LollyPop24
Proud Mummy of 1 - TTC #2
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- Jun 14, 2009
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At 40 weeks and four days pregnant I struggled to the local hospital for my 40+ appointment with a community midwife. When I got there I asked her if there was anything she could do to help bring labour on. She explained that she couldnt give me a sweep until I was at least 40+5 which was the next day but that my next appointment wouldnt be until the following week when I was 11 days overdue! She discovered everything to be fine but was a little concerned that I had been feeling less movement over the past couple of days. She decided to send me to the maternity ward at another hospital to be monitored.
When my husband and I got to the ante-natal ward at the other hospital I was hooked up to some monitors and after a while a midwife came to tell me that all was fine with my baby though the monitor was indicating that I was having some contractions. She told me to go home and have a relaxing bath and that she thought that she would be seeing us again very soon. She booked me in for an inducement the following week (at 41+3) and explained that I would need to call them at 8am that morning to make sure I had a bed. She gave me a leaflet which explained the procedure and wrote the information on it though she said she thought that I wouldnt need it as things seemed to be progressing naturally.
The next 5 days passed slowly with no sign of the little monkey and the night before the inducement came. We were both so excited that our little boy would be here hopefully very soon and I struggled to get to sleep both because of the excitement and because of the severe heartburn that had plagued me since the 23 week mark.
At 8am the following morning I excitedly called the maternity ward who had no record of my booking! They told me to come in at 6pm that evening .more waiting!!
When we got to the hospital that evening I was allocated a bed and again hooked up to the monitors. After a few hours a midwife came around and performed the procedure giving me a dose of prostaglandin. She told me I was already 1cm dilated and asked my husband to go home for the evening as nothing would be happening until the morning. Reluctantly he left me alone at around 10pm.
The next few hours were a blur of pain which I could only bear by curling into a ball on my bed. There was no pattern to the pains and no regularity. I remember at some point going to the toilet and finding that I had a bloody show. When the midwife did her rounds I told the midwife that I was in some pain she sympathized with me but just said that it was having prostin pains and to try and get some sleep she asked if I would like some pethedine to help which I refused. At around 4am I was so tired that I consented to being given some pethedine which did not make a bit of difference. At about 7, the midwives started their rounds and a male trainee midwife gave me an external examination. I asked the midwife with him if she would give me an internal and see how far I was dilated. She laughed and said that there was no point just now and hooked me up again to the monitors.
At 9am a new midwife, Rosemary, started her shift. She came round and introduced herself and with tears rolling down my cheeks I begged her to give me an internal. She took pity and gave in. She looked up at me, shocked. You brave girl she said You are 10cm dilated! You did it all by yourself! Not by bloody choice I thought and I rang my husband who was luckily in the hospital lobby and hurried him along.
We were rushed to a delivery room which we arrived in at about 9.15 and I changed into my nightie and went to the toilet. By now I was having regular contractions and was coping with them well, preferring to stand and using my hubby to lean on. The midwife was concerned that my waters had not broken and asked me to lie on the bed so that she could break them. Lying down was agony for me so she gave me gas and air and I never looked back. She broke my waters and immediately the contractions grew stronger and constant. I remember biting myself to cope with the pain and my poor husband getting a bite accidently along the way as he was holding my hand.
I dont remember when the obstetrician became involved but I do remember my husband having to hold my leg up high whilst they took blood from my babys head to check for distress, them repeatedly trying to insert a cannula and the suddenly I had an overwhelming urge to push which they were telling me not to do. All the while the poor student midwife stood in the corner with his face ashen as I was asked earlier if he could observe us his first birth.
They decided to perform a crash caesarean so they gave my husband some scrubs to change into and rushed me into surgery. The pain was suddenly excruciating without my gas and air and the contractions were being occasionally swapped for forbidden urges to push. When we arrived in the theatre I was asked to curl into a ball so that they could administer the spinal block. This was an impossible and painful job so my husband had to hold me in position while I screamed in pain.
As the spinal set in, the relief was immediate and I lay chatting to my husband and the anaesthetist who told me that such was the emergency that it was the quickest spinal block she had ever administered. Suddenly I heard my baby cry and he was carried around for me to see him for the first time I remember thinking that he was all legs! My husband was able to cut the cord and they took him away to be weighed. At this time a few of the staff came to chat to us and it wasnt until later that my husband told me that the surgeon had worriedly said weve got a leak! and we realised that they were distracting us from what was going on. The surgeon came to speak to me and told me that any subsequent pregnancy would now result in a c-section but did not tell me what happened or why.
Finally the three of us were allowed back to the delivery room and were left alone. I fed him for the first time, we called our families and made our
announcements. HARRISON GEORGE WAS BORN AT 12.08PM AND WEIGHED EXACTLY 9LB!
When we were taken down to the maternity ward where they realised that my cannula had caused oedema my forearm had swollen to twice its normal size!
Over the next few hours it became evident that our little boy was having some trouble latching on and the breast feeding consultant discovered that he had tongue-tie. He was booked in to have it snipped the next day. That night, my little boy cried and cried the midwives took him away and gave him a bottle against my will, this stretched his stomach and I could never keep up with his demand for more milk and had to give up my dream of exclusive breast feeding in favour of combining. I have never forgiven them though I did continue to breastfeed him along with bottles until he was 16 months old.
We were allowed home after 4 days in hospital and although my physical scars healed quickly, 2 years later I am still not over the trauma emotionally. Part of my therapy is to write and post this birth story. I am waiting until the right time for another baby and am hoping for a successful VBAC if its at all possible as I feel that part of being a woman has been stolen from me by not giving birth naturally.
When my husband and I got to the ante-natal ward at the other hospital I was hooked up to some monitors and after a while a midwife came to tell me that all was fine with my baby though the monitor was indicating that I was having some contractions. She told me to go home and have a relaxing bath and that she thought that she would be seeing us again very soon. She booked me in for an inducement the following week (at 41+3) and explained that I would need to call them at 8am that morning to make sure I had a bed. She gave me a leaflet which explained the procedure and wrote the information on it though she said she thought that I wouldnt need it as things seemed to be progressing naturally.
The next 5 days passed slowly with no sign of the little monkey and the night before the inducement came. We were both so excited that our little boy would be here hopefully very soon and I struggled to get to sleep both because of the excitement and because of the severe heartburn that had plagued me since the 23 week mark.
At 8am the following morning I excitedly called the maternity ward who had no record of my booking! They told me to come in at 6pm that evening .more waiting!!
When we got to the hospital that evening I was allocated a bed and again hooked up to the monitors. After a few hours a midwife came around and performed the procedure giving me a dose of prostaglandin. She told me I was already 1cm dilated and asked my husband to go home for the evening as nothing would be happening until the morning. Reluctantly he left me alone at around 10pm.
The next few hours were a blur of pain which I could only bear by curling into a ball on my bed. There was no pattern to the pains and no regularity. I remember at some point going to the toilet and finding that I had a bloody show. When the midwife did her rounds I told the midwife that I was in some pain she sympathized with me but just said that it was having prostin pains and to try and get some sleep she asked if I would like some pethedine to help which I refused. At around 4am I was so tired that I consented to being given some pethedine which did not make a bit of difference. At about 7, the midwives started their rounds and a male trainee midwife gave me an external examination. I asked the midwife with him if she would give me an internal and see how far I was dilated. She laughed and said that there was no point just now and hooked me up again to the monitors.
At 9am a new midwife, Rosemary, started her shift. She came round and introduced herself and with tears rolling down my cheeks I begged her to give me an internal. She took pity and gave in. She looked up at me, shocked. You brave girl she said You are 10cm dilated! You did it all by yourself! Not by bloody choice I thought and I rang my husband who was luckily in the hospital lobby and hurried him along.
We were rushed to a delivery room which we arrived in at about 9.15 and I changed into my nightie and went to the toilet. By now I was having regular contractions and was coping with them well, preferring to stand and using my hubby to lean on. The midwife was concerned that my waters had not broken and asked me to lie on the bed so that she could break them. Lying down was agony for me so she gave me gas and air and I never looked back. She broke my waters and immediately the contractions grew stronger and constant. I remember biting myself to cope with the pain and my poor husband getting a bite accidently along the way as he was holding my hand.
I dont remember when the obstetrician became involved but I do remember my husband having to hold my leg up high whilst they took blood from my babys head to check for distress, them repeatedly trying to insert a cannula and the suddenly I had an overwhelming urge to push which they were telling me not to do. All the while the poor student midwife stood in the corner with his face ashen as I was asked earlier if he could observe us his first birth.
They decided to perform a crash caesarean so they gave my husband some scrubs to change into and rushed me into surgery. The pain was suddenly excruciating without my gas and air and the contractions were being occasionally swapped for forbidden urges to push. When we arrived in the theatre I was asked to curl into a ball so that they could administer the spinal block. This was an impossible and painful job so my husband had to hold me in position while I screamed in pain.
As the spinal set in, the relief was immediate and I lay chatting to my husband and the anaesthetist who told me that such was the emergency that it was the quickest spinal block she had ever administered. Suddenly I heard my baby cry and he was carried around for me to see him for the first time I remember thinking that he was all legs! My husband was able to cut the cord and they took him away to be weighed. At this time a few of the staff came to chat to us and it wasnt until later that my husband told me that the surgeon had worriedly said weve got a leak! and we realised that they were distracting us from what was going on. The surgeon came to speak to me and told me that any subsequent pregnancy would now result in a c-section but did not tell me what happened or why.
Finally the three of us were allowed back to the delivery room and were left alone. I fed him for the first time, we called our families and made our
announcements. HARRISON GEORGE WAS BORN AT 12.08PM AND WEIGHED EXACTLY 9LB!
When we were taken down to the maternity ward where they realised that my cannula had caused oedema my forearm had swollen to twice its normal size!
Over the next few hours it became evident that our little boy was having some trouble latching on and the breast feeding consultant discovered that he had tongue-tie. He was booked in to have it snipped the next day. That night, my little boy cried and cried the midwives took him away and gave him a bottle against my will, this stretched his stomach and I could never keep up with his demand for more milk and had to give up my dream of exclusive breast feeding in favour of combining. I have never forgiven them though I did continue to breastfeed him along with bottles until he was 16 months old.
We were allowed home after 4 days in hospital and although my physical scars healed quickly, 2 years later I am still not over the trauma emotionally. Part of my therapy is to write and post this birth story. I am waiting until the right time for another baby and am hoping for a successful VBAC if its at all possible as I feel that part of being a woman has been stolen from me by not giving birth naturally.
and Congrats x x
