So, I was taken up to the delivery suite about 9.30am on Monday after a really good (well, 5-6 hours sleep which I figured was pretty good going on a hospital ward!) night's sleep. They ruptured my membranes (there was a LOT of fluid - one of the junior doctors did it as they were concerned about the risk of cord prolapse and she was covered so she had to change her scrubs afterwards!) but when they checked 4 hours later, after a long walk around the hospital (my hospital, eek!) in my PJs and time on the birthing ball, it hadn't made much difference.
So they started the hormone drip. Now in retrospect, I should have done as one of my anaesthetist friends had told me to do and got the epidural in before it started. That said, we planned a fairly active labour at that point and the MWs (one MW and one student) were very supportive about it. However, the CTG kept picking up my heartbeat instead so they had to switch to a fetal scalp monitoring so I had to sit on the bed.
I managed for 4 hours with a TENS machine before I thought it was best to get the epidural done sooner rather than later. Thankfully I did because the epidural went in - but only provided block on my right side. My left side, now that the contractions were cracking on and I wasn't getting any decent rest, was agony. Praise God for gas & air!!! This was about 6.30pm when I was declared to be in active labour.
They tried a few things to improve matters, but they ended up having to do a second epidural. Since this morning, I have sent messages to all of my anaesthetic friends to say how wonderful they are and how I promise never to complain about them at work every again! It was just a perfect epidural. My pain had gone, but I could still feel the contractions (which we'll come back to in a minute!)
The MWs soon after all this excitement, so about 9.30pm, were then not happy with the CTG trace so I had to lie on my left side. There was then a short succession of people, senior midwives and then the obs registrar came in. She wasn't panicked but was a bit concerned so said she wanted to examine me and take a blood sample from the baby.
Then she examined me and said, "Change of plan, next time you feel a contraction, push!!!" I had begun to feel pressure over the last 15 minutes, but the baby's head was just there! A few pushes later, we had a baby!
We got lots of skin to skin and she is just great at BFing - which she did all last night until 5am! She's been checked for tongue tie and seems to be fine and she's doing everything that she should. We are just so very, very thankful for her!