Thanks leanne - She was indeed my first, and it was a bit of a crazy labour - after 3 days of (painful but ineffective) early labour and being sent home once, we returned to hospital expecting to be turned away again but an amazing midwife took pity and admitted me. Progress was slowwww...despite me trying every trick. They broke my waters and gave a sweep but still not enough to really get things going. Finally the midwife said she was going on a break but would try one final sweep (my 5th) before she went and if that didn't work I would have to move to the medical delivery suite when she returned. I was 5cm and she said I needed to get to at least 7cm by the time she returned.
Suddenly everything ramped up a gear, I had already had codrysamol(sp?) plus a meptid injection (an alt to pethidine) and was still using my tens machine. As the contractions suddenly went through the roof I called for gas and air. The next 2 hours was one of the most memorable of the whole night - my DH took control of the tens, reading hand signals and frantic nods/gestures/shouts to increase (and occasionally decrease) the intensity while I proceeded to get sky high on entinox! It was a completely amazing experience and while drugged up, in pain and terrified by the speed things began to move, the closeness I felt to DH was just incredible and one neither of us will ever forget. Things hit a bit of a buffer when I desperately signaled for more tens power and he frantically called back (think Star Trek style-y) 'You're at maximum power, there is no further levels I can take it too!' Luckily by this point the G&A had kicked in and I could bearly tell what or where the contractions were coming from - it felt almost out of body. We carried on through with the contractions continuing to ramp up and up, and I began to panic that we still might have made no progress. Suddenly the 2hrs was up and a covering MW came to do a check. She said that we had not only passed 7cm but was actually up to just over 8cm but with a partial lip of the cervix still remaining stuck around babies head. Suddenly I became aware she was conducting a sweep (the 6th!) but unlike the others which had been calm but firm, and carried out very carefully, this one took me by surprise, and mixed with the out of body experience, the strength of contractions and an unfortunate incident whereby she and DH turned me onto my back forgetting that the tens machine would feel like 101 electric shocks right across my back, and suddenly I was aware of a sudden overload of pain. Reluctant to stop puffing on the g&A I tried to get DH to stop the exam/sweep but he couldn't understand and simply reassured me about what she was doing. I then had to bite the bullet and remove the g&A to shriek 'stop that! It hurts!!' Looking accusatory ly at DH, In a odd Donald duck voice. She looked surprised and continued saying 'oh do you mean me or the contraction?' Again I stopped the g&A to shout 'I mean you, get your fingers out of me right now!' To give her her due, I thnk it was the combo of factors which caused the pain, and DH did say after that she was actually very good but has never seen me so wild eyed as I was at that point (and later that night). Eitherway, her sweep seemed to excelerate things even further and contraction intensity continued to build. At that point she told me that 'within two hours' I might be ready to push. Responding something along the lines of 'fuck that!' I then said I felt ready to push and wanted my original MW back. Luckily her return to shift was inminent and I welcomed her return. I explained I wanted to push and she said it wouldn't be advisable from only 8cm. However, I was insistent that it was either that or I would give up and go home(!) Wonderfully she listened, pulled up a birth ball to the end of the bed and invited me to 'show her what I could do' - I started trying to push and alongside the sky high feeling I could feel so much pressure / urge / instinct to bear down. After one push she said she was impressed and agreed she thought I could do this. I then panicked, remembering my plans for a water birth or a gravity assisted labour, but she said the pool should really be discounted as it could set back/slow down my hard fought for contractions and I reluctantly agreed I didn't want that. I asked if i could get out of bed and squat or push down but she said that the speed and strength of my pushing would be too much in that position and could risk tearing or injury to the baby if delivery went too fast. She advised I stayed where I was, doing exactly what I had started doing and push on my back on the hospital bed. Finally I agreed and she quickly got to business. Handling a million qs I was firing at her - from whether I would poo and/or tear and about the health of the baby she expertly coached me through my fear and the pain and gave exact guidance of how she wanted me to carry out each and every push. DH was a constant support at her and my side, reassuring me too that her answers were truthful and accurate based on what he could see and how far I had to go. In total, despite lengthy debate, baby Esme was pushed out in a total of just 25mins from start to finish of the pushing. She was placed on my chest and the placenta was delivered quickly and easily in just 12mins with help of the injection (which I wasn't planning to use, but again felt like the right choice at the end of such a long, hard labour). I then learnt that despite some inevitable swelling to both my vagina and piles, I had received no tears or even a graze, with no need for stitches. Esme latched on quickly within the hour and after a wait for the 6hr newborn check, we were all discharged home by lunchtime.
Looking back, the birth was nothing like I imagined and represented nothing I had in my original plan (other than the fact I was open to pain relief options and wanted a natural birth at the centre to enable DH to stay with me in our private ensuite room until we were discharged.) and the drawn out early phase and the extremely fast pushing stage were both (in different ways) excruitiating and exhausting, but overall my feelings about the birth are extremely positive. The unfaltering support of DH and the MW team, the to the point but comprehensive discussions about our options and the MW's recommendations prior to each stage were invaluable.
To emphasise how positive / high I felt, We even have a 'gas & air selfie' - which I forced DH to take, despite him at the time trying to juggle both the gas and air and monitor the length and time of contractions! Will perhaps share on fb if people want to see? 