cosmic
10-06-2006, 03:36 PM
This really is a long story so if you plan to read it, you should get a coffee or something.
At about 3pm on the afternoon of Tuesday 9th May (one week after my EDD) I was having a bath when I noticed that I was having 'pains' in spaced intervals. I wasn't timing but got quietly excited at the thought that this might be it. They continued while I was in the bath and then when I got up and watched TV (10 minutes apart) but I didn't want to tell DH in case it was a false start. Sure enough, they stopped completely at 5.30pm. Then I told DH what had been happening and he was really upset that I hadn't told him because he can't share the experience unless I tell him what's going on. So I promised to tell him the minute they started again.. which they did at 8pm that night!
As we watched TV, we noticed they were coming at 10 minute intervals but were really mild. At 10pm, I decided to go to bed to get some rest, but phoned the birth centre just to let them know that it looked like something was happening. The midwife said 'Well we might see you in a few hours, or we might see you this time tomorrow night' since these things are so unpredictable. I got to sleep at about 11pm but they were bitey enough to keep me awake from about 12.15am and by 6.00am they were 5 minutes apart. DH had been awake with me since about 2.15am so we went into Wednesday with not much sleep.
All of Wednesday morning they continued but seemed to slow down if I got up and moved around and they still weren't extremely painful. I had phoned my birth support person at 6am to let her know it looked like I was definitely in labour and we phoned her again at 10.30am to let her know that things were progressing, but slowly. By about 12.30pm they were coming fairly consistently (about 4 minutes apart) and getting more painful. We phoned the birth centre again and they said I was probably in pre-labour or false labour since my level of activity was affecting the regularity of the contractions. The midwife said that if it was 'real' labour, they wouldn't be stopping for anything. How discouraging, after dealing with these pains all night and day!! At this stage, I'd had a shower but not done anything else for the pain, so she suggested I keep managing my pain and call back when they were more consistent.
Things picked up pretty quickly from there and at 2pm, they were getting really painful so I got in the bath and DH poured water over my belly while I focused on relaxing and breathing through them. By the time I got out of the bath (about an hour and a half later) they felt like they were coming with very little break - lasting about 2 minutes each and coming 3 minutes apart. After I got out of the bath, I phoned the birth centre again. We established that my waters had broken around midday since I was having leaking at the peak of every contraction (and there I was thinking I'd just lost control of my bladder :rolleyes: ) but they still said I was in early labour! What the??! She said it was up to me if I wanted to come in and they could do an exam and let me decide if I wanted to stay or go home.
I knew I didn't want to go to the BC too early, but at this stage I really felt like I was being brushed off - and besides my bath and shower weren't helping anymore. I could think of nothing better than getting under the shower at the BC and getting settled into the place where I was going to give birth, so we made the decision to go straight in and I knew that I wasn't going to be having any exam - a) because of risk of infection and b) because I don't believe they give any real indication of how much time you have left to labour - and that once I got there I wasn't leaving! The car trip to the hospital wasn't fun. By this stage just moving from one position to another was torture.
We arrived at 4.30pm and I was under the shower by 5pm. The pain was immediately more bearable. I stayed there for 2 hours, with DH holding a birth ball for me to lie over and him targeting the water at my belly while the other tap flowed over my back. It was so relaxing. My poor DH has a bad back and it was no fun for him, but I was seriously dozing off between contractions. It was SO good under that shower.
The midwife kept coming in to check the baby's heartbeat and even though I had chosen not to have any internal exams, at one stage she said that if she had to hazard a guess, she'd say I was about 2-3cm dilated. I could have punched her! Her saying that was just as discouraging as if I'd had the exam and one of the reasons I'd chosen not to have any. I just glared at her as she waltzed out of the room. :mad:
Around 7pm my support person (who had arrived at about 6pm) suggested I get up and move around to get the contractions moving since the shower seemed to be really easing the intensity of them. She said that it might be a good idea to get onto the bed for the first couple of contractions since they would be fairly intense after getting out of the shower. Far out, just getting out of the shower took so much effort! I could have stayed there forever.
It took about 10 minutes to get up and get moving (do I sound like a complete sook?) but I got on the bed and they kept coming thick and fast and the whole time I was thinking 'oh my God, how am I going to get up and walk around to another position?'. I was really moaning and wailing by this time and my DH was just holding his hands on me and reminding me to relax and breathe through the contractions. I didn't want pain relief but in my mind I was wondering how much worse this was going to get since the stupid midwife had said I was probably only 2-3cm dilated so I was thinking I had HOURS of this left. :(
I lost track of time and was totally in my own world. It almost felt like I was dozing in between contractions except I'm sure it wasn't sleep. I was totally in la la land.. and the next minute, to my complete surprise, mid-contraction, my body starts pushing! I called out "I'm PUSHING" and my poor DH nearly sh*t himself. It was so not what he was expecting and nor was I! The stupid midwife came in saying "oh goodie" or something to that effect. I looked at the clock and it was 9.10pm (2 hours since she had said I was in early labour, stupid wench).
The change in me was instant. Suddenly I could get up and move, I was cracking jokes. DH says it was amazing to see the complete change in me the minute transition was over and pushing started. So I got into a squatting position and pushed through a few contractions. Since I hadn't had any exams, the midwife said it was likely that I hadn't fully dilated since I had a couple of contractions that were non-pushy ones (as if I was listening to her anymore) but she did say to keep pushing if I felt the urge to push and just listen to my body. So by about 9.30pm I was having good pushing contractions and getting ready to deliver (or so I thought).
to be continued...
At about 3pm on the afternoon of Tuesday 9th May (one week after my EDD) I was having a bath when I noticed that I was having 'pains' in spaced intervals. I wasn't timing but got quietly excited at the thought that this might be it. They continued while I was in the bath and then when I got up and watched TV (10 minutes apart) but I didn't want to tell DH in case it was a false start. Sure enough, they stopped completely at 5.30pm. Then I told DH what had been happening and he was really upset that I hadn't told him because he can't share the experience unless I tell him what's going on. So I promised to tell him the minute they started again.. which they did at 8pm that night!
As we watched TV, we noticed they were coming at 10 minute intervals but were really mild. At 10pm, I decided to go to bed to get some rest, but phoned the birth centre just to let them know that it looked like something was happening. The midwife said 'Well we might see you in a few hours, or we might see you this time tomorrow night' since these things are so unpredictable. I got to sleep at about 11pm but they were bitey enough to keep me awake from about 12.15am and by 6.00am they were 5 minutes apart. DH had been awake with me since about 2.15am so we went into Wednesday with not much sleep.
All of Wednesday morning they continued but seemed to slow down if I got up and moved around and they still weren't extremely painful. I had phoned my birth support person at 6am to let her know it looked like I was definitely in labour and we phoned her again at 10.30am to let her know that things were progressing, but slowly. By about 12.30pm they were coming fairly consistently (about 4 minutes apart) and getting more painful. We phoned the birth centre again and they said I was probably in pre-labour or false labour since my level of activity was affecting the regularity of the contractions. The midwife said that if it was 'real' labour, they wouldn't be stopping for anything. How discouraging, after dealing with these pains all night and day!! At this stage, I'd had a shower but not done anything else for the pain, so she suggested I keep managing my pain and call back when they were more consistent.
Things picked up pretty quickly from there and at 2pm, they were getting really painful so I got in the bath and DH poured water over my belly while I focused on relaxing and breathing through them. By the time I got out of the bath (about an hour and a half later) they felt like they were coming with very little break - lasting about 2 minutes each and coming 3 minutes apart. After I got out of the bath, I phoned the birth centre again. We established that my waters had broken around midday since I was having leaking at the peak of every contraction (and there I was thinking I'd just lost control of my bladder :rolleyes: ) but they still said I was in early labour! What the??! She said it was up to me if I wanted to come in and they could do an exam and let me decide if I wanted to stay or go home.
I knew I didn't want to go to the BC too early, but at this stage I really felt like I was being brushed off - and besides my bath and shower weren't helping anymore. I could think of nothing better than getting under the shower at the BC and getting settled into the place where I was going to give birth, so we made the decision to go straight in and I knew that I wasn't going to be having any exam - a) because of risk of infection and b) because I don't believe they give any real indication of how much time you have left to labour - and that once I got there I wasn't leaving! The car trip to the hospital wasn't fun. By this stage just moving from one position to another was torture.
We arrived at 4.30pm and I was under the shower by 5pm. The pain was immediately more bearable. I stayed there for 2 hours, with DH holding a birth ball for me to lie over and him targeting the water at my belly while the other tap flowed over my back. It was so relaxing. My poor DH has a bad back and it was no fun for him, but I was seriously dozing off between contractions. It was SO good under that shower.
The midwife kept coming in to check the baby's heartbeat and even though I had chosen not to have any internal exams, at one stage she said that if she had to hazard a guess, she'd say I was about 2-3cm dilated. I could have punched her! Her saying that was just as discouraging as if I'd had the exam and one of the reasons I'd chosen not to have any. I just glared at her as she waltzed out of the room. :mad:
Around 7pm my support person (who had arrived at about 6pm) suggested I get up and move around to get the contractions moving since the shower seemed to be really easing the intensity of them. She said that it might be a good idea to get onto the bed for the first couple of contractions since they would be fairly intense after getting out of the shower. Far out, just getting out of the shower took so much effort! I could have stayed there forever.
It took about 10 minutes to get up and get moving (do I sound like a complete sook?) but I got on the bed and they kept coming thick and fast and the whole time I was thinking 'oh my God, how am I going to get up and walk around to another position?'. I was really moaning and wailing by this time and my DH was just holding his hands on me and reminding me to relax and breathe through the contractions. I didn't want pain relief but in my mind I was wondering how much worse this was going to get since the stupid midwife had said I was probably only 2-3cm dilated so I was thinking I had HOURS of this left. :(
I lost track of time and was totally in my own world. It almost felt like I was dozing in between contractions except I'm sure it wasn't sleep. I was totally in la la land.. and the next minute, to my complete surprise, mid-contraction, my body starts pushing! I called out "I'm PUSHING" and my poor DH nearly sh*t himself. It was so not what he was expecting and nor was I! The stupid midwife came in saying "oh goodie" or something to that effect. I looked at the clock and it was 9.10pm (2 hours since she had said I was in early labour, stupid wench).
The change in me was instant. Suddenly I could get up and move, I was cracking jokes. DH says it was amazing to see the complete change in me the minute transition was over and pushing started. So I got into a squatting position and pushed through a few contractions. Since I hadn't had any exams, the midwife said it was likely that I hadn't fully dilated since I had a couple of contractions that were non-pushy ones (as if I was listening to her anymore) but she did say to keep pushing if I felt the urge to push and just listen to my body. So by about 9.30pm I was having good pushing contractions and getting ready to deliver (or so I thought).
to be continued...