Sun_Flower
Mum to 2 Beautiful Girls
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- Nov 15, 2010
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On Sunday the 20th at around 4pm I realised that I hadn't felt the baby move as much as I usually did. I'd felt the odd roll but mainly what I'd been feeling were tightenings rather than movements. Had a drink of Pepsi and some chocolate which usually got her wriggling, and managed to get a few movements out of her, but at around 5:30 I decided to ring delivery suite just in case. I got up and went to the phone in the hall, picked up my notes to find the right number, and as I was looking at it, my waters went. It was only a trickle at first so I managed to get upstairs to the toilet, and as I did so more and more came out. I put a maternity pad on and rang delivery suite, told them the waters were clear etc. One of their standard questions is about baby's movements anyway so when I told them about her decreased movement they said to come in that night if they didn't pick up and I was concerned at all. Otherwise I'd have to come in the next morning at 6 if contractions hadn't started so we could formulate a plan for moving the labour along etc to avoid the risk of infection.
Bounced on my ball for a while, but still no contractions. Got my daughter Eden ready and packed off to my mums, as either way she'd have to be there at some point in the next 24 hours. Got up from my ball after a while and had a MASSIVE gush of fluid, soaked through my pad and my underwear and my shorts and a towel I had as well. Soon after that at around 8:30 the contractions started coming, and we're instantly regular and 5 minutes apart. Within very little time we realised as we had a 40 minute journey to the hospital it was best that we left. Got to the hospital, slowly made it up to delivery suite and was booked in, weighed, fundal height and stuff checked. Was having to breathe through the contractions without speaking at that point but they weren't horrendous. Was examined at 10:10pm and I was a whole 2cm dilated (woo), going to a 3 when stretched. Apparently that wasn't bad going for only an hour and a half of contractions. The midwife said she gave me a sweep while she was up there, and suggested going for a walk round the hospital to get things going a bit more and then they'd reassess me.
Didn't get that far though. Got of the bed and felt like I really REALLY needed to poop, so stumbled of to the toilet and sat on there. My contractions were suddenly horrendous, I came out in a cold sweat, felt sick, and like I couldn't cope with the pain. Even worse, it felt like my body was trying to push, and I was sitting there thinking "oh my god I can't be pushing, I'm only 2cm". Told the midwife there was no way I could walk around the hospital when I could barely even get off the loo, and that if I was far enough along I wanted an epidural as it was so much more painful than last time and I couldn't do it. Managed to get off the loo and stumble to the bed, and told her that I felt like I needed to push. Rather than tell me no, she said "if your body feels like it needs to push, have a go", so I did, and oh my god it HURT, but suddenly I was pushing and could feel pressure, and the midwife said "I'd better get my stuff, this baby is coming". She managed to get me on to the bed on all fours, and I was pushing, and then she said she could see the baby! With some amazing guidance from the midwife I managed to get the baby's head out without pushing too much - she told me to "blow" the baby's head out with breathing rather than push. Decided to trust she knew what she was doing, and then the head was out. A couple of pushes later and baby Violet Nichola Lewis was born, at 11:17pm. I'd managed to go from 2cm to 10cm in just over an hour. Looking back I guess the reason I felt so awful and like I couldn't cope on the toilet was probably because I was in that horrible transition stage at 8-10 cm straight away from being examined! The placenta came out just after, and I got away with less than 100ml blood loss, and a small 2nd degree tear that needed a couple of stitches but which I haven't felt at all since. So much better an outcome than last time, with my 3B tear and 1500ml PPH, so it IS possible to have a positive second birth experience after something like that happening!
Was so lovely to have skin to skin with Violet and spend time cuddling her, rather than having to pass her off straight away like with Eden. After I was stitched up, the baby was weighed, and came out at 4300g which is apparently 9lb 8oz, although at the time the midwife said 9lb 7oz. Had to stay in hospital for 24 hours as it's policy now to do glucose tests on babies over the 90th centile in case they become hypoglycaemic.
Home, happy, and loving life with my little family of four
Bounced on my ball for a while, but still no contractions. Got my daughter Eden ready and packed off to my mums, as either way she'd have to be there at some point in the next 24 hours. Got up from my ball after a while and had a MASSIVE gush of fluid, soaked through my pad and my underwear and my shorts and a towel I had as well. Soon after that at around 8:30 the contractions started coming, and we're instantly regular and 5 minutes apart. Within very little time we realised as we had a 40 minute journey to the hospital it was best that we left. Got to the hospital, slowly made it up to delivery suite and was booked in, weighed, fundal height and stuff checked. Was having to breathe through the contractions without speaking at that point but they weren't horrendous. Was examined at 10:10pm and I was a whole 2cm dilated (woo), going to a 3 when stretched. Apparently that wasn't bad going for only an hour and a half of contractions. The midwife said she gave me a sweep while she was up there, and suggested going for a walk round the hospital to get things going a bit more and then they'd reassess me.
Didn't get that far though. Got of the bed and felt like I really REALLY needed to poop, so stumbled of to the toilet and sat on there. My contractions were suddenly horrendous, I came out in a cold sweat, felt sick, and like I couldn't cope with the pain. Even worse, it felt like my body was trying to push, and I was sitting there thinking "oh my god I can't be pushing, I'm only 2cm". Told the midwife there was no way I could walk around the hospital when I could barely even get off the loo, and that if I was far enough along I wanted an epidural as it was so much more painful than last time and I couldn't do it. Managed to get off the loo and stumble to the bed, and told her that I felt like I needed to push. Rather than tell me no, she said "if your body feels like it needs to push, have a go", so I did, and oh my god it HURT, but suddenly I was pushing and could feel pressure, and the midwife said "I'd better get my stuff, this baby is coming". She managed to get me on to the bed on all fours, and I was pushing, and then she said she could see the baby! With some amazing guidance from the midwife I managed to get the baby's head out without pushing too much - she told me to "blow" the baby's head out with breathing rather than push. Decided to trust she knew what she was doing, and then the head was out. A couple of pushes later and baby Violet Nichola Lewis was born, at 11:17pm. I'd managed to go from 2cm to 10cm in just over an hour. Looking back I guess the reason I felt so awful and like I couldn't cope on the toilet was probably because I was in that horrible transition stage at 8-10 cm straight away from being examined! The placenta came out just after, and I got away with less than 100ml blood loss, and a small 2nd degree tear that needed a couple of stitches but which I haven't felt at all since. So much better an outcome than last time, with my 3B tear and 1500ml PPH, so it IS possible to have a positive second birth experience after something like that happening!
Was so lovely to have skin to skin with Violet and spend time cuddling her, rather than having to pass her off straight away like with Eden. After I was stitched up, the baby was weighed, and came out at 4300g which is apparently 9lb 8oz, although at the time the midwife said 9lb 7oz. Had to stay in hospital for 24 hours as it's policy now to do glucose tests on babies over the 90th centile in case they become hypoglycaemic.
Home, happy, and loving life with my little family of four
x
