hello all! thank you lovelybutterflylady for passing on my news, hope you are not still being kept waiting and are snuggling your little one as I type.
here goes my birth story...
I had a sweep booked for the Tuesday (the day before my EDD) and told they were going to book me in for an induction on the Fri. The sweep itself was pretty painful but I was already 2-3 cm dilated and the m/w pulled my cervix forward - OUCH. They then said there was a space the next day for an induction. I was freaked out by the possibility of placental failure (a possible outcome of my low PAPP-A) so agreed.
Went in on the Weds and got hooked up to the monitor, which showed baby doing well and that I was in fact contracting every four minutes but not really feeling it. They did another VE and found I was 4cm, which I was pretty chuffed with. As I was on my way I was told that they wanted to go straight to the synto drip rather than start with pessaries. I had been thinking about asking for an epidural at the start, as your suggestion halo, and decided to ask that I only be hooked up to the drip once the epidural went in. M/w was fine with this, though had to wait an hour or so for the anaesthetist (sorry, brain too fuddled to spell). Got hooked up to low dose epidural which was a a bit wierd (could feel my legs but only partly - v odd), m/w broke my waters and then put in the synto drip and I just... waited. The monitor was telling me I was contracting but couldn't feel it - just chatted with DH, was jealous when he got a bacon sandwich (I wasn't allowed to eat), read a bit of my book (though couldn't really concentrate). All very civilised! After about three or so hours I could feel increasing pressure pushing down, they did another VE and found I was fully dilated. We waited for another hour for baby to move down as far as she could without me pushing, and they also let the epidural wear off quite a bit so I could start to feel the pressure and the urge to push. The pushing stage was just over an hour. It was pretty darn ouchy! Felt the most immense pressure bearing down with each contraction, and it was really hard work pushing - I think I only then realised why its called labour, I felt it was massive physical effort with every push. I found crowning the hardest bit as baby was in a slightly awkward position and the m/w was telling me not to push, which was agony. I'm glad I listened to her though as baby C was born shortly after, and I didn't tear or lose much blood. The m/w was completely amazing in fact - if it weren't for her encouragement at the end I'm sure I would have given up and they would have needed to use assistance to get her out.
It was as good a birth as I could have hoped for, although really tough - I immediately told DH we weren't ever having another, although as the memories are fading it all seems a bit rosier. Unfortunately I wasn't too well after the labour, my BP shot up, so that bit wasn't great but was much better after a couple of days.
Baby C is just gorgeous. The past two weeks have been really tough though - breastfeeding has been a real struggle, and my nipples really suffered. She also wakes every hour or so at night and the cumulative sleep deprivation is really getting to me. COnsidering introducing a bottle of formula (expressing is not working for me) so DH can do at least one feed - I need more than one hour's sleep p at some point. Feeling very guilty about it - this motherhood thing is tough!
Sorry for lack of any personal messages - I do read the thread (usually on my phone in the wee small hours when feeding) but only one handed so can't post! Well done to whoever has managed to read to the end of this epic!