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Childbirth

My birth story. Too amazing to be short, sorry!

37 replies

SourSweets · 07/08/2013 15:52

Thursday night at 6pm contractions started up mildly. Up all night with increasingly strong contractions, but they never got into a regular pattern. At 11 on Friday night we decided to go in to the hospital. We called the birthing centre but there were no rooms so we went to the labour ward. We were told there were no rooms on the labour ward either. At this point I'd been in labour for 27 hours. Went to triage and was seen fairly quickly, examined and found to be 4cm dilated. We were taken to the birthing centre at about 1am. Contractions were getting stronger and more painful but after 3 hours I was only 1cm more dilated. I started to really worry about how I'd cope with the pain and how slow my progress was going to be. We discussed pain relief options with the midwife and were going to try diamorphine, but I wanted to see if the pool helped first. I tried gas and air but I didn't feel in control so I didn't take it. I was in the pool for about 2 hours, having contractions every 2 minutes or so. They were so painful I was really worried about how I was going to cope when they got stronger. On the bigger contractions DH would say "that's a really good one Sour" which made me feel better because he knew that the more painful they were the closer I was to the end. I got out to go to the toilet at about 5am and once out of the water I had two very strong contractions that gave me the urge to start pushing. The midwife said it was way too soon to push. I got back in the pool and the contractions were stronger still. Something came over me and I stopped worrying about how I was GOING to cope, because each time previously I'd thought I couldn't cope but I seemed to get through each one. I realised that actually I WAS coping. By now I'd been awake for over 48 hours and I'd fall asleep for a second at a time in between contractions. With each one the pain moved lower down until the bottom of my bump, my vaginal canal and rectum all felt like they were being crushed in a vice. Each time DH rubbed the small of my back and his hands were so cold in comparison to the hot water, that really helped. I then had a sudden contraction where I felt the baby's head come through my cervix. I was completely shocked by the feeling as only 2 hours ago I'd made barely any progress with my dialation. With these new contractions I was aware of making a screeching noise like a chimp but I had no control over it. I had a strong mental image of layers of skin like ripples, and the baby pressing through each layer one by one. Like the pattern on the underside of a mushroom. I was also very aware of how I didn't have time to catch my breath and I had a distant thought that I would suffocate myself. The midwife kept saying "stay with me, Sour". I remember shouting "he's coming out!" and DH asking what I meant. We were both so surprised by how quickly it had progressed. Jenny, the midwife said "She means the baby's head is coming down into the birth canal". After a few of these contractions Jenny looked at me with a mirror under the water, and a big light shining down on me. I remember thinking how clean the water was. She measured the baby's heart rate which had slowed a bit so I had to get out of the pool to deliver him. That was difficult, because I was so aware of his head in my birth canal. I think the membrane sack had started to poke out at that point, but didn't actually break until I got onto the bed. Jenny helped me onto my hands and knees and told me how to push. Each time I got ready to push she'd put her hand inside me to try to guide the baby out. She told me to stop making noise and concentrate on sending the energy downwards instead. That was really difficult, because having had absolutely no pain relief, making noise was the only method of relief I had to use. After a while Jenny decided to try another position, so I turned over and sat semi-upright with my knees up to my chest. I was vaguely aware of DH holding my legs open because they kept closing involuntarily. After what seemed like a long long time pushing I didn't feel like he was any lower and I was getting so tired. I kept saying "I'm trying really hard". Jenny suggested sitting on the birthing stool which I wanted to try because I thought gravity would help me get him out. DH sat on the bed behind me with his legs either side and I rested my elbows on his legs and squeezed his hands. After more time in this position I started to worry that I couldn't get him out on my own. I kept saying "I can't do it, I can't do it" and Jenny kept saying "you will get this baby out". More pushes later I was getting exhausted and I said to Jenny "what happens if I can't do it?" She said I'd have to go upstairs, I asked what was upstairs and she said "doctors". I knew that meant suction and forceps and I really didn't want that. Jenny called in another midwife to get me a sugary drink to try to boost my energy. I hadn't eaten for 12 hours or slept in 50 or so. A couple of pushes after that I started to feel him come lower and Jenny started saying "well done, you're doing it". As he started crowning I could feel my skin stretching and burning. I remember saying that my arsehole was turning inside out and one of the midwives laughed. I thought his head would just pop out any second but it didn't, I had to give lots of tiny pushes, take a breath then push, a breath then push, for what seemed like ages. I got the image of the mushroom layers in my head again. Jenny said his nose was out, now I just had to get the mouth. When his mouth was out I just had to concentrate on the chin. She told me later that his hand was up by his face and that's why it was so difficult. That might have also been why my dialation was so slow, because his head wasn't centred properly over my cervix. Once his head was out I had to push to get the shoulders out, and then once more and his whole body just gushed out with the rest of the waters. Jenny put him on my chest and he was so slippery. She said how beautiful the cord was. I was surprised how blue it was, like a bright baby blue. DH was saying "that's our baby, oh my god, that's our baby" and he told me I was his hero and he loved me so much. I felt a bit numb. I expected that I'd cry but I didn't really feel anything apart from exhausted and a bit distant. Then they cut the cord and took him away to clean him. Jenny asked if I wanted to push the placenta out or have the injection. I couldn't push anymore and I just wanted to snuggle into the bed with DH and the baby so I had the injection. When I stood up from the bed I looked down and saw the cord hanging down and lots of blood on the floor. I remember being surprised because it didn't feel like I'd been bleeding. There were big streams of blood drying on my legs and I hadn't felt that either. I got onto the bed and Jenny started to pull the placenta out by the cord. I was saying "wait, wait" but she said "no, it has to come now". I heard the other midwives saying how alert the baby was because he didn't have any drugs. They were asking if he was particularly active in the womb and he was. Then they wheeled in the suturing couch and I clambered up onto that to be examined. I had a second degree tear to the perineum and severe bruising and piles. Jenny stitched me up while I sucked on the gas and air. I got along better with the gas and air when I could just lie there and I didn't have to concentrate on the contractions. I was watching DH having skin to skin with the baby and smiling at him. The baby was staring straight up at him. Once I was finished I got into the bed to feed the baby, he latched on immediately and it was only then that I started to feel like he was actually mine.

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StaceyP85 · 07/08/2013 16:26

What a beautiful story - I am fighting back the urge to cry all over my keyboard!

It sounds like you did an amazing job, and congratulations :)