P
purple_socks
Guest
Thought Id write my birth plan while I have the chance and before the memory fades
sorry if its long- it was a looooong labour!
My little man Kian was born 21st July 2009 weighing 8lbs 13
It was Monday 21st and I was 13 days past my EDD.
Id tried all the things to kick start labour for weeks but There had been no signs of labour and Id given up trying to make it happen and decided to just chill out and wait- I suspected LO was laying wrong so had been trying to shift him but he seemed quite set on staying back to back.
OH woke me up to say bye before he left for work at 6am and I decided to go to the loo for the millionth time. Sitting on the loo I felt something kind of plop out (guessed it was my plug) and then water gushed after it. OH decided to stay home since he worked quite far away and we called the community MW co-ordinator to give them the heads up as wed planned a home birth. A MW popped round abt 8am to do some checks n me and to check it was my waters. I had just started having period type pains which turned into proper contractions abt 20 mins after the MW left. To cut a long story slightly shorter- Contractions were irregular all day. Some were as close as 3 mins but mostly they ranged from 7 mins to every 10 mins lasting for 1-2 mins. I found it fairly easy to cope with all day- Id even go as far as to say labour was fairly pleasant for the next 24 hours. I had 2 baths and used my hypnobirthing breathing and relaxation techniques. OH got us some lunch and we did various things to take our minds of labour- we watched a Harry potter film, OH gave me massages while I sat on my birthing ball and I even managed a nap in an arm chair. I couldnt lay down in bed but for a few hours I managed to snooze in between contractions sitting up- just waking up at the peak but never really opening my eyes. I just breathed through them then went back to sleep! At abt 1 am tues morning we decided to bake a cake! (strange I know but I wanted to move around through contractions so walking around the kitchen doing stuff was helpful) We then set up and half filled the birthing pool so it would b ready if we suddenly needed it.
I sent OH off to bed after that coz contractions hadnt changed and I knew we still had a long time to go. I tried to get more sleep myself but still couldnt lay down so tried the arm chair again. Drifting off then waking up ever few minutes when I was so tired was like Chinese water torture! I got a bit upset then coz I was really tired. I woke OH up after abt an hour and got him to help me finish filling the pool so I could see if relaxing in the water would help.
I got in the pool abt 3am and contractions suddenly got really close together. The water was great though and made it much easier to relax. We timed contractions for a couple of hours (using an online thingy) They were still lasting 1-2 mins but now coming every 6 mins at first then 4 mins then every 2 mins by 5 am ish. At first I found signing in a low voice helped (had the ipod on so sang along to songs on that) then I found kneeling up, swaying and taking deep breaths in then making a low mooing type sound with an outward breath really helped. OH pouring water over my back during contractions helped loads too. We called for a MW at 7am- I still thought we had a long way to go but I started feeling like Id like to have them pop in and check on me and OH said he was starting to feel a bit lost and in need of support. We were told all the Mws were busy and we could go into the unit if we liked. We had expected to face something like this so wasnt worried. We declined and called back half hour later. A MW was sent round abt an hour after that. I had originally decided on my birth plan not to have internal checks but because my contractions were so erratic I felt I couldnt really use them as an indication of progress so I wanted to know what was going on down there! Wish I hadnt though because I was only 1cm! Over 24 hours for that! The MW told us to try and get some sleep and call her if anything changes-if not shell come back in a few hours. Being out the pool made contractions really difficult to deal with. I could handle the pain that came across the front- relaxing and breathing worked with that but the there was a constant pain in my hips and back which got worse with each contraction and I couldnt find any way of relaxing anything in that area. I couldnt sit or stand or lay down all I could do was lean or slightly squat! It was horrible. I knew I couldnt stay in the pool though Id dissolve!!
I got really upset and kinda lost it at that point. Contractions felt like they were on top of each other and all I wanted to do was make them go away so I could get some sleep. I got back in the pool, sat in the middle and cried my eyes out (which I could feel wasnt helping- tensing up and crying made it hurt LOADS more but I couldnt help it! I had a proper toddler moment and felt very sorry for myself at this point) I think the internal had really disheartened me. Then me crying made OH cry so it was quite a cry fest in our house! I made OH call the maternity unit and see if we could opt for an elective c-section coz at this moment Id gone off the whole having a baby idea and just wanted this all to end! Apparently thats not allowed tho!
Pulled myself together after that and did some relaxation techniques which calmed things down a bit. Then a little while later I went to the toilet I noticed loads of green stuff and realised that LO must have passed meconium. I felt strangely calm at the prospect of our homebirth plans going out the window. Id read so many birth stories that followed the pattern my labour appeared to b following- back to back baby, long labour, fetal distress- I knew this was probably going to end in a section (ironic really after my little break down where I tried to book one!)
Our MW was really lovely- She came back after we called about the meconium. I knew wed be transferring in to hospital because when my waters had broken theyd been clear so this was new and not due to Kian being overdue. The MW also checked his heart beat which was a bit erratic during contractions.
We transferred in to the maternity ward in an ambulance after 30 hours at home- which was v embarrassing coz they blocked our road and loads of cars were waiting behind it!
Anyway- once at hospital things flew by in a blur. I asked to have an epidural because contractions where right on top of each other and I really really needed some sleep but the anaesthetist was in theatre so I agreed to pethadin. I really wish I hadnt though coz it was rubbish- it didnt stop the pain or take me away from it I just couldnt open my eyes and couldnt speak without slurring but everything still hurt!!
They wanted me to lay back on the bed and be monitored but I wasnt having any of it .laying back hurt so much there was no way I could do that for the rest of my labour! I managed 3 mins before I jumped off the bed and pulled the monitoring things off! God knows why they havent thought of a better way of doing things than that!
Eventually after lots of gas and air and mooing I had an epidural and promptly fell asleep while they attached all the monitoring pad things. I was woken up by a consultant and told that Kians heart rate had been showing signs of distress and theyd tried having me lay on my left etc but nothing had helped. I was 4 cm and they didnt want to speed things up with a hormone drip because that would probably make Kian more distressed so c-section it was. I still cant believe how calm I was abt it all. I thought I would be really gutted that I didnt get a home birth but I wasnt. and I was shockingly calm abt the prospect of an operation and a hospital stay! I think a combination of having such a lovely calming MW and my hypnobirthing relaxation techniques meant I was totally chilled abt everything. I didnt feel like Id had my control taken away/ hadnt had things done to me without my permission which had been a concern of mine abt going into hospital. We also had a really really lovely anaesthetist who joked and chatted away with me while I was being prepared and I found the stronger epidural quite fun! being in theatre was an oddly fun experience (never thought that would be the case)
After what seemed like a few seconds of tugging I heard a little cry and we saw our little (well actually not so little- 8lb13) man for the first time. He stopped crying as soon as his daddy held him and he was wide a awake and super alert- he did have a funny shaped head though coz apparently hed been a bit stuck!
So thats pretty much it things didnt turn out how Id planned but Id really glad Id planned a homebirth or I might have been temped to go to hospital a lot earlier and I wouldnt have been so relaxed- chilling out at home and using the water pool whenever I wanted (rather than following hospital policy of waiting til I was 5 cm) made it much easier to cope.
The only thing Im really gutted abt is I havent been able to breast feed. I dont know if its due to the c-section but for 5 days I had nothing and Kian was sucking my nipples raw! In hindsight I should have asked to see a breast feeding expert but I didnt think of it at the time. I kept asking the MWs and nurses on the ward for help but most of them were really unhelpful! A few showed me how to latch him on (which wasnt the problem) but most just shrugged and told me to keep trying. I quit after a night of sitting there for 4 hours trying to feed him I had blisters on my nipples and they were bleeding plus I nearly dropped him twice coz I was drifting off to sleep and when I asked what I should do a nurse left me a carton of formula and a syringe, told me we advise u 2 just keep trying to feed him but its up to u and then left and never came back!!!
Once I got home I started trying to express and have managed to give him a bottle a day of expressed milk.
still, I'm recovering and feeling loads better now we're at home and Kian seems happy- he's so calm and chilled out. thats all that matters to me
My little man Kian was born 21st July 2009 weighing 8lbs 13 It was Monday 21st and I was 13 days past my EDD.
Id tried all the things to kick start labour for weeks but There had been no signs of labour and Id given up trying to make it happen and decided to just chill out and wait- I suspected LO was laying wrong so had been trying to shift him but he seemed quite set on staying back to back.
OH woke me up to say bye before he left for work at 6am and I decided to go to the loo for the millionth time. Sitting on the loo I felt something kind of plop out (guessed it was my plug) and then water gushed after it. OH decided to stay home since he worked quite far away and we called the community MW co-ordinator to give them the heads up as wed planned a home birth. A MW popped round abt 8am to do some checks n me and to check it was my waters. I had just started having period type pains which turned into proper contractions abt 20 mins after the MW left. To cut a long story slightly shorter- Contractions were irregular all day. Some were as close as 3 mins but mostly they ranged from 7 mins to every 10 mins lasting for 1-2 mins. I found it fairly easy to cope with all day- Id even go as far as to say labour was fairly pleasant for the next 24 hours. I had 2 baths and used my hypnobirthing breathing and relaxation techniques. OH got us some lunch and we did various things to take our minds of labour- we watched a Harry potter film, OH gave me massages while I sat on my birthing ball and I even managed a nap in an arm chair. I couldnt lay down in bed but for a few hours I managed to snooze in between contractions sitting up- just waking up at the peak but never really opening my eyes. I just breathed through them then went back to sleep! At abt 1 am tues morning we decided to bake a cake! (strange I know but I wanted to move around through contractions so walking around the kitchen doing stuff was helpful) We then set up and half filled the birthing pool so it would b ready if we suddenly needed it.
I sent OH off to bed after that coz contractions hadnt changed and I knew we still had a long time to go. I tried to get more sleep myself but still couldnt lay down so tried the arm chair again. Drifting off then waking up ever few minutes when I was so tired was like Chinese water torture! I got a bit upset then coz I was really tired. I woke OH up after abt an hour and got him to help me finish filling the pool so I could see if relaxing in the water would help.
I got in the pool abt 3am and contractions suddenly got really close together. The water was great though and made it much easier to relax. We timed contractions for a couple of hours (using an online thingy) They were still lasting 1-2 mins but now coming every 6 mins at first then 4 mins then every 2 mins by 5 am ish. At first I found signing in a low voice helped (had the ipod on so sang along to songs on that) then I found kneeling up, swaying and taking deep breaths in then making a low mooing type sound with an outward breath really helped. OH pouring water over my back during contractions helped loads too. We called for a MW at 7am- I still thought we had a long way to go but I started feeling like Id like to have them pop in and check on me and OH said he was starting to feel a bit lost and in need of support. We were told all the Mws were busy and we could go into the unit if we liked. We had expected to face something like this so wasnt worried. We declined and called back half hour later. A MW was sent round abt an hour after that. I had originally decided on my birth plan not to have internal checks but because my contractions were so erratic I felt I couldnt really use them as an indication of progress so I wanted to know what was going on down there! Wish I hadnt though because I was only 1cm! Over 24 hours for that! The MW told us to try and get some sleep and call her if anything changes-if not shell come back in a few hours. Being out the pool made contractions really difficult to deal with. I could handle the pain that came across the front- relaxing and breathing worked with that but the there was a constant pain in my hips and back which got worse with each contraction and I couldnt find any way of relaxing anything in that area. I couldnt sit or stand or lay down all I could do was lean or slightly squat! It was horrible. I knew I couldnt stay in the pool though Id dissolve!!
I got really upset and kinda lost it at that point. Contractions felt like they were on top of each other and all I wanted to do was make them go away so I could get some sleep. I got back in the pool, sat in the middle and cried my eyes out (which I could feel wasnt helping- tensing up and crying made it hurt LOADS more but I couldnt help it! I had a proper toddler moment and felt very sorry for myself at this point) I think the internal had really disheartened me. Then me crying made OH cry so it was quite a cry fest in our house! I made OH call the maternity unit and see if we could opt for an elective c-section coz at this moment Id gone off the whole having a baby idea and just wanted this all to end! Apparently thats not allowed tho!
Pulled myself together after that and did some relaxation techniques which calmed things down a bit. Then a little while later I went to the toilet I noticed loads of green stuff and realised that LO must have passed meconium. I felt strangely calm at the prospect of our homebirth plans going out the window. Id read so many birth stories that followed the pattern my labour appeared to b following- back to back baby, long labour, fetal distress- I knew this was probably going to end in a section (ironic really after my little break down where I tried to book one!)
Our MW was really lovely- She came back after we called about the meconium. I knew wed be transferring in to hospital because when my waters had broken theyd been clear so this was new and not due to Kian being overdue. The MW also checked his heart beat which was a bit erratic during contractions.
We transferred in to the maternity ward in an ambulance after 30 hours at home- which was v embarrassing coz they blocked our road and loads of cars were waiting behind it!
Anyway- once at hospital things flew by in a blur. I asked to have an epidural because contractions where right on top of each other and I really really needed some sleep but the anaesthetist was in theatre so I agreed to pethadin. I really wish I hadnt though coz it was rubbish- it didnt stop the pain or take me away from it I just couldnt open my eyes and couldnt speak without slurring but everything still hurt!!
They wanted me to lay back on the bed and be monitored but I wasnt having any of it .laying back hurt so much there was no way I could do that for the rest of my labour! I managed 3 mins before I jumped off the bed and pulled the monitoring things off! God knows why they havent thought of a better way of doing things than that!
Eventually after lots of gas and air and mooing I had an epidural and promptly fell asleep while they attached all the monitoring pad things. I was woken up by a consultant and told that Kians heart rate had been showing signs of distress and theyd tried having me lay on my left etc but nothing had helped. I was 4 cm and they didnt want to speed things up with a hormone drip because that would probably make Kian more distressed so c-section it was. I still cant believe how calm I was abt it all. I thought I would be really gutted that I didnt get a home birth but I wasnt. and I was shockingly calm abt the prospect of an operation and a hospital stay! I think a combination of having such a lovely calming MW and my hypnobirthing relaxation techniques meant I was totally chilled abt everything. I didnt feel like Id had my control taken away/ hadnt had things done to me without my permission which had been a concern of mine abt going into hospital. We also had a really really lovely anaesthetist who joked and chatted away with me while I was being prepared and I found the stronger epidural quite fun! being in theatre was an oddly fun experience (never thought that would be the case)
After what seemed like a few seconds of tugging I heard a little cry and we saw our little (well actually not so little- 8lb13) man for the first time. He stopped crying as soon as his daddy held him and he was wide a awake and super alert- he did have a funny shaped head though coz apparently hed been a bit stuck!
So thats pretty much it things didnt turn out how Id planned but Id really glad Id planned a homebirth or I might have been temped to go to hospital a lot earlier and I wouldnt have been so relaxed- chilling out at home and using the water pool whenever I wanted (rather than following hospital policy of waiting til I was 5 cm) made it much easier to cope.
The only thing Im really gutted abt is I havent been able to breast feed. I dont know if its due to the c-section but for 5 days I had nothing and Kian was sucking my nipples raw! In hindsight I should have asked to see a breast feeding expert but I didnt think of it at the time. I kept asking the MWs and nurses on the ward for help but most of them were really unhelpful! A few showed me how to latch him on (which wasnt the problem) but most just shrugged and told me to keep trying. I quit after a night of sitting there for 4 hours trying to feed him I had blisters on my nipples and they were bleeding plus I nearly dropped him twice coz I was drifting off to sleep and when I asked what I should do a nurse left me a carton of formula and a syringe, told me we advise u 2 just keep trying to feed him but its up to u and then left and never came back!!!
Once I got home I started trying to express and have managed to give him a bottle a day of expressed milk.
still, I'm recovering and feeling loads better now we're at home and Kian seems happy- he's so calm and chilled out. thats all that matters to me
at you baking a cake whilst in labour - by the way how did it turn out?! And 
)
