Eala
Mum of two gorgeous girls
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OK, this is LONG - be warned! I can never say anything succinctly, and this story is no different 
We're talking nearly 3000 words here, so I'll understand if no-one gets to the end 
Also, although I was doing hypnobirthing, this isn't a story that's like one of the super calm, amazing videos that you see on YouTube. Hypnobirthing definitely helped me a lot, but I don't want someone to read it thinking that they're going to hear all about a "textbook" hypnobirth.
8am, Friday 2nd October. Got into the car with DH to drop him in work. I remember going along the main road into town, and getting this gassy/windy/period-like pain. It went away fairly quickly, and I didnt think anything else of it. A few minutes later, it happened again. I thought Odd but again, dismissed it. And then it happened again... I had been keeping an eye on the clock, and the pains had been roughly 4/5 minutes apart.
As we were driving into DH's works carpark, I was thinking Hrrm, should I say anything? I decided that I was just imagining it, and that I probably had trapped wind. The time interval was coincidence or my mind playing tricks on me.
I drove back home, popping into Tesco on the way to pick up some stuff for during the day. The plan was that I was going to go round to Arcanegirls house, wed have a bit of a nerdy morning with PS2 games, then wed head off to meet another friend and her baby for lunch. However, by the time I got home, Id had these pains for about 2 hours, and I was beginning to think Oooooh boy....
I pinged AG on MSN, and asked her what contractions felt like
. Id started using a website to time them (yay for Contraction master!), and the lowest interval was 3 mins apart. More normally 4 or 5 minutes. After a bit, I decided to phone Neil... who of course was at work without the car, as Id driven it home lol. Thankfully, his boss gave him a lift home!
Id phoned my midwife (who was on her day off, thankfully, so had time to chat!) and after talking with her we decided that yes, it sounded like this was labour. She said to give maternity assessment a ring, just to let them know what was happening. Before I did that, I went to the loo and there was the bloody show that everyone always talks about lol. I think that was when I really started to believe that things were happening. The hospital said they were fine for me to stay at home as long as possible, just give them a phone if anything major changed.
The contractions continued through the day, getting more intense. I was using my hypnobirthing breathing techniques, which were really good for helping with the discomfort. After a bit, I also stuck my TENS machine on. That thing is WONDERFUL it stayed on right up until I was on labour ward much later.
Time flew by, I remember commenting to a few people that I couldnt believe it when I looked at the clock and 6 hours had passed. DH and I were just sat pootering about on the computers. I moved from my office chair to my exercise ball after a bit, which was fab, and much more comfy. I faffed about a bit, putting last minute things into the hospital bag, fixing the straps on the car seat... very random stuff. I phoned the hospital about 4pm to update them on the contractions, which were getting more intense, and they said I could go in if I wanted, but they were still happy for me to stay at home. Contractions were about every 2 minutes at that point.
At around 5pm, I went to the loo, and whilst there, felt the oddest sensation, and realised that I was leaking a little bit of water. Thought yay! (dont know why!) and grabbed a maternity pad. Phoned the hospital, and they said to come in. I remember not being overly impressed by the person who answered the phone, whose comment was Oh, youre talking midwifery. Im a doctor, wait until I can find you a midwife. Snooty cow! Neil phoned my Mum and Dad to ask them to go round in the evening and feed the cats / clean the cat trays Mum was typically Oooooooooh! Can I do anything!!? OMG!!! OOOOH! which is why Id gotten DH to phone. Anyways, I was stood in the hall waiting for DH to grab my hospital bag, when my waters *really* went. Huuuuuge flood, which just kept coming I was quite irritated, as it meant I wouldnt be able to wear my oh-so-comfy leggings in, had to change into my jeans instead 
.
On the way to the hospital, the contractions were getting a bit more painful. We parked up, and wandered round to maternity assessment. Got there, and a student midwife took some details. One of the midwives walked past and was like Oh, we thought youd delivered at home! You were put on the board this morning, and then never appeared. I was like I was told not to come in... Seems like the left hand didnt know what the right hand was doing. The student then told us to take a seat in the waiting area, which turned out to be this poky little side room with a handful of chairs, 1 crappy magazine, and 2 empty water jugs.
I was in quite a lot of discomfort with each contraction by this time, and was pacing the floor. Of course, being in maternity assessment, it wasnt just people in labour who were coming in, it was anyone with any problem. So the waiting room was filling up, I had less and less room to move, and was getting seriously stressed. Turns out they were short-staffed, and on top of that, someone had ended up delivering right there, so it was a bit of a bad time to be in assessment. Id just asked for a new pad, as I was soaking through my old one (waters still leaking) when 2 midwives came to get me.
I got put on the trace machine, they took a few details etc etc. All seemed to be fine at that point. Then one of them did an exam to see how dilated I was OMG, that was NOT pleasant at all. She said I was only 2cm, but the cervix was effaced and nice and soft. Youre not actually classed as being in active labour till youre 4cm dilated though. I cant say I was thrilled at the thought of having to go home again. Sitting in the car, not able to move, wasnt entirely comfortable!
Anyway, they decided that they wanted to check my waters, to see if everything was ok with them having gone spontaneously. To do that, Id have to lie on my side for 20 mins. I lay down, and I remember feeling baby wriggle about and shift a lot. The contractions got hell of a lot more painful, and when I had to turn back onto my back for them to take swabs of the fluid, it was seriously uncomfortable. Apparently there was loads of fluid running out, and they noticed that it had meconium in it thats when the babys bowels open before theyre born.
I was put back on the monitor, as they wanted to keep an eye on things while they worked out what theyd do with me. Was laying there, still doing hypnobreathing and using my TENS, but finding things very difficult. All of a sudden, alarms started going off on my monitor, and the midwives rushed back in. They kept moving the probe about, trying to get a better reading. Her heart-rate had dropped from 155bpm to about 80bpm, and for 7 minutes it didnt go back up. They got me to try lying in different positions, and eventually when I was on my back, it went back up to 100bpm, but it was still fluctuating a bit and they kept losing the trace.
They told me that I was being taken straight up to labour ward to see the doctor. Worst case scenario, if things didnt improve, Id need a c-section. I remember being upset, but not panicking, exactly. I thank hypnobirthing for that even though I wasnt doing very well at controlling the pain from the contractions by that point, it really did help me stay calm for a lot longer than I think Id have managed without it.
A doctor came in, and put a venflon (needle for IV access) into my wrist. Better than the back of my hand, I guess, but not pleasant. Although, compared to the contractions, it wasnt so bad hehe. Was whisked off upstairs, and taken to my room on labour ward. Handed over to my midwife, Gillian, who was absolutely lovely. This was about 8pm.
I was finding the contractions really hard to cope with, and so Gillian gave me the gas & air to try. Oh my lord, that stuff is wonderful. Like being drunk. I could still feel the pain, dont get me wrong, but it did help.
Registrar came in, and asked if she could examine me, and if I would allow them to put a probe on babys head to better monitor the heart-rate (as they kept on losing it when they just had the Doppler thingy on my tummy). That examination was horrendous, it really hurt, and she scratched me with the probe as she put it in I wasnt amused. She told me that I was 3cm dilated, and that although I was contracting regularly and well, she wanted to help things along, given the babys prior distress and the meconium in my waters. So I was put on a syntocinon drip. Its a synthetic form of the hormone which makes your uterus contract (oxytocin) and stimulates the uterus to contract more strongly.
Oh. My. Lord. Ive never felt pain like it, and I hope I never do again. At that point, all thoughts of hypnobirthing breathing etc had gone right out the window, I just couldnt concentrate on it. My hypnobirthing practitioner had warned us that if, for whatever reason, we needed syntocinon (they use it for inductions too), chances are we might not be able to keep going with hypnobirthing, as its known to make contractions very strong and painful. Well, she was right. I was going at the gas & air like no-ones business, to the point that I was then horrendously sick. Poor Neil, he just kept the bowls coming, bless him (midwife was out of the room getting my blood test results).
I realised that I just couldnt go on with things the way they were, so I asked for an epidural (despite me saying Id never ever want one!) I got it at sometime around 9pm or 9.30. Getting it was uncomfortable, but not sore. The hardest part was having to keep still through contractions my coping mechanism up till that point had been thrashing about like a mad thing. It took about half an hour to kick in, but at that point, it was bliss. I could still feel the tightening of each contraction, but the pain was gone. I was still a bit giddy from the gas and air, apparently I was telling the anaesthetist that he was my new favourite person in the whole wide world
DH and I sat chatting with Gillian over the next few hours. Babys heart-rate would occasionally drop with a contraction, then pick back up again. After a while, I realised I was feeling pain in my lower back & buttocks with each contraction, so mentioned this to Gillian and she topped up my epidural. Bliss once more, but I also lost the ability to move my legs doh! It was quite funny really, they just flopped when I tried to move.
At 12.30am on the Saturday, Gillian examined me again to see how I was doing. Turned out I was fully dilated, and babys head was right down. She felt around a bit, then started to look a bit worried. She told me that she thought baby was back to back, but more worryingly, she could feel loops of cord up beside babys head. Not wrapped around the neck (which is common enough) but actually stuck beside her head. A prolapsed cord (where the cord comes before the baby) is really serious, and usually leads to a C-sec, so she was anxious to get a registrar in to check it.
Registrar came in, and she was so different from the first one Id seen. She was absolutely lovely reminded me a bit of one of the doctors from Green Wing. Upper class English accent, sounds slightly bumbling, but is just so nice and so good at her job. She had a good feel (thank goodness for that epidural!) and agreed that baby was back-to-back, and that yes, that was cord up there. That explained why babys heart-rate was dropping with each contraction as my muscles were squeezing, they were compressing the cord because of where it was. She said that theyd leave it another 15 mins or so to see if things improved, but asked me if I would be alright if they used a ventouse to deliver her if necessary. Forceps were no good because of the cord beside her head.
Hell, at that point, Id have walked over hot coals to make sure baby was alright. As it happens, I didnt get 15 mins, as her heart-rate dropped again with the next contraction, so they just said Right, we need to deliver her and the bustle started. Bed up, legs in stirrups, sterile drapes everywhere, etc etc.
The doctor got the ventouse in place, and I was told to push with the next contraction. I remember trying to, but not feeling like I was doing a whole lot. DH was holding my hand, Gillian was telling me to keep going with that push, and then the doctor said Oh, thats her head delivered!. She told me to stop pushing and pant, at which I was a bit like Erm, ok... I tried, but not sure I really succeeded Next contraction, I didnt even really do anything again, and she just slithered out. The doctor was all I didnt even really need the ventouse, you did that by yourself! (I still wish I knew what I did, maybe my hypnobirthing practice paid off in the end and my body just did what it was meant to do lol). She was born at 1.22am on Saturday 3rd October.
They put her on my tummy, and I stroked her head, was crying a bit, it was just so amazing seeing her. She was sort of blue though, and DH's comment was Shes a very quiet baby... Next thing I knew, the doctor had cut the cord (so DH didnt get to
), and they whisked her away to the resuscitator in the corner of the room. The midwife told the doctor to push the emergency button, and people started rushing in. As it happens, it was only a minute before she was breathing fine she just needed a bit of help with the bag and mask. She started crying, and pinked up quite quickly.
They wrapped her in a towel and gave her to me, and I just remember staring at her as she looked back at me. DH and I were both crying a bit, it was just such an amazing moment to finally hold our little girl.
Because she was delivered so quickly, I had a second degree tear, which the doctor stitched up while the epidural was still active. While she was doing that, they took Roo away to clean her up a bit more, and once the doctor finished, they gave me her back for some skin-to-skin. That was so incredible, she was so warm and she just lay there, looking up at me and DH. Midwife borrowed her briefly to weigh her, and she was 7lbs 1.5oz.
So, my labour didnt exactly go as Id imagined it lol. The total time in active labour was 3 hours and 25 mins, according to the hospital. From the first contraction to her being delivered was 17 hours and 22 mins not bad, for a first time! Even though it didnt go how Id planned it, Im still happy with how it went. Im proud of myself for coping at home, and for the initial part of the hospital stay, with just my hypnobirthing and TENS machine. I dont know for sure when she went back to back, but I have my suspicions that it was when I had to lie on my side for 20 mins, as I was coping ok up till that point. I know she wasnt back to back on the Tuesday, as Id had a scan... but anyway, its all moot now. The combination of back to back and syntocinon meant that hypnobirthing alone would never have been enough for me. Im not ashamed of getting an epidural, and Im so glad that I didnt let pride get in the way of doing what I needed to do.
At the end of the day, we have a beautiful, healthy, happy daughter, and thats whats important
We're talking nearly 3000 words here, so I'll understand if no-one gets to the end Also, although I was doing hypnobirthing, this isn't a story that's like one of the super calm, amazing videos that you see on YouTube. Hypnobirthing definitely helped me a lot, but I don't want someone to read it thinking that they're going to hear all about a "textbook" hypnobirth.
8am, Friday 2nd October. Got into the car with DH to drop him in work. I remember going along the main road into town, and getting this gassy/windy/period-like pain. It went away fairly quickly, and I didnt think anything else of it. A few minutes later, it happened again. I thought Odd but again, dismissed it. And then it happened again... I had been keeping an eye on the clock, and the pains had been roughly 4/5 minutes apart.
As we were driving into DH's works carpark, I was thinking Hrrm, should I say anything? I decided that I was just imagining it, and that I probably had trapped wind. The time interval was coincidence or my mind playing tricks on me.
I drove back home, popping into Tesco on the way to pick up some stuff for during the day. The plan was that I was going to go round to Arcanegirls house, wed have a bit of a nerdy morning with PS2 games, then wed head off to meet another friend and her baby for lunch. However, by the time I got home, Id had these pains for about 2 hours, and I was beginning to think Oooooh boy....
I pinged AG on MSN, and asked her what contractions felt like
. Id started using a website to time them (yay for Contraction master!), and the lowest interval was 3 mins apart. More normally 4 or 5 minutes. After a bit, I decided to phone Neil... who of course was at work without the car, as Id driven it home lol. Thankfully, his boss gave him a lift home!Id phoned my midwife (who was on her day off, thankfully, so had time to chat!) and after talking with her we decided that yes, it sounded like this was labour. She said to give maternity assessment a ring, just to let them know what was happening. Before I did that, I went to the loo and there was the bloody show that everyone always talks about lol. I think that was when I really started to believe that things were happening. The hospital said they were fine for me to stay at home as long as possible, just give them a phone if anything major changed.
The contractions continued through the day, getting more intense. I was using my hypnobirthing breathing techniques, which were really good for helping with the discomfort. After a bit, I also stuck my TENS machine on. That thing is WONDERFUL it stayed on right up until I was on labour ward much later.
Time flew by, I remember commenting to a few people that I couldnt believe it when I looked at the clock and 6 hours had passed. DH and I were just sat pootering about on the computers. I moved from my office chair to my exercise ball after a bit, which was fab, and much more comfy. I faffed about a bit, putting last minute things into the hospital bag, fixing the straps on the car seat... very random stuff
. I phoned the hospital about 4pm to update them on the contractions, which were getting more intense, and they said I could go in if I wanted, but they were still happy for me to stay at home. Contractions were about every 2 minutes at that point. At around 5pm, I went to the loo, and whilst there, felt the oddest sensation, and realised that I was leaking a little bit of water. Thought yay! (dont know why!) and grabbed a maternity pad. Phoned the hospital, and they said to come in. I remember not being overly impressed by the person who answered the phone, whose comment was Oh, youre talking midwifery. Im a doctor, wait until I can find you a midwife. Snooty cow! Neil phoned my Mum and Dad to ask them to go round in the evening and feed the cats / clean the cat trays Mum was typically Oooooooooh! Can I do anything!!? OMG!!! OOOOH! which is why Id gotten DH to phone
. Anyways, I was stood in the hall waiting for DH to grab my hospital bag, when my waters *really* went. Huuuuuge flood, which just kept coming I was quite irritated, as it meant I wouldnt be able to wear my oh-so-comfy leggings in, had to change into my jeans instead .On the way to the hospital, the contractions were getting a bit more painful. We parked up, and wandered round to maternity assessment. Got there, and a student midwife took some details. One of the midwives walked past and was like Oh, we thought youd delivered at home! You were put on the board this morning, and then never appeared. I was like I was told not to come in... Seems like the left hand didnt know what the right hand was doing
. The student then told us to take a seat in the waiting area, which turned out to be this poky little side room with a handful of chairs, 1 crappy magazine, and 2 empty water jugs.I was in quite a lot of discomfort with each contraction by this time, and was pacing the floor. Of course, being in maternity assessment, it wasnt just people in labour who were coming in, it was anyone with any problem. So the waiting room was filling up, I had less and less room to move, and was getting seriously stressed. Turns out they were short-staffed, and on top of that, someone had ended up delivering right there, so it was a bit of a bad time to be in assessment
. Id just asked for a new pad, as I was soaking through my old one (waters still leaking) when 2 midwives came to get me.I got put on the trace machine, they took a few details etc etc. All seemed to be fine at that point. Then one of them did an exam to see how dilated I was OMG, that was NOT pleasant at all. She said I was only 2cm, but the cervix was effaced and nice and soft. Youre not actually classed as being in active labour till youre 4cm dilated though. I cant say I was thrilled at the thought of having to go home again. Sitting in the car, not able to move, wasnt entirely comfortable!
Anyway, they decided that they wanted to check my waters, to see if everything was ok with them having gone spontaneously. To do that, Id have to lie on my side for 20 mins. I lay down, and I remember feeling baby wriggle about and shift a lot. The contractions got hell of a lot more painful, and when I had to turn back onto my back for them to take swabs of the fluid, it was seriously uncomfortable. Apparently there was loads of fluid running out, and they noticed that it had meconium in it thats when the babys bowels open before theyre born.
I was put back on the monitor, as they wanted to keep an eye on things while they worked out what theyd do with me. Was laying there, still doing hypnobreathing and using my TENS, but finding things very difficult. All of a sudden, alarms started going off on my monitor, and the midwives rushed back in. They kept moving the probe about, trying to get a better reading. Her heart-rate had dropped from 155bpm to about 80bpm, and for 7 minutes it didnt go back up. They got me to try lying in different positions, and eventually when I was on my back, it went back up to 100bpm, but it was still fluctuating a bit and they kept losing the trace.
They told me that I was being taken straight up to labour ward to see the doctor. Worst case scenario, if things didnt improve, Id need a c-section. I remember being upset, but not panicking, exactly. I thank hypnobirthing for that even though I wasnt doing very well at controlling the pain from the contractions by that point, it really did help me stay calm for a lot longer than I think Id have managed without it.
A doctor came in, and put a venflon (needle for IV access) into my wrist. Better than the back of my hand, I guess, but not pleasant. Although, compared to the contractions, it wasnt so bad hehe. Was whisked off upstairs, and taken to my room on labour ward. Handed over to my midwife, Gillian, who was absolutely lovely. This was about 8pm.
I was finding the contractions really hard to cope with, and so Gillian gave me the gas & air to try. Oh my lord, that stuff is wonderful. Like being drunk. I could still feel the pain, dont get me wrong, but it did help.
Registrar came in, and asked if she could examine me, and if I would allow them to put a probe on babys head to better monitor the heart-rate (as they kept on losing it when they just had the Doppler thingy on my tummy). That examination was horrendous, it really hurt, and she scratched me with the probe as she put it in I wasnt amused. She told me that I was 3cm dilated, and that although I was contracting regularly and well, she wanted to help things along, given the babys prior distress and the meconium in my waters. So I was put on a syntocinon drip. Its a synthetic form of the hormone which makes your uterus contract (oxytocin) and stimulates the uterus to contract more strongly.
Oh. My. Lord. Ive never felt pain like it, and I hope I never do again. At that point, all thoughts of hypnobirthing breathing etc had gone right out the window, I just couldnt concentrate on it. My hypnobirthing practitioner had warned us that if, for whatever reason, we needed syntocinon (they use it for inductions too), chances are we might not be able to keep going with hypnobirthing, as its known to make contractions very strong and painful. Well, she was right. I was going at the gas & air like no-ones business, to the point that I was then horrendously sick. Poor Neil, he just kept the bowls coming, bless him (midwife was out of the room getting my blood test results).
I realised that I just couldnt go on with things the way they were, so I asked for an epidural (despite me saying Id never ever want one!) I got it at sometime around 9pm or 9.30. Getting it was uncomfortable, but not sore. The hardest part was having to keep still through contractions my coping mechanism up till that point had been thrashing about like a mad thing. It took about half an hour to kick in, but at that point, it was bliss. I could still feel the tightening of each contraction, but the pain was gone. I was still a bit giddy from the gas and air, apparently I was telling the anaesthetist that he was my new favourite person in the whole wide world
DH and I sat chatting with Gillian over the next few hours. Babys heart-rate would occasionally drop with a contraction, then pick back up again. After a while, I realised I was feeling pain in my lower back & buttocks with each contraction, so mentioned this to Gillian and she topped up my epidural. Bliss once more, but I also lost the ability to move my legs doh! It was quite funny really, they just flopped when I tried to move
.At 12.30am on the Saturday, Gillian examined me again to see how I was doing. Turned out I was fully dilated, and babys head was right down. She felt around a bit, then started to look a bit worried. She told me that she thought baby was back to back, but more worryingly, she could feel loops of cord up beside babys head. Not wrapped around the neck (which is common enough) but actually stuck beside her head. A prolapsed cord (where the cord comes before the baby) is really serious, and usually leads to a C-sec, so she was anxious to get a registrar in to check it.
Registrar came in, and she was so different from the first one Id seen. She was absolutely lovely reminded me a bit of one of the doctors from Green Wing. Upper class English accent, sounds slightly bumbling, but is just so nice and so good at her job. She had a good feel (thank goodness for that epidural!) and agreed that baby was back-to-back, and that yes, that was cord up there. That explained why babys heart-rate was dropping with each contraction as my muscles were squeezing, they were compressing the cord because of where it was. She said that theyd leave it another 15 mins or so to see if things improved, but asked me if I would be alright if they used a ventouse to deliver her if necessary. Forceps were no good because of the cord beside her head.
Hell, at that point, Id have walked over hot coals to make sure baby was alright. As it happens, I didnt get 15 mins, as her heart-rate dropped again with the next contraction, so they just said Right, we need to deliver her and the bustle started. Bed up, legs in stirrups, sterile drapes everywhere, etc etc.
The doctor got the ventouse in place, and I was told to push with the next contraction. I remember trying to, but not feeling like I was doing a whole lot
. DH was holding my hand, Gillian was telling me to keep going with that push, and then the doctor said Oh, thats her head delivered!. She told me to stop pushing and pant, at which I was a bit like Erm, ok... I tried, but not sure I really succeeded Next contraction, I didnt even really do anything again, and she just slithered out. The doctor was all I didnt even really need the ventouse, you did that by yourself! (I still wish I knew what I did, maybe my hypnobirthing practice paid off in the end and my body just did what it was meant to do lol). She was born at 1.22am on Saturday 3rd October.They put her on my tummy, and I stroked her head, was crying a bit, it was just so amazing seeing her. She was sort of blue though, and DH's comment was Shes a very quiet baby... Next thing I knew, the doctor had cut the cord (so DH didnt get to
), and they whisked her away to the resuscitator in the corner of the room. The midwife told the doctor to push the emergency button, and people started rushing in. As it happens, it was only a minute before she was breathing fine she just needed a bit of help with the bag and mask. She started crying, and pinked up quite quickly. They wrapped her in a towel and gave her to me, and I just remember staring at her as she looked back at me. DH and I were both crying a bit, it was just such an amazing moment to finally hold our little girl.
Because she was delivered so quickly, I had a second degree tear, which the doctor stitched up while the epidural was still active. While she was doing that, they took Roo away to clean her up a bit more, and once the doctor finished, they gave me her back for some skin-to-skin. That was so incredible, she was so warm and she just lay there, looking up at me and DH. Midwife borrowed her briefly to weigh her, and she was 7lbs 1.5oz.
So, my labour didnt exactly go as Id imagined it lol. The total time in active labour was 3 hours and 25 mins, according to the hospital. From the first contraction to her being delivered was 17 hours and 22 mins not bad, for a first time! Even though it didnt go how Id planned it, Im still happy with how it went. Im proud of myself for coping at home, and for the initial part of the hospital stay, with just my hypnobirthing and TENS machine. I dont know for sure when she went back to back, but I have my suspicions that it was when I had to lie on my side for 20 mins, as I was coping ok up till that point. I know she wasnt back to back on the Tuesday, as Id had a scan... but anyway, its all moot now. The combination of back to back and syntocinon meant that hypnobirthing alone would never have been enough for me. Im not ashamed of getting an epidural, and Im so glad that I didnt let pride get in the way of doing what I needed to do.
At the end of the day, we have a beautiful, healthy, happy daughter, and thats whats important
