mochridhe
20-03-2007, 03:09 PM
Being a few days overdue in a hot, humid QLD summer isn't much fun, so to be woken at 2.45 am 4 days after my due date, I was very excited!! Particularly considering I'd never experienced contractions before. I was very much looking forward to getting my VBAC and pushing my baby out as nature intended.
After the first contraction, I was so excited I could barely sleep! I think I may have dozed a bit here & there, but by 5am, the contractions were coming about every 15-20 mins or so, and were pretty painful. Although I knew that seeing I could still handle them well and could talk through them, they needed to get much stronger before we could head off to the hospital!
Around 5am, I noticed some spotting and got even more excited. Then I started to panic about all the things I'd been putting off doing, so I got up & washed up all Claire's bottles etc so that she'd have plenty there for when Grandma came to look after her. Then I had breakfast, put on a load of washing, hung it out and had a shower. At 6.30 I decided to go back to bed. The contractions had slowed down somewhat with all my activity, and I didn't want to go backwards! I'd heard that activity was meant to increase contractions, not slow them down, but it seemed to be having the opposite effect on me!
Around 7am Claire woke up, so I got up and got her dressed, telling her that she might get to meet her baby brother today!
DH woke up around 8 and I said to him "So how's the 9th of March sound for a birthday?" Given the fact that he'd only just woken up, I had to explain to him what I meant - that I'd been having contractions for most of the night and that although they weren't regular and in fact had slowed down a lot this morning, I felt sure that today was the day!
I spent the day sweeping the floor and doing as many other active things as I could (hoping that the activity would get the contractions flowing again) but by mid afternoon, it was pretty clear that the contractions I'd experienced earlier were a false alarm. I was incredibly disappointed, but at the same time hopeful that this would be the start of something.
At around 9pm, my contractions had started up again and I noticed the bleeding had gotten heavier. I was a bit worried, so I phoned the hospital and the midwife assured me that what I'd described sounded normal for a "show" and to keep timing my contractions. She confirmed information I'd been given earlier that as I was having a VBAC, I should call them once my contractions were around 10 mins apart.
As I went to bed that night, I was hopeful & more than a little excited, that we would meet our son the following day.
At 11.30 I was woken by a very strong, very long-lasting contraction. I'd had to get up out of bed it was so painful, and had trouble talking through it. When it finished, I felt a gush of warm fluid, and thought it was more bleeding. Scared, I raced off to the toilet only to find it was not blood, but clear fluid - my waters had broken!
I called out to DH that my waters had broken and in 3 seconds flat he was out of bed, dressed, lights on, bags in hand, heading out to the car! I called the hospital and they said I should come in. Next I called my mum and she was at our place in record time. The contractions were now fairly close together and very strong, although still irregular.
Once we arrived, they took us into a birthing room and hooked me up to a monitor to see how bubs was doing & also to monitor my contractions. A Dr came to see me and said to rest up as it could be a while yet.
I told DH he may as well go home, as it didn't look like tonight was the night.
I slept that night in the birthing room between contractions. Luckily they'd removed the monitor, as the contractions were so strong I couldn't lay down for them!
The next morning, they came and moved me to the maternity ward, so that I could have breakfast and see how the labour was progressing.
Unfortunately, it seemed that daytime was not my friend! Again, my contractions stalled.
Saturday was spent having my blood pressure & temperature taken, being intermittently monitored to ensure bub was coping OK, and that I wasn't developing any infection due to the ruptured membranes.
Saturday night, I again experienced even stronger, more frequent contractions. The nurses were all wonderful and helped me maintain my sanity throughout the night. Incredibly, I was still able to sleep in between contractions!
Sunday came and once again contractions all but stopped. I was so disheartened by this stage! Where was my baby?!! We spoke to Drs and wheighed up our options. One Dr suggested that it was time to get things moving and explained the pros & cons of having an induction, or rather augmentation to move things along. One of the more serious complications that was explained to us, was the increased risk of uterine rupture if I was induced, due to my prior c/section. DH asked what the outcome would be if this occured & the Dr advised that it would almost certainly mean that we would be coming home without our baby. This was far too much for DH, and although the risk was very small, he just couldn't agree to it, given the risks. We spent a very emotional hour or two discussing our options and the Dr left us alone to talk it over. We decided that the option we were most happy with was to wait it out for another 24 hours to see if labour would establish on its own. If not, we would opt for a c/section the next morning. Although I was devestated at the thought of having to have another c/section, and therefore diminishing my chances of delivering naturally to virtually nil for any future babies, the thought of losing our baby just for the chance to deliver naturally, made the decision clear.
The Dr was happy to go with our decision, but ordered a course of antibiotics to ward off any potential infection. She said that the hospital's policy was that they were happy to wait for up to 4 days after SROM before taking any action, so if we wanted to wait another day, they were happy with that.
Sunday night & the contractions were so strong that I needed heat packs, pain-killers and a helluva lot of sympathy from the night nurses!! They were so wonderful! As DH was not allowed to stay at the hospital overnight, having the nurses there to help me through it was such a great help! Still, although coming on stronger & more frequently, the contractions were not regular! Sometimes they were as close as 3-4 minutes apart, sometimes 10-12 minutes.
By morning I was exhausted physically and emotionally and honestly didn't think I could go on like this any more.
The head OB came to see me and said there was no point being on antibiotics any longer, as the risk of infection was not very high. He said he was happy to wait another day if that was what we wanted, but if not he would like to give me oxytocin to speed things up. We told him that we were not comfortable with the risks involved, and he explained to us that if the cervix was favourable, the risks were no higher than if I hadn't been induced at all. So we agreed to a vaginal examination to see how dialated & effaced the cervix was and that if it was favourable, we would consider oxytocin. DH was still very uncomfortable with it, although I attempted to allay his fears saying that every Dr in the hospital felt that this was a better, safer option than the c/section if the cervix was favourable, and that if we decided on a c/section anyway, they would still do it for us - it was our decision.
We went back to the birth suite for the exam. It was very uncomfortable, but when she had a look, confirmed that my cervix was not at all dialated, was still high & firm & that it was only open just enough to let the fluid out.
I was torn between crying out of frustration & crying out of relief!! On the one hand, I felt so incredibly diheartened that I'd been through the past 3 and a half days in incredible pain for no reason whatsoever! On the other hand, it made our decision much easier. We spoke to the head OB and requested the caesarian.
By this stage, I was much more at ease with the fact that I'd have to have another c/section, although it was a long road for me to get to that point. Faced with 3 difficult options - continue on & see what happens not knowing whether we would end up in the operating theatre anyway, but under less than ideal circumstances, be induced & have to labour away terrified we'd lose our baby, or have a c/section and be more certain of the outcome, but lose my chance to ever have a normal delivery - it was perhaps one of the most difficult decisions I'd ever had to make. Of the 3 options, we were not happy with any of them. I felt so ripped off that I couldn't just have gone into labour and had my baby naturally like so many other women. But at the same time, I knew that after more than 3 days of exhausting contractions, this was the best option for us, and that at least now we would get to meet our baby in the best circumstances. Although I was incredibly disappointed, I was also intensely relieved.
(continued.....)
After the first contraction, I was so excited I could barely sleep! I think I may have dozed a bit here & there, but by 5am, the contractions were coming about every 15-20 mins or so, and were pretty painful. Although I knew that seeing I could still handle them well and could talk through them, they needed to get much stronger before we could head off to the hospital!
Around 5am, I noticed some spotting and got even more excited. Then I started to panic about all the things I'd been putting off doing, so I got up & washed up all Claire's bottles etc so that she'd have plenty there for when Grandma came to look after her. Then I had breakfast, put on a load of washing, hung it out and had a shower. At 6.30 I decided to go back to bed. The contractions had slowed down somewhat with all my activity, and I didn't want to go backwards! I'd heard that activity was meant to increase contractions, not slow them down, but it seemed to be having the opposite effect on me!
Around 7am Claire woke up, so I got up and got her dressed, telling her that she might get to meet her baby brother today!
DH woke up around 8 and I said to him "So how's the 9th of March sound for a birthday?" Given the fact that he'd only just woken up, I had to explain to him what I meant - that I'd been having contractions for most of the night and that although they weren't regular and in fact had slowed down a lot this morning, I felt sure that today was the day!
I spent the day sweeping the floor and doing as many other active things as I could (hoping that the activity would get the contractions flowing again) but by mid afternoon, it was pretty clear that the contractions I'd experienced earlier were a false alarm. I was incredibly disappointed, but at the same time hopeful that this would be the start of something.
At around 9pm, my contractions had started up again and I noticed the bleeding had gotten heavier. I was a bit worried, so I phoned the hospital and the midwife assured me that what I'd described sounded normal for a "show" and to keep timing my contractions. She confirmed information I'd been given earlier that as I was having a VBAC, I should call them once my contractions were around 10 mins apart.
As I went to bed that night, I was hopeful & more than a little excited, that we would meet our son the following day.
At 11.30 I was woken by a very strong, very long-lasting contraction. I'd had to get up out of bed it was so painful, and had trouble talking through it. When it finished, I felt a gush of warm fluid, and thought it was more bleeding. Scared, I raced off to the toilet only to find it was not blood, but clear fluid - my waters had broken!
I called out to DH that my waters had broken and in 3 seconds flat he was out of bed, dressed, lights on, bags in hand, heading out to the car! I called the hospital and they said I should come in. Next I called my mum and she was at our place in record time. The contractions were now fairly close together and very strong, although still irregular.
Once we arrived, they took us into a birthing room and hooked me up to a monitor to see how bubs was doing & also to monitor my contractions. A Dr came to see me and said to rest up as it could be a while yet.
I told DH he may as well go home, as it didn't look like tonight was the night.
I slept that night in the birthing room between contractions. Luckily they'd removed the monitor, as the contractions were so strong I couldn't lay down for them!
The next morning, they came and moved me to the maternity ward, so that I could have breakfast and see how the labour was progressing.
Unfortunately, it seemed that daytime was not my friend! Again, my contractions stalled.
Saturday was spent having my blood pressure & temperature taken, being intermittently monitored to ensure bub was coping OK, and that I wasn't developing any infection due to the ruptured membranes.
Saturday night, I again experienced even stronger, more frequent contractions. The nurses were all wonderful and helped me maintain my sanity throughout the night. Incredibly, I was still able to sleep in between contractions!
Sunday came and once again contractions all but stopped. I was so disheartened by this stage! Where was my baby?!! We spoke to Drs and wheighed up our options. One Dr suggested that it was time to get things moving and explained the pros & cons of having an induction, or rather augmentation to move things along. One of the more serious complications that was explained to us, was the increased risk of uterine rupture if I was induced, due to my prior c/section. DH asked what the outcome would be if this occured & the Dr advised that it would almost certainly mean that we would be coming home without our baby. This was far too much for DH, and although the risk was very small, he just couldn't agree to it, given the risks. We spent a very emotional hour or two discussing our options and the Dr left us alone to talk it over. We decided that the option we were most happy with was to wait it out for another 24 hours to see if labour would establish on its own. If not, we would opt for a c/section the next morning. Although I was devestated at the thought of having to have another c/section, and therefore diminishing my chances of delivering naturally to virtually nil for any future babies, the thought of losing our baby just for the chance to deliver naturally, made the decision clear.
The Dr was happy to go with our decision, but ordered a course of antibiotics to ward off any potential infection. She said that the hospital's policy was that they were happy to wait for up to 4 days after SROM before taking any action, so if we wanted to wait another day, they were happy with that.
Sunday night & the contractions were so strong that I needed heat packs, pain-killers and a helluva lot of sympathy from the night nurses!! They were so wonderful! As DH was not allowed to stay at the hospital overnight, having the nurses there to help me through it was such a great help! Still, although coming on stronger & more frequently, the contractions were not regular! Sometimes they were as close as 3-4 minutes apart, sometimes 10-12 minutes.
By morning I was exhausted physically and emotionally and honestly didn't think I could go on like this any more.
The head OB came to see me and said there was no point being on antibiotics any longer, as the risk of infection was not very high. He said he was happy to wait another day if that was what we wanted, but if not he would like to give me oxytocin to speed things up. We told him that we were not comfortable with the risks involved, and he explained to us that if the cervix was favourable, the risks were no higher than if I hadn't been induced at all. So we agreed to a vaginal examination to see how dialated & effaced the cervix was and that if it was favourable, we would consider oxytocin. DH was still very uncomfortable with it, although I attempted to allay his fears saying that every Dr in the hospital felt that this was a better, safer option than the c/section if the cervix was favourable, and that if we decided on a c/section anyway, they would still do it for us - it was our decision.
We went back to the birth suite for the exam. It was very uncomfortable, but when she had a look, confirmed that my cervix was not at all dialated, was still high & firm & that it was only open just enough to let the fluid out.
I was torn between crying out of frustration & crying out of relief!! On the one hand, I felt so incredibly diheartened that I'd been through the past 3 and a half days in incredible pain for no reason whatsoever! On the other hand, it made our decision much easier. We spoke to the head OB and requested the caesarian.
By this stage, I was much more at ease with the fact that I'd have to have another c/section, although it was a long road for me to get to that point. Faced with 3 difficult options - continue on & see what happens not knowing whether we would end up in the operating theatre anyway, but under less than ideal circumstances, be induced & have to labour away terrified we'd lose our baby, or have a c/section and be more certain of the outcome, but lose my chance to ever have a normal delivery - it was perhaps one of the most difficult decisions I'd ever had to make. Of the 3 options, we were not happy with any of them. I felt so ripped off that I couldn't just have gone into labour and had my baby naturally like so many other women. But at the same time, I knew that after more than 3 days of exhausting contractions, this was the best option for us, and that at least now we would get to meet our baby in the best circumstances. Although I was incredibly disappointed, I was also intensely relieved.
(continued.....)