Birth story below, sorry for the HUGE essay, but it was a lengthy labour!
Warning some parts are probably a bit TMI!
The night before my labour began I went to bed with an anxious feeling that something big was brewing, although I have to say the symptom spotting that had been going on in the two weeks leading up to my due date had lead me to believe I was going to go into labour pretty much every night so I’m not sure it was so distinguishable from prior occasions.
My contractions began at about 3am and were very mild and irregular so we tried to sleep as long as possible. They were ranging from 8 minutes to about 20 minutes apart and initially were just like heavy period pains.
At about 5:30am, the contractions seemed to get closer together and I hopped into the bath for an hour or two where they became quite regular at about 8 minutes apart. At this point I got out of the bath and had something to eat, as it was midmorning and wasn’t really sure how the day was going to pan out. After I ate, my contractions seemed to lose their rhythm and ended up stalling for the best part of an hour, and became really irregular again. They were still coming, but were ranging from 5 minutes to 25 minutes. At this stage I decided to go back to bed as I was worried things were going to stall completely, so was trying to stay very calm in case it was the excitement slowing them down.
After about an hour in bed they were getting quite painful so decided it would be a good idea to put the tens machine on. My contractions were increasing in severity and regularity by this stage and I was really having to breath through them.
The tens machine seemed to intensify my contractions rather than offer any respite, I didn’t really gel well with the pain relief it was meant to give.
DH packed the bags into the car and after a few hours pacing around the garden I had a bowl of cereal in the hope that it would be the last meal before the baby came!
Wishful thinking, as again the food seemed to slow things right down and my contractions slowed became shorter and irregular.
I hopped back in the bath and spent another few hours wallowing around, which seemed to relax me and helped bring the contractions back on thicker, faster and longer. At about 8pm DH was keen to go to the hospital as I was getting quite loud and the contractions were about 4 or 5 minutes apart which is the point we had been told to ring up the labour ward.
We put in the call and through a few contractions told them we were coming in. The hospital seem to do everything they can to put you off, I think it’s a tactic to stop to many people coming in before they are in established labour however we were pretty keen to see how things had progressed and also I think after 17 hours you do need some reassurance.
We got to the hospital with three contractions en route and I was feeling pretty exhausted by this stage. The midwife examined me and with baited breath we waited to be told I was…………… 1cm dilated.
We headed back home and I got straight back in the bath with some music and after about an hour things really started to pick up. My contractions were getting pretty intense and after the hospital trip which had slowed things down they crept back up to about 6 or 7 minutes apart. I was pretty determined not to go back to the hospital until they were coming thick and fast so in the bath I stayed. By about 1:30am I was struggling to handle the pain and decided I was going into hospital no matter what. I got out of the bath and was pretty anxious to get going, and stupidly thought that because we had been in earlier we wouldn’t need to ring ahead again.
We arrived at the hospital and buzzed the labour ward , who queried why we hadn’t rung ahead as they were busy with an emergency. We got as far as the labour ward doors before they told us to go down to the ward to be examined.
We headed downstairs and I was examined only to be told I was 3 cm dilated. She told me diamorphine was my only option this early and as I wasn’t in established labour it would be a while before the doctor could administer it. Not exactly what I wanted to hear as I wasn’t keen on diamorphine as I knew it made you a little spaced out, which was not how I wanted things to be. However by this stage I was struggling and begrudgingly agreed, thinking it would be administered within an hour or so.
We got put on a ward with another women in labour and I was left without any word on the drugs. DH went and chased the midwife who said the doctor would be along soon. I was struggling with the pain quite a lot at this stage and really felt I needed to get back into water if I was going to be able to continue. DH went and asked if we could use one of the birthing pools, which wasn’t possible but the midwife did offer me a normal bath on one of the smaller wards, again with the promise that the doctor would be along soon with the diamorphine.
The bath again really helped and as I got in I had my show, which I have to say was much more grotesque than I was expecting. I had heard it was like a bit of blood stained snot however that it was not! I even made DH get the midwife to come and check it as I thought it was my placenta! It was the size of a piece of kidney and very meaty looking, not at all what I thought it should be.
The next few hours are a painful blur but I do remember time ticking by with no examination or check-up and DH being told repetitively the doctor would be down soon to administer the diamprohine on a number of occasions. By this stage I was getting pretty fed up, as firstly I wanted gas and air, as I knew I must have progressed, however unless they examined me they wouldn’t know how things had progressed, and on that basis they were still assuming I was not in established labour. At about 7am DH forced me to get out of the bath as he felt things were getting pretty out of control, I had lost the ability to breath through my contractions and every single one was hugely painful and I was doing everything from wailing to screaming to swearing my way through them. The only way I could describe it was someone wringing my insides together in a vice….
After hauling me out of the bath and wrapping me in what can only be described as a tea towel, DH took me to the desk where I begged someone to do anything to help. They again tried to tell me I wasn’t in established labour and the diamorphine would be along soon. By this stage I was at my wits end and told them I didn’t even want the diamophine, I wanted gas and air and a pool and I think added that they hadn’t examined me in 5 hours so how did they know what stage I was at!?
The midwife then obviously realised the time, I think things were quite hectic on the ward, and took me for an examination. ‘Right we’re heading up to the labour ward right now, you’re 8cm’. After those words were spoken it’s amazing how things suddenly changed.
We got into the birthing centre and from here on in my labour experience was as positive as I think it could possibly be. I was sorted with gas and air quickly which made a huge different and got into a birthing pool.
I soon began to feel the urge to push and the midwifes encouraged me to go with the flow, so I began to push with the relieving thought things were nearly over. After a few pushing contractions my water broke, and I felt a lot of the pressure disappear.
. I found it really hard to coordinate breathing the gas and air with pushing and after a while realised that the pain had actually disappeared now that the contractions actually had a purpose to them so relinquished my grip on the G&A mouthpiece.
The midwifes had prepped all of the delivery equipment and paraphernalia and we were all expecting things to be over soon, I think it was about 8:30am.
After an hour or so of pushing the midwifes wanted to examine me as they thought my cervix might not have quite dilated fully, however as I went to get out of the pool, they saw the head crowning a little so told me to get back in and keep pushing. I was trying to make the pushes as long as I could as directed by Sam the midwife, and could feel the baby’s head starting to make its way out.
The contractions continued and with each one the baby’s head would poke out a little more only to go back in at the end of my contractions.
At about 11:00 the baby’s heart rate started to speed up and the lead midwife told me I had two more contractions to get him out otherwise I was going to have to get out of the pool. This gave me a huge boost as the thought of getting out of the pool was hideous and those two contractions I pushed as hard as I possibly could. The baby’s heart rate was checked and it had started to slow down so they told me I had to get out.
With much difficulty I struggled out of the bath which meant lifting my legs up high to get over the edge and waddling to the bed with what felt like my insides hanging out of me, however getting out of the bath was the shift the baby needed. I was on all fours over a beanbag and with the next contraction could feel the baby’s head move further down and knew we were finally there. With two more contractions the baby was born at 11::33am.
My overwhelming feeling was relief it was over and I didn’t make the connection between the end of labour and the baby being born, I remember the baby crying although very briefly and was then passed under my legs where we saw he was a boy. I think by this stage – 32 hours after my labour began – my exhaustion levels were pretty much over ruling everything and I didn’t cry like I thought I would. I was over the moon with happiness and I remember cuddling my little boy to my chest and thinking how perfect and small he was!