The Belly Monster's late arrival *finally finished - with pics!*

[shambaby]

ok, let's see if my little man will let me have enough time to tell the story of his arrival.

i guess the process started on the friday, 1st october, when i went in to hospital to be induced. i was 5 days past my due date and the consultant advised i be induced because i had polyhydramnios and my baby's head was high, not engaging in my pelvis, which meant that there was a risk of cord prolapse if my waters broke. i went in, had my monitoring and the midwife gave me a 2mg dose of prostin gel - the higher of the 2 doses because my cervix was very unfavourable. hubby and i then spent the next few hours roaming the maternity unit, going up and down the stairs and returning to my room for a bounce on my birthing ball when i needed a rest. i noticed some uncmfortable tightenings, and hubby thought they were a bit close together, but as they weren't painful i ignored them. when the midwife put on the monitor again to check all was well before examining me and giving the next dose of prostin, she was concerned that i was hyperstimulated - it turns out i was having 6 tightenings every 10 minutes, and more than 4 can cause distress to the baby. so, she decided not to examine me and left the monitor on, then went to talk to the doctor. the plan was made to leave the monitor on until the tightenings slowed down, and to give me medication to stop them if the baby became distressed.

baby crying - will continue later!

 

[shambaby]

ok, baby fed - part 2:

after 5 hours of continuous monitoring, there was still no change - frequent tightenings, but no sign of baby becoming distressed. the midwife decided this was getting a bit silly and had a word with the doctor. she agreed i could come off the monitor, have a bath, try to relax, and be examined a couple of hours later, when things settled down. by this time it was 8.30 pm, and hubby was supposed to leave at 9, but the midwife agreed that he could stay until i had been examined. so, i had my bath and tried to relax, although the tightenings were pretty uncomfortable at times, especially when i was lying down. 10.30 came and went with no sign of the midwife (they had changed shift at 9) and i decided to have a wander round the ward to see if i could find her and check what she planned to do. i found her on the phone, and she apologised for not coming to me yet, and explained there were problems on the ward and they were very busy. she went back to her phone call and i went back to my room no wiser.

by midnight we were getting pretty fed up and i was in a fair amount of pain. i buzzed to ask for paracetamol, mostly as a way to get the midwife to my room, and a support worker answered the buzzer. she said she would get the midwife. half an hour later, still no sign, so i gave up on the paracetamol, and the midwife. i was very tired by then, but couldn't get comfortable to sleep. hubby put my tens machine on for me, and i managed to nod off. i told him he could go home to bed if he wanted, but he still thought the midwife might come and decidded to snooze in the chair. at 2am we heard a big commotion in the room next-but-one to ours, which turned out to be a woman giving birth on the antenatal ward! my pain had settled by then and i took the tens machine off, and sent hubby home, as i realised nothing was going to happen overnight.

in the morning, i was monitored again - baby still fine, tightenings now pretty irregular, most likely just my normal braxton hicks. i was examined again, and was pretty upset to hear that there had been no change to my cervix at all. normally i would have been given more prostin, but because of what had happened last time that wasn't an option, and there was no way my waters could be broken, so i was sent home with an appointment to see the consultant on the monday morning for a plan.

we spent the weekend feeling pretty anxious - if i couldn't have prostin and my waters couldn't be broken, then i couldn't be induced, so i concluded that, unless i went into labour the only option would be a caesarean. all the midwives i had seen seemed to agree that natural labour was unlikely unless the baby's head engaged, which was only likely to happen if my waters broke. so we went to the consultant expecting to be sent home with a date to come back for a caesarean, unless i laboured in the mean time. however, he felt that, as there had been no ill effects to me or the baby when we tried prostin, he would be willing to give it another go - this time, though, i was only to have the lower dose and i would be on labour ward just in case there was a problem. the midwife went away to find out when labour ward could fit me in, and we were rather shocked when she said we could go straight there!!

oops, gotta go again - nappy time!

 

[bathbabe]

im hooked but off to bed. Congratulations and i will read the rest in the morning if you have updated. Xxx

 

[Wantabean]

aw no!! lol i love a good birth story. i cant wait to hear the rest. baby is just wanting you to tease us lol xxx

 

[Betheney]

Damn it! Must read next chapter.

 

[eclipse]

So Sham, you gonna finish this or what? LOL I know all this first part

 

[cleckner04]

Congrats!!

 

[shambaby]

sorry, had a little hiccup (details in pregnancy journal - hmm, must start a parenting one!) and we are back in hospital so haven't been able to update on the mend so hopefully will post more soon. gotta sleep now x

 

[shambaby]

sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this. not going to go into it here, but i've been unwell and am only just getting the chance to get back to some kind of normality. if anyone's still interested, i'll try to finish the story (baby willing!)

so, we went up to labour ward, where we had a big, en-suite room with a lovely view. which was fortunate - i was monitored for quite some time, as the baby was so active they struggled to get a good tracing of his heartbeat. everything was fine and he eventually calmed down and we got a good monitoring, but by that time labour ward was so busy, with some problems, they had to delay giving me any more prostin. so we waited. it was about 7pm when they managed to get another good monitoring and give me the prostin. i didn't really feel any effect, but the monitor did show that i was having tightenings fairly regularly. because of what had happened before they wanted to keep the monitor on for a while after the prostin.

everything was fine, but then suddenly the baby's heartbeat disappeared. the midwife was in the room at the time and moved the monitor around for a while, trying to find him again. we were all starting to panic, as she couldn't find him, but then she moved the monitor up next to my belly button and there he was - his heart rate was fine, but the midwife was concerned that he might have turned to breech, as the position of the heart beat was too high. she felt my belly, but was not 100% certain of the position, so she got a doctor to bring in a scan machine. the doctor was lovely and showed us everything as she was looking at him. he was head down, but his head was very high up, well away from my pelvis.

once they were happy there were no problems it was decided that we would wait until the morning to re-assess the situation and make a plan. they got hubby a camp bed and we tried to sleep. we got a few hours, but not a lot.

in the morning, we were monitored again, the baby was again very active and it took a while, but eventually they were happy. however, it showed i was still having some regular tightenings, so i would not be able to have any more prostin, even though they weren't painful. added to that, when the midwife felt for the baby's position he had moved so that his head - still high - was to the right of my pelvis and he was lying diagonally. that meant that they would not consider breaking my waters, and didn't really want me to labour naturally, as the risk of cord prolapse was much higher with the baby in that position. my consultant was on his way to a clinic at a different hospital, but the midwife spoke to him and he advised abandoning the induction and having a caesarean section. hubby and i talked about it, and talked to the midwife, and decided that we had given it our best shot, but it was looking like he wasn't going to come naturally and we agreed. i had had breakfast, so we had to wait until at least 12 o'clock.

sorry, nappy again!

 

[shambaby]

aaargh! i just finished the story - it was a really long post - and it has disappeared! can't believe it! will try again, perhaps i will post smaller chunks this time.

we went into theatre at about 12.30pm, with a new midwife looking after us. she was great and did everything she could to put us at ease - hubby was very nervous and i was shaking. i don't mind admitting i was terrified - of the anaesthetic, of the operation, and of there being something wrong with one of us. the midwife explained everything that was happening, and even told the anaesthetist off when he persisted to try to use the cannula another doctor had put in earlier for my drip. there was obviously something wrong with it, and when he tried to put fluid through it i experienced the worst pain i had in the whole process - i almost flew off the table!!!

he put in a new one, and started on the spinal. i knew i needed to keep still, but i couldn't stop shaking and crying. hubby was amazing, and he held my hands and got me to focus on my breathing, which made me want to laugh, as it should have been his job when i was in labour. once it was done, it felt really strange to see the staff moving me around into the right position, while i felt like i was staying perfectly still.

 

[shambaby]

then, the operation started. i was still shaking, which the anaesthetist said was a normal reaction to the anaesthetic. it was so strange - i could feel that there was something going on, but it wasn't painful and i started to relax. when they got in far enough to break my waters, there was apparently a bit of a flood! my polyhydramnios soaked the consultant and the senior midwife, who was assisting him!! then our wonderful midwife persuaded hubby to peek over the screen to see our baby being born. he was reluctant, as he is really squeamish, but was so glad he did. he said he could just see the baby emerging - his right hand up by his head ( a position he still likes to sleep in!) - over my bump, but he couldn't see any gore. i was disappointed that i couldn't see him being born (i tried to look at the reflection in the big theatre light, but couldn't see anything), but when i heard him cry for the first time i was overwhelmed with love and relief that he was here safely.

 

[shambaby]

the midwife showed him to me, then took him away to dry him off and check him over. she took hubby with her, and he helped count fingers and toes, and trimmed the cord. i felt a little upset that i couldn't be involved in it all, but i could see them and was pleased that the midwife was getting hubby to do so much. she weighed him - 8lb 2oz, so not quite the monster everyone seemed to think he would be! - and then brought him over to me. she kind of perched him on my shoulder with hubby supporting his weight and i finally got a chance to see my precious little man. we agreed that the name we had chosen suited him, so belly monster became hayden elliot, although hubby has already given him a new nickname - 'little bud'.

i didn't really notice anything else after that, and once i was all stitched up we were taken to recovery. there was a little bit of concern over my blood loss - i ended up losing a lotal of about 1400ml - but the midwives and doctors soon got it under control with a syntocinon drip. the midwife helped hayden to latch on and breastfeed, which he did contentedly for about an hour, and we finally got to spend some time together as a family before the grandparents descended for their first look at their new grandson.

 

[shambaby]

sorry, been trying to add pics, but the laptop keeps closing windows. will try later on the main computer. i assure you he is gorgeous, though, and well worth the wait. i may be biassed, though

 

[fairypop]

Gosh Sham, what a story. It sounds like it was quite traumatic and very long! You were very brave. Glad Hubs was so nice and looked after you. I think my OH would have been spark out on the floor!

Glad you now have Hayden home and hope all is well xxx

 

[Fiore]

What a long but lovely story! It's given me a bit more confidence about being induced even though you ended up with a section Looking forward to seeing piccies xx

 

[FeeMorr]

sorry you ended up having a section but what a happy ending! congratulations x

 

[KiansMummy]

congrats xx

 

[shambaby]

ok, i've finally got those pics up-loaded! hope they were worth the wait

 

[fairypop]

Oh Sham he is GORGEOUS, what a cutie, I love his full head of hair!! Well done!
I have that John Rocha Bugs set! Hee hee xxx

 

[shambaby]

i love the bug outfit, but i think he's going to grow out of it soon he's growing so fast!