Corin Xavier's arrival

[Jaileth]

On Sunday the 15th, I started getting contractions which ended up 10 minutes apart, so we went off to the hospital. They checked me over, and nothing was happening, so they sent us home again.

From 2.20am Monday morning, I had contractions and was waking up for each one. They continued through the day, as they had on Sunday, and thinking it was just a repeat of the day before, I tried my best to ignore them - I even refused to time them. Then, at about 9pm, they started to get stronger. I was trying my best to hide it from dh because I knew if I told him that it'd be off to the hospital straight away. I tried to go to sleep, and woke myself up by crying out due to one of the contractions. DH raced in and once he realized what was happening, called the hospital and off we went again.

We arrived at the hospital at around 11pm, and after an internal, the first midwife found I was 2cm dilated. The look of relief of DH's face when she said that we could stay was priceless. The contractions were about 15 minutes apart at that stage.

They become closer together, and I started to get really bad lower back pain. DH flaked out on the bed while I kneeled over a bean bag and lent over the edge of the bed, sleeping between contractions. At about 7am, the first MW came in and said to speed things up, she was going to break my waters. DH left the room, and she broke them. It's the weirdest feeling. All of a sudden, this liquid is gushing out of you, and it's like I had no idea where it came from.

As it was the end of her shift, the first MW left, and the next one arrived. She got some breakfast for me and showed DH how to massage my back. I went for a shower and found green stains on the pad they'd given me, and realized that it was the meconium. I let the mid wife know, and straight away, she bought in the infant re-sus trolley thingy.

I started to had problems coping with the pain of the contractions - even with the massage, so I asked for the gas. It made me dizzy and light headed for awhile, then I just flaked out. I became time-loose. I couldn't really remember asking for things, and it took a while for events to catch up with me.

The midwife did another internal at 3pm to see how far along I was, and I was about 6cm. She got the bath ready for me and a portable gas bottle as well. I went into the bath, but found that the contractions were harder to take, but the gas in there was stronger, so when I came out of the bath and back onto the bed, it took awhile for the gas there to kick back in.

The next thing I can remember is thinking that I needed to go to the loo. I felt the need to push, and realized that I didn't need to go to the loo. I staggered back to the bed and when the MW came in around 4pm (I'm not entirely sure, but I think it was the third MW who I told) I told her I needed to push. She checked, and said that it was safe to push.

I wasn't really aware of it, but apparently DH had flaked out on a mat on the floor next to the bed. I can remember the MW kicking the mat and telling him it was show time and this was the part that he had to be awake for.

I started pushing and my contractions were still 10 minutes apart. Bub had started to crown a few times, but each time he did, I became scared of the stinging sensation and would back off, so he'd slid back up inside. The MW was trying to encourage me by showing me bubs head in a mirror, but I couldn't see without my glasses. She kept trying to adjust the angle of the mirror for me until dh told her that I was as good as blind without them.

After an hour of pushing, and trying different positions, the MW started to talk about a drip. When I'd first arrived at Birth Suite, I'd said the less needles the better, so she knew that I didn't want a drip, but she could tell I was getting tired, and she'd been monitoring bubs heart beat - and although it was fine, she was worried because of the meconium they'd found when my waters had to be broken.

All I wanted to do was go to sleep, and I kept saying that I couldn't do it. I can remember the MW telling DH that my contractions were still only 10 minutes apart and they weren't long enough for me to push down hard enough. Some where in here, I stopped using the gas.

So, after 2 hours of pushing, it was time for the drip to go in. I kept refusing, I screamed when they pushed it in, and then some one attached the Syntocinon and I almost screamed again. They also put saline in the drip as well because I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast, and very little to drink since lunch. I thought that before the drip had gone in that the contractions were one on top of the other (even though they were 10 minutes apart), but this was worse. It felt like I didn't have time to even breathe between them. I can remember the first few after the drip went in, and then I can't remember anything until the MW told me that she was going to have to cut me because bubs head was too big.

Everyone I've talked to said that you don't feel it when they cut you - I sure did!!! I can remember trying to squeeze my legs together to get the MW away, but they wouldn't do what I said, and then the cut was done. My poor dh, who was at my side through all of this, gagged when she cut me, and I could see that he was desperately trying not to be sick. One of the MW's (there were three in the room at this stage, and a pa-ed and a doctor.) saw DH was about to keel over, so she rushed to get him a chair. He continued to hold my hand and stare determinedly over the top of my head so he wouldn't see what was happening.

Then I felt bubs head arrive, and all I could think of was 'thank God, it's done!' and then the MW's were telling me to push again. I had no strength left to argue, so I just did it. His body slid out, and I thought, 'Oh. That's why.'
I have this vague grey-pinky-yellowy image of what he looked like when he was born – am a bit sad that I didn’t have my glasses on to see him in his first few minutes in the outside world – but what I couldn’t see, I could sure hear! The MW’s rushed him over to the re-sus trolley to suction out his lungs and check to see that he was alright. One of the MW’s spent a while trying to calm him down before handing him (still crying) to DH, who had him calm almost straight away.

DH came over and told me how proud he was of both of us, and then I got to hold Corin Xavier for the first time.

He was born at 6.38pm Tuesday the 17th January 2006, weighing 3.14kg (6lb, 14 1/2oz), 52cm long, 33cm head circumference, and lots of brown hair!

He's happy and healthy, and managed to weigh in at 3.38kg when he was one week old - not bad considering he was 3.01kg when we left the hospital on the 20th.

[Foxy]

Congratulations!

[reAllytee]

Well done hun !
Enjoy him while he is still so little they grow so quickly !

[lukaelmo]

Welcome little Corin, and well done Shaelia and DH!

[HoopDeeDoo]

Congratulations!

It's well worth the hard work I bet!

[Peaceangels]

Thank you for sharing your lovely birth story with us and congratulations on the safe arrival of little Corin!

[TwoBlue]

WELL DONE SHAELIA

What a great job you did

Congrats on Corins arrival i know he will bring you years and years of joy.

The pain of birth will fade fast but the joy in your heart when you saw him and held him for the first time will last a lifetime

[Elfin]

Congratulations and welcome to the world Corin. Thanks for sharing your great birth story Shaelia

[Miaow]

Congrats Shaelia and Welcome Corin

[Lil X-men]

Great Story Shaelia brings it all flooding back to me, well done.
I hope you are both enjoying little Corin Xavier. Awesome name BTW.