Georgie'smama
13-08-2005, 13:51
Well, i had a different experience to the wonderful experiences i have been reading here about natural birth, so i thought i'd start a new thread. Well, my waters broke at 9.10 am (just flowing slow and steady at the beginning),
about half an hour after hubby had left for work, so the first priority was to call him and get him to come home again.
Having informed the father to be that i was in fact in labour, and he should come home, i called the labour ward.
They asked if i was having contractions, but since i wasn't in any pain, they told me to come in to the hospital at
1:30 and they would check me out, but if i started earlier to give them another ring. Waiting around, on my birthing ball chatting to mum, my waters broke in a gush, it was like a bucket of water!Having phoned Dad and my sister (they were staying at a Cousin's because the house we were renting at the time was tiny) all that was left was to sit around and wait. When hubby got home, i sent him to Mc Donalds as i was starving (it was 11:00am). Then we went to the hospital, where they examined me and told me i was only 1 cm dilated and that it was my decision to stay in hoispital
or go home, but that it could be another 24 hours before things really got started. I certainly didn't feel like hanging around the hospital if things weren't going to start anytime soon(and i've read enough bumf about giving birth to know that the sooner you go to hospital the longer labour takes) so we headed off for home, having assured the midwives that if anything started i would call, but otherwise we would be back at 8:30 the following morninglThe rest of the day passed quite quietly, and at around 5:30 i was having regular contractions about 5 mins apart, i called the labour ward again and they told me to come in for 7:30pm. We got in the car around 7:00 (Vron and Dad were in the hire car behind us) and set
off for the hospital. 45 mins later we were still only 10 mins up the road. Traffic was backed up and we were at a standstill, (this is on a little country road, that i never used to see 1 other car on!)well hubby had the bright idea of doing a u turn, and headin to the next town to get onto the M25(i had to pass over the motorway to get to my hospital) that way, so we did, and seemed to be getting somewhere, but then got stuck again (we found out later that a big truck had spilled it's load on the M25 and was being treated as a chemical hazard- they closed the M25 completely and people were stuck in the traffic overnight- but at this point we didn't know what was happening). We did another u turn and said that we would try
for Chelmsford hospital, but as we were driving along, i spotted another hospital (this is where it gets good!) We pulled into the parking and Kyri went running inside, only to be told that they didn't have a maternity unit, they were not insured, and that we shouldn't get out of the car. They called an ambulance, but wouldn't even come and take a look at me, not even take my blood pressure or agive me a paracetemol! The ambulance turned up, as did a midwife from i don't know where(i think she may have been my guardian angel, she was nothing to do with the hospital or the ambulance crew) anyway, she examined me and found i was 4 cm dilated, and told the ambulance crew that they had time to get me to Basildon hospital. Mum and hubby came in the ambulance, but they wouldn't let us bring the overnight bag that i had packed (so no clothes for bub, and my nice nighty that i had picked to give birth in, also got left behind). We phoned Dad and Vron,to let them know where we were and where we were heading (they were still stuck in the first traffic jam!) After that things went quite quickly - i do know that hubby got so car sick in the ambulance that they were more worried about him when we arrived than they were about me! I was given gas in the ambulance, which worked just fine (as long as u were permanently sucking on it). Then we got to the hospital and they told me everything was going fine- as you can imagine i was very stressed- i had been having visions of giving birth in the car, or the ambulance! I asked for an epidural and the midwife told me that i would have to wait. I repeatedly asked for it, and got no joy- although i was offered pethedine. This i accepted as i was desperate for the pain to go away, i just wanted it all to be over, but in the end the pethedine didn't do anything for me anyway (it did however affect bubs- he was drowsy for 3 days!). In the end , mum was told if i didn't deliver the baby i was heading for an emergency c-section, as i was so wound up, i was pushing on the one hand and pulling him back on the other. I managed to deliver vaginally, but tore myself up, both physically (ripped from front to back) and mentally. For about a week i felt like i had been hit by a truck, and it took me longer than 6 months to be intimate with my husband again- i think i had a mental block that said, if i do this then it could result in pregnancy again, but also it took me that long to get feeling back 'down below'. I am now pregnant with my second, happy to be having anothe child, but at the same time, terrified that i will go through the same things again. I am seriously condsidering a c-section this time. Anyway, thanx for listening, i am also quite angry that things didn't go the way i had planned, and that i felt so out of control. :mad:
about half an hour after hubby had left for work, so the first priority was to call him and get him to come home again.
Having informed the father to be that i was in fact in labour, and he should come home, i called the labour ward.
They asked if i was having contractions, but since i wasn't in any pain, they told me to come in to the hospital at
1:30 and they would check me out, but if i started earlier to give them another ring. Waiting around, on my birthing ball chatting to mum, my waters broke in a gush, it was like a bucket of water!Having phoned Dad and my sister (they were staying at a Cousin's because the house we were renting at the time was tiny) all that was left was to sit around and wait. When hubby got home, i sent him to Mc Donalds as i was starving (it was 11:00am). Then we went to the hospital, where they examined me and told me i was only 1 cm dilated and that it was my decision to stay in hoispital
or go home, but that it could be another 24 hours before things really got started. I certainly didn't feel like hanging around the hospital if things weren't going to start anytime soon(and i've read enough bumf about giving birth to know that the sooner you go to hospital the longer labour takes) so we headed off for home, having assured the midwives that if anything started i would call, but otherwise we would be back at 8:30 the following morninglThe rest of the day passed quite quietly, and at around 5:30 i was having regular contractions about 5 mins apart, i called the labour ward again and they told me to come in for 7:30pm. We got in the car around 7:00 (Vron and Dad were in the hire car behind us) and set
off for the hospital. 45 mins later we were still only 10 mins up the road. Traffic was backed up and we were at a standstill, (this is on a little country road, that i never used to see 1 other car on!)well hubby had the bright idea of doing a u turn, and headin to the next town to get onto the M25(i had to pass over the motorway to get to my hospital) that way, so we did, and seemed to be getting somewhere, but then got stuck again (we found out later that a big truck had spilled it's load on the M25 and was being treated as a chemical hazard- they closed the M25 completely and people were stuck in the traffic overnight- but at this point we didn't know what was happening). We did another u turn and said that we would try
for Chelmsford hospital, but as we were driving along, i spotted another hospital (this is where it gets good!) We pulled into the parking and Kyri went running inside, only to be told that they didn't have a maternity unit, they were not insured, and that we shouldn't get out of the car. They called an ambulance, but wouldn't even come and take a look at me, not even take my blood pressure or agive me a paracetemol! The ambulance turned up, as did a midwife from i don't know where(i think she may have been my guardian angel, she was nothing to do with the hospital or the ambulance crew) anyway, she examined me and found i was 4 cm dilated, and told the ambulance crew that they had time to get me to Basildon hospital. Mum and hubby came in the ambulance, but they wouldn't let us bring the overnight bag that i had packed (so no clothes for bub, and my nice nighty that i had picked to give birth in, also got left behind). We phoned Dad and Vron,to let them know where we were and where we were heading (they were still stuck in the first traffic jam!) After that things went quite quickly - i do know that hubby got so car sick in the ambulance that they were more worried about him when we arrived than they were about me! I was given gas in the ambulance, which worked just fine (as long as u were permanently sucking on it). Then we got to the hospital and they told me everything was going fine- as you can imagine i was very stressed- i had been having visions of giving birth in the car, or the ambulance! I asked for an epidural and the midwife told me that i would have to wait. I repeatedly asked for it, and got no joy- although i was offered pethedine. This i accepted as i was desperate for the pain to go away, i just wanted it all to be over, but in the end the pethedine didn't do anything for me anyway (it did however affect bubs- he was drowsy for 3 days!). In the end , mum was told if i didn't deliver the baby i was heading for an emergency c-section, as i was so wound up, i was pushing on the one hand and pulling him back on the other. I managed to deliver vaginally, but tore myself up, both physically (ripped from front to back) and mentally. For about a week i felt like i had been hit by a truck, and it took me longer than 6 months to be intimate with my husband again- i think i had a mental block that said, if i do this then it could result in pregnancy again, but also it took me that long to get feeling back 'down below'. I am now pregnant with my second, happy to be having anothe child, but at the same time, terrified that i will go through the same things again. I am seriously condsidering a c-section this time. Anyway, thanx for listening, i am also quite angry that things didn't go the way i had planned, and that i felt so out of control. :mad: