The Birth of Rohan Lorenzo

[Lisa C]

6am Sun 23rd April I woke up with mild-mid strength period cramps, which were more obvious than the cramps I’d been having since Tuesday. I soon realized they were probably contractions, as they were coming at 8-10 minute intervals. I stayed in bed until 9.30am when I rang the hospital & established that what I was experiencing was actually labour. I got up around 10.30am & the contractions went from every 8 minutes to every 3 - 5 minutes. With duration varying from 20 seconds to 1 minute, but the intensity hadn’t changed. I rang the hospital again, & they suggested we come in to get checked out. So we did that & discovered that I was 1cm dilated. I was quite excited by this (even though I had hoped to be 2cm)… and started thinking that we could well have our boy with us by midnight. (Yeah, right!)

We came home again, & tried to chill out. The contractions began to get moderately severe around 7.30pm so we went to hospital at about 8.30pm. The contractions by this time were 2 minutes apart and quite strong. My Ob checked me and at that time I was 3cm. This was a little bit disappointing, so when my Ob asked if I wanted my waters broken, I decided to go with it, in order to get things moving along. We went to the birth suite after that and I stood in the shower for the next 3 hours or so. My DH did light massage on my back while I rocked under the hot water during each contraction, using my hypnotherapy relaxation/breathing and affirmations to cope with the pain.

At 12.30, my Ob checked me again, & I was only 4cm! All that work and nothing really doing!! I felt quite disheartened, and was getting quite tired. It was at this point that I asked for gas – which I found to be totally useless – all it did was make me stoned and drugged out – without taking away any of the pain. So i again relied on my hypnotherapy and managed to get through another couple of hours. At 2.30am I was feeling really tired, and decided that I definitely needed something stronger, so asked for pethadine. My DH tried to talk me out of it – knowing how much I wanted a drug free birth, but I insisted, and I think he knew that this had been dragging on for a long time now with 2 minute contractions, and not much time for rest in between. The midwife told me it would take 15 minutes to kick in. – Unfortunately for me it never kicked in, & because I’d been given a narcotic, they wouldn’t let me off the bed for a while, so the contractions were pure agony. Eventually I was allowed to sit on the loo which I did from about 3.15am until I was checked again at 4.30am. During that time I was able to fall “asleep” during the 2 minute intervals between contractions, and it was at this time that I noticed that every 2nd contraction was quite weak. In order to get through the strong contractions I would watch the second hand on the clock tick by through each contraction and know that they could only last “a few more seconds.” Unfortunately this also meant that the time passed very slowly, cos I was literally watching the seconds tick by. But it was also the only way I could get through the excruciating contractions. It was at this time that my DH said "you know, it's such a shame he's going to be an only child"... I'm not sure whether he was implying that he couldn't go through this again, or that I wouldn't want to - but i have to say, at that point in time, i wasn't disagreeing with him!!

At 4.30am the midwife agreed to examine me, even though my OB was on her way. I simply couldn’t wait any longer & needed to hear that I was fully dilated – or at least in transition. Unfortunately I was 5-6cm!! I could have died. I simply didn’t know what to do then. My Ob turned up and re-examined me and said “oh, I would’ve given her 7cm!” – but the damage was done. I was in despair, & asked my OB if he was stuck, or if his head was too big, or what was wrong, & she said “well, this can sometimes happen in first labours – they are unpredictable” and then asked me what I wanted to do. She also pointed out what I’d come to realize – that only every 2nd contraction was an effective one. I had thought that 24 hours of labour was reasonable for a first labour, and that at the latest we would have our boy by 6am Monday, but it was only 1.5 hours until 6am, and I was no where near being able to push!

My OB said I could have more pethadine, I was tempted, but knew that it wouldn’t help me at all, so what was the point? I asked about an epidural, & my OB said, “Well you and DH talk it over, & let me know” and then left the room. I think this was because I’d made it clear to her in my last appointment that both DH and I were adamantly against me having an epidural due to the risk factors. Anyway, my OB had barely left the room and I said to DH that I really couldn’t keep going. He asked me if I was sure, & I basically started crying & said that I had to have the epidural because I couldn’t keep going, and could he please go and tell my OB immediately to call the anesthetist (I was dreading a long wait, now that I’d made up my mind to have it, I wanted it immediately, and I wasn’t sure how long it would take the anesthetist to get out of bed & get to the hospital!) That was at 5am.

By this time, I was also really worried that the labour would simply never end, and that I’d have to have a c-section (I was suspicious that there was a problem and they weren’t telling us) & so I figured that at least I’d have the epidural in if it came to that. The anesthetist turned up quite soon & got me on my side & gave me a local, which I felt the prick of, and then before I knew it – quite literally – the epidural was inserted and I instantly felt freezing and started shaking uncontrollably – which was a little frightening – until they explained that it was the anesthetic and got me some warm blankets. By 5.45am the epidural was all sorted and they left DH and I to get some sleep - I couldn't believe how quick it all happened. I had wires everywhere. I had a drip in, I had a thing on my finger measuring my pulse, I had the 2 CTG straps around my belly monitoring the baby and my contractions, I had the epidural in my back and an automatic blood pressure thing on my arm, taking my blood pressure every so often. Talk about a “Natural Birth”. I don’t think I really slept much, but I certainly dozed & rested. – And wasn’t in pain!!

At 8.30 my OB came back to check on me & I still had a tiny bit that needed to dilate, and my contractions were slowing some more, so I agree to have some sintocin (?) put through the drip and also a half strength top up of the epidural. My OB said she would be back to check on me at 11am. At 10.40, I told the midwife that I could feel the contractions because of the head on my bowels, and that I felt the urge to push, so she let me start pushing. My OB eventually turned up at 11.20 and that is when the pushing started in earnest. All the while through the pushing I was thinking “I can’t do this”; “I’m going to ask her to use the ventouse” – “I don’t have the strength to keep going”. And I was terrified the pain of the contractions would come back… but as it turned out, I eventually could feel him crowning. At this point I was also thinking about various women who had said “3 pushes and he was out” or something similar – and I wanted to kill them!! Anyway, when he started to crown, I was asked if I wanted the mirror, and I said yes; I needed the motivation. With the next pushes, I watched Rohan’s head appear, and then slide back!!! How frustrating! But the next time it stayed a bit more visible and pretty soon the burning in my perineum was intense. My OB and the midwife told me to push gently and listen to them. I did my best to hold back, but at the same time, I just REALLY wanted it over with – so didn’t want to be too careful.

As a result, My Ob told me that I was starting to tear and that she was going to cut me … I saw her reach for the scissors. I looked away while she cut (and didn’t feel anything). It was then just one more push and his head was out. The immense relief as his head came out was unbelievable – and further relief was felt as his shoulder came out with the next push, and then the rest of his body just flopped out. They handed him up to my chest, and I just kept saying “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god’ ... It was totally amazing, and I don’t know what I thought was going to come out, but you would have thought I was surprised that it was a baby, the way I just kept saying “oh my god”, like it was totally unexpected!! So after 30 hours of labour, our gorgeous boy finally made his arrival at 12.03pm on Monday 24th April. :bday: Once he was out, I was totally spent. I had no energy for anything! Rohan spent the first 1-5 minutes just crying, and then settled down. At which point, I put Rohan’s mouth near my nipple – but he just licked at it.
DH, Rohan and I just lay there in awe for ages, while my Ob got the cord blood sample for storage. DH then cut the cord, and then I birthed the placenta. Seriously DO NOT know where I got the energy to do that. My Ob asked me to push once more for the placenta – but my stomach muscles – all my muscles - were completely fatigued and I had no real ability to use them to push anymore – but I made a show of trying to do so, and my OB gently pulled on the cord, and the placenta flopped out. I was completely shattered by this stage, and was sure I’d never move again!! I was just so glad it was over, and that the boy was safe! While I hadn’t had my drug free birth, I was still grateful that I hadn’t had a C-section, nor had suction/forceps! And in retrospect, I know that I couldn’t have kept going without the rest that the epidural allowed, so there was no other way for us, and I’m fine with that now. And besides, there’s always next time …

[OopsieDaisy]

You did a fantastic job there!!
Congrats!!

[Melo]

Congratulations!

Welcome to the world Rohan

He is gorgeous!

[Peaceangels]

Congratulations Lisa C on your new bundle of joy Rohan (what a lovely name!).

Enjoy this precious time.

[Funkychicken]

You did an amazing job! Congratulations! My firstborn's birth was so similar, it's uncanny! And after he flopped onto me I kept repeating over and over "Oh my God, it's our baby!" I must have said it 50 times! over the following week or so I repeated the whole birth story (episiotomy details and all) to all and sundry!
The good news is our 2nd bub arrived naturally after 6 hrs and no.3 arrived naturally after 3 1/2 hours, so there is hope for a sibling yet!