea at the time because I knew I couldn't go through a long back labour and could she please please get me one. When she realised it was back labour she relented straight away, but said that all the anaesthetists were in theatre till 9pm at the earliest. It was hard not to go to pieces at this point as the contractions were now leaving about 30 seconds between at the most, and were so strong, and I was feeling like I needed to push already - which scared the life out of me as I knew it must be much too early.
The next hour was really, really, tough. They made me get off the bed and tried to run me a bath, but I was in way too much pain to get into it. All I could do was lean over things and use the gas and air to try to get through the contractions. The midwife left us again and my poor OH was brilliant, but couldn't do much to help. At one point he suggested I 'try the birthing ball' - I think i suggested that HE try the birthing ball if he liked it that much (he's been really into them since antenatal classes for some reason...)
After one contraction I thought I was peeing on the bathroom floor, and was mortified through all the pain and haziness of the gas - but it turned out to be a huge gush of the hind waters.
Then I kneeled down leaning my arms and head on the bed and suddenly the urge to push became overwhelming - I gave up fighting it and thought I'll just end up with some kind of massive surgery happening or something, but there's nothing I can do - and then I felt the baby's head appearing! This was about 9.10pm and I'd been in active labour just over an hour, and less than 3cm at 8 0'clock...
I yelled for my husband to go and find a midwife and he charged off into the corridor and I could hear him calling (politely! why politely!?) 'the baby's coming!' Then there was a sort of stampede and three midwives piled into the room at once, and someone put some pillows under me in case they didn't manage to catch the baby, and someone else started telling me how to push, and when, and when to pant, and within three or four contractions and about 5 minutes she was here.
And she is the most gorgeous little girl ever
.
The midwife said 'well, I'll cancel that epidural, then, shall I...?' - and I remember feeling just a tiny bit justified for making a fuss after going through a 1 hour 20 minutes back labour from 3cm to delivery on just gas and air! Although I apparently did a lot of begging for an epidural, I didn't scream or swear so am quite proud of myself, even though I would probably have traded my grandmother for an epidural at the time if the opportunity to do so had presented itself...
Two weeks on and the swelling has mostly gone down, blood pressure is lower than it was although not back to normal, don't know about my kidneys yet - bloods being done to assess them at present - but Amelie is so beautiful and lovely she is worth every second of it xxx
ps despite rapid delivery, no stitches - so it is possible! And lovely little thing that she is, she turned around to face the right way in time to be delivered so that was great. Her apgar at 1 minute was 9, so she didn't suffer for being induced early and started breastfeeding within a few minutes We are so so lucky to have her - I'm 40 and we were ttc for a year... x
I was in and out of hospital from about 35 1/2 weeks with suspected pre-eclampsia, but as it was a 'non-standard' presentation (lots of protein in urine, swelling and raised blood pressure, but bp never sky high - highest was 156/93 and that was brief - mostly it was around 140/78, which was high for my normal of 110/60 but not by pre-e standards - hence confusion...) My legs were hugely swollen from the feet up to the knees, but weirdly hardly anyone bothered to check above the ankles - when they did they went 'oooo...just how far does that go...?' and looked worried, but most of the time it seemed to get missed and it's only afterwards I've realised I shouldn't have relied on them to look at everything they ought to without me mentioning it. You just don't like to make a fuss, do you, but that's probably a dangerous attitude to have at times.
There was a lot of debate as to what to do with us - literally I'd be admitted one evening with the consultant saying would have to induce at 36 weeks, then discharged the next day with another consultant saying it should be fine to wait. Was sent to the hospital 6 times in two weeks and admitted 3 times, and by the end of it was in a real state of anxiety and confusion as nobody seemed able to agree what was going on or how to deal with it.
Eventually they booked us for an induction on 16th July at 38 weeks, but the day before my bp spiked and protein hit 4 pluses, and what I expected to be another 'yeah, you'll be alright, you can go' type episode ended with a consultant perkily popping a head round the curtain and saying 'we need to bring this induction forwards to tonight!' before disappearing again.
This totally freaked me out - so not prepared for it that I ended up crying on the phone to my husband in the corridor that I wasn't ready to have a baby - being pregnant was what I was used to, not giving birth - and that I wanted to go home...(when I got back to the labour ward they all looked really relieved - apparently they thought I'd done a runner...)
My husband hared up from work to the hospital and fortunately the labour and baby bags were in the car. We were given a brilliant room on the labour ward as due to the pre-e they couldn't start the induction on ante-natal, they said, as 'too high risk'. This was something that seemed to get forgotten later on.
The tablet pessary was put in at about 8pm and didn't hurt, but I started to get regular contractions soon after which lasted all night, every 2-3 minutes. These were uncomfortable and a quite painful but I had hired a tens machine which really helped.
At the end of the night I thought I must have got somewhere, what with them being so regular, but when the midwife examined me she said I was not quite 3cm and not in active labour - and that they had a crisis overcrowding situation on the labour ward with one person having just given birth on the antenatal ward, and another in the patient waiting room (this looks quite like a labour room but is off the ward)!
She said that if she broke my waters now I'd go into full labour, but that they had two more people about to deliver and nowhere to put them, and would we mind if they sent us to the antenatal ward for a bit to make room...?? Well, poor things, couldn't really say no could we, but I was a bit anxious after all the 'high risk' stuff. But we got transfered back and settled in to wait a couple of hours or so.
About 12 hours later we were STILL on the antenatal ward. CTG traces confirmed the baby was still happy and healthy but I was in bits by then - all the contractions had stopped and they had just taken my neighbour down to the labour ward before us even though I knew she was only 3cm and hadn't started off down there AND had no complications! I knew I shouldn't be resentful but at that point I hated her, poor innocent stranger... I just felt I couldn't take any more being stuck in that antenatal ward not knowing what was going on, being told there were risks for us but nobody agreeing on what, and nobody seeming to follow anything through - after two weeks of it over and over again.
Eventually, about 6pm, someone came for us and I sobbed my way onto labour ward like a big girly wimp - they were very nice to me there and I did manage to pull myself together, but by then I'd been awake for 36 hours and anxious and in pain for quite a lot of those, and I just didn't feel able to face labour any more...
We were given another room and my poor husband tried valiantly to convince me that I did want to have a baby really. Then the midwife appeared and turned out to be one who remembered me from one of my recent admissions, and remembered all the stuff that had gone on for me so was very understanding of the state I was in by then and was just brilliant, and I started to feel more positive.
She broke my waters, for which gas and air I have to say was very handy as it hurt quite a bit, then she said that I was still not even 3cm and that the cervix was very posterior - she said this was why it had hurt breaking the waters, cos she had to reach right back past the baby's head. Clearly it was going to be a long time before anything much happened, so at 6.20pm she suggested we go for a walk.
20 minutes into the walk I started to get hit by stronger, more painful contractions than anything so far and we headed back to the labour ward. I had to stop and lean on things each time one came and cranking up the TENS, I felt sure that we were on our way. We got back to the labour room about 7pm and the midwife took one look at me and said 'you don't look like you're in labour, frankly'...which was NOT what I wanted to hear. Tried not to sulk as she promised to come and examine me again at 8pm, and she left to attend to someone else.
About ten to 8, I got hit by an enormous back-ache contraction and suddenly everything changed. I threw the TENS controller away and grabbed the gas-and-air; within a minute another huge contraction hit and I started to panic - the pain was instantly more intense than either of my previous labours and it was mostly in my back - I knew that the baby had turned to be posterior facing a few days before and had tried not to worry about back labour, but here it was and it was a lot worse than I had expected...
Around 8 the midwife returned and she could obviously see straight away that things had kicked off. She waited for a break in contractions then examined me, and...STILL not quite 3cm.
At this point I cried - I knew that I just couldn't deal with hours of this and I asked for an epidural - well actually, I think i was begging - I was a bit out of it on gas and air - but the midwife was saying 'you can't have an epidural just because you're panicking', and I was saying something along the lines of panicking being a good idea at the time because I knew I couldn't go through a long back labour and could she please please get me one. When she realised it was back labour she relented straight away, but said that all the anaesthetists were in theatre till 9pm at the earliest. It was hard not to go to pieces at this point as the contractions were now leaving about 30 seconds between at the most, and were so strong, and I was feeling like I needed to push already - which scared the life out of me as I knew it must be much too early.
The next hour was really, really, tough. They made me get off the bed and tried to run me a bath, but I was in way too much pain to get into it. All I could do was lean over things and use the gas and air to try to get through the contractions. The midwife left us again and my poor OH was brilliant, but couldn't do much to help. At one point he suggested I 'try the birthing ball' - I think i suggested that HE try the birthing ball if he liked it that much (he's been really into them since antenatal classes for some reason...)
After one contraction I thought I was peeing on the bathroom floor, and was mortified through all the pain and haziness of the gas - but it turned out to be a huge gush of the hind waters.
Then I kneeled down leaning my arms and head on the bed and suddenly the urge to push became overwhelming - I gave up fighting it and thought I'll just end up with some kind of massive surgery happening or something, but there's nothing I can do - and then I felt the baby's head appearing! This was about 9.10pm and I'd been in active labour just over an hour, and less than 3cm at 8 0'clock...
I yelled for my husband to go and find a midwife and he charged off into the corridor and I could hear him calling (politely! why politely!?) 'the baby's coming!' Then there was a sort of stampede and three midwives piled into the room at once, and someone put some pillows under me in case they didn't manage to catch the baby, and someone else started telling me how to push, and when, and when to pant, and within three or four contractions and about 5 minutes she was here.
And she is the most gorgeous little girl ever
. The midwife said 'well, I'll cancel that epidural, then, shall I...?' - and I remember feeling just a tiny bit justified for making a fuss after going through a 1 hour 20 minutes back labour from 3cm to delivery on just gas and air! Although I apparently did a lot of begging for an epidural, I didn't scream or swear so am quite proud of myself, even though I would probably have traded my grandmother for an epidural at the time if the opportunity to do so had presented itself...
Two weeks on and the swelling has mostly gone down, blood pressure is lower than it was although not back to normal, don't know about my kidneys yet - bloods being done to assess them at present - but Amelie is so beautiful and lovely she is worth every second of it
xxxps despite rapid delivery, no stitches - so it is possible! And lovely little thing that she is, she turned around to face the right way in time to be delivered so that was great. Her apgar at 1 minute was 9, so she didn't suffer for being induced early and started breastfeeding within a few minutes
We are so so lucky to have her - I'm 40 and we were ttc for a year... x
xx
