I'm sitting here cuddling my 3 week old daughter and just wondered if anyone had had a similar birth experience to mine.
My wee girl was due at the end of April. My son had been born by c-section 2.5 years ago after a non-reassuring trace because his cord was wrapped round him twice, and we were planning a vbac. We were well warned about all the risks of uterine rupture but were very much supported in our decision to try for a natural birth this time. The one thing we were told is that they would not risk induction using prostaglandins (aka Prostin).
Everything was fine until nearer the end when 1 midwife felt that I was measuring small. She still felt this a fortnight later so, despite a reassuring scan at 34 + 4 weeks, I was referred for a growth scan at 38 + 1 weeks. This, again, showed that the baby was fine.
A few days later, at 38 + 4 I went into hospital for a routine appointment about managing my vbac where they discovered protein in my urine and raised blood pressure. As I'd been feeling nauseous and fuzzy headed, I was kept in. The next day I was told that, to be on the safe side, they wanted to deliver my baby and I should choose between induction using prostaglandins (which increases the risk of rupture by 9-12 times) or c-section. The doctor insisted the risk from the prostaglandins was still minimal.
My husband arrived and we wanted to speak to a dr together before making our decision but none came back till the following morning when we opted for the induction. By night time nothing had happened and a new girl arrived on my wee ward for induction. It was at that point we discovered they'd forgotten to put me on the list for induction. (The new woman went into natural labour and gave birth all in half an hour through the night!)
Finally, the following evening, at 39 weeks exactly I was taken to the labour ward for my one dose of prostaglandins. After a few hours, they thought nothing was happening, told my husband to go home for some rest and suggested I get some sleep. I was put on nil by mouth in preparation for a probable c-section the following morning.
My husband left at midnight, as the prostin contractions were getting stronger but still just like bad cramps. I was left alone in a wee room in the dark. I woke in pain at 1.30am and was given co-codamol, a heat pack and offered sleeping tablets which I refused.
I woke again at 3am in even greater discomfort and was told it was still just the prostaglandins. They simply reheated the heat pack. It was difficult to rest at this point but I drifted in and out of sleep. By 5am I was in a lot if pain so called the midwife who gave me more co-codamol and a second heat pack so I had one for my back as well. She saw me contracting and told me to relax my shoulders as tensing made it worse but that was it. No mention of pain relief, calling my husband or examining me to see what was happening. She listened to the baby again and was happy with the heart beat (all her heart traces on the foetal monitor all week had been fine). At this point I tried to explain that I was now having some short contractions a couple at a time then a longer, more intensely painful one. I think she kept seeing the short ones which may have been caused by the prostaglandins. I think the longer ones were real ones which she just happened to miss.
At 6am I tried going to the loo again and could barely walk for the pain which was now spreading down my legs. I felt like my pelvis was going to fall apart (I'd had a lot of pelvic pain in the last half of my pregnancy) and contracted on the way to the loo, twice there, and all the way back. I called a midwife to ask for water and wanted to check that this was normal but a different midwife came, gave me water and left before I had a chance (she saw me contracting, too) so 5 mins later I called again and my own midwife came. I told her I couldn't do it on my own any more and that I wanted my husband to come in. She hooked me up to the monitor and then called my husband, telling him I was a bit sore and was asking for him to come in. (Such was her lack of urgency that he nipped in for a shower before leaving!)
I could hear that the trace didn't sound the same as before and when she came back she said she was going to get a dr to examine me and offered me gas and air (which I readily accepted as I could no longer bear the pain in my legs). When the dr came in he said I was 7cm dilated and, through the fog of the gas, he asked when my last scan had been (exactly one week before). It turned out my baby had managed to turn to breech at some point during that last week/labour and no one had spotted it despite several examinations! They immediately started preparing me for theatre (no option was given for a natural birth) and my husband arrived as I was signing consent forms for surgery whilst high on gas and air. The only lucid point I could make was that they were to hand the baby to me first (this had not happened after my son was born).
I was rushed to theatre but before they could get the spinal block done I started pushing and so had to give birth to my beautiful baby girl naturally. The room filled with midwives coming to watch as apparently it's rare to see a natural breech birth and that many midwives are losing the skill. She was born at 7.09am weighing 6lb and with the cord wrapped round her neck twice. I'd been given an episiotomy so I had the pain of all those stitches to recover from but otherwise everything was perfect.
Afterwards all the drs I saw said that if they'd been in charge of my vbac I'd never have been allowed the prostaglandins - that they'd just have done a c-section (irrespective of the breech presentation). I wondered if anyone else had had a vbac using them. I also wondered if anyone else's baby turned round to be breech right at the last minute. I'd never heard of that happening before.
Thanks for reading (sorry it's turned out so long!)
Aiko
My wee girl was due at the end of April. My son had been born by c-section 2.5 years ago after a non-reassuring trace because his cord was wrapped round him twice, and we were planning a vbac. We were well warned about all the risks of uterine rupture but were very much supported in our decision to try for a natural birth this time. The one thing we were told is that they would not risk induction using prostaglandins (aka Prostin).
Everything was fine until nearer the end when 1 midwife felt that I was measuring small. She still felt this a fortnight later so, despite a reassuring scan at 34 + 4 weeks, I was referred for a growth scan at 38 + 1 weeks. This, again, showed that the baby was fine.
A few days later, at 38 + 4 I went into hospital for a routine appointment about managing my vbac where they discovered protein in my urine and raised blood pressure. As I'd been feeling nauseous and fuzzy headed, I was kept in. The next day I was told that, to be on the safe side, they wanted to deliver my baby and I should choose between induction using prostaglandins (which increases the risk of rupture by 9-12 times) or c-section. The doctor insisted the risk from the prostaglandins was still minimal.
My husband arrived and we wanted to speak to a dr together before making our decision but none came back till the following morning when we opted for the induction. By night time nothing had happened and a new girl arrived on my wee ward for induction. It was at that point we discovered they'd forgotten to put me on the list for induction. (The new woman went into natural labour and gave birth all in half an hour through the night!)
Finally, the following evening, at 39 weeks exactly I was taken to the labour ward for my one dose of prostaglandins. After a few hours, they thought nothing was happening, told my husband to go home for some rest and suggested I get some sleep. I was put on nil by mouth in preparation for a probable c-section the following morning.
My husband left at midnight, as the prostin contractions were getting stronger but still just like bad cramps. I was left alone in a wee room in the dark. I woke in pain at 1.30am and was given co-codamol, a heat pack and offered sleeping tablets which I refused.
I woke again at 3am in even greater discomfort and was told it was still just the prostaglandins. They simply reheated the heat pack. It was difficult to rest at this point but I drifted in and out of sleep. By 5am I was in a lot if pain so called the midwife who gave me more co-codamol and a second heat pack so I had one for my back as well. She saw me contracting and told me to relax my shoulders as tensing made it worse but that was it. No mention of pain relief, calling my husband or examining me to see what was happening. She listened to the baby again and was happy with the heart beat (all her heart traces on the foetal monitor all week had been fine). At this point I tried to explain that I was now having some short contractions a couple at a time then a longer, more intensely painful one. I think she kept seeing the short ones which may have been caused by the prostaglandins. I think the longer ones were real ones which she just happened to miss.
At 6am I tried going to the loo again and could barely walk for the pain which was now spreading down my legs. I felt like my pelvis was going to fall apart (I'd had a lot of pelvic pain in the last half of my pregnancy) and contracted on the way to the loo, twice there, and all the way back. I called a midwife to ask for water and wanted to check that this was normal but a different midwife came, gave me water and left before I had a chance (she saw me contracting, too) so 5 mins later I called again and my own midwife came. I told her I couldn't do it on my own any more and that I wanted my husband to come in. She hooked me up to the monitor and then called my husband, telling him I was a bit sore and was asking for him to come in. (Such was her lack of urgency that he nipped in for a shower before leaving!)
I could hear that the trace didn't sound the same as before and when she came back she said she was going to get a dr to examine me and offered me gas and air (which I readily accepted as I could no longer bear the pain in my legs). When the dr came in he said I was 7cm dilated and, through the fog of the gas, he asked when my last scan had been (exactly one week before). It turned out my baby had managed to turn to breech at some point during that last week/labour and no one had spotted it despite several examinations! They immediately started preparing me for theatre (no option was given for a natural birth) and my husband arrived as I was signing consent forms for surgery whilst high on gas and air. The only lucid point I could make was that they were to hand the baby to me first (this had not happened after my son was born).
I was rushed to theatre but before they could get the spinal block done I started pushing and so had to give birth to my beautiful baby girl naturally. The room filled with midwives coming to watch as apparently it's rare to see a natural breech birth and that many midwives are losing the skill. She was born at 7.09am weighing 6lb and with the cord wrapped round her neck twice. I'd been given an episiotomy so I had the pain of all those stitches to recover from but otherwise everything was perfect.
Afterwards all the drs I saw said that if they'd been in charge of my vbac I'd never have been allowed the prostaglandins - that they'd just have done a c-section (irrespective of the breech presentation). I wondered if anyone else had had a vbac using them. I also wondered if anyone else's baby turned round to be breech right at the last minute. I'd never heard of that happening before.
Thanks for reading (sorry it's turned out so long!)
Aiko
xx
Your post gives me hope though! Thanks! Hope all is going well for you and your LO now!
