shelle65
17-04-2007, 02:33 PM
I have sat down to write this eleven times, hopefully this time I will make it without too much interruption!
I was 6 days overdue and feeling like things were never going to happen, that my body had no idea what it was supposed to do to push my baby out. I had been having painless contractions for about a week, but they never seemed to go anywhere. On the night of Tuesday the 28th March, I was up all night with the runs. Got a little bit excited, as everyone told me it was an early sign of labour, but nothing much happened on the Wednesday - I felt completely normal, as usual! At about lunchtime I thought I was leaking fluid. It wasn't much, but warranted a call to the birth centre. Nope, they didn't think it was anything. So the rest of the day passed without incident, and I went to bed expecting Thursday to be another day of waiting... but at midnight I awoke to a HUGE gush of fluid! Jumped out of bed to avoid getting it on the sheets (didn't work) and raced to the bathroom. Called the birth centre to say that it had really happened this time, and was told to come in for some monitoring. If all was well, I would be sent home to await the start of labour... so I woke DP up (who was sick with a cold, poor thing) and we headed into the hosp.
Sure enough, we were home again by 2am. As soon as I climbed back into bed, contractions started for real, however they were irregular - sometimes every 3 minutes, sometimes every 20. I knew I was supposed to sleep, but it was too painful, so I got up and had a shower, and discovered the fluid I was leaking was now pink and bloody. So far so good. Mid-morning I called the birth centre to let them know I was definitely in labour. I was told to stay at home until contractions were every 3-5 minutes, and were lasting 45 seconds, but that it would probably take me all day to get there. Contractions were all over the place most of the day. I was sooo uncomfortable, I felt like someone kept ramming me up the butt with a pole! I spent ages in the shower (sorry to the drought-stricken farmers :o ), kneeling on the floor, bending over... I just couldn't get comfortable, and I was starting to think that this was going to be a lot worse than I had planned for.
After a million phone calls to the birth centre over the course of the afternoon, they finally said I could come in at 6:30pm. I was really distressed by this stage, frustrated that the contractions still didn't seem to be regular, but I was in so much pain and dreading the car trip to the hospital - sitting down was the most uncomfortable position, and being forced to sit for 20 minutes was going to be absolute torture. Not to mention the fear from all the TV shows I'd watched where women gave birth in the car on the way to the hospital!
When we arrived at the hospital the admissions lady took one look at me and said "go straight up, you can do all the forms and things later". By the time I walked through the doors of the birth centre I was bawling my eyes out, I was so overwhlemed by what I was facing, wondering how I was going to get through the pain, whether I had even started to dilate, how much worse it was going to get, and the fact that my plan to be super strong and brave had already gone out the window. The midwives looked at me like I was a freak, and asked what was wrong - I couldn't explain it, and I felt like such a sook.
One of the midwives showed me to my room (love the rooms at the birth centre!) and asked if I wanted to go on the gas. Yes yes yes!!! She told me that she thought I was still in the very early stages - this was not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping to be 10cm dilated by now! After a while she agreed to do an internal, and was surprised - I was actually 5cm already! It wasn't the 10cm I was hoping for, but I still felt triumphant that I was further along than the midwife had given me credit for, and all the pain had at least gotten me somewhere!
Half an hour later, the contractions were unbearable, and I was moaning and screaming, another thing i had promised myself i wouldn't do. I was constantly saying "I can't do this!" to which the midwife and DP kept replying "Yes you can!". This made me so mad - how on earth did they know what I could and couldn't do? They had no idea!! I sheepishly told DP that I wanted an epidural, even though I had always said I wouldn't. He raced out to tell the midwife who came in, looking very disappointed and I felt like I was being so weak. "How about a shot of pethidine instead?" she asked. At all the antenatal classes we had been told that pethidine was BAD, and that it didn't make that much difference anyway. But this midwife had a different view, and so I agreed to give it a try. But first I went to the bathroom and spent some time in the shower. The midwife brought the portable gas, which only had two settings - on and off. After two puffs I was rolling my head back, it was too strong... Then I puked EVERYWHERE. The midwife joked that at least I had followed instructions and eaten lots of carbs - there was now potatoes and pasta all over the floor of the shower!
The shower made the contractions slow down, but after a while I'd had enough and we went back to my room where I had the much dreaded pethidine shot (with some maxalon so as not to repeat the events of the shower). 15 minutes later I was in HEAVEN!!! The pethidine made me completely off my head, I hardly noticed the contractions and I was sitting on the edge of the bed feeling totally in love with the world. But after a while the panic set back in. I suddenly thought - since the pethidine has slowed the contractions down, does that mean labour has slowed down as well? Have I still got a long way to go - merely delayed the inevitable, and when the pethidine wears off I will still be exactly where I was when I'd had it?
At midnight it was time for another internal. I was......... (drum roll please).......... 9cm dilated!!! I was thrilled! Suddenly I had a burst of energy, I knew that I could get through it, I didn't need an epidural, and we were getting close to meeting our baby! I was happy to do whatever the midwife suggested now, and was told that to get the baby into the best position, I should kneel on the floor over the birthing ball. Onto the floor I went, and after about an hour and a half, it was time to push. So the gas was discarded and I started pushing... and pushing... and pushing. Squatting, kneeling, digging my arms and elbows into DP... it seemed to go on forever! I was pushing so hard I was peeing myself... so very dignified, and I kept apologising to everyone. At 2:53am the midwife said to me - you will have a baby by 3am. Sure enough, 7 minutes later I finally felt her head come out (ow ow ow ow ow ow!!) and after what seemed like an eternity (but was only a few seconds) I could hear a baby crying and the midwives were exclaiming "she looks just like her father!" and I was crying "where? where? Can I see?" and I turned around and there was this amazing wriggly little girl, she was perfect! I was so excited, it felt completely surreal to finally be cuddling our little Sacha.
The next hour and a half was spent trying to get the placenta out. Even with the injection, it didn't want to budge. Eventually, just as they were about to send me to theatre to have it surgically removed, it came out (again - ow ow ow ow ow ow!!).
Apart from feeling like a total sook, being nowhere near as brave as I wanted to be and having no dignity left whatsoever, I was really happy with the birth. I had a first degree tear that didn't need stitches. Sacha's apgars were 9 and 10, and she weighed 7pounds 9. DP was an absolute champion, he did everything he could to help, and there was no way I could have done it without him :kiss:
Thanks for reading!
I was 6 days overdue and feeling like things were never going to happen, that my body had no idea what it was supposed to do to push my baby out. I had been having painless contractions for about a week, but they never seemed to go anywhere. On the night of Tuesday the 28th March, I was up all night with the runs. Got a little bit excited, as everyone told me it was an early sign of labour, but nothing much happened on the Wednesday - I felt completely normal, as usual! At about lunchtime I thought I was leaking fluid. It wasn't much, but warranted a call to the birth centre. Nope, they didn't think it was anything. So the rest of the day passed without incident, and I went to bed expecting Thursday to be another day of waiting... but at midnight I awoke to a HUGE gush of fluid! Jumped out of bed to avoid getting it on the sheets (didn't work) and raced to the bathroom. Called the birth centre to say that it had really happened this time, and was told to come in for some monitoring. If all was well, I would be sent home to await the start of labour... so I woke DP up (who was sick with a cold, poor thing) and we headed into the hosp.
Sure enough, we were home again by 2am. As soon as I climbed back into bed, contractions started for real, however they were irregular - sometimes every 3 minutes, sometimes every 20. I knew I was supposed to sleep, but it was too painful, so I got up and had a shower, and discovered the fluid I was leaking was now pink and bloody. So far so good. Mid-morning I called the birth centre to let them know I was definitely in labour. I was told to stay at home until contractions were every 3-5 minutes, and were lasting 45 seconds, but that it would probably take me all day to get there. Contractions were all over the place most of the day. I was sooo uncomfortable, I felt like someone kept ramming me up the butt with a pole! I spent ages in the shower (sorry to the drought-stricken farmers :o ), kneeling on the floor, bending over... I just couldn't get comfortable, and I was starting to think that this was going to be a lot worse than I had planned for.
After a million phone calls to the birth centre over the course of the afternoon, they finally said I could come in at 6:30pm. I was really distressed by this stage, frustrated that the contractions still didn't seem to be regular, but I was in so much pain and dreading the car trip to the hospital - sitting down was the most uncomfortable position, and being forced to sit for 20 minutes was going to be absolute torture. Not to mention the fear from all the TV shows I'd watched where women gave birth in the car on the way to the hospital!
When we arrived at the hospital the admissions lady took one look at me and said "go straight up, you can do all the forms and things later". By the time I walked through the doors of the birth centre I was bawling my eyes out, I was so overwhlemed by what I was facing, wondering how I was going to get through the pain, whether I had even started to dilate, how much worse it was going to get, and the fact that my plan to be super strong and brave had already gone out the window. The midwives looked at me like I was a freak, and asked what was wrong - I couldn't explain it, and I felt like such a sook.
One of the midwives showed me to my room (love the rooms at the birth centre!) and asked if I wanted to go on the gas. Yes yes yes!!! She told me that she thought I was still in the very early stages - this was not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping to be 10cm dilated by now! After a while she agreed to do an internal, and was surprised - I was actually 5cm already! It wasn't the 10cm I was hoping for, but I still felt triumphant that I was further along than the midwife had given me credit for, and all the pain had at least gotten me somewhere!
Half an hour later, the contractions were unbearable, and I was moaning and screaming, another thing i had promised myself i wouldn't do. I was constantly saying "I can't do this!" to which the midwife and DP kept replying "Yes you can!". This made me so mad - how on earth did they know what I could and couldn't do? They had no idea!! I sheepishly told DP that I wanted an epidural, even though I had always said I wouldn't. He raced out to tell the midwife who came in, looking very disappointed and I felt like I was being so weak. "How about a shot of pethidine instead?" she asked. At all the antenatal classes we had been told that pethidine was BAD, and that it didn't make that much difference anyway. But this midwife had a different view, and so I agreed to give it a try. But first I went to the bathroom and spent some time in the shower. The midwife brought the portable gas, which only had two settings - on and off. After two puffs I was rolling my head back, it was too strong... Then I puked EVERYWHERE. The midwife joked that at least I had followed instructions and eaten lots of carbs - there was now potatoes and pasta all over the floor of the shower!
The shower made the contractions slow down, but after a while I'd had enough and we went back to my room where I had the much dreaded pethidine shot (with some maxalon so as not to repeat the events of the shower). 15 minutes later I was in HEAVEN!!! The pethidine made me completely off my head, I hardly noticed the contractions and I was sitting on the edge of the bed feeling totally in love with the world. But after a while the panic set back in. I suddenly thought - since the pethidine has slowed the contractions down, does that mean labour has slowed down as well? Have I still got a long way to go - merely delayed the inevitable, and when the pethidine wears off I will still be exactly where I was when I'd had it?
At midnight it was time for another internal. I was......... (drum roll please).......... 9cm dilated!!! I was thrilled! Suddenly I had a burst of energy, I knew that I could get through it, I didn't need an epidural, and we were getting close to meeting our baby! I was happy to do whatever the midwife suggested now, and was told that to get the baby into the best position, I should kneel on the floor over the birthing ball. Onto the floor I went, and after about an hour and a half, it was time to push. So the gas was discarded and I started pushing... and pushing... and pushing. Squatting, kneeling, digging my arms and elbows into DP... it seemed to go on forever! I was pushing so hard I was peeing myself... so very dignified, and I kept apologising to everyone. At 2:53am the midwife said to me - you will have a baby by 3am. Sure enough, 7 minutes later I finally felt her head come out (ow ow ow ow ow ow!!) and after what seemed like an eternity (but was only a few seconds) I could hear a baby crying and the midwives were exclaiming "she looks just like her father!" and I was crying "where? where? Can I see?" and I turned around and there was this amazing wriggly little girl, she was perfect! I was so excited, it felt completely surreal to finally be cuddling our little Sacha.
The next hour and a half was spent trying to get the placenta out. Even with the injection, it didn't want to budge. Eventually, just as they were about to send me to theatre to have it surgically removed, it came out (again - ow ow ow ow ow ow!!).
Apart from feeling like a total sook, being nowhere near as brave as I wanted to be and having no dignity left whatsoever, I was really happy with the birth. I had a first degree tear that didn't need stitches. Sacha's apgars were 9 and 10, and she weighed 7pounds 9. DP was an absolute champion, he did everything he could to help, and there was no way I could have done it without him :kiss:
Thanks for reading!