Angelmist♥
18-05-2006, 10:17 PM
A friend of mine asked me to be her "birth support person" nearly as soon as she fell pregnant and of course I wouldn't have missed it for the world!Soooo after a long wait she went into labour (7 days over) on Tuesday. She rang me around 1pm wondering if "period like" pain could be an indicator!!Ummm I did say yes but I also told her not to get her hopes up and rest if she could for a while "just in case" it did start soon.
At 4pm she rang again after having a show and the pains were still coming but very inconsistently, some were 20 mins apart, some 10 mins apart.Ha ha her biggest worry at that time was being able to watch Big brother at 7!!Of course she picked the WORST time to go into labour for me! Dh was on night shift and my MIL couldn't have the kids, but luckily my sister lives with us and knowing that my 3 kiddies usually sleep through I left her in charge after putting them all to bed.Hmm I should mention my sister is 23!
Ok so I get over there and we ended up getting the giggles!I think that was one of my favourite parts actually!We just laughed and laughed and to be honest I can't really remember what about!But as she hasn't got the highest pain threshold (Ok I'll say it outright....she's a bloody sook!)I think it was great to laugh and calm her fears and make her realise in a good way that she was about to do the most amazing thing anyone can ever do!After a few hours she decided she wants to go to the hospital and see how far along she was.
We got to the hospital at 11:15pm (after a short stop at the servo for some supplies!) and they strapped her down into the machine...Hmm a BIG hate of mine, and she was contracting every 4 minutes by then but only 2.5cm dilated.She was a true champ and got through the pain well with breathing for another few hours, when that got too much she jumped in the shower ha ha for 1.5hrs hours around 3am.At 4:30 she decided that the shower wasn't helping any more and opted for some pethidine, a big call because she is petrified of needles, but it did help her to sleep in between the still 4 min contractions.At 5am she was 4 cm's dilated and I had to get home to the kids because my sister had to work AARGH.Her mum stayed with her though the whole time and I did feel really guilty for leaving but I had too.
Of course when I got home my DD had just woken up so I was up with her and as soon as DH got home I sent him to bed so that he could have 3 hrs sleep before I went back up!:eek: I was ringing constantly (ha ha my phone bills going to be massive) and she was still contracting every 4 minutes and at 10am she was only 5cm's so I wasn't too worried about missing the birth! LOL although at this point I was getting a bit worried about missing the "Green and Mundine" fight I'd been waiting to see for years!!
At 11:45am I woke DH up so I could get back up there and of course he was a bit of a wreck so he had a shower and took some time getting into awake mode but by 12:15pm I was in the labour room again after a shower and ALOT of coffee's!
In a way I think it was kind of good that I got to "freshen up" a bit because I got in there and she was nearly at the end of her rope by the looks of it and with a few words of reassurance from me, she dug in a gave it her all! At 2pm she was "checked" again and she was 7cm's much to her disappointment, so once again she opted for some pethidine.
Just so your aware, I'm not used to long labours! All 3 of my children's births add up to 9hours 4mins and she had been in labour for 25 hours by this stage:confused: LOL
I finally talked her into doing some walking and rocking to help maybe speed things up a bit which seemed to work!!:smiliedance: At 3pm she kept telling me that she "needed a poo" and I remembered that with my first bubs that's exactly how I knew I had to start pushing!The midwife on duty (lets just call her The Old Cow)wouldn't check her dilation "she was only checked an hour ago, I don't see the need" so I told her if she didn't check M was going to start pushing regardless.Another 3 contractions later and the old cow finally decided to have a look and wouldn't you know it, she was fully dilated and ready to go.GGGRRRRRR!
At 3:10pm M started pushing and had quite clearly had enough!So the old cow decided to administer a "local" in case she needed to be cut.Which IMO was a good and bad thing as M didn't feel as much pain but on the other hand didn't really know when to keep going or slow down a bit.
After what seemed like an eternity in my mind and on my hip and hands(she was pushing her foot into my hip and holding my hand!) we started to see his hair emerging!!At 3:35pm she wanted to give up and the old cow grabbed her hand and swiped her fingers against his head!!Well that was a quick jolt!!M kept going and at 3:48pm yesterday Cooper was born!!!Weighing in at 8lb 9ounces!!!M tore and I'm not sure the exact amount of stitches she received but I know it was alot.
It was the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life (apart from doing it myself) and I am so grateful that I could be there!!I'm still on a high!! It was so much harder than your own though, because you don't know exactly what they want when they want it!!
I told M (as she was getting stitched) that she is a true birthing warrior!!She's very young but I cannot believe how much of a champion she is!I bawled my eyes out LOL.I helped her into the shower to clean up and I could see the tears welling and she said to me as if in shock "That's my baby in there Nara" and I broke down again!!I said to her "Yes my darling that is your baby!" and then she cried too!It was soooo beautiful!
Hmm anyway that's my "support" story and even though I didn't sleep for longer than 10 minutes Tuesday night and got home last night to a "party" watching the fight then got up ultra early this morning to a certain DS1 on his 6th birthday I will NEVER forget Cooper's arrival and how awesome it was!
I am just still so overjoyed!
At 4pm she rang again after having a show and the pains were still coming but very inconsistently, some were 20 mins apart, some 10 mins apart.Ha ha her biggest worry at that time was being able to watch Big brother at 7!!Of course she picked the WORST time to go into labour for me! Dh was on night shift and my MIL couldn't have the kids, but luckily my sister lives with us and knowing that my 3 kiddies usually sleep through I left her in charge after putting them all to bed.Hmm I should mention my sister is 23!
Ok so I get over there and we ended up getting the giggles!I think that was one of my favourite parts actually!We just laughed and laughed and to be honest I can't really remember what about!But as she hasn't got the highest pain threshold (Ok I'll say it outright....she's a bloody sook!)I think it was great to laugh and calm her fears and make her realise in a good way that she was about to do the most amazing thing anyone can ever do!After a few hours she decided she wants to go to the hospital and see how far along she was.
We got to the hospital at 11:15pm (after a short stop at the servo for some supplies!) and they strapped her down into the machine...Hmm a BIG hate of mine, and she was contracting every 4 minutes by then but only 2.5cm dilated.She was a true champ and got through the pain well with breathing for another few hours, when that got too much she jumped in the shower ha ha for 1.5hrs hours around 3am.At 4:30 she decided that the shower wasn't helping any more and opted for some pethidine, a big call because she is petrified of needles, but it did help her to sleep in between the still 4 min contractions.At 5am she was 4 cm's dilated and I had to get home to the kids because my sister had to work AARGH.Her mum stayed with her though the whole time and I did feel really guilty for leaving but I had too.
Of course when I got home my DD had just woken up so I was up with her and as soon as DH got home I sent him to bed so that he could have 3 hrs sleep before I went back up!:eek: I was ringing constantly (ha ha my phone bills going to be massive) and she was still contracting every 4 minutes and at 10am she was only 5cm's so I wasn't too worried about missing the birth! LOL although at this point I was getting a bit worried about missing the "Green and Mundine" fight I'd been waiting to see for years!!
At 11:45am I woke DH up so I could get back up there and of course he was a bit of a wreck so he had a shower and took some time getting into awake mode but by 12:15pm I was in the labour room again after a shower and ALOT of coffee's!
In a way I think it was kind of good that I got to "freshen up" a bit because I got in there and she was nearly at the end of her rope by the looks of it and with a few words of reassurance from me, she dug in a gave it her all! At 2pm she was "checked" again and she was 7cm's much to her disappointment, so once again she opted for some pethidine.
Just so your aware, I'm not used to long labours! All 3 of my children's births add up to 9hours 4mins and she had been in labour for 25 hours by this stage:confused: LOL
I finally talked her into doing some walking and rocking to help maybe speed things up a bit which seemed to work!!:smiliedance: At 3pm she kept telling me that she "needed a poo" and I remembered that with my first bubs that's exactly how I knew I had to start pushing!The midwife on duty (lets just call her The Old Cow)wouldn't check her dilation "she was only checked an hour ago, I don't see the need" so I told her if she didn't check M was going to start pushing regardless.Another 3 contractions later and the old cow finally decided to have a look and wouldn't you know it, she was fully dilated and ready to go.GGGRRRRRR!
At 3:10pm M started pushing and had quite clearly had enough!So the old cow decided to administer a "local" in case she needed to be cut.Which IMO was a good and bad thing as M didn't feel as much pain but on the other hand didn't really know when to keep going or slow down a bit.
After what seemed like an eternity in my mind and on my hip and hands(she was pushing her foot into my hip and holding my hand!) we started to see his hair emerging!!At 3:35pm she wanted to give up and the old cow grabbed her hand and swiped her fingers against his head!!Well that was a quick jolt!!M kept going and at 3:48pm yesterday Cooper was born!!!Weighing in at 8lb 9ounces!!!M tore and I'm not sure the exact amount of stitches she received but I know it was alot.
It was the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life (apart from doing it myself) and I am so grateful that I could be there!!I'm still on a high!! It was so much harder than your own though, because you don't know exactly what they want when they want it!!
I told M (as she was getting stitched) that she is a true birthing warrior!!She's very young but I cannot believe how much of a champion she is!I bawled my eyes out LOL.I helped her into the shower to clean up and I could see the tears welling and she said to me as if in shock "That's my baby in there Nara" and I broke down again!!I said to her "Yes my darling that is your baby!" and then she cried too!It was soooo beautiful!
Hmm anyway that's my "support" story and even though I didn't sleep for longer than 10 minutes Tuesday night and got home last night to a "party" watching the fight then got up ultra early this morning to a certain DS1 on his 6th birthday I will NEVER forget Cooper's arrival and how awesome it was!
I am just still so overjoyed!