joozi
01-07-2006, 15:26
Well....hopefully this won't be too long..just thought I'd do it before I forget!
For starters, my pregnancy with Eliza was very medically eventful. I had a miscarriage immediately previous to becoming pregnant with Eliza, and was pregnant following a D&C without so much as one period, so I guess I started out physically and emotionally behind the eight ball. I had many episodes of bleeding which required visits to the ED for Anti-D injections as I am Rhesus negative. Then I developed hyperemesis which required many admissions to hospital for IV rehydration as I couldn't keep even water down. I lost 9 kilos and my ketones were dangerously high and the only medication that made any difference was an expensive one known as zofran. Ah well, I got through that by about 15 weeks, only to then find out I had gestational diabetes! I controlled that well with diet, and didn't require insulin, however I was measuring 3 weeks bigger than I should be for most of my pregnancy, and when the 38 week ultrasound told us that bubs was big and had a larger than average head and large belly I decided that I wanted to be induced if I hadn't had her by my due date of the 30th of May. I'd been having constant and painful contractions for many weeks by this stage, with one false labour at 36 weeks where the contractions were at 3 minutes apart and the midwives were telling us it was the real thing then they just petered out and went away. And of course, she didn't make an appearance of her own accord, so on the night of the 29th May we presented to hospital to begin the induction.
Once in the birthing suite, we had a bit of a wait for the doctor...this allowed us to settle in a bit and get our music plugged in and ready to go. The gel was inserted (BIG ouchy!) on a cervix they told us was already soft, and I started contracting straight away, but they didn't become really regular, and varied between 2 and 10 minutes apart for the whole night. I had extreme pain if I tried to lay down (ha! the midwives kept telling me to lay down and try and get some sleep, which was impossible!) I ended up sitting up in the armchair and dozing in between contactions while my gorgeous DH slept in the bed.
The morning came, and as the contractions hadn't progressed, it was time to have my waters broken. Now this is an interesting tale......the first doctor came in around 8.30am and did an internal (ENORMOUS OUCHY!!!) and told me that after alllllll that labouring over night that I hadn't progressed at all. I could have cried or punched her in the nose or both, I just couldn't believe it. So, instead of breaking my waters she said she'd have to put some more gel in....grrrrrrrrrr.......
So, cut to her about to put some more gel in with that syringy thing...and suddenly she says 'oh, I was wrong, you HAVE progressed, you're about 3-4cms dilated, so I will break your waters now'. So, she goes ahead and attempts to break them and she even 'says' that she's broken them, but I know she hasn't as there is NO fluid coming out and nothing changes. The midwife gives us a funny look, but lets that doctor leave, then goes and gets another senior doctor ;-) who does another internal (HUMUNGUS *&^% OUCHY) and tells me, yes, I am 3-4cms but my cervix is still posterior and my waters are definitely NOT broken. So she PULLS my cervix forward and breaks my waters (WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE JUST HOW OUCHY) and there is a FLOOOOOD of fluid and I head to the shower with almost instant strong and extremely painful contractions... And there I stay for probably about 2-3 hours with my DH getting soaked and cold. My mum arrived during this time and took to fetchcing us water and helping me breathe. I stood and hung on to the bar and swayed and moaned through contractions then sat on the fit ball in between to conserve my energy. I eventually started feeling like I was getting dehydrated and was worrying about DH being cold, so I got out and paced the room and hung off DH when contractions came and sometimes sat on the fit ball. I also tried kneeling up over the head of the bed, but that didn't work. My contractions were still very erratic with times and durations (and remained so for the whole labour), so it was decided to start the syntocin drip at around midday.
The contractions started getting a bit on top of me then, so I sat up in the bed and started sucking on the gas like a mad woman.....And thats basically where I stayed for the rest of the time. I ended up requesting a shot of pethedine as I had extreme pain at the base of my spine (I have a broken cocyx which causes me problems, as well as a lot of adhesions from previous surgery for endometriosis), and after a lot of time convincing my lovely KYM midwife, she eventually gave in and gave me a half dose. This allowed me to relax enough to start contracting more effectively, and before I knew it, I was pushing....
So I'm feeling all alone up the top of the bed while they were all down the business end, because suddenly they can see her head coming. I can see my my mum, my DH, the midwife and the medical student standing in a circle all looking at my giny and cheering me on - I almost expected some pom poms to come out or for them to start a mexican wave :-) The midwife gets this tiny mirror to try and show me her head , and I'm like 'I really don't care, YOU look, I JUST WANT HER OUT!!!'
Sooooo....I push push push.......and at some stage let out this enormous gut wrenching howlllllllll that my husband says he'll remember for the rest of his life, and then her little head is born......but, the rest of her isn't budging - she's stuck! So I see the midwife kneel up on the bed and her and the student doctor are PULLING her out- really really pulling, and I get scared, so I push like the future of the universe depends on it, and finally, beautifully, amazingly and with the greatest sense of relief a human being could ever ever feel, little Eliza slides into the world at 4.33pm. She is lifted to my chest, and she is one of the three most beautiful and amazing things I have ever seen in my life (the other 2 being my DS and DD1). My DH appears at my side and we both burst into sobbing tears at the sheer relief and joy of the safe arrival of our beautiful, healthy little girl.
For starters, my pregnancy with Eliza was very medically eventful. I had a miscarriage immediately previous to becoming pregnant with Eliza, and was pregnant following a D&C without so much as one period, so I guess I started out physically and emotionally behind the eight ball. I had many episodes of bleeding which required visits to the ED for Anti-D injections as I am Rhesus negative. Then I developed hyperemesis which required many admissions to hospital for IV rehydration as I couldn't keep even water down. I lost 9 kilos and my ketones were dangerously high and the only medication that made any difference was an expensive one known as zofran. Ah well, I got through that by about 15 weeks, only to then find out I had gestational diabetes! I controlled that well with diet, and didn't require insulin, however I was measuring 3 weeks bigger than I should be for most of my pregnancy, and when the 38 week ultrasound told us that bubs was big and had a larger than average head and large belly I decided that I wanted to be induced if I hadn't had her by my due date of the 30th of May. I'd been having constant and painful contractions for many weeks by this stage, with one false labour at 36 weeks where the contractions were at 3 minutes apart and the midwives were telling us it was the real thing then they just petered out and went away. And of course, she didn't make an appearance of her own accord, so on the night of the 29th May we presented to hospital to begin the induction.
Once in the birthing suite, we had a bit of a wait for the doctor...this allowed us to settle in a bit and get our music plugged in and ready to go. The gel was inserted (BIG ouchy!) on a cervix they told us was already soft, and I started contracting straight away, but they didn't become really regular, and varied between 2 and 10 minutes apart for the whole night. I had extreme pain if I tried to lay down (ha! the midwives kept telling me to lay down and try and get some sleep, which was impossible!) I ended up sitting up in the armchair and dozing in between contactions while my gorgeous DH slept in the bed.
The morning came, and as the contractions hadn't progressed, it was time to have my waters broken. Now this is an interesting tale......the first doctor came in around 8.30am and did an internal (ENORMOUS OUCHY!!!) and told me that after alllllll that labouring over night that I hadn't progressed at all. I could have cried or punched her in the nose or both, I just couldn't believe it. So, instead of breaking my waters she said she'd have to put some more gel in....grrrrrrrrrr.......
So, cut to her about to put some more gel in with that syringy thing...and suddenly she says 'oh, I was wrong, you HAVE progressed, you're about 3-4cms dilated, so I will break your waters now'. So, she goes ahead and attempts to break them and she even 'says' that she's broken them, but I know she hasn't as there is NO fluid coming out and nothing changes. The midwife gives us a funny look, but lets that doctor leave, then goes and gets another senior doctor ;-) who does another internal (HUMUNGUS *&^% OUCHY) and tells me, yes, I am 3-4cms but my cervix is still posterior and my waters are definitely NOT broken. So she PULLS my cervix forward and breaks my waters (WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE JUST HOW OUCHY) and there is a FLOOOOOD of fluid and I head to the shower with almost instant strong and extremely painful contractions... And there I stay for probably about 2-3 hours with my DH getting soaked and cold. My mum arrived during this time and took to fetchcing us water and helping me breathe. I stood and hung on to the bar and swayed and moaned through contractions then sat on the fit ball in between to conserve my energy. I eventually started feeling like I was getting dehydrated and was worrying about DH being cold, so I got out and paced the room and hung off DH when contractions came and sometimes sat on the fit ball. I also tried kneeling up over the head of the bed, but that didn't work. My contractions were still very erratic with times and durations (and remained so for the whole labour), so it was decided to start the syntocin drip at around midday.
The contractions started getting a bit on top of me then, so I sat up in the bed and started sucking on the gas like a mad woman.....And thats basically where I stayed for the rest of the time. I ended up requesting a shot of pethedine as I had extreme pain at the base of my spine (I have a broken cocyx which causes me problems, as well as a lot of adhesions from previous surgery for endometriosis), and after a lot of time convincing my lovely KYM midwife, she eventually gave in and gave me a half dose. This allowed me to relax enough to start contracting more effectively, and before I knew it, I was pushing....
So I'm feeling all alone up the top of the bed while they were all down the business end, because suddenly they can see her head coming. I can see my my mum, my DH, the midwife and the medical student standing in a circle all looking at my giny and cheering me on - I almost expected some pom poms to come out or for them to start a mexican wave :-) The midwife gets this tiny mirror to try and show me her head , and I'm like 'I really don't care, YOU look, I JUST WANT HER OUT!!!'
Sooooo....I push push push.......and at some stage let out this enormous gut wrenching howlllllllll that my husband says he'll remember for the rest of his life, and then her little head is born......but, the rest of her isn't budging - she's stuck! So I see the midwife kneel up on the bed and her and the student doctor are PULLING her out- really really pulling, and I get scared, so I push like the future of the universe depends on it, and finally, beautifully, amazingly and with the greatest sense of relief a human being could ever ever feel, little Eliza slides into the world at 4.33pm. She is lifted to my chest, and she is one of the three most beautiful and amazing things I have ever seen in my life (the other 2 being my DS and DD1). My DH appears at my side and we both burst into sobbing tears at the sheer relief and joy of the safe arrival of our beautiful, healthy little girl.