alicesmum
05-07-2006, 11:57
I had a show at 10am (Saturday June 10). Mild contractions started at 11am. Went to my SIL’s 30th birthday party for lunch, telling everyone how I was in early labour! When I left, people said "Have a good night!". Ha ha ha.
My waters began leaking at 4pm, so I called Jo, my midwife and told her the waters were yellow. She sounded concerned and asked me to call back in 30 mins and update her. Around 30 mins later, I had another big leak of yellow water and a stronger contraction so called again and she said to come in.
Walked through the RBWH foyer and caught the lift to Lvl 5 with waters dripping down my leg into my shoe the whole way and a big wad of cloth nappies hanging out the back of my pants. A good look!
Jo confirmed with the doctor that the colour of my waters indicated meconium in the waters. Though they all thought it was old meconium, perhaps a week or two old. I reckon he got a fright when I had a fall at home about a week before going into labour.
Jo did my obs and I had a high temp of 38 degrees. Bubba’s heart rate was also up, as was mine. She asked if I was feeling okay, and I was. I had no idea why I had a fever. Jo did a VE and told me I was 3cm. She also said bub was posterior and not engaged. This all added up to my very NOT ideal birth already!
Jo said I would have to be transferred out of the BC (boo hoo!….no water birth for me…) and monitored in the normal birth suites. I was very sad.
We brought as much of the BC equipment over with us as we could. My mum….bless her…made several trips to gather bean bags, birthing stools and mattresses etc….and each time got in trouble from the admin staff for having no shoes on (she was all prepared to get in the bath with me!!).
Once I was in the birth suite, they stuck a canula (sp?) in my hand and fed a saline solution plus some antibiotics into my body. The antibiotics were for me but also for bubs, as they were worried about him getting an infection from the meconium. They also strapped thingies onto my belly to monitor bubba’s heart rate and my contractions. This was all becoming way too medical. Also, bubba’s heart rate was pretty high (getting up to 200 bpm) and my contractions over the next 2 hours were very sloppy (stopping, starting, very intense then very mild), probably due to bubba being posterior. I started to cry! :crying:
Jo informed me that a doctor was coming to talk to me. Being terrified of doctors, I expected the worst (my experience of Obs to date at the Royal hasn’t been positive). But Johanna was lovely. She said they really wanted to get the baby out sooner rather than later because of his high HR and possible infection from the mec. I pleaded desperately with her: "I don’t want a ceasarean!!!!!!!!".
She smiled and said that would be a last resort, but that if the contractions hadn’t established a good pattern by about 8.30pm, they would like to put me on syntocinin to get things moving along.
After the doctor left the room, I asked Jo what we could do to get the contractions happening without resorting to syntocinin. She suggested a few positions and nipple stimulation, which my DH happily performed (in front of my mum….eww! ;-)
By 8.30pm the contractions were still all over the shop (2 mins apart, then 8 mins apart…arrgggghhh!), but getting a bit stonger. I asked Jo to go and ask the doctor for more time. I was scared of the syntocinin as I had heard it makes contractions more painful than natural contractions and that most women ended up opting for an epidural when they had syntocinin. I REALLY DIDN’T WANT AN EPIDURAL either! "Another hour", I thought, "and I can get this happening naturally".
They said I could have until 9.30pm before they would try syntocinin. I relaxed, continued nipple stimulation and moving around as best could with things stuck in me and strapped onto me. But by 9.30 there was still no change in my haphazard contractions. However, the doctor was now delayed, and so it wasn’t until 10.30 that I got the syntocinin drip put in me. Even by 10.30pm, the contractions still hadn’t established a regular pattern. I was scared out of my wits about how bad the contractions were now going to get using this artificial hormone. I asked for the lowest possible dose. Jo assured me some women coped with syntocinin just using the gas, and I said "Crank it up please!". So I started sucking down that gas! (God, I love the gas!).
I had been crying on and off throughout this time, thinking "My uterus is useless!! Why isn’t this labour getting going?!?". My first birth, in the same birthing suite, had been so text-book, with the contractions building and getting stonger and closer together, dilating just over 1cm per hour. I really think this time it was taking so long because he was posterior. However, the labour wasn’t particularly bad in my back the way everyone says posterior labours are. Hmmm…strange. No. It just felt like I was being stabbed with daggers everywhere!!!!!
Well, the syntocinin really got things going quite quickly. Pretty soon (by about 11.30pm) I was screaming like a banshee! This was bad! I hadn’t screamed like this in my fisrt birth. In my first birth, I wailed loudly and groaned and moaned and did lots of whale song! But this time, it was like Friday the 13th, blood-curdling screams. My mum had to fetch ear-plugs!!!
At 1am, I was beside myself with pain, still screaming like a banshee! Jo did another VE at my request and told me I was 6cm. SIX CENTIMETERS!!!! NOOOOOOOO! Now I really cried, and cried hard! I still had another 4 cm to go. How could that be? I was sure I was nearly 10.
But I carried on like a crazed woman, vocalising and expressing to the world everything that was happening in my body. (I could never be a scientologist!!). My mantra, which was given to me by the lovely Supermum, was "You’re a fabulous birthing Goddess. You’re a fabulous birthing Goddess". At other times, it was "Trust. Trust. Trust" which helped me surrender to the processes unfolding in my body.
Unbeknownst to me, they had turned the syntocinin up a few notches over the previous 2 hours. In hindsight, I think this was a good thing, because the really strong, titanic-proportion contractions were the ones which got him to turn around and be born! By 1.40pm I must have reached 10cm (only 40 mins after being told I was 6cm) because I felt like pushing. Ooooo, I remember this feeling now. Like a watermelon in your back passage. How disconcerting it is!!!!
I tried to push on all fours, but was too buggered to support my own weight and push at the same time. I tried pushing on my side, but that just hurt way too much!!! Finally, the only other possible position on a bed was on my back propped up to almost sitting (~ a 70 degree angle).
They turned the syntocinin right down again, and I pushed like crazy for 40 mins. I had an entire cheer squad at the business end of the bed (my mum, DH, and two MWs) telling me to "hold your breath" and "push harder". I was a bit angry that other women hardly have to push at all; that their babes just slide on out with a few involuntary pushes. Meanwhile, I have to work like buggery, contraction after contraction, to get mine out!!!!!
The "ring of fire" wasn’t nearly as bad this time, compared with my first ( I guess coz everything is already nice and stretched!!!). I knew it was a big head during crowning. I was right! It later measured at 39.5 cm circumference! As soon as the head was out, a pediatrician had to suction out his little nose and mouth, and as soon as his body was out he was whisked away to the resuscitation table to be checked and suctioned (because of the meconium). This was at 2.20am. He weighed in at 4.21kg or 9pds 3 oz.
The doctor, who had been coming and going over the past 5 hours, came back after it was all over. She said "I knew when to come back because the screaming stopped." I must have looked sheepish. "We could hear you down the other end of Level 5!" she said. (Great!)
I got to hold my little boy for 3 mins, introducing him briefly to my boob, before they whisked him off to Special Care for some antibiotics and monitoring. (He was hyperventilating, poor little possum. It had been a stressful birth for everyone!)
My labial tear from the first birth, which wasn’t stitched back then, had torn a bit further, so I asked the Dr if she could fix it up, which she did, using a local and five stitches, while I enjoyed the gas again and sqeezed the hand of Martha, my other lovely MW.
I dropped by Special Care on my way back to the BC where my DH was already sound asleep. I could see bubs was going to be fine, so I felt okay about leaving him there and going back to the BC myself for some rest. This was at about 5am.
He stayed in Special Care for 24 hours, then was with us for about 8 hours in the BC. By this time (3pm Monday), I really wanted to go home. He was fine and feeding well. But we were told he had to have temps taken every four hours and would need to stay in another 12 hours – hospital policy and all that - which meant another night in hospital, but in the normal maternity ward sharing with 3 others (the BC can only let you stay one night). I was very assertive with the pediatricians, telling them I wanted to go home; that I could take his temperature myself every four hours and come back if there was any problem. They made me "discharge myself at my own risk" signing papers saying I was going against medical advice. (I always was a rebel!). Bloody beauracracy!
Anyway, needless to say, he was fine and is still doing well, feeding like a trouper, and making mummy and daddy very sleep-deprived but very happy! :D
My waters began leaking at 4pm, so I called Jo, my midwife and told her the waters were yellow. She sounded concerned and asked me to call back in 30 mins and update her. Around 30 mins later, I had another big leak of yellow water and a stronger contraction so called again and she said to come in.
Walked through the RBWH foyer and caught the lift to Lvl 5 with waters dripping down my leg into my shoe the whole way and a big wad of cloth nappies hanging out the back of my pants. A good look!
Jo confirmed with the doctor that the colour of my waters indicated meconium in the waters. Though they all thought it was old meconium, perhaps a week or two old. I reckon he got a fright when I had a fall at home about a week before going into labour.
Jo did my obs and I had a high temp of 38 degrees. Bubba’s heart rate was also up, as was mine. She asked if I was feeling okay, and I was. I had no idea why I had a fever. Jo did a VE and told me I was 3cm. She also said bub was posterior and not engaged. This all added up to my very NOT ideal birth already!
Jo said I would have to be transferred out of the BC (boo hoo!….no water birth for me…) and monitored in the normal birth suites. I was very sad.
We brought as much of the BC equipment over with us as we could. My mum….bless her…made several trips to gather bean bags, birthing stools and mattresses etc….and each time got in trouble from the admin staff for having no shoes on (she was all prepared to get in the bath with me!!).
Once I was in the birth suite, they stuck a canula (sp?) in my hand and fed a saline solution plus some antibiotics into my body. The antibiotics were for me but also for bubs, as they were worried about him getting an infection from the meconium. They also strapped thingies onto my belly to monitor bubba’s heart rate and my contractions. This was all becoming way too medical. Also, bubba’s heart rate was pretty high (getting up to 200 bpm) and my contractions over the next 2 hours were very sloppy (stopping, starting, very intense then very mild), probably due to bubba being posterior. I started to cry! :crying:
Jo informed me that a doctor was coming to talk to me. Being terrified of doctors, I expected the worst (my experience of Obs to date at the Royal hasn’t been positive). But Johanna was lovely. She said they really wanted to get the baby out sooner rather than later because of his high HR and possible infection from the mec. I pleaded desperately with her: "I don’t want a ceasarean!!!!!!!!".
She smiled and said that would be a last resort, but that if the contractions hadn’t established a good pattern by about 8.30pm, they would like to put me on syntocinin to get things moving along.
After the doctor left the room, I asked Jo what we could do to get the contractions happening without resorting to syntocinin. She suggested a few positions and nipple stimulation, which my DH happily performed (in front of my mum….eww! ;-)
By 8.30pm the contractions were still all over the shop (2 mins apart, then 8 mins apart…arrgggghhh!), but getting a bit stonger. I asked Jo to go and ask the doctor for more time. I was scared of the syntocinin as I had heard it makes contractions more painful than natural contractions and that most women ended up opting for an epidural when they had syntocinin. I REALLY DIDN’T WANT AN EPIDURAL either! "Another hour", I thought, "and I can get this happening naturally".
They said I could have until 9.30pm before they would try syntocinin. I relaxed, continued nipple stimulation and moving around as best could with things stuck in me and strapped onto me. But by 9.30 there was still no change in my haphazard contractions. However, the doctor was now delayed, and so it wasn’t until 10.30 that I got the syntocinin drip put in me. Even by 10.30pm, the contractions still hadn’t established a regular pattern. I was scared out of my wits about how bad the contractions were now going to get using this artificial hormone. I asked for the lowest possible dose. Jo assured me some women coped with syntocinin just using the gas, and I said "Crank it up please!". So I started sucking down that gas! (God, I love the gas!).
I had been crying on and off throughout this time, thinking "My uterus is useless!! Why isn’t this labour getting going?!?". My first birth, in the same birthing suite, had been so text-book, with the contractions building and getting stonger and closer together, dilating just over 1cm per hour. I really think this time it was taking so long because he was posterior. However, the labour wasn’t particularly bad in my back the way everyone says posterior labours are. Hmmm…strange. No. It just felt like I was being stabbed with daggers everywhere!!!!!
Well, the syntocinin really got things going quite quickly. Pretty soon (by about 11.30pm) I was screaming like a banshee! This was bad! I hadn’t screamed like this in my fisrt birth. In my first birth, I wailed loudly and groaned and moaned and did lots of whale song! But this time, it was like Friday the 13th, blood-curdling screams. My mum had to fetch ear-plugs!!!
At 1am, I was beside myself with pain, still screaming like a banshee! Jo did another VE at my request and told me I was 6cm. SIX CENTIMETERS!!!! NOOOOOOOO! Now I really cried, and cried hard! I still had another 4 cm to go. How could that be? I was sure I was nearly 10.
But I carried on like a crazed woman, vocalising and expressing to the world everything that was happening in my body. (I could never be a scientologist!!). My mantra, which was given to me by the lovely Supermum, was "You’re a fabulous birthing Goddess. You’re a fabulous birthing Goddess". At other times, it was "Trust. Trust. Trust" which helped me surrender to the processes unfolding in my body.
Unbeknownst to me, they had turned the syntocinin up a few notches over the previous 2 hours. In hindsight, I think this was a good thing, because the really strong, titanic-proportion contractions were the ones which got him to turn around and be born! By 1.40pm I must have reached 10cm (only 40 mins after being told I was 6cm) because I felt like pushing. Ooooo, I remember this feeling now. Like a watermelon in your back passage. How disconcerting it is!!!!
I tried to push on all fours, but was too buggered to support my own weight and push at the same time. I tried pushing on my side, but that just hurt way too much!!! Finally, the only other possible position on a bed was on my back propped up to almost sitting (~ a 70 degree angle).
They turned the syntocinin right down again, and I pushed like crazy for 40 mins. I had an entire cheer squad at the business end of the bed (my mum, DH, and two MWs) telling me to "hold your breath" and "push harder". I was a bit angry that other women hardly have to push at all; that their babes just slide on out with a few involuntary pushes. Meanwhile, I have to work like buggery, contraction after contraction, to get mine out!!!!!
The "ring of fire" wasn’t nearly as bad this time, compared with my first ( I guess coz everything is already nice and stretched!!!). I knew it was a big head during crowning. I was right! It later measured at 39.5 cm circumference! As soon as the head was out, a pediatrician had to suction out his little nose and mouth, and as soon as his body was out he was whisked away to the resuscitation table to be checked and suctioned (because of the meconium). This was at 2.20am. He weighed in at 4.21kg or 9pds 3 oz.
The doctor, who had been coming and going over the past 5 hours, came back after it was all over. She said "I knew when to come back because the screaming stopped." I must have looked sheepish. "We could hear you down the other end of Level 5!" she said. (Great!)
I got to hold my little boy for 3 mins, introducing him briefly to my boob, before they whisked him off to Special Care for some antibiotics and monitoring. (He was hyperventilating, poor little possum. It had been a stressful birth for everyone!)
My labial tear from the first birth, which wasn’t stitched back then, had torn a bit further, so I asked the Dr if she could fix it up, which she did, using a local and five stitches, while I enjoyed the gas again and sqeezed the hand of Martha, my other lovely MW.
I dropped by Special Care on my way back to the BC where my DH was already sound asleep. I could see bubs was going to be fine, so I felt okay about leaving him there and going back to the BC myself for some rest. This was at about 5am.
He stayed in Special Care for 24 hours, then was with us for about 8 hours in the BC. By this time (3pm Monday), I really wanted to go home. He was fine and feeding well. But we were told he had to have temps taken every four hours and would need to stay in another 12 hours – hospital policy and all that - which meant another night in hospital, but in the normal maternity ward sharing with 3 others (the BC can only let you stay one night). I was very assertive with the pediatricians, telling them I wanted to go home; that I could take his temperature myself every four hours and come back if there was any problem. They made me "discharge myself at my own risk" signing papers saying I was going against medical advice. (I always was a rebel!). Bloody beauracracy!
Anyway, needless to say, he was fine and is still doing well, feeding like a trouper, and making mummy and daddy very sleep-deprived but very happy! :D