Veritas
25-08-2006, 18:14
Well after seeing my due date come and go, and attempting a few home remedies to bring things on, like castor oil and going for long walks, much to no avail, I resigned myself to the fact she was probably going to be born by induction and had settled in waiting for my day stay appointment which was scheduled a week and one day after her due date....
After no luck with the castor oil on the thursday night (4 days post dates), I settled in to bed on the sat night for a good nights sleep.... after one of my frequent toilet trips at 3am I was about to climb back into bed when I felt some warm liquid running down my leg.... I remember thinking "I'm sure I didn't just wet myself".... for some reason I had brought a towel into my room that night, thankfully, as every step I made back towards the loo a bit more dribbled out.... I decided a shower was in order and as I stepped into it I was greeted with a big gush... the liquid continued to flow out while I was in the shower, and after I thought I should probably wake mum and let her know, and give the midwife a call....
I was asked to come up to the hospital for some monitoring, which is always what you want in the wee hours of the morning.... at this stage there was no sign of contractions.... after about 2 hrs at the hospital I was allowed to go home, and climbed back into bed at 6am.... We had another trip to the hospital on saturday at 3pm for some more monitoring, and was told I would need to come back for more the next day if nothing started, most like I would be induced on Mon/Tues if nothing started naturally.... was nice to know the end was in sight, and no need for day stay!
Well saturday was jam packed... we had a dinner organised for that night that mum was going to cancel but I told her to go ahead with....I called the midwife shortly before bed when I noticed a far bit of browny gel like discharge, which she said not to worry about.... was pretty tired by the time I headed to bed that night at about 10.30, and no sooner had I settled down in bed for some much needed sleep than contractions started at 10.45pm, five minutes apart and getting rapidly stronger.... Headed to the loo to be greated with a nice pink discharge and some blood.... I headed up to let mum know and went down to jump in the bath to see if that helped with the steadily stronger pains.... meanwhile she called the middy to let her know things had started.... she said to head in when I felt I needed to.....
The bath was getting cold so I decided to get out and get dressed.... big mistake... the pains intensified ten-fold.... it was then I decided maybe I'd like to go to the hospital.... the midwife was amazed at how quick things were progressing.... so was I.... the back pain I was experiencing not only during contractions but between was getting to the point of being almost unbearable... we waited in the birth centre room for what seemed like an eternity for the midwife to arrive.... I'd had a few HUGE contractions on the way into the hospital that scared me a little... I thought this bubba was going to be here sooner rather than later.... after some more monitoring I was allowed to hop into the bath which helped a great deal but the back pain was still incredibly intense... at this time I thought she must be posterior but the midwife didn't seem to care about the back pain.....
Shortly after getting in the bath I was feeling pretty nauseous and from there on in I struggled to hold anything down for too long.... I was getting pretty tired and delirious after a few hours in the bath, and about an hour and half of the midwife telling me I could push without doing an internal, and we decided I should hop out for a while for some more monitoring..... at this stage I decided it was too much to bear and asked for an epidural.... the midwife seemed less than impressed, and was going to make me walk down to the delivery suite when I said I just couldn't so they fetched a wheel chair.... by this stage it was about 6.30am....
When we made it to the delivery suite my first internal was done revealing I was only 7 cm dilated.... so I should never have been pushing hours before.... after much concentration to stay still the epidural kicked in and it felt like bliss to have the back pain gone, and to be able to have my first taste of sleep in over 24 hrs.... I was steadily feeling worse and worse.... since getting out the bath at the birth centre I had been uncontrollably shaking, and after having my temp read to be in the high 38's it explained why.... so I was also given some antibiotics...
The midwife "accidentally" let the epidural run out through not setting up the fusion bag the anaesthetist left, and therefore the pains returned with a vengence.... then a comedy of errors insued, she didn't know how to operate it, couldn't get the machine to work, another midwife come in and suggested to give a bolus while she worked it out so I could get some much needed pain relief... by this stage my temp was 39.8.... and I was feeling less than perfect.... they finally got the epi sorted after much fussing, and did another internal, I was 9cm dilated... but she was having trouble working out what position bub was in, so called in the doc.... she couldn't find the fontanelle either, so it was the surgical registrars turn.... then the surgical consultant had a go.... by this stage it felt like bub had retreated back up under my ribs, but the middy seemed to be ignoring that too.... the surgical team brought in some ultrasound equipment so they could get a better pic of where she was and also to assess what they should do....
They decided to book a surgical spot for an hour, attempt a forceps/ventouse delivery if I dilated the further centimetre, if not it was to be a c-section... by this stage I was feeling that under the weather that I told them I didn't have the energy to push anything anywhere, so I wouldn't be much help to them....
Time came to head to theatre and a middy change happened at this time... the new middy walked straight in looked at my tum and said "oh see this is what an obstructed labour looks like" and explained it to middy no.1.... I was then wishing she'd been there all along....
The c-section experience is a more positive one.... all of the theatre staff were wonderful and I couldn't have hoped for a better c-section experience after 12 hrs of frustration.... mind you I never raised my voice or swore, I don't even think I made any noise during contractions other than breathing, and I apologised constantly....
At 11.33am on Sunday 6th August, with the most amazing feeling of relief, Piper Eden was lifted out of me.... covered in meconioum and sporting a lovely conehead.... she weighed 8lb 14oz and was 54cm long... a lot bigger than we had expected, and even more beautiful than I could have hoped for....
I was soo thankful to all the theatre staff for making it such a great experience, and to the second midwife for being so supportive and communicating.... my mum was there to share the experience with me and was a little emotional when she was born.... she cut the cord (after it was already cut) and watched over her when she was first checked out.... Piper accompanied me everywhere after that... she stayed with us while I was stitched up.... and came to recovery too... then off to the ward we went....
I couldn't believe after all this waiting that I had been blessed with such a beautiful and well behaved little girl...
I will admit I was a little disappointed with the original midwife and lack of support and listening to me when I thought things weren't working, and think things may have been different had I have had one of the other team members, but overall I am happy that she arrived safely, and don't feel I lost anything by having the birth experience I did, moreso that I got a bit of a taste of everything instead!
After no luck with the castor oil on the thursday night (4 days post dates), I settled in to bed on the sat night for a good nights sleep.... after one of my frequent toilet trips at 3am I was about to climb back into bed when I felt some warm liquid running down my leg.... I remember thinking "I'm sure I didn't just wet myself".... for some reason I had brought a towel into my room that night, thankfully, as every step I made back towards the loo a bit more dribbled out.... I decided a shower was in order and as I stepped into it I was greeted with a big gush... the liquid continued to flow out while I was in the shower, and after I thought I should probably wake mum and let her know, and give the midwife a call....
I was asked to come up to the hospital for some monitoring, which is always what you want in the wee hours of the morning.... at this stage there was no sign of contractions.... after about 2 hrs at the hospital I was allowed to go home, and climbed back into bed at 6am.... We had another trip to the hospital on saturday at 3pm for some more monitoring, and was told I would need to come back for more the next day if nothing started, most like I would be induced on Mon/Tues if nothing started naturally.... was nice to know the end was in sight, and no need for day stay!
Well saturday was jam packed... we had a dinner organised for that night that mum was going to cancel but I told her to go ahead with....I called the midwife shortly before bed when I noticed a far bit of browny gel like discharge, which she said not to worry about.... was pretty tired by the time I headed to bed that night at about 10.30, and no sooner had I settled down in bed for some much needed sleep than contractions started at 10.45pm, five minutes apart and getting rapidly stronger.... Headed to the loo to be greated with a nice pink discharge and some blood.... I headed up to let mum know and went down to jump in the bath to see if that helped with the steadily stronger pains.... meanwhile she called the middy to let her know things had started.... she said to head in when I felt I needed to.....
The bath was getting cold so I decided to get out and get dressed.... big mistake... the pains intensified ten-fold.... it was then I decided maybe I'd like to go to the hospital.... the midwife was amazed at how quick things were progressing.... so was I.... the back pain I was experiencing not only during contractions but between was getting to the point of being almost unbearable... we waited in the birth centre room for what seemed like an eternity for the midwife to arrive.... I'd had a few HUGE contractions on the way into the hospital that scared me a little... I thought this bubba was going to be here sooner rather than later.... after some more monitoring I was allowed to hop into the bath which helped a great deal but the back pain was still incredibly intense... at this time I thought she must be posterior but the midwife didn't seem to care about the back pain.....
Shortly after getting in the bath I was feeling pretty nauseous and from there on in I struggled to hold anything down for too long.... I was getting pretty tired and delirious after a few hours in the bath, and about an hour and half of the midwife telling me I could push without doing an internal, and we decided I should hop out for a while for some more monitoring..... at this stage I decided it was too much to bear and asked for an epidural.... the midwife seemed less than impressed, and was going to make me walk down to the delivery suite when I said I just couldn't so they fetched a wheel chair.... by this stage it was about 6.30am....
When we made it to the delivery suite my first internal was done revealing I was only 7 cm dilated.... so I should never have been pushing hours before.... after much concentration to stay still the epidural kicked in and it felt like bliss to have the back pain gone, and to be able to have my first taste of sleep in over 24 hrs.... I was steadily feeling worse and worse.... since getting out the bath at the birth centre I had been uncontrollably shaking, and after having my temp read to be in the high 38's it explained why.... so I was also given some antibiotics...
The midwife "accidentally" let the epidural run out through not setting up the fusion bag the anaesthetist left, and therefore the pains returned with a vengence.... then a comedy of errors insued, she didn't know how to operate it, couldn't get the machine to work, another midwife come in and suggested to give a bolus while she worked it out so I could get some much needed pain relief... by this stage my temp was 39.8.... and I was feeling less than perfect.... they finally got the epi sorted after much fussing, and did another internal, I was 9cm dilated... but she was having trouble working out what position bub was in, so called in the doc.... she couldn't find the fontanelle either, so it was the surgical registrars turn.... then the surgical consultant had a go.... by this stage it felt like bub had retreated back up under my ribs, but the middy seemed to be ignoring that too.... the surgical team brought in some ultrasound equipment so they could get a better pic of where she was and also to assess what they should do....
They decided to book a surgical spot for an hour, attempt a forceps/ventouse delivery if I dilated the further centimetre, if not it was to be a c-section... by this stage I was feeling that under the weather that I told them I didn't have the energy to push anything anywhere, so I wouldn't be much help to them....
Time came to head to theatre and a middy change happened at this time... the new middy walked straight in looked at my tum and said "oh see this is what an obstructed labour looks like" and explained it to middy no.1.... I was then wishing she'd been there all along....
The c-section experience is a more positive one.... all of the theatre staff were wonderful and I couldn't have hoped for a better c-section experience after 12 hrs of frustration.... mind you I never raised my voice or swore, I don't even think I made any noise during contractions other than breathing, and I apologised constantly....
At 11.33am on Sunday 6th August, with the most amazing feeling of relief, Piper Eden was lifted out of me.... covered in meconioum and sporting a lovely conehead.... she weighed 8lb 14oz and was 54cm long... a lot bigger than we had expected, and even more beautiful than I could have hoped for....
I was soo thankful to all the theatre staff for making it such a great experience, and to the second midwife for being so supportive and communicating.... my mum was there to share the experience with me and was a little emotional when she was born.... she cut the cord (after it was already cut) and watched over her when she was first checked out.... Piper accompanied me everywhere after that... she stayed with us while I was stitched up.... and came to recovery too... then off to the ward we went....
I couldn't believe after all this waiting that I had been blessed with such a beautiful and well behaved little girl...
I will admit I was a little disappointed with the original midwife and lack of support and listening to me when I thought things weren't working, and think things may have been different had I have had one of the other team members, but overall I am happy that she arrived safely, and don't feel I lost anything by having the birth experience I did, moreso that I got a bit of a taste of everything instead!