Hello all! Amelia Rose arrived via VBAC at 9.32am sunday morning, a day before her due date!
I know you all like a good birth story so here it is!
I woke up with mild contractions at around 3am on saturday morning and they were too ouchy to let me go back to sleep so I got up and went downstairs to make myself some breakfast. I was vaguely timing them and they seemed to be coming every 15mins or so.
The contractions continued like this coming between every 6-15mins and lasting around 20-50secs thoughout the day. DP went to work but was on standby and my mother came over to keep me compnay in the afternoon. DS went over to my MIL for the day.
Towards the end of the afternoon contractions were getting a bit more painful so I familiarised myself with the TENS. I also found that leaning over the bannister and standing on tiptoe helped when I was getting the more painful ones.
At just after 10pm we decided to head over to the hospital. I was nervous as I really wanted to things to get a move on and heading off to the hospital seemed like I was making progress but I was dreading being told I was only 1cm and was to go back home.
Upon arrival at the labour ward I was taken into a room by a lovely midwife who examined me and said I was indeed 1cm but that my cervix was soft and stretchy. She asked what I would like to do and I said that I would like to stay as I didn't think I would cope very well with the pain at home. She advised me to walk up and down the corridor to help things along.
Walking up and down made the contractions more bearable but the pain felt continuous and I wasn't sure where one contraction started and another ended. After about 45mins of pacing and a Mars bar we decided to head back over to labour ward as I felt that I needed something more for the pain.
The midwife suggested that I try and get some sleep over on the ante-natal ward and I asked if I could have some gas and air. She advised against it and said I should try and hold out for as long as I could.
On the antenatal ward another lovely midwife made me comfortable and said that my DP could stay with me as long as he didn't wander around and get spotted whcih I was immensly relieved about as I was starting to get upset at the thought of being left alone without him. DP got comfy in a chair by my side and the midwife brought him a blanket and gave me some gas and air after witnessing the pain a contraction left me in, which by the way were becomming almost unbearable, especially whilst I was lying down.
After a few more contractions using the gas and air I found that I couldn't lie down and was asking for more pain relief. I was feeling q bit of a wimp at this stage as I thought that I couldn't be anymore than 2cms at this point. Little did I know!
The midwife, seeing me in so much pain, took me back to the labour ward where the 1st midwife examined me again and found that I was 6cms! She also gave me a further prod and broke my waters. The pain was intense.
I was in suc good spirits to be so much further along then I thought that the next 2cms passed quite bearably. After a long back to back labour with my 1st and failure to progress this felt so good, like I could really do it by myself!
After about 8cms the pain really ramped up a level and I refused to lie down to be monitored unless I could have an epidural. After some time and some excrutiating contractions the epidural was sited but didn't work at all. I was even able to get up and walk around, which I promptly did, much to the protests of the midwife, but wild horses couldn't have kept me on that bed with the pain I was in!
The last 2cms passed in a blur of pain and the contractions were coming one on top of the other. I was told I had reached full dilation but had to wait an hour for the ehad to descend! It was very hard and the gas and air just wasn't cutting it at all.
After an hour I was ready to push but didn't have much of an urge (maybe due to the epi?) however I did feel as though I wanted to brak wind a lot and used this feeling along with the contractions to bear down. I felt excited that I had reached this stage and just really wanted to get the baby out so I managed 3 good pushes with each contraction and in some ways it made the pain a bit more bearable but different. It was exhausting and I carried on this way for just over an hour.
Towards the end I was starting to give up so I was begging for a bit of extra help with the ventouse. The midwifes helped to motivate me a bit more by showing me what I was doing in a mirror which was amazing to be able to see her head move down! Then after a few more pushes out she popped and was placed on my tummy!
I managed a 2nd degree tear and I'm bruised and battered down there but it was all worth it to have a VBAC and a beautiful baby daughter!