...or how I didn't get anything my way and I'm totally ok with it.
Monday July 5th:
Had some brown snotlike show in the shower and on wiping. A bit crampy, but have been for a few days. Had OB appointment to assess unengaged head. Cervix high but fingertip dilated. Crampy, but not really contracting the rest of the day. More show every time at wiping for rest of day.
Tuesday July 6th: Less cramping and contracting than yesterday. Show in morning, less by midmorning.
Wednesday July 7th: Bad contracting all night. Enough to wake me up more than a few times. Needed to breathe through them at times. Still irregular. Sometimes several in 30 minutes, sometimes not for hours. Show is more grey/clear than brown at this point, but there was lots of it all night when getting up to pee. Baby doesnt like contractions. Kicks up a fuss after one ends.
Start having more regular contractions midafternoon. We take the dogs off to the kennel as I was being induced the next day anyhow. By the time we get home from that around 5 pm I call the midwives and they sound encouraging. Telling me to call back in 2 hours or so of the contractions intensify.
By 7pm Im sure something is going on and not stopping. I call back, and again am told hang on for another 2 hours. By this point for 2 hours they have been every 2-4 minutes lasting 40 seconds to a minute or so and I have to stop when I have one. I can hang on. We watch a movie and I hop in and out of the bath a bit. The bath is nice but nowhere near deep enough. I call back around 10pm to check in. I start timing again and contractions are still every 2-3 minutes lasting around a minute each time.
I decide that if things are still going by midnight Ill go off to the hospital. Have managed so far without pain relief. Just bouncing on my ball, rocking and walking around.
So Midnight, I call the midwife, she says she will meet us there in about 30 minutes. Im looking forward to the gas and air at this point. And if things do stop Im still being induced tomorrow. Im feeling pretty relaxed, but I want to see how far Ive progressed and how the baby is doing as movements arent as frequent and Im a bit nervous.
We arrive at the hospital and my lovely optimistic midwife has booked us one of the two birthing pool suites on the offchance Ill be allowed to use it.
I brought my ball so have my husband inflate it. I pace around the room through contractions. The midwife wants to do some CTG monitoring. She says if things look ok for 20 minutes I can hop in the pool. So up on the bed I go and I get hooked up.
CTG shows my contractions are getting stronger and also sometimes doing a funny double dip thing. As in one will start, not finish and another stronger one will come along on top of it. However, the CTG is also showing a dip in fetal heart rate during contractions. The MW pages the on call OB who is a very nice lady. She wants to put a clip in the babys head because they want to be sure the CTG readings are accurate and not a side effect of my wiggling during contractions. Its now maybe 2am. So the OB does a cervical check (4cm) and breaks the waters (very nice and warm). Sadly the waters are very thick with meconium. Not surprising as even by conservative estimates this LO is 11 days past due.
The contractions get a lot stronger and harder to deal with (did I mention I still havent got any gas and air? No pain relief at all yet) now that the waters are gone. So since there was meconium and the fetal heart rate dropping is confirmed by the clip, they start talking about giving me an epidural just in case I need a c-section. My main objection to that was not being able to move and its pretty clear Im not getting off the bed now, so I agree. Unfortunately the anesthetist is called away to a crash c-section so Im laboring without waters and just gas and air for another hour or so. In this time the babys heart rate keeps dropping and the contractions are getting a lot stronger. The gas and air doesnt do a damn thing except give me something to focus on. I complain about that because the stuff the dentists have is a lot better. I cant seem to remember how bad the contractions are when they are over. The only one I do remember was some daft woman came in and told me I needed to breathe through the pain and I wanted to hit her. I was managing fine, just moaning and keening and stuff. No one liked daft woman. I was on a wobbly bed so they decided to have me move and the stupid woman was trying to take my bp while they were shifting me. My MW threw the bp cuff at her. I gather a lot of people were in and out of the room as the babys hear t rate kept dropping more and more. The MW said she hasnt hit the emergency on call button so much in a long time.
I shift positions a few times to find out what might be causing distress but nothing really seems to help. Im pretty sad that Im laboring lying down. It certainly made it a lot more uncomfortable for me.
I guess around 4am or so the nice OB comes back and wants to get some blood from the baby to see if the baby has the reserves to deal with the labour. Unfortunately the head has gone back up, they cant get blood, and after 2 hours I am only 5cm (up from 4). So things arent happening (probably because Ive been laying down since they broke my waters) and they cant assess the situation well enough.
The anesthetist comes back and there isnt enough time to give an epidural now so they are going to give me a spinal block.
Off I go to theatre, get my spinal block and the pain is gone. I didnt really mind the pain. I did mind not being allowed to move to deal with it. So having it gone is nice.
Soon afterwards (4:40 Am July 8th) Im having my c-section and hearing my baby cry. Not only was she covered in meconium (lovely lovely MW took pictures of the whole coming out process. So glad I have them). But as soon as she was cleaned up she had another meconium explosion. Someone had to run and get more towels.
She was 8lbs 3oz and very vigourous. APGARs of 9, 8 and 10 at 1, 5 and 10 minutes (needed ventilation as she had swallowed and inhaled a fair amount of meconium).
So despite that potentially being traumatic I dont feel it was really. I wanted at the minimum a mobile labour (if not a water birth) but a healthy baby first and foremost. Im glad I was able to go into labour naturally. I was afraid I couldnt since with my MMC things never got started so I had to have a D&C. Im also proud of myself for managing with the pain as much as I did. I really wish I knew why she didnt engage and why labour didnt progress so I can have the best chance at a VBAC next time. I spent the last few months making sure LO was in the right position and really gearing toward a natural labour. I barely got anything on my birth plan and Im ok with it(I got a baby and the placenta. Since it was an emergency section I wouldnt have gotten anything on a c-section brith plan either).
So here is my lovely Lucy-bird (she makes a little baby bird mouth all the time). Shes very alert and un-newborn like (she can kind of hold her head up, can focus her eyes well, and is very strong).
Monday July 5th:
Had some brown snotlike show in the shower and on wiping. A bit crampy, but have been for a few days. Had OB appointment to assess unengaged head. Cervix high but fingertip dilated. Crampy, but not really contracting the rest of the day. More show every time at wiping for rest of day.
Tuesday July 6th: Less cramping and contracting than yesterday. Show in morning, less by midmorning.
Wednesday July 7th: Bad contracting all night. Enough to wake me up more than a few times. Needed to breathe through them at times. Still irregular. Sometimes several in 30 minutes, sometimes not for hours. Show is more grey/clear than brown at this point, but there was lots of it all night when getting up to pee. Baby doesnt like contractions. Kicks up a fuss after one ends.
Start having more regular contractions midafternoon. We take the dogs off to the kennel as I was being induced the next day anyhow. By the time we get home from that around 5 pm I call the midwives and they sound encouraging. Telling me to call back in 2 hours or so of the contractions intensify.
By 7pm Im sure something is going on and not stopping. I call back, and again am told hang on for another 2 hours. By this point for 2 hours they have been every 2-4 minutes lasting 40 seconds to a minute or so and I have to stop when I have one. I can hang on. We watch a movie and I hop in and out of the bath a bit. The bath is nice but nowhere near deep enough. I call back around 10pm to check in. I start timing again and contractions are still every 2-3 minutes lasting around a minute each time.
I decide that if things are still going by midnight Ill go off to the hospital. Have managed so far without pain relief. Just bouncing on my ball, rocking and walking around.
So Midnight, I call the midwife, she says she will meet us there in about 30 minutes. Im looking forward to the gas and air at this point. And if things do stop Im still being induced tomorrow. Im feeling pretty relaxed, but I want to see how far Ive progressed and how the baby is doing as movements arent as frequent and Im a bit nervous.
We arrive at the hospital and my lovely optimistic midwife has booked us one of the two birthing pool suites on the offchance Ill be allowed to use it.
I brought my ball so have my husband inflate it. I pace around the room through contractions. The midwife wants to do some CTG monitoring. She says if things look ok for 20 minutes I can hop in the pool. So up on the bed I go and I get hooked up.
CTG shows my contractions are getting stronger and also sometimes doing a funny double dip thing. As in one will start, not finish and another stronger one will come along on top of it. However, the CTG is also showing a dip in fetal heart rate during contractions. The MW pages the on call OB who is a very nice lady. She wants to put a clip in the babys head because they want to be sure the CTG readings are accurate and not a side effect of my wiggling during contractions. Its now maybe 2am. So the OB does a cervical check (4cm) and breaks the waters (very nice and warm). Sadly the waters are very thick with meconium. Not surprising as even by conservative estimates this LO is 11 days past due.
The contractions get a lot stronger and harder to deal with (did I mention I still havent got any gas and air? No pain relief at all yet) now that the waters are gone. So since there was meconium and the fetal heart rate dropping is confirmed by the clip, they start talking about giving me an epidural just in case I need a c-section. My main objection to that was not being able to move and its pretty clear Im not getting off the bed now, so I agree. Unfortunately the anesthetist is called away to a crash c-section so Im laboring without waters and just gas and air for another hour or so. In this time the babys heart rate keeps dropping and the contractions are getting a lot stronger. The gas and air doesnt do a damn thing except give me something to focus on. I complain about that because the stuff the dentists have is a lot better. I cant seem to remember how bad the contractions are when they are over. The only one I do remember was some daft woman came in and told me I needed to breathe through the pain and I wanted to hit her. I was managing fine, just moaning and keening and stuff. No one liked daft woman. I was on a wobbly bed so they decided to have me move and the stupid woman was trying to take my bp while they were shifting me. My MW threw the bp cuff at her. I gather a lot of people were in and out of the room as the babys hear t rate kept dropping more and more. The MW said she hasnt hit the emergency on call button so much in a long time.
I shift positions a few times to find out what might be causing distress but nothing really seems to help. Im pretty sad that Im laboring lying down. It certainly made it a lot more uncomfortable for me.
I guess around 4am or so the nice OB comes back and wants to get some blood from the baby to see if the baby has the reserves to deal with the labour. Unfortunately the head has gone back up, they cant get blood, and after 2 hours I am only 5cm (up from 4). So things arent happening (probably because Ive been laying down since they broke my waters) and they cant assess the situation well enough.
The anesthetist comes back and there isnt enough time to give an epidural now so they are going to give me a spinal block.
Off I go to theatre, get my spinal block and the pain is gone. I didnt really mind the pain. I did mind not being allowed to move to deal with it. So having it gone is nice.
Soon afterwards (4:40 Am July 8th) Im having my c-section and hearing my baby cry. Not only was she covered in meconium (lovely lovely MW took pictures of the whole coming out process. So glad I have them). But as soon as she was cleaned up she had another meconium explosion. Someone had to run and get more towels.
She was 8lbs 3oz and very vigourous. APGARs of 9, 8 and 10 at 1, 5 and 10 minutes (needed ventilation as she had swallowed and inhaled a fair amount of meconium).
So despite that potentially being traumatic I dont feel it was really. I wanted at the minimum a mobile labour (if not a water birth) but a healthy baby first and foremost. Im glad I was able to go into labour naturally. I was afraid I couldnt since with my MMC things never got started so I had to have a D&C. Im also proud of myself for managing with the pain as much as I did. I really wish I knew why she didnt engage and why labour didnt progress so I can have the best chance at a VBAC next time. I spent the last few months making sure LO was in the right position and really gearing toward a natural labour. I barely got anything on my birth plan and Im ok with it(I got a baby and the placenta. Since it was an emergency section I wouldnt have gotten anything on a c-section brith plan either).
So here is my lovely Lucy-bird (she makes a little baby bird mouth all the time). Shes very alert and un-newborn like (she can kind of hold her head up, can focus her eyes well, and is very strong).
