OK, short version, girl born 2nd Nov 6.06am (5.06 pm 1st Nov UK time), 22 hours after induction started, 7lb 14 oz, emergency c/s due to heart rate dropping but all well now. Name: Amelia, still stuck on middle name. Was going to be Amelia Rose but we realised with our surname her initials would be ARS, which we?re a bit unsure about! nPhotos on profile
Longer version: went in Thu 1 Nov to be induced at 39+4 due to high BP. First lot of gel, nothing but BH?s, had lovely room with view over Auckland harbour so had some rest. Examined at 1pm, still 0cm dilated. More gel applied. Got contractions coming every minute or so but only mild ones ? but a bit tiring as they were almost constant. Examined at 6pm ? still 0cm dilated. That was prob the worst bit of the labour ? thought I might have progressed a cm or 2. Had visions of me in there for days, still not dilating! My dr said they would give me a mouth spray to slow down the contractions, I would stay there overnight and they would try the gel again in the morning.
Clearly the spray didn?t work too well as an hour later my waters broke. At the same time the midwife shift changed over and I got a fab midwife who looked after me superbly. I had some pethidine some time later and it all went a bit floaty ? so not too sure of times after this! I remember lying on the bed slurring up at DH ?You?re great?.I really really love you, you know? as if I?d had 10 pints of lager! By about 11.30 I was at 4cm and they transferred me to delivery unit (started off labour in high risk assessment unit on same floor). Just before I left nice mw offered me a little bit more pethidine, to which I clearly remember saying ?Yes please! More drugs!?. Some time after I got to delivery unit asked for epidural which was fab. Got to 7 cm then 8. I?d been monitored quite a lot throughout the evening and sometimes the baby?s hb was dropping when I had contractions. They kept watching this all night. By about 5am was still 8cm, in no pain apart from pressure like I wanted to push. Dr decided to do test where they scrape baby?s head for blood sample and measure oxygen in her blood. She explai9ned if it was abnormal they would like to do emer c\s. I agreed. Test was abnormal so off we went. I had superb drs and midwives who were all completely calm, explained everything to me, talked to me all through the process. Dr told me a couple of days later that they had 20 mins to get the baby out, but no one mentioned that at time ? all seemed quite relaxed. Off to theatre, baby born within about 10 mins ? so calm that the surgeon and I were discussing baby names as she performed the operation!
Friday I was still elated from the birth, Sat was harder as I felt like I?d been physically run over with a bus but it?s got better from then, thanks to quality pain relief like morphine! Am still quite tired and reminding myself to take it easy. Came home today ? had my own room and bathroom in hosp which was nice. DH was an absolute star throughout and is completely besotted with our daughter. We have lucked out as she is a v easy baby ? sleeps lots and feeds well. She has taken to bfing really well
I was so so worried about the pain and it really wasn?t that bad ? ok, I know I had pethidine and epidural, but I always felt I could cope even before that. And I was so worried about being induced and that wasn?t bad either! I can?t believe labour wasn?t as bad as I thought it would be.. So any first time mu8ms or mums being induced, don?t? worry ? I?m a wuss and I thought it wasn?t that bad. You just get on with it and feel so happy and proud afterwards that you did it.
Despite induction, monitoring, emer c/s etc, I have nothing but positive feelings about the whole birth. I t was without a doubt the most amazing experience of my life and I would do it again tomorrow without a second?s hesitation . Photos on profile