Better late than never - the story of the birth!
I was induced at 12.30pm on the Wednesday, and nothing happened until about 2am when I started getting strong-ish contractions. At this point, DH has gone as husbands/partners were only allowed to be there all night in the labour suite. So I spent all night pacing up and down the ward in pain, trying to get through the contractions, while the staff pretty much ignored me. At some point (maybe 6am) I spoke to the midwives and they said they?d bring gas and air, but after they dropped it off and I tried to use it, it wouldn?t work. When they finally bought a new gas canister (that one was empty) I started using it but it didn?t help, and it made me sick. DH was still at home. Eventually someone said he was allowed to come back in so I rang him and told him to hurry! They finally told me I was about 4-5cm so I was allowed to go to the labour suite. Because the gas and air made me sick, and they kept putting me on a monitor to monitor baby?s hearbeat, it made the pain unbearable so I asked for an epidural, which I didn?t get until I was 8cm, this was about 2pm I think. From then unitl 5pm I was okay, and they then decided I was 10cm and I could push. However, I couldn?t feel the contractions, and they had slowed down, so in the end he had to be helped out with ventouse and due to this I ended up with 3rd degree tears. So after they got him out, he had to go to the pediatrician table to be checked over, DH cut the cord, and then I got whisked off to theatre to have stitches!
So all in all, not a terribly positive experience, but I do love my baby heaps so worth it in the end