This is the birth story of Baby A (Hope it makes sense I'm dyslexic)
It was 1:51am on Friday 26/11/2010, I was awoken by a period like cramp and pressure in my pelvis. I looked at my clock and thought it was just the normal signs that I needed to pee. So I got myself up and headed to the bathroom. Around 10pm the pervious day, I was at my mums, before I left her house I used her loo and noticed I might have lost my mucus plug, as I had a bloody show in my underwear.
Anyway, on Friday morning at 1:51 am there it was again, but this time it was thicker and brighter sitting in the bottom of the toilet bowl. The cramp also came and went and I knew this was it. I headed back to my room and decided to clean up in between contractions and had some more red raspberry leaf tea, which Id also been drinking earlier that night. Around 3am, the contraction were pretty regular and I decide it was time to call my mum.Now I must mention that because of housing issues that had a raisen through the end stages of my pregnancy I was in a temporary home for mums waiting to be housed by the local council. My partner Chris and I met aboard whilst I was on holiday, we had a long distance relationship for a year and a half before he decided to move to London to be with me. My old flat was a studio, way too small for a baby and the lease had expired. We thought it would be easy to find a new place but with the recession things were pretty bad. When we realised wed have no place for a while we felt pretty crap about bringing my baby in to the world.
Anyway, I applied to our local council(social housing) and had been offered helped but as my partner is from Norway he had to make other arrangements, hence us all being in separate places temporary until were offered a permanent place. My parents home is tiny and my dad hates and I mean hates all his daughters partners for no real reason.(I think he finds it hard to see his daughters with men making babies lol)So no staying with them.That's the story with the housing and the reason I was all alone.My due days were 27th November for the first scan(&period math) and 29th November for the final scan,I had planned to spend the weekend at my parents just in case but baby had other plans lol.
Anyway, I called my mum and explained that I wanted to use her bath tub to labour in as the hostel(temporary house )only has showers. I called a cab and was at my mums house in less then 10 minutes. I got there and everything was o.k. .I filled the tub and got my hynobirthing CD on. I turned out the lights and tried to focus.
Around half an hour later my contractions got too strong and too close together to control. I was whaling loud enough to wake my mum and shes called out "Melissa are you o.k." through the bathroom door, I said "I think its time to call the hospital theyre getting too close".I called my partner Chris from the tub before this I didnt want to wake him as it was so early in to labour and I thought Id in early labour for a few hours more, as everyone says first babies take long, but this little girl was not waiting. I called Chriss phone three times before he answered a sleepy "hello" I yelled "The babys coming" "WHAT REALLY" he said sleepy but excited "yeah I'm gonna call the hospital meet us there but Ill let you know first" I yelled through a contraction on the phone with Chris this was really it.
My mum called The Birth Centre at our hospital Id planned to go there for less medical intervention and no epidural. Not that Im against epidurals ,but Id had back problems before and no doctor or midwife could guratnee that the epidural would not effect me after the birth. The Birth Centre at our hospital was new, had good reviews and best of all is based inside the hospital so any problems and you would be admitted to the labour ward no problem. I was in so much pain I wanted to go to Labour Ward and get an epidural.My mum called but they said come to The Birth Centre first to check youre in labour(ah are they a serious I thought Ive got contractions every two mintues and I cant stand up). But they want to check that youre 4cm dilated or youre sent home to wait.I didnt want to be sent home as we wasnt super close to the hospital and going back and forward would have been a pain with our living arrangements.
Another cab came and we where at the Birth Centre in no time. Chris was already there and the midwives joked that its a first the dad had been there before the labouring mother. I waited in reception for the examination room to be free, on all fronts breathing and moaning but the midwives said do whatever feels comfortable.Chris was on the floor with me holding my hand. The room was free and I ran straight in, I felt bad for the lady who just got examined, she was in pain but sent home, her hubby did not look pleased. I was asked to pass urine, then lay flat on the bed. This was hard as it was soo uncomfortable and difficult to lie still through the pain of contractions. I was 4 cm dilated and so happy to be admitted as the journey home was long.
The midwife set up a room.I should point out that in The Birth Centre all the rooms have pools, gas and air and you can request pethidine but there are no epidurals.I was adviced by my midwife not to use the birthing pool at this stage and to save the drugs for a bit later as I didnt want to use everything at once. The midwife showed me how to use the gas and air and I sucked away. It worked for about an hour and a half. We arrived around 5:30am and by hour later I was screaming for more drugs the pain was soo bad and so intense. "I want an epidural please please, I cant do this please" is what I was begging and yelling at the midwife, she said "no we dont offer epidural would you like me to get you some pethidine?" I kept screaming the word epidural at her but she decided to give me some pethidine anyway. The midwife headed out to prepare and my mum and Chris tried to help me calm down. My mum wasnt really helping bless her, she meant well but she was saying stop panicking your being silly now and it was just pissing me off. I felt like I was dying these words were not helpful, Chris said "honey your doing great, theyre gonna get you something and it will be o.k." this was more helpful.
The midwife came back and said "Are you o.k?" because I was kneeing again on all four "shes in my back"
I said "Do you feel like you want to push Melissa? Melissa talk to me"the midwife was saying but I was locked in to the contractions
"yes, no,I dont know, it feels like shes in my bum"
"O.K let me check you first" which she did then she announced "Melissa youre 9 cm Im sorry I cant give you the pethidine youre too far gone"
I cried "Noooooooooo, give it to me" I cried soo hard and screamed, I begged Chris to help me, I was scared that the last cm would take forever, or that Id have no energy to push basically just freaked out. I couldnt see people I could only hear their voices. The midwife asked if I wanted to get in the water and I said yes. I was a full 10cm dilated and told if I wanted to I could pulled.
I tried but the water seemed to make things waste, I pushed and my waters broke, I felt the popped and it bubbled through the water. I was asked by the midwife to get out of the pool because I couldnt gain control, I admit I was all over the place screaming get out, not really from the pain, I think I was more scared then anything.
I was pulled on to the bed and holding on to the headboard, my back to everyone on my knees, waiting to push. The weirdest thing is the pain had gone, there was just pressure that told me to pull down in to my bottom. I pushed for an hour and 10 or 15 mintues I know this because when I got out of the pool I looked at the clock and it was 7.20am and baby was born 8.36am. It was soo hard pushing, every time I pushed down I felt her go back up a little and that was irritating, as I was pushing with everything I had. I was propped up by a giant black bean bag, which helped soo much. I was a little upset at the first the midwife as she said I wasnt pushing right? She said I needed to let go and just push she said I was clenching my butt chins. If I was I didnt mean to but it kept happening. I had a cold too which made it hard for me to breathe. I kept blowing my nose in to a towel and all over the bean bag, poor Chris saw ever part of me that day but to be honest I didnt care. There was a quick midwife shift change over and I was assisted my a student and her teacher, these two were excellent. They told me its o.k that the baby kept slipping back up a little because Ill tear less. A few hard pushes and everyone was happy to see babys black hair. I was getting tried, so I was given a few slips of hot chocolate for energy and a few more great pushes. I felt a massive amount of pressure and pushed with everything I had, the head was coming out. The midwives were telling me to breathe and pant through the burning feeling and Im glad they did, I wasnt sure whether to keep pushing, scream, pant or cry, I think I did them all. After some big pants I let out a big violent roar and pushed with my heart and soul, I felt her moving out of me in to the world.
Her hand was by her head coming out so the midwives quickly moved it. Then the last push and she was out, I felt huge relief. I could hear her crying and could feel the cord between my legs, everyone was crying and talking. It was about 1 or 2 minutes before I saw her as I still had my back to everyone. The midwife said "pick up your baby, pull her through your legs and hold your baby". I did and we had skin to skin contact. I was crying so much from joy and relief. Chris cut the cord after it had stopped pulsating and we all lay there, my new family. My mum rang everyone to let them know the news. My princess latched on and started to breast feed without problem, funny thing is I never planned to breast feed but she made it so easy from day one. Whilst she was feeding I was given an injection to deliver the placenta ,the injection help get one last contraction and as I was distracted by the baby I didnt feel anything whilst the midwives rubbed my tummy to help it out, oh I was also allow one last shot of gas and air. They also told me I had a small tear it didn't bleed and was soo small I didn't need stitches, I seriously thought I'd ripped to high heaven when her head came out because of the burning feeling.
It was amazing to finally meet her, I got the birth I wanted, but it was soo intense and fast and that scared me. Next time, maybe Ill have drugs because there was no break from the pain and I was panicking at points because I couldnt focus and maybe drugs would have helped me relax. However, I was advised by a midwife that my labours will only get quicker and I should next time consider a home birth. Overall I did a good job but I will never knock anyone who uses drug during child birth, take everything on offer lol it hurts like hell.
It was 1:51am on Friday 26/11/2010, I was awoken by a period like cramp and pressure in my pelvis. I looked at my clock and thought it was just the normal signs that I needed to pee. So I got myself up and headed to the bathroom. Around 10pm the pervious day, I was at my mums, before I left her house I used her loo and noticed I might have lost my mucus plug, as I had a bloody show in my underwear.
Anyway, on Friday morning at 1:51 am there it was again, but this time it was thicker and brighter sitting in the bottom of the toilet bowl. The cramp also came and went and I knew this was it. I headed back to my room and decided to clean up in between contractions and had some more red raspberry leaf tea, which Id also been drinking earlier that night. Around 3am, the contraction were pretty regular and I decide it was time to call my mum.Now I must mention that because of housing issues that had a raisen through the end stages of my pregnancy I was in a temporary home for mums waiting to be housed by the local council. My partner Chris and I met aboard whilst I was on holiday, we had a long distance relationship for a year and a half before he decided to move to London to be with me. My old flat was a studio, way too small for a baby and the lease had expired. We thought it would be easy to find a new place but with the recession things were pretty bad. When we realised wed have no place for a while we felt pretty crap about bringing my baby in to the world.
Anyway, I applied to our local council(social housing) and had been offered helped but as my partner is from Norway he had to make other arrangements, hence us all being in separate places temporary until were offered a permanent place. My parents home is tiny and my dad hates and I mean hates all his daughters partners for no real reason.(I think he finds it hard to see his daughters with men making babies lol)So no staying with them.That's the story with the housing and the reason I was all alone.My due days were 27th November for the first scan(&period math) and 29th November for the final scan,I had planned to spend the weekend at my parents just in case but baby had other plans lol.
Anyway, I called my mum and explained that I wanted to use her bath tub to labour in as the hostel(temporary house )only has showers. I called a cab and was at my mums house in less then 10 minutes. I got there and everything was o.k. .I filled the tub and got my hynobirthing CD on. I turned out the lights and tried to focus.
Around half an hour later my contractions got too strong and too close together to control. I was whaling loud enough to wake my mum and shes called out "Melissa are you o.k." through the bathroom door, I said "I think its time to call the hospital theyre getting too close".I called my partner Chris from the tub before this I didnt want to wake him as it was so early in to labour and I thought Id in early labour for a few hours more, as everyone says first babies take long, but this little girl was not waiting. I called Chriss phone three times before he answered a sleepy "hello" I yelled "The babys coming" "WHAT REALLY" he said sleepy but excited "yeah I'm gonna call the hospital meet us there but Ill let you know first" I yelled through a contraction on the phone with Chris this was really it.
My mum called The Birth Centre at our hospital Id planned to go there for less medical intervention and no epidural. Not that Im against epidurals ,but Id had back problems before and no doctor or midwife could guratnee that the epidural would not effect me after the birth. The Birth Centre at our hospital was new, had good reviews and best of all is based inside the hospital so any problems and you would be admitted to the labour ward no problem. I was in so much pain I wanted to go to Labour Ward and get an epidural.My mum called but they said come to The Birth Centre first to check youre in labour(ah are they a serious I thought Ive got contractions every two mintues and I cant stand up). But they want to check that youre 4cm dilated or youre sent home to wait.I didnt want to be sent home as we wasnt super close to the hospital and going back and forward would have been a pain with our living arrangements.
Another cab came and we where at the Birth Centre in no time. Chris was already there and the midwives joked that its a first the dad had been there before the labouring mother. I waited in reception for the examination room to be free, on all fronts breathing and moaning but the midwives said do whatever feels comfortable.Chris was on the floor with me holding my hand. The room was free and I ran straight in, I felt bad for the lady who just got examined, she was in pain but sent home, her hubby did not look pleased. I was asked to pass urine, then lay flat on the bed. This was hard as it was soo uncomfortable and difficult to lie still through the pain of contractions. I was 4 cm dilated and so happy to be admitted as the journey home was long.
The midwife set up a room.I should point out that in The Birth Centre all the rooms have pools, gas and air and you can request pethidine but there are no epidurals.I was adviced by my midwife not to use the birthing pool at this stage and to save the drugs for a bit later as I didnt want to use everything at once. The midwife showed me how to use the gas and air and I sucked away. It worked for about an hour and a half. We arrived around 5:30am and by hour later I was screaming for more drugs the pain was soo bad and so intense. "I want an epidural please please, I cant do this please" is what I was begging and yelling at the midwife, she said "no we dont offer epidural would you like me to get you some pethidine?" I kept screaming the word epidural at her but she decided to give me some pethidine anyway. The midwife headed out to prepare and my mum and Chris tried to help me calm down. My mum wasnt really helping bless her, she meant well but she was saying stop panicking your being silly now and it was just pissing me off. I felt like I was dying these words were not helpful, Chris said "honey your doing great, theyre gonna get you something and it will be o.k." this was more helpful.
The midwife came back and said "Are you o.k?" because I was kneeing again on all four "shes in my back"
I said "Do you feel like you want to push Melissa? Melissa talk to me"the midwife was saying but I was locked in to the contractions
"yes, no,I dont know, it feels like shes in my bum"
"O.K let me check you first" which she did then she announced "Melissa youre 9 cm Im sorry I cant give you the pethidine youre too far gone"
I cried "Noooooooooo, give it to me" I cried soo hard and screamed, I begged Chris to help me, I was scared that the last cm would take forever, or that Id have no energy to push basically just freaked out. I couldnt see people I could only hear their voices. The midwife asked if I wanted to get in the water and I said yes. I was a full 10cm dilated and told if I wanted to I could pulled.
I tried but the water seemed to make things waste, I pushed and my waters broke, I felt the popped and it bubbled through the water. I was asked by the midwife to get out of the pool because I couldnt gain control, I admit I was all over the place screaming get out, not really from the pain, I think I was more scared then anything.
I was pulled on to the bed and holding on to the headboard, my back to everyone on my knees, waiting to push. The weirdest thing is the pain had gone, there was just pressure that told me to pull down in to my bottom. I pushed for an hour and 10 or 15 mintues I know this because when I got out of the pool I looked at the clock and it was 7.20am and baby was born 8.36am. It was soo hard pushing, every time I pushed down I felt her go back up a little and that was irritating, as I was pushing with everything I had. I was propped up by a giant black bean bag, which helped soo much. I was a little upset at the first the midwife as she said I wasnt pushing right? She said I needed to let go and just push she said I was clenching my butt chins. If I was I didnt mean to but it kept happening. I had a cold too which made it hard for me to breathe. I kept blowing my nose in to a towel and all over the bean bag, poor Chris saw ever part of me that day but to be honest I didnt care. There was a quick midwife shift change over and I was assisted my a student and her teacher, these two were excellent. They told me its o.k that the baby kept slipping back up a little because Ill tear less. A few hard pushes and everyone was happy to see babys black hair. I was getting tried, so I was given a few slips of hot chocolate for energy and a few more great pushes. I felt a massive amount of pressure and pushed with everything I had, the head was coming out. The midwives were telling me to breathe and pant through the burning feeling and Im glad they did, I wasnt sure whether to keep pushing, scream, pant or cry, I think I did them all. After some big pants I let out a big violent roar and pushed with my heart and soul, I felt her moving out of me in to the world.
Her hand was by her head coming out so the midwives quickly moved it. Then the last push and she was out, I felt huge relief. I could hear her crying and could feel the cord between my legs, everyone was crying and talking. It was about 1 or 2 minutes before I saw her as I still had my back to everyone. The midwife said "pick up your baby, pull her through your legs and hold your baby". I did and we had skin to skin contact. I was crying so much from joy and relief. Chris cut the cord after it had stopped pulsating and we all lay there, my new family. My mum rang everyone to let them know the news. My princess latched on and started to breast feed without problem, funny thing is I never planned to breast feed but she made it so easy from day one. Whilst she was feeding I was given an injection to deliver the placenta ,the injection help get one last contraction and as I was distracted by the baby I didnt feel anything whilst the midwives rubbed my tummy to help it out, oh I was also allow one last shot of gas and air. They also told me I had a small tear it didn't bleed and was soo small I didn't need stitches, I seriously thought I'd ripped to high heaven when her head came out because of the burning feeling.
It was amazing to finally meet her, I got the birth I wanted, but it was soo intense and fast and that scared me. Next time, maybe Ill have drugs because there was no break from the pain and I was panicking at points because I couldnt focus and maybe drugs would have helped me relax. However, I was advised by a midwife that my labours will only get quicker and I should next time consider a home birth. Overall I did a good job but I will never knock anyone who uses drug during child birth, take everything on offer lol it hurts like hell.
Amazing how she just decided to breastfeed. Looks like she's going to be a lady who knows what she wants! 
sorry you had a tough labour
