Annabel
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My birth story,
The 28th September had arrived, babys due date! I had convinced myself that I was going overdue, I had a midwife appointment that afternoon and was wondering what was going to happen. To date I had had no signs of anything happening, maybe a few mild period pains, but nothing to get excited about.
The morning of the 28th I woke up at 6.30am to put the cats outside, as I was shutting the door on the cats I felt a period pain that came and went, didnt really think it was anything. I run myself a nice warm bath, got in and started to doze off. I was lying in the bath when another longer period pain happened, I sat up and felt something, it was my plug coming away. I literally jumped out of the bath and sat on the loo. There was quite a lot of mucus coming away. I cleaned myself up, went to the bedroom and excitedly told hubby, Rich, that I thought something was happening. I went back to the loo as my plug just kept on coming. I kept getting frequent pains, so Rich got his iphone, loaded up Contraction Master and we started to time them..
There was a pattern, the contractions were coming every 3 minutes lasting around 45seconds to a minute. By 8am, they were every 2 minutes, lasting 1 minute. By this point I was on the floor in agony, Rich got my bouncy ball, but I could only just get my arms over the thing for another contraction. I managed to get up off the floor and told Rich that things were happening too fast and that I needed to ring the delivery ward. Rich got my notes, but there were so many scrawling's of different numbers he didnt know which one it was. I managed work out the right number and rung the delivery ward. The conversation went a little bit like this,
Me Im having contractions every 2 minutes apart and they are lasting for around a minute.
Midwife Have you rung before
Me No, they only started at 7am
The midwife asked for my details and as I tried to give them to her I had another contraction, then another after she had all of my details.
Midwife How far away do you live?
Me 20 minutes
Midwife If you dont think your going to make it to the hospital in time, call 999 they are trained to deliver babies!
I told her I would be there, I hung up and said to Rich, I need to wash my hair before we go, he looked slightly concerned and tried to tell me my hair was fine, but for some reason I was adamant. I cant really remember washing my hair, Rich said that with every contraction I would push my arms against the glass, he said the glass was literally flexing and was worried that he would taking me to A&E instead! I got out the shower, scrapped back my hair, somehow managed to throw on a long shirt and leggings and off we went. Rich drove quite fast to the hospital, I remember telling him he had gone the wrong way (he hadnt!) and we got there at 9.30.
When we got there, there was nowhere to park, so we had stop outside of the hospital on the red zigzags!! We buzzed on the door to delivery and a receptionist came to the door. Very cheerfully said,
Can I help you?
Me arh can you let me in, Im in labour,
Her, Oh, who sent you?
Me I rung and they said to come in, PLEASE let me in
Her, Okay, if you would just like to take a seat..
By this point I had realised my waters were going, my leggings were wet. I told her that I didnt want to take a seat, I wanted drugs!
Her response, Oh sorry, Im new here, this is only my second day
Luckily a midwife came and whisked us off to a room.
Got into the room and shown where the bathroom was etc, Rich left to find somewhere to park the car. The midwife asked me what pain relief I wanted, I asked for everything. She said we should start off on the gas and air. Well I had a couple of puffs and hated the stuff. It didnt do anything and I would gag on the mouthpiece. At 9.45am she examined me and said I was 4cm stretching to 6cm. She kept encouraging me to use the gas and air but I kept asking for an epidural. She said the anesthetist was very busy and it would be awhile. Rich came back from the car and brought the bags with him. By this time I was really really hot, I stripped off and put on my labour dress. Rich tried the gas and air, as I kept telling him it wasnt plugged in and wasnt working. He took a couple of puffs, said it was working, but I still didnt believe him! The midwife came back in and I asked her again for an epidural, again she said they were busy and to try the gas and air. She then offered pethadine, so I had a shot of that. It didnt take the pain away, it just made me drowsy in-between contractions, and as that was only for a minute or two, there wasnt much time for napping! At 10.45am Rich went off to get a coffee and a sandwich. The midwife checked me while he was out and said I was 9cm. The midwife looked anxious and asked were Rich was, I told her he had popped out for a coffee and she said he better get back here quick! I noticed that they had started to get the trolleys ready and a student midwife had turned up at this point. Rich came back and she told him that I was ready to go and not to disappear again.
So it was 11.20am and I was pushing, and that was when the real hard work started. I pushed and pushed and pushed in various positions for 2 hours 50 minutes. I was begging them to just pull him out but they said I was doing really well. It didnt feel like it. I could feel him going back up after the contractions. Rich said that near the end when I was on the bed I was literally twisting the plastic mattress and all my muscles were coming out in my arms, (I didnt even know I had muscles there!) Then I pushed with all my strength and his head came out, I knew I was just 1 contraction away from meeting my little man. It seemed to take an age for that next contraction, I could hear him making snuffling noises, and the midwife said he was turning his own head. Then the contraction came and I pushed and out he came, straight onto my chest. He looked up at me and started crying, the midwife popped a little beanie hat on him and put a towel over him. He lay on my chest and it was just amazing.
He was born at 14.12 on the 28th Sept, he scored 7 on the apgar score when he first came out. Then the full 10 after 5 minutes. He weighed 7lbs 15oz and is perfect in everyway.
Rich and I are totally in love with our little man. We were both shocked that he came on his due date and really shocked at how quick everything happened. At the initial booking-in appointment the midwife said first time mums are usually late and labour can last on average of 18 hours. The community midwife said this week I would be an ideal candidate for a home birth next time, as I pretty much did it without pain relief, she said the pethadine is more for relaxing you. Also, I think they reckon I wont make it to the hospital next time..
Here is a picture of him on day 4, he has quite strong neck muscles, and can already hold his head on his own for 10 seconds!
The 28th September had arrived, babys due date! I had convinced myself that I was going overdue, I had a midwife appointment that afternoon and was wondering what was going to happen. To date I had had no signs of anything happening, maybe a few mild period pains, but nothing to get excited about.
The morning of the 28th I woke up at 6.30am to put the cats outside, as I was shutting the door on the cats I felt a period pain that came and went, didnt really think it was anything. I run myself a nice warm bath, got in and started to doze off. I was lying in the bath when another longer period pain happened, I sat up and felt something, it was my plug coming away. I literally jumped out of the bath and sat on the loo. There was quite a lot of mucus coming away. I cleaned myself up, went to the bedroom and excitedly told hubby, Rich, that I thought something was happening. I went back to the loo as my plug just kept on coming. I kept getting frequent pains, so Rich got his iphone, loaded up Contraction Master and we started to time them..
There was a pattern, the contractions were coming every 3 minutes lasting around 45seconds to a minute. By 8am, they were every 2 minutes, lasting 1 minute. By this point I was on the floor in agony, Rich got my bouncy ball, but I could only just get my arms over the thing for another contraction. I managed to get up off the floor and told Rich that things were happening too fast and that I needed to ring the delivery ward. Rich got my notes, but there were so many scrawling's of different numbers he didnt know which one it was. I managed work out the right number and rung the delivery ward. The conversation went a little bit like this,
Me Im having contractions every 2 minutes apart and they are lasting for around a minute.
Midwife Have you rung before
Me No, they only started at 7am
The midwife asked for my details and as I tried to give them to her I had another contraction, then another after she had all of my details.
Midwife How far away do you live?
Me 20 minutes
Midwife If you dont think your going to make it to the hospital in time, call 999 they are trained to deliver babies!
I told her I would be there, I hung up and said to Rich, I need to wash my hair before we go, he looked slightly concerned and tried to tell me my hair was fine, but for some reason I was adamant. I cant really remember washing my hair, Rich said that with every contraction I would push my arms against the glass, he said the glass was literally flexing and was worried that he would taking me to A&E instead! I got out the shower, scrapped back my hair, somehow managed to throw on a long shirt and leggings and off we went. Rich drove quite fast to the hospital, I remember telling him he had gone the wrong way (he hadnt!) and we got there at 9.30.
When we got there, there was nowhere to park, so we had stop outside of the hospital on the red zigzags!! We buzzed on the door to delivery and a receptionist came to the door. Very cheerfully said,
Can I help you?
Me arh can you let me in, Im in labour,
Her, Oh, who sent you?
Me I rung and they said to come in, PLEASE let me in
Her, Okay, if you would just like to take a seat..
By this point I had realised my waters were going, my leggings were wet. I told her that I didnt want to take a seat, I wanted drugs!
Her response, Oh sorry, Im new here, this is only my second day
Luckily a midwife came and whisked us off to a room.
Got into the room and shown where the bathroom was etc, Rich left to find somewhere to park the car. The midwife asked me what pain relief I wanted, I asked for everything. She said we should start off on the gas and air. Well I had a couple of puffs and hated the stuff. It didnt do anything and I would gag on the mouthpiece. At 9.45am she examined me and said I was 4cm stretching to 6cm. She kept encouraging me to use the gas and air but I kept asking for an epidural. She said the anesthetist was very busy and it would be awhile. Rich came back from the car and brought the bags with him. By this time I was really really hot, I stripped off and put on my labour dress. Rich tried the gas and air, as I kept telling him it wasnt plugged in and wasnt working. He took a couple of puffs, said it was working, but I still didnt believe him! The midwife came back in and I asked her again for an epidural, again she said they were busy and to try the gas and air. She then offered pethadine, so I had a shot of that. It didnt take the pain away, it just made me drowsy in-between contractions, and as that was only for a minute or two, there wasnt much time for napping! At 10.45am Rich went off to get a coffee and a sandwich. The midwife checked me while he was out and said I was 9cm. The midwife looked anxious and asked were Rich was, I told her he had popped out for a coffee and she said he better get back here quick! I noticed that they had started to get the trolleys ready and a student midwife had turned up at this point. Rich came back and she told him that I was ready to go and not to disappear again.
So it was 11.20am and I was pushing, and that was when the real hard work started. I pushed and pushed and pushed in various positions for 2 hours 50 minutes. I was begging them to just pull him out but they said I was doing really well. It didnt feel like it. I could feel him going back up after the contractions. Rich said that near the end when I was on the bed I was literally twisting the plastic mattress and all my muscles were coming out in my arms, (I didnt even know I had muscles there!) Then I pushed with all my strength and his head came out, I knew I was just 1 contraction away from meeting my little man. It seemed to take an age for that next contraction, I could hear him making snuffling noises, and the midwife said he was turning his own head. Then the contraction came and I pushed and out he came, straight onto my chest. He looked up at me and started crying, the midwife popped a little beanie hat on him and put a towel over him. He lay on my chest and it was just amazing.
He was born at 14.12 on the 28th Sept, he scored 7 on the apgar score when he first came out. Then the full 10 after 5 minutes. He weighed 7lbs 15oz and is perfect in everyway.
Rich and I are totally in love with our little man. We were both shocked that he came on his due date and really shocked at how quick everything happened. At the initial booking-in appointment the midwife said first time mums are usually late and labour can last on average of 18 hours. The community midwife said this week I would be an ideal candidate for a home birth next time, as I pretty much did it without pain relief, she said the pethadine is more for relaxing you. Also, I think they reckon I wont make it to the hospital next time..
Here is a picture of him on day 4, he has quite strong neck muscles, and can already hold his head on his own for 10 seconds!
