P
punk_pig
Guest
Well it has taken over a year for me to get down to writing my birth story, so I hope I've not forgotten anything major!!
I was due on 3rd Jan but didn't get contractions till 1am on Wednesday 5th. For the first 5 hrs or so they were just like period pains, I could stay lying in bed and dozing in between them. I was timing them but they were about every 25 mins apart, and as the same thing had happened the previous day and then they had stopped I wasn't sure whether I really was in labour.
Well 6am comes and the contractions get to about 15mins apart and it isn't so comfy staying in bed so I go to run a bath. The bath helps a bit but as soon as I get out I wish I was back in so I wake DH and ask him to help me put on my TENS machine and I take some co-codamol
.
I set about chosing a DVD to watch as I know distraction is the best medicine in these early stages however I can only get half way through before my body decides that it can't stand having contractions in any position other than on my knees - which really isn't conducive to watching a film!!! Contractions keep varying between 8 mins apart and 5 mins apart with the odd 15 minute and 3 minute appearance
so I dont really know if I'm progressing at all but they are all at least 55 seconds long, mostly longer. There is no sign of my mucus plug or waters.
About 4pm I decide that as most of the contractions are now about 4mins apart and I keep having to fall to me knees (and I'm getting carpet burns) that I want to go in to hospital. So laden with 2 hospital bags, a pillow, towel for if my waters break in taxi etc. we set off to hospital where I am duley told "You're not in labour hun! - you're only 1cm". Well could've fooled me, feels like labour. So off we go back home with all our stuff. I try to eat to keep my strength up but cant face much.
For the rest of that night my contractions are all over the place again, averaging about 6 mins apart but nothing consistent. But everytime I have one I'm jumping out of bed to get on to my knees. My visualisations of waves swelling and crashing and me standing on the shore is really working well at getting me to cope with the pain but I can no longer have a bath as it means removing the TENS which although I think it is doing nothing, whenever I take it off I realise how much it is helping me!!! I can't remember much specific about that night or the next day.
I can't stand anymore not sleeping and not knowing what's going on with my body so 11pm on Thursday we go back to the hospital. Contractions are around 3mins apart (although the odd one bucks the trend) and I'm told I'm between 4 and 5cms YEY!! BUT there are no free delivery suits available, so I have to stay in the assessment area. BOO!
A midwife asks me if I want any pain relief and I agree to some diamorphine out of fear that if I don't get it now I'll be forgotten about and left in pain. Well that was a mistake! As soon as I got the injection I could feel my eyes drooping against my will, I'm talking to my OH but I can't really hear myself, I fall unconscious - it is blissfull at the time to feel sleep surround me, but I know now that it isn't supposed to hit this hard. 5hrs later a midwife manages to wake me and ask if I'm still having contractions. I'm wondering why she's asking me, how should I know I've been unconscious and I'm desperate to be back there as I still feel totally drugged up. Two hours later she wakes me again and wont let me go back to sleep, she says I need to kick start my contractions by moving around. It was the worst feeling ever having to drag my body upright and walk around while the drug made me feel like lead, my head dizzy and swimming. With each contraction I vomit and they have to give me another anti-emetic injection. I also manage to wee myself and eject my mucus plug down my legs while retching and contracting - how pleasant
. I'm told the drug should have left my system already and it shouldn't take much longer but in reality it stays in my system for 12hrs. For each of these that I was awake I had that feeling like when you are dragged from sleep by a ringing phone etc. and you're not even sure what is going on or which way is up. I'm nearly in tears asking the midwifes if there is anything they can give me to reverse the drugs effects on me, but they just keep saying it wont take long and to keep walking around
. I have been told for any future birth that I cannot have diamorphine as it obviously affects me badly.
Finally I feel normal again and LO starts moving around again. Contractions are stuck resolutely at 8mins apart so they wont let me go to a delivery suite. They say I can go home but then it starts to snow so they'd prefer to keep me in a side ward. So it is 8pm and I'm admitted to the side ward. OH goes home to get some rest as visiting hours are over. So I spend 4hrs jumping up every 8mins to get on my knees and contract, walking out to the bathrooms to see if any baths are free, requesting co-codamol from the staff. No-one checks me, no-one asks how I'm doing. The contractions are really intense now and I have to really concentrate on my visualisations to get through them, I'm almost going mad that no-one realises I'm in pain
.
In the end I feel like I'd be more comfy at home - seeing as I'm not getting any of the benefits of the hospital, so I call OH. He turns up to collect me at which point a midwife starts to fuss that I can't leave without being checked. She checks me and says "You're 5cm and paper thin, you could go any minute", I tell her that I've been 5cm for hours, that I cam in at 5cm and it is obvious from her face that no-one has read my notes or realised that I'm that far in to my labour (hence being left alone to cope).
In the end she's not happy to let me go till a Dr checks me but they aren't due to do rounds till the next morning
.
So for the rest of the night me and DH share the most uncomfortable single bed in the world with me jumping up every 8minutes - but at least DH has brought me a foam pad to kneel on to save my poor knees!.
8am - 2hrs before Dr's rounds and my contractions start to slow down (aaarrrggggghhhh) so that by the time the doc does arrive my contractions are 20 minutes apart and I'm still 5cm. I ask if they can break my waters to speed things up but they say if they do that and I don't progress it could lead to interventions and at the moment LO is safe and happy where she is. So I get discharged and return home ready for another lunch that I can't really eat.
At some point in the afternoon I manage to fall asleep and when I wake I realise it has been 45 minutes since my last contraction - then suddenly a huge contraction with pressure pushing down on my bum and a feeling like a ring of fire in my cervix. I'm all alone as DH is downstairs and this contraction coming out of the blue like that really shakes me up. I find DH and cry at him for a bit and he gets me to ring the hospital - but despite pressure in my bum they say that nothing is happening because 45mins between contractions is far too far apart! However the next contraction is also really big. It isn't exactly more painful, it is just like MUCH more of my body is doing the work. I'm hot and sweaty and breathing more quickly like I'm doing a workout. I go on like this for a few hours in which time contractions are back down to 6mins apart. I call the hospital again and even have a contraction down the phone at them but they just tell me that "I'm coping really well" and "Don't need to come in unless I want to". Well I'm almost convinced but in the end I decide I know my body and I want to go back in. Lucky I made that decision as in the 15mins it took to repack the bags and wait for the taxi my contractions go down to a VERY regular 3mins apart. Each of them has a strong pressure in my backside and Im starting to get the feeling that I wont be able to breath through the pressure rather than push for too much longer...
Arriving at the hospital it is the first time that the assessment unit hasn't been full so I can get examined straight away - thank god. they tell me I'm 9cm and wheel a cylinder of gas and air out to me so I can get started on it while they find a wheelchair and get me through to the delivery suite.
Once in the delivery suite the midwife tells me Babys very low down. Have you been pushing?. I tell her Ive been trying not too, just breathing through it all and doing my relaxation techniques. She is amazed how calm I am for so far along but Im thinking of course Im calm - Im finally dilated and allowed in to a delivery room!!!!!
She asks if Id like my waters breaking as they are currently bulging out ahead of baby and it might be more comfortable if the werent there. So I agree but almost as soon as she does it my contractions slow down again. They are still coming but weak little ones and further apart. Dehydration can be a factor so midwife puts a drip in my arm to give me a litre of fluid. 20 mins later with nothing doing she hangs the gas and air back on the hook and goes to get a doctor to administer induction drugs. Of course about a minute later the contractions come back WHAM and I cant reach the gas and air where shes hung it back up. So Im shouting at DH to get me the Gas and Air but also get the midwife! He cant find her so comes back with two other midwives who tell me I can push if I want to. Soon after I start pushing my own midwife appears with the doctor in tow (who now has nothing to do!). I have no idea how long I pushed for but it seemed to go very quickly. I remember that sensation of feeling like Id never be able to push for long enough to get the head out and feeling it slip back in was soo frustrating but I think in the end only a few pushes and her head was out a few more and she was born! 5lb 6oz
.
They hand her to me and Im in amazed stunned awe. I didnt get that RUSH of love but I was grinning - I was so proud and had an amazing feeling of accomplishment, Id finally given birth! The placenta came out very easily, I had no tearing and only lost a tiny amount of blood!
I was due on 3rd Jan but didn't get contractions till 1am on Wednesday 5th. For the first 5 hrs or so they were just like period pains, I could stay lying in bed and dozing in between them. I was timing them but they were about every 25 mins apart, and as the same thing had happened the previous day and then they had stopped I wasn't sure whether I really was in labour.
Well 6am comes and the contractions get to about 15mins apart and it isn't so comfy staying in bed so I go to run a bath. The bath helps a bit but as soon as I get out I wish I was back in so I wake DH and ask him to help me put on my TENS machine and I take some co-codamol
.I set about chosing a DVD to watch as I know distraction is the best medicine in these early stages however I can only get half way through before my body decides that it can't stand having contractions in any position other than on my knees - which really isn't conducive to watching a film!!! Contractions keep varying between 8 mins apart and 5 mins apart with the odd 15 minute and 3 minute appearance
so I dont really know if I'm progressing at all but they are all at least 55 seconds long, mostly longer. There is no sign of my mucus plug or waters.About 4pm I decide that as most of the contractions are now about 4mins apart and I keep having to fall to me knees (and I'm getting carpet burns) that I want to go in to hospital. So laden with 2 hospital bags, a pillow, towel for if my waters break in taxi etc. we set off to hospital where I am duley told "You're not in labour hun! - you're only 1cm". Well could've fooled me, feels like labour. So off we go back home with all our stuff. I try to eat to keep my strength up but cant face much.
For the rest of that night my contractions are all over the place again, averaging about 6 mins apart but nothing consistent. But everytime I have one I'm jumping out of bed to get on to my knees. My visualisations of waves swelling and crashing and me standing on the shore is really working well at getting me to cope with the pain but I can no longer have a bath as it means removing the TENS which although I think it is doing nothing, whenever I take it off I realise how much it is helping me!!! I can't remember much specific about that night or the next day.
I can't stand anymore not sleeping and not knowing what's going on with my body so 11pm on Thursday we go back to the hospital. Contractions are around 3mins apart (although the odd one bucks the trend) and I'm told I'm between 4 and 5cms YEY!! BUT there are no free delivery suits available, so I have to stay in the assessment area. BOO!
A midwife asks me if I want any pain relief and I agree to some diamorphine out of fear that if I don't get it now I'll be forgotten about and left in pain. Well that was a mistake! As soon as I got the injection I could feel my eyes drooping against my will, I'm talking to my OH but I can't really hear myself, I fall unconscious - it is blissfull at the time to feel sleep surround me, but I know now that it isn't supposed to hit this hard. 5hrs later a midwife manages to wake me and ask if I'm still having contractions. I'm wondering why she's asking me, how should I know I've been unconscious and I'm desperate to be back there as I still feel totally drugged up. Two hours later she wakes me again and wont let me go back to sleep, she says I need to kick start my contractions by moving around. It was the worst feeling ever having to drag my body upright and walk around while the drug made me feel like lead, my head dizzy and swimming. With each contraction I vomit and they have to give me another anti-emetic injection. I also manage to wee myself and eject my mucus plug down my legs while retching and contracting - how pleasant
. I'm told the drug should have left my system already and it shouldn't take much longer but in reality it stays in my system for 12hrs. For each of these that I was awake I had that feeling like when you are dragged from sleep by a ringing phone etc. and you're not even sure what is going on or which way is up. I'm nearly in tears asking the midwifes if there is anything they can give me to reverse the drugs effects on me, but they just keep saying it wont take long and to keep walking around. I have been told for any future birth that I cannot have diamorphine as it obviously affects me badly.Finally I feel normal again and LO starts moving around again. Contractions are stuck resolutely at 8mins apart so they wont let me go to a delivery suite. They say I can go home but then it starts to snow so they'd prefer to keep me in a side ward. So it is 8pm and I'm admitted to the side ward. OH goes home to get some rest as visiting hours are over. So I spend 4hrs jumping up every 8mins to get on my knees and contract, walking out to the bathrooms to see if any baths are free, requesting co-codamol from the staff. No-one checks me, no-one asks how I'm doing. The contractions are really intense now and I have to really concentrate on my visualisations to get through them, I'm almost going mad that no-one realises I'm in pain
.In the end I feel like I'd be more comfy at home - seeing as I'm not getting any of the benefits of the hospital, so I call OH. He turns up to collect me at which point a midwife starts to fuss that I can't leave without being checked. She checks me and says "You're 5cm and paper thin, you could go any minute", I tell her that I've been 5cm for hours, that I cam in at 5cm and it is obvious from her face that no-one has read my notes or realised that I'm that far in to my labour (hence being left alone to cope).
In the end she's not happy to let me go till a Dr checks me but they aren't due to do rounds till the next morning
.So for the rest of the night me and DH share the most uncomfortable single bed in the world with me jumping up every 8minutes - but at least DH has brought me a foam pad to kneel on to save my poor knees!.
8am - 2hrs before Dr's rounds and my contractions start to slow down (aaarrrggggghhhh) so that by the time the doc does arrive my contractions are 20 minutes apart and I'm still 5cm. I ask if they can break my waters to speed things up but they say if they do that and I don't progress it could lead to interventions and at the moment LO is safe and happy where she is. So I get discharged and return home ready for another lunch that I can't really eat.
At some point in the afternoon I manage to fall asleep and when I wake I realise it has been 45 minutes since my last contraction - then suddenly a huge contraction with pressure pushing down on my bum and a feeling like a ring of fire in my cervix. I'm all alone as DH is downstairs and this contraction coming out of the blue like that really shakes me up. I find DH and cry at him for a bit and he gets me to ring the hospital - but despite pressure in my bum they say that nothing is happening because 45mins between contractions is far too far apart! However the next contraction is also really big. It isn't exactly more painful, it is just like MUCH more of my body is doing the work. I'm hot and sweaty and breathing more quickly like I'm doing a workout. I go on like this for a few hours in which time contractions are back down to 6mins apart. I call the hospital again and even have a contraction down the phone at them but they just tell me that "I'm coping really well" and "Don't need to come in unless I want to". Well I'm almost convinced but in the end I decide I know my body and I want to go back in. Lucky I made that decision as in the 15mins it took to repack the bags and wait for the taxi my contractions go down to a VERY regular 3mins apart. Each of them has a strong pressure in my backside and Im starting to get the feeling that I wont be able to breath through the pressure rather than push for too much longer...
Arriving at the hospital it is the first time that the assessment unit hasn't been full so I can get examined straight away - thank god. they tell me I'm 9cm and wheel a cylinder of gas and air out to me so I can get started on it while they find a wheelchair and get me through to the delivery suite.
Once in the delivery suite the midwife tells me Babys very low down. Have you been pushing?. I tell her Ive been trying not too, just breathing through it all and doing my relaxation techniques. She is amazed how calm I am for so far along but Im thinking of course Im calm - Im finally dilated and allowed in to a delivery room!!!!!
She asks if Id like my waters breaking as they are currently bulging out ahead of baby and it might be more comfortable if the werent there. So I agree but almost as soon as she does it my contractions slow down again. They are still coming but weak little ones and further apart. Dehydration can be a factor so midwife puts a drip in my arm to give me a litre of fluid. 20 mins later with nothing doing she hangs the gas and air back on the hook and goes to get a doctor to administer induction drugs. Of course about a minute later the contractions come back WHAM and I cant reach the gas and air where shes hung it back up. So Im shouting at DH to get me the Gas and Air but also get the midwife! He cant find her so comes back with two other midwives who tell me I can push if I want to. Soon after I start pushing my own midwife appears with the doctor in tow (who now has nothing to do!). I have no idea how long I pushed for but it seemed to go very quickly. I remember that sensation of feeling like Id never be able to push for long enough to get the head out and feeling it slip back in was soo frustrating but I think in the end only a few pushes and her head was out a few more and she was born! 5lb 6oz
.They hand her to me and Im in amazed stunned awe. I didnt get that RUSH of love but I was grinning - I was so proud and had an amazing feeling of accomplishment, Id finally given birth! The placenta came out very easily, I had no tearing and only lost a tiny amount of blood!
