Ello ladies.
Sorry it's been a while.... I've been a bit busy.
So, what happened? Well, i had a sweep last week at 40 + 5, that was Weds. Went for a swim on Thursday, Friday was busy, had lunch with friends and all their children in the morning, had reflexology & massage in the afternoon, made a lazy tea of baked Camembert & salad then spent the evening leaning on a chair, feeling a bit achy and crampy until I got up to go to bed when whoosh out plopped my waters all over the living room carpet!
Popped to MW triage where I was mildlyish contracting, so they sent me home telling me to return when regularly contracting or in 24hrs whichever was 1st.
Went home, slept for 2 hours then was too uncomfortable so got out of bed, watching 12 episodes of Friends CX were every 5-7 mins. That was Friday night, by Sat morning CX were slower, I had a bath then went for a walk.... That was wierd! Walking along, pausing to breathe through a surge then carrying on. Spent the afternoon quite uncomfortably contracting irregularly but getting generally closer together. By 6pm they were 4-5 mins apart so popped to Triage again where I was only 3cm so was sent home but told to come back at 9pm for antibios and acceleration of labour as that was 24 hrs since waters went.
So at 9 we went back, got a canula put in and breathed through CX, was 5cm so went down to Delivery Ward at 10. Was quite uncomfortable by now and scared of the effects of the Synticinon so asked for info on pain relief, was tempted by Remifentenol but chose Diamorph in the end with option to upgrade to an Epi if necessary. I LOVED the diamorphine! Slept from 5-8 cm, which was midnight til 2am when I woke up vomitting horribly. At 3am I asked for more pain relief & got 2 paracetamol!!, was told I could have more at 4am which was when pushing started for me) but of course at 4 the anaesthetist was 'in surgery'. My arse was she is surgery!
Anyway, the next hour or so was a blur, I remember the realisation that pushing felt like pooing, I remember the heartbreaking feeling of her sliding back up after I'd made huge efforts to push her out. I remember being told I had to get her out now and to turn around and lie on my back.
So I stared to turn around from all 4s leaning over the back of the bed to go on my back, but as I shifted, so did the baby and I got half her head out. I then had to wait ages for the next contraction for the rest of her head, and her body came in a lovely warm, wet slither.
DH told me I had a daughter, Good-cop midwife told me she had the shortest cord she'd ever seen, Bad-cop midwife told me I was bleeding and would need to be catheterised, and at that point I lost it a bit. I'd had a fear of catheters right from the start and I begged her not to do it, but she just gave me the G&A and tried to insert it. I couldn't get my knees down and she couldn't get it in. Luckily the bleeding stopped, I lost about 500ml and was quite unhappy at this point.
Then it was time for stitches, for which I was well anaesthetised and had more G&A, then we fed, which was wonderful.
It was Father's Day morning, DH had skin to skin, I had tea and toast and then walked up to the ward.
Since then we've been learning to feed, and still are. We're narrowly escaping treatment for jaundice and we've had lots of snugly cuddles. It's nice being back at home and it's lovely to look at her so pretty and perfect.
So there you have it, just a few days and it feels like the whole universe has been rearranged. Well done if you've read all this, it's taken me all day but has been very cathartic, so thanks. And thanks for all the support for the last 9 months.
Can't wait for the next baby on the bus!