Amielou
13-01-2009, 08:15
The Birth of our Hailey
Monday night:
Hubby and I go to bed disillusioned and disappointed because bubs is 12 days overdue, another day has passed and there’s been no twinges, and tomorrow; Tuesday we have to go in to hospital for tests to see if they need to induce us which we really wanted to avoid
About an hour later hubby is fast asleep and I’m restless and unable to get to sleep at all for the odd cramping in my stomach… I went to the toilet but that didn’t help so back to bed but then I thought I might be sick, so back to the toilet; no puke but I had to poo. Five minutes later I pulled out my birth book “what to expect when you’re expecting” and checked off the list of things to look for and figured out I was in early labour and these weren’t just Braxton Hicks contractions.
I didn’t wake hubby as we had decided that if he was asleep when I first felt contractions and I was coping ok to leave him sleep as I would need him to be strong for me later. Contractions were coming every 10 minutes and very predictable and even, I was pacing around the house and going back and forth to the toilet and all the while trying not to wake hubby. I tried cuddling back up to hubby in bed for a sleep but the contractions weren’t letting me get any rest, they weren’t distressing but noticeable enough that sleep was not coming. I went to the bathroom and threw up. By morning the contractions had gone from every ten minutes to every 7 and then disappeared all together.
Tuesday:
Hubby has been home from work for almost 2 weeks (of the 6 weeks leave he took) thinking bubs would be here by now, so he didn’t have to go anywhere today. I told him about my exciting night but that everything had stopped for now so we need not get too excited yet. We had breakfast and then contractions started up again every 6 to 10 minutes so we rang the midwife and asked if we should cancel the hospital appointment for tests as the baby was clearly coming on its own anyway she said we should and I was glad as I was in no mood for a trip to hospital just yet.
We muddled through Tuesday in a confusion of contractions becoming very close and strong, and then subsiding again to only 5 or 6 minutes apart… after a day of distracting ourselves with monopoly and cards which I couldn’t really concentrate on anyway… we went to bed that night irritated that there was no baby yet but I couldn’t sleep so I left hubby for an hour and tried to watch TV but there was nothing on and my body wanted to move around anyway, not sit still.
A couple of hours later I was starting to feel like I needed help from hubby to get thru contractions, I wanted cuddles. I went to him in bed and woke him and he cuddled me thru contractions which were coming much harder and faster than they had before. He suggested we call the midwife again.
The midwife, on hearing we had been contracting every 2-4 minutes for a few hours said we should come to hospital right away… we checked into hospital at midnight on the dot.
Wednesday:
12am arrived at hospital after a very painful car ride (sitting in a car seat is not a good labour position!!) went up to labour ward and contractions slowed down again… my body was confused because we weren’t at home any more and hospital was bright and unfamiliar… an examination told us we were already 4 cm dilated!!! Hubby and I are feeling encouraged but still contractions aren’t as serious as they were… Once hubby had gone down and parked the car and come back, they dimmed the lights for us and his warm cuddles helped me relax enough to get things going again.
Most of Wednesday was spent with me on a birth ball or the toilet or leaning on hubby’s knees, chest or shoulder, with him massaging my back with the most amazing electric massager thingy we bought… it provided a surprising amount of relief.
By later that morning the pain had shifted from both in my tummy and back to completely extremely and only in my lower back. The pain was excruciating and I was getting scared and sobbing through contractions flopped over hubby’s knee as he sat in a chair. In between contractions I half cried, and half slept. Bubba had turned backwards and this was why labour had gone on so long already and the pain was so bad now. I was stuck flopped over hubby’s knees. I could not move from that position to save my life. Being so near him made me feel safer and the calm and dark from my face buried in his thigh was reassuring and I could pretend it was just us and we were not in hospital. Hubby was wonderful and knew just when to massage my back with the massager and when to stroke my hair and tell me how well I was doing.
Our lovely midwives suggested I try leaning over the bed for a while instead, I didn’t know why they wanted me to but hubby gently said it would be a good idea and if I didn’t like it we could always come back to the chair… he and our middy helped me to lean over the bed and my back exploded with pain. It was so much worse than in my safe dark cuddle on the floor with hubby… I wanted to be back on hubby’s knee but I could not bring myself to move from where I was, something told me to stay there, and my pelvis and hips wanted to move around and back and forth, so I did. “Good, good, good… really good!” the midwife kept saying… I didn‘t know why she kept saying that… but I didn’t care. Hubby massaged my back and stroked my hair like an absolute champion, his touch was my safety and kept me grounded and calm. Hubby and the midwife suggested and helped me to move to the toilet and back to the bed again a few times… after a few hours of this… something happened.. “My bum!! My bum!! She’s in my bum!!!” (we knew we were expecting a girl) I really thought she was!! She had turned around at last and was moving down fast. All of a sudden I needed to push. I just had to, I couldn’t stop it and I kept asking the midwife if it was ok, thinking maybe my body was doing the wrong thing because they hadn’t told me to push yet but she assured me that I should just do what my body feels like doing. Our lovely midwives and my darling hubby helped me to go back to the soft mat on the floor and lean over hubby’s knees again but kneeling up this time with my knees apart. “She’s never coming out Hun” I kept saying… “Yes she is my love, she’s almost here! Just keep going you’re doing really well” hubby kept saying… “No I’m not” I kept saying “she’ll never come, she’ll be in there forever!” After 55 minutes of pushing and arguing, our beautiful daughter arrived. I felt her come out of me and it was the most amazing and wonderful thing. The midwives handed her through my legs and hubby and I both lifted her up to cuddle “oh. She’s perfect, give her to me, let me hold her” I said as I cradled her to my chest… it was so very beautiful because we did it together. The middy helped me to rest back on a beanbag and we could just sit and bask, just the three of us, our perfect little family. Her birth was so beautiful and we were so glad to have done it all ourselves without any medication and to have brought her into the world in such a beautiful way i will treasure the memories always.
DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT LIKE BLOOD OR SCARE EASILY
After….
The birth of our Hailey went so perfectly (if long and hard) I was surprised and confused when I couldn’t hear properly… “my ears, please… my ears aren’t working, why aren’t my ears working”???
While the placenta separated I hemorrhaged… I was passing out, that’s why I couldn’t hear properly. Next thing I know my arms are empty and Hailey was gone… They had to put her in a bassinet when I lost consciousness so I wouldn’t drop her, and I couldn’t work out why one second I had my beautiful daughter and the next second she was gone… I looked over at my hubby cuddling me from behind and tried to ask him where she was but I couldn’t make the words come out… then I heard a lovely kind doctor telling him “your wife is going to be ok” and I couldn’t work out why a doctor was talking about me, there was nothing wrong with me, my baby was gone, that’s what was wrong… My arm felt strange so I looked over at it and there was a drip set up with all sorts of things dripping into me… my leg hurt from the injection they had given me to stop the bleeding… middy and hubby explained what had happened after I was conscious again but I didn’t really get it still. Then they brought up a hot meal of some beef stew and veggies to try and give me some strength back and hubby spoon fed me as I couldn’t move very well still. Then the midwife was saying, we need to get you up into bed now… (we were all still on the floor) and hubby was saying, “let me put her socks on… she’ll be more comfortable”… but I said “honey you can’t put my socks on I’ll get them wet when I stand up”… (Only later did I realize that the big puddle I was talking about was actually my blood) It took three tries and help from hubby and the middy to get up from the floor to bed without my falling down again. Once back in bed and in a gown I had my Hailey in my arms again and all was well. A longer stay in hospital than normal and 4 blood transfusions but now we are all home and whole and loving being a family together.
Even after everything it has still not spoilt how lovely her birth was... i will treasure the memories always.
Monday night:
Hubby and I go to bed disillusioned and disappointed because bubs is 12 days overdue, another day has passed and there’s been no twinges, and tomorrow; Tuesday we have to go in to hospital for tests to see if they need to induce us which we really wanted to avoid
About an hour later hubby is fast asleep and I’m restless and unable to get to sleep at all for the odd cramping in my stomach… I went to the toilet but that didn’t help so back to bed but then I thought I might be sick, so back to the toilet; no puke but I had to poo. Five minutes later I pulled out my birth book “what to expect when you’re expecting” and checked off the list of things to look for and figured out I was in early labour and these weren’t just Braxton Hicks contractions.
I didn’t wake hubby as we had decided that if he was asleep when I first felt contractions and I was coping ok to leave him sleep as I would need him to be strong for me later. Contractions were coming every 10 minutes and very predictable and even, I was pacing around the house and going back and forth to the toilet and all the while trying not to wake hubby. I tried cuddling back up to hubby in bed for a sleep but the contractions weren’t letting me get any rest, they weren’t distressing but noticeable enough that sleep was not coming. I went to the bathroom and threw up. By morning the contractions had gone from every ten minutes to every 7 and then disappeared all together.
Tuesday:
Hubby has been home from work for almost 2 weeks (of the 6 weeks leave he took) thinking bubs would be here by now, so he didn’t have to go anywhere today. I told him about my exciting night but that everything had stopped for now so we need not get too excited yet. We had breakfast and then contractions started up again every 6 to 10 minutes so we rang the midwife and asked if we should cancel the hospital appointment for tests as the baby was clearly coming on its own anyway she said we should and I was glad as I was in no mood for a trip to hospital just yet.
We muddled through Tuesday in a confusion of contractions becoming very close and strong, and then subsiding again to only 5 or 6 minutes apart… after a day of distracting ourselves with monopoly and cards which I couldn’t really concentrate on anyway… we went to bed that night irritated that there was no baby yet but I couldn’t sleep so I left hubby for an hour and tried to watch TV but there was nothing on and my body wanted to move around anyway, not sit still.
A couple of hours later I was starting to feel like I needed help from hubby to get thru contractions, I wanted cuddles. I went to him in bed and woke him and he cuddled me thru contractions which were coming much harder and faster than they had before. He suggested we call the midwife again.
The midwife, on hearing we had been contracting every 2-4 minutes for a few hours said we should come to hospital right away… we checked into hospital at midnight on the dot.
Wednesday:
12am arrived at hospital after a very painful car ride (sitting in a car seat is not a good labour position!!) went up to labour ward and contractions slowed down again… my body was confused because we weren’t at home any more and hospital was bright and unfamiliar… an examination told us we were already 4 cm dilated!!! Hubby and I are feeling encouraged but still contractions aren’t as serious as they were… Once hubby had gone down and parked the car and come back, they dimmed the lights for us and his warm cuddles helped me relax enough to get things going again.
Most of Wednesday was spent with me on a birth ball or the toilet or leaning on hubby’s knees, chest or shoulder, with him massaging my back with the most amazing electric massager thingy we bought… it provided a surprising amount of relief.
By later that morning the pain had shifted from both in my tummy and back to completely extremely and only in my lower back. The pain was excruciating and I was getting scared and sobbing through contractions flopped over hubby’s knee as he sat in a chair. In between contractions I half cried, and half slept. Bubba had turned backwards and this was why labour had gone on so long already and the pain was so bad now. I was stuck flopped over hubby’s knees. I could not move from that position to save my life. Being so near him made me feel safer and the calm and dark from my face buried in his thigh was reassuring and I could pretend it was just us and we were not in hospital. Hubby was wonderful and knew just when to massage my back with the massager and when to stroke my hair and tell me how well I was doing.
Our lovely midwives suggested I try leaning over the bed for a while instead, I didn’t know why they wanted me to but hubby gently said it would be a good idea and if I didn’t like it we could always come back to the chair… he and our middy helped me to lean over the bed and my back exploded with pain. It was so much worse than in my safe dark cuddle on the floor with hubby… I wanted to be back on hubby’s knee but I could not bring myself to move from where I was, something told me to stay there, and my pelvis and hips wanted to move around and back and forth, so I did. “Good, good, good… really good!” the midwife kept saying… I didn‘t know why she kept saying that… but I didn’t care. Hubby massaged my back and stroked my hair like an absolute champion, his touch was my safety and kept me grounded and calm. Hubby and the midwife suggested and helped me to move to the toilet and back to the bed again a few times… after a few hours of this… something happened.. “My bum!! My bum!! She’s in my bum!!!” (we knew we were expecting a girl) I really thought she was!! She had turned around at last and was moving down fast. All of a sudden I needed to push. I just had to, I couldn’t stop it and I kept asking the midwife if it was ok, thinking maybe my body was doing the wrong thing because they hadn’t told me to push yet but she assured me that I should just do what my body feels like doing. Our lovely midwives and my darling hubby helped me to go back to the soft mat on the floor and lean over hubby’s knees again but kneeling up this time with my knees apart. “She’s never coming out Hun” I kept saying… “Yes she is my love, she’s almost here! Just keep going you’re doing really well” hubby kept saying… “No I’m not” I kept saying “she’ll never come, she’ll be in there forever!” After 55 minutes of pushing and arguing, our beautiful daughter arrived. I felt her come out of me and it was the most amazing and wonderful thing. The midwives handed her through my legs and hubby and I both lifted her up to cuddle “oh. She’s perfect, give her to me, let me hold her” I said as I cradled her to my chest… it was so very beautiful because we did it together. The middy helped me to rest back on a beanbag and we could just sit and bask, just the three of us, our perfect little family. Her birth was so beautiful and we were so glad to have done it all ourselves without any medication and to have brought her into the world in such a beautiful way i will treasure the memories always.
DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT LIKE BLOOD OR SCARE EASILY
After….
The birth of our Hailey went so perfectly (if long and hard) I was surprised and confused when I couldn’t hear properly… “my ears, please… my ears aren’t working, why aren’t my ears working”???
While the placenta separated I hemorrhaged… I was passing out, that’s why I couldn’t hear properly. Next thing I know my arms are empty and Hailey was gone… They had to put her in a bassinet when I lost consciousness so I wouldn’t drop her, and I couldn’t work out why one second I had my beautiful daughter and the next second she was gone… I looked over at my hubby cuddling me from behind and tried to ask him where she was but I couldn’t make the words come out… then I heard a lovely kind doctor telling him “your wife is going to be ok” and I couldn’t work out why a doctor was talking about me, there was nothing wrong with me, my baby was gone, that’s what was wrong… My arm felt strange so I looked over at it and there was a drip set up with all sorts of things dripping into me… my leg hurt from the injection they had given me to stop the bleeding… middy and hubby explained what had happened after I was conscious again but I didn’t really get it still. Then they brought up a hot meal of some beef stew and veggies to try and give me some strength back and hubby spoon fed me as I couldn’t move very well still. Then the midwife was saying, we need to get you up into bed now… (we were all still on the floor) and hubby was saying, “let me put her socks on… she’ll be more comfortable”… but I said “honey you can’t put my socks on I’ll get them wet when I stand up”… (Only later did I realize that the big puddle I was talking about was actually my blood) It took three tries and help from hubby and the middy to get up from the floor to bed without my falling down again. Once back in bed and in a gown I had my Hailey in my arms again and all was well. A longer stay in hospital than normal and 4 blood transfusions but now we are all home and whole and loving being a family together.
Even after everything it has still not spoilt how lovely her birth was... i will treasure the memories always.