Hi, I'm not a regular poster but always enjoy reading birth announcements so thought people might like to hear mine. My dd2 was born last Monday weighing 7lb 3oz.
I had twinges all day Sunday but was not convinced they would come to anything. Proper contractions started in the evening but were 10-15 minutes apart, so I put on my TENS machine and sent my dp off to get some sleep. Contractions continued throughout the night but did not get any closer together, and I was starting to get a bit fed up and was convinced things would all die down in the morning (as had happened with my dd1 several nights running!). However at 6 am things started hotting up and I contacted the midwife. She was not one I knew so I spent some time on the phone giving directions to my house between contractions - not easy! A bath then eased things a bit while I waited for her. When she arrived I was really happy to be told I was 6-7 cm dilated (I had been stuck at 4cm for hours with dd1 and needed syntocinon to get things going). Dp got my neighbour round to look after dd1 and we headed for the hospital. On arrival I was ready to get straight into the pool but unfortunately my blood pressure was too high - however the combination of gas and air and a shiatsu masssage from the midwife was amazingly relaxing and soon brought it down so that I could get in.
A couple of weeks earlier a friend had lent me a hypno birthing CD, and although I had found it very relaxing to listen to I was very sceptical about whether it would do anything for me in labour. However it suddenly seemed to 'kick in' at this point, and I was able to relax and breathe deeply through the contractions which made them fairly manageable. Very strong pressure on my sacrum from my dp also helped.
A few hours later it was time to check my dilation so I got out of the pool and was examined by a lovely student midwife. I was quite forbearing at this point I felt, as she was unsure what she could feel and had her hand up there for what felt like a good five minutes! Eventually the other midwife examined me and they decided I was 8 cm and suggested breaking my waters to hurry things along. I was very reluctant as I had had this done with my dd1 and it had not helped at all with dilation. However they assured me this was a different situation, and as I felt I could trust them I agreed. Unfortunately there was meconium in the waters, so no more birth pool and on to the continuous monitoring. This was quite scary both as I was worried for the baby and because I wasn't sure I would be able to cope out of the pool. However I was able to stand up, lean against the bed and rotate my hips which was a reasonably comfortable position. The contractions did intensify at this point and it was the hardest part of the labour, but things seemed to move very quickly and soon I could feel the baby crowning (I had had an epidural with dd1 so this feeling was new to me, but it was much less painful than I had expected). At this point evidently the baby got into distress, as the room suddenly filled with people and I was told to get onto the bed and push as hard as I could. Very quickly her head was born (again less painful than expected) and the midwives discovered that the cord was around her neck - the cause of the distress. Her body soon followed and she was delivered onto my stomach. I had been convinced I was having a boy so was alarmed when I couldn't see a willy, but delighted when I finally twigged that this meant she was a girl. She was absolutely fine - a huge relief as my dd1 had had breathing problems after birth and this had been quite traumatic.
I had asked for a physiological third stage without thinking too hard about what this meant, so was taken aback when I was asked to get off the bed and push something else out - didn't they realise I'd just had a baby? The placenta wouldn't come away and I lost quite a lot of blood, so ended up having the injection after all and this soon put things right.
Despite the panic at the end I feel the birth was close to being perfect, and I was so happy to have done it on my own this time without drips, epidurals and so on. She is beautiful and so far seems a calm and easy baby (touch wood ...)