jessi
29-08-2006, 13:48
OK- this is REALLY long... apologies!
It all began at 3am on 25th August 2006… I was awoken with a pop and my waters gushing out over my legs and onto the bed. I quickly woke Nat and he grabbed me a towel... and then another... and then another... I managed to soak about 10 towels.
I made a dash to the shower and covered the floor in water and then stood in the shower for maybe 15 minutes with it gushing out of me. We were pretty sure I lost about 3 liters of fluid!
My belly halved in size and I was having some strong contractions... I called the hospital at 8am (after trying to get some more MUCH needed sleep!!) and they have advised me to come in. I wanted to avoid going to the hospital too soon at all costs, and asked if I could just rest at home until the contractions were stronger. They said no and insisted I come in right away.
Sticking to my original plan, I didn’t go in straight away… I rested some more, finished packing my bags and relaxed, knowing that I was going to be more comfortable at home.
At 11am, I told Nat that we should probably head to the hospital as the contractions were getting more painful and I didn’t know how much longer I could sit at home. He showered and MIL got ready to head over.
When we arrived, the Middies were shocked that I had waited so long to come in. They thought my waters had broken around 8am when I had called them, but when I said that they had actually ruptured at 3am, the middies went into a state of panic. They immediately hooked me up to the machines to monitor the baby and my contractions… I don’t think they really believed I was in labour as I was still talking and walking and had a smile on my face.
To make it worse, the monitoring equipment would drop out every time I had a massive contraction, making it look like I wasn’t in labour at all!! All I wanted to do was get up off the bed and walk around, but the middy I had was insistent I stayed where I was. I then just said “Listen I need to go to the bathroom.” And took the straps off. When she came back in, she said that she needed me back on the machines and that they were going to start me on a syntocinin drip to bring on labour.
We looked at her like she was mad. We explained clearly that I was NOT going to be hooked up to the machines again and that we would NOT be having the drip because I was actually in labour- even though she didn’t believe me.
It was about this point we asked for another midwife. Within 10minutes, another midwife, Sharney (who I had met before and thought was lovely) walked through the door. At this point, I was on a mat on the floor with the birthing ball having really strong and painful contractions. We went through our birth plan with her and she thought it was really great that we wanted such a natural birth.
Sharney kept an eye on bubs heartbeat and said I was doing really well dealing with the contractions, and breathing through them etc. Nat was sitting with me on the floor rubbing my back and holding me- giving me words of encouragement. I was visualizing breathing the pain up into my chest and then blowing the pain out… it worked, but not for long.
It was about 3pm that the contractions started getting unbearable. I couldn’t go through a contraction without tears streaming down my cheeks. We tried swinging my hips, kneeling on the mat, heat packs, walking and sitting on the toilet. I requested a hot shower, so in I went. Nat held the shower head and moved it across my back, the water was so soothing, although I had to grip onto the wall handles tightly for each contraction and had my head shoved into the corner of the shower to help with pain.
After this I moved to the bed and then back to the toilet a few times, I had people reminding me to empty my bladder but every time I went to the toilet, I felt like pushing and it made it impossible to wee.
After a while the tears returned and eventually I ended up sitting on the toilet, rocking my pelvis, sobbing into Nat’s chest. I kept saying to him “Nat I can’t do this… it hurts too much” He kept on holding me and giving me words of encouragement. We decided to try moving around abit more and ended up on a mat on the floor again with a beanbag lodged beneath me. The contractions were so strong and the tears kept coming… I asked for anything, and Nat asked if there was anything he could give me to alleviate even abit of pain for me. (I could see that it was upsetting for him to see me in so much pain, but he kept so strong.)
Sharney offered me the gas, and I accepted eagerly. I kept moving between the mat and the toilet, each time, the contractions intensified and id grip onto something so tight and pull the gas into my mouth with huge gulps.
Nat’s Mum and Sharney started stroking my arms and lower back lightly, this helped immensely with the pain and Nat squeezed my hips together with each contraction to take some of the edge off. While the gas didn’t take the pain away, it made my head spin and I guess it gave me something else to concentrate on. Nat said I was off my face for almost 3 hours of the birth.
Sharney then asked if I would like to know how far along I am, and I agreed to let her do an internal. I was only 6cm dilated. I was so disappointed- I was sure I felt lie pushing, but at that stage, pushing would only make the cervix swell and mean a C-Section for me. At this stage, the doctor came along and asked to speak to Sharney. He was concerned, after hearing from the other midwife, that syntocinin hadn’t been started yet. (Because apparently, I wasn’t in labour- what the?!) But Sharney refused and said “No, we don’t need it.”
Not long after this, I climbed up onto the bed, on all fours and rested my top half against the head of the bed. Contractions were coming on so strong now that I was making a lot of noise. I would heave the gas into my mouth and then start moaning and almost yelling. I kept feeling like pushing, it hurt to stop myself from doing this… I was still sucking on the gas hard out, my eyes were rolling back into my head, I had a hard grip on Nat’s hand and apparently I told everyone that the Gas was my friend.
I was nearly falling asleep between contractions, which were now only a minute or so apart and lasting for a minute themselves. I was yelling out in pain for them to get her out of me at this point, and Nat and Sharney and Judi kept telling me how great I was doing and that my baby would be here soon.
Every time a contraction came, it felt like I needed to push. So Sharney checked me again. The babies head was about 2 cm from the opening, and the cervix was fully dilated but because Id felt the need to push, it had swollen abit on one side. Sharney told me to push with the next contraction and she would try and push it out of the way. I did this and was informed that my baby would be here in the next few pushes. This made me feel a heap better and I was so happy that this was almost over. Judi massaged my back and Nat stroked my thigh and kept telling me that he was so proud of me and that he loved me.
Every contraction after this I was told to push into my bottom, I could feel the pressure of the babies head and pushed as I was told… I kept sucking on the gas and was screaming out in pain every time I pushed.
Nat was watching everything that was happening down there, and after a few pushes told me that he could see the top of the babies head. I pushed and pushed and pushed, screamed, screamed and screamed and then reached down to feel her head.
Keeping on with the words of encouragement, Nat was in awe of what was happening; he kept saying how proud he was of me.
Sharney told me she wanted me to give 3 good pushes with each contraction. So with each contraction I pushed as hard as I could, took a breath and pushed again… finally, the head was crowning. Sharney and Nat guided me through getting the head out… I screamed out “RING OF FIIIIRRRE!!!” and her head was just sitting there- almost out… I started sobbing again; the pain was so unbelievably horrible.
Another contraction came and I pushed. I have never screamed so loud in my whole life. I screamed at them to get her out, it was too much for me. Sharney told me to pant, and then give a little push… this was so hard to do as the pain was so intense I could hardly breath.
After I did this, the head was born. Nat was touching her and saying how great I was doing. I pushed again, thinking that she was going to just slide out now, but she didn’t move. I pushed again… scream scream scream. Then I heard something a new mother never wants to hear “Push the emergency button!” and then an emergency team came running into my room. Her shoulders were stuck and they weren’t letting her come out. Sharney pushed her hand up inside and somehow managed to twist her just enough and free her from my pelvis.
After one more push, Nat, guided by Sharney, pulled our little girl into the world at 7.20pm. I moaned in relief and then exhaustedly whispered to Judi “is it really a girl?”
Nat came back with “Darlin’, it’s a girl”. I pushed myself up onto my legs and turned to look at her. She was so blue and was having trouble breathing…they passed her between my legs and I held her for a small amount of time before they tried suctioning the fluid out of her mouth and nose. We had wanted to let the cord pulsate but she was having trouble breathing. Nat got to cut the cord and she was rushed over to the table for the nurses to examine her. She was 7 pound 11 ounces, 50.5 cm long and had a head circumference of 32.5cm.
It all began at 3am on 25th August 2006… I was awoken with a pop and my waters gushing out over my legs and onto the bed. I quickly woke Nat and he grabbed me a towel... and then another... and then another... I managed to soak about 10 towels.
I made a dash to the shower and covered the floor in water and then stood in the shower for maybe 15 minutes with it gushing out of me. We were pretty sure I lost about 3 liters of fluid!
My belly halved in size and I was having some strong contractions... I called the hospital at 8am (after trying to get some more MUCH needed sleep!!) and they have advised me to come in. I wanted to avoid going to the hospital too soon at all costs, and asked if I could just rest at home until the contractions were stronger. They said no and insisted I come in right away.
Sticking to my original plan, I didn’t go in straight away… I rested some more, finished packing my bags and relaxed, knowing that I was going to be more comfortable at home.
At 11am, I told Nat that we should probably head to the hospital as the contractions were getting more painful and I didn’t know how much longer I could sit at home. He showered and MIL got ready to head over.
When we arrived, the Middies were shocked that I had waited so long to come in. They thought my waters had broken around 8am when I had called them, but when I said that they had actually ruptured at 3am, the middies went into a state of panic. They immediately hooked me up to the machines to monitor the baby and my contractions… I don’t think they really believed I was in labour as I was still talking and walking and had a smile on my face.
To make it worse, the monitoring equipment would drop out every time I had a massive contraction, making it look like I wasn’t in labour at all!! All I wanted to do was get up off the bed and walk around, but the middy I had was insistent I stayed where I was. I then just said “Listen I need to go to the bathroom.” And took the straps off. When she came back in, she said that she needed me back on the machines and that they were going to start me on a syntocinin drip to bring on labour.
We looked at her like she was mad. We explained clearly that I was NOT going to be hooked up to the machines again and that we would NOT be having the drip because I was actually in labour- even though she didn’t believe me.
It was about this point we asked for another midwife. Within 10minutes, another midwife, Sharney (who I had met before and thought was lovely) walked through the door. At this point, I was on a mat on the floor with the birthing ball having really strong and painful contractions. We went through our birth plan with her and she thought it was really great that we wanted such a natural birth.
Sharney kept an eye on bubs heartbeat and said I was doing really well dealing with the contractions, and breathing through them etc. Nat was sitting with me on the floor rubbing my back and holding me- giving me words of encouragement. I was visualizing breathing the pain up into my chest and then blowing the pain out… it worked, but not for long.
It was about 3pm that the contractions started getting unbearable. I couldn’t go through a contraction without tears streaming down my cheeks. We tried swinging my hips, kneeling on the mat, heat packs, walking and sitting on the toilet. I requested a hot shower, so in I went. Nat held the shower head and moved it across my back, the water was so soothing, although I had to grip onto the wall handles tightly for each contraction and had my head shoved into the corner of the shower to help with pain.
After this I moved to the bed and then back to the toilet a few times, I had people reminding me to empty my bladder but every time I went to the toilet, I felt like pushing and it made it impossible to wee.
After a while the tears returned and eventually I ended up sitting on the toilet, rocking my pelvis, sobbing into Nat’s chest. I kept saying to him “Nat I can’t do this… it hurts too much” He kept on holding me and giving me words of encouragement. We decided to try moving around abit more and ended up on a mat on the floor again with a beanbag lodged beneath me. The contractions were so strong and the tears kept coming… I asked for anything, and Nat asked if there was anything he could give me to alleviate even abit of pain for me. (I could see that it was upsetting for him to see me in so much pain, but he kept so strong.)
Sharney offered me the gas, and I accepted eagerly. I kept moving between the mat and the toilet, each time, the contractions intensified and id grip onto something so tight and pull the gas into my mouth with huge gulps.
Nat’s Mum and Sharney started stroking my arms and lower back lightly, this helped immensely with the pain and Nat squeezed my hips together with each contraction to take some of the edge off. While the gas didn’t take the pain away, it made my head spin and I guess it gave me something else to concentrate on. Nat said I was off my face for almost 3 hours of the birth.
Sharney then asked if I would like to know how far along I am, and I agreed to let her do an internal. I was only 6cm dilated. I was so disappointed- I was sure I felt lie pushing, but at that stage, pushing would only make the cervix swell and mean a C-Section for me. At this stage, the doctor came along and asked to speak to Sharney. He was concerned, after hearing from the other midwife, that syntocinin hadn’t been started yet. (Because apparently, I wasn’t in labour- what the?!) But Sharney refused and said “No, we don’t need it.”
Not long after this, I climbed up onto the bed, on all fours and rested my top half against the head of the bed. Contractions were coming on so strong now that I was making a lot of noise. I would heave the gas into my mouth and then start moaning and almost yelling. I kept feeling like pushing, it hurt to stop myself from doing this… I was still sucking on the gas hard out, my eyes were rolling back into my head, I had a hard grip on Nat’s hand and apparently I told everyone that the Gas was my friend.
I was nearly falling asleep between contractions, which were now only a minute or so apart and lasting for a minute themselves. I was yelling out in pain for them to get her out of me at this point, and Nat and Sharney and Judi kept telling me how great I was doing and that my baby would be here soon.
Every time a contraction came, it felt like I needed to push. So Sharney checked me again. The babies head was about 2 cm from the opening, and the cervix was fully dilated but because Id felt the need to push, it had swollen abit on one side. Sharney told me to push with the next contraction and she would try and push it out of the way. I did this and was informed that my baby would be here in the next few pushes. This made me feel a heap better and I was so happy that this was almost over. Judi massaged my back and Nat stroked my thigh and kept telling me that he was so proud of me and that he loved me.
Every contraction after this I was told to push into my bottom, I could feel the pressure of the babies head and pushed as I was told… I kept sucking on the gas and was screaming out in pain every time I pushed.
Nat was watching everything that was happening down there, and after a few pushes told me that he could see the top of the babies head. I pushed and pushed and pushed, screamed, screamed and screamed and then reached down to feel her head.
Keeping on with the words of encouragement, Nat was in awe of what was happening; he kept saying how proud he was of me.
Sharney told me she wanted me to give 3 good pushes with each contraction. So with each contraction I pushed as hard as I could, took a breath and pushed again… finally, the head was crowning. Sharney and Nat guided me through getting the head out… I screamed out “RING OF FIIIIRRRE!!!” and her head was just sitting there- almost out… I started sobbing again; the pain was so unbelievably horrible.
Another contraction came and I pushed. I have never screamed so loud in my whole life. I screamed at them to get her out, it was too much for me. Sharney told me to pant, and then give a little push… this was so hard to do as the pain was so intense I could hardly breath.
After I did this, the head was born. Nat was touching her and saying how great I was doing. I pushed again, thinking that she was going to just slide out now, but she didn’t move. I pushed again… scream scream scream. Then I heard something a new mother never wants to hear “Push the emergency button!” and then an emergency team came running into my room. Her shoulders were stuck and they weren’t letting her come out. Sharney pushed her hand up inside and somehow managed to twist her just enough and free her from my pelvis.
After one more push, Nat, guided by Sharney, pulled our little girl into the world at 7.20pm. I moaned in relief and then exhaustedly whispered to Judi “is it really a girl?”
Nat came back with “Darlin’, it’s a girl”. I pushed myself up onto my legs and turned to look at her. She was so blue and was having trouble breathing…they passed her between my legs and I held her for a small amount of time before they tried suctioning the fluid out of her mouth and nose. We had wanted to let the cord pulsate but she was having trouble breathing. Nat got to cut the cord and she was rushed over to the table for the nurses to examine her. She was 7 pound 11 ounces, 50.5 cm long and had a head circumference of 32.5cm.