Hi all - I'm home and sat with Leo typing this. Hot tip: Widgy breastfeeding cushions are great for multitasking at computer! So here's my traumatic birth story as trailered by JFly! Sorry, this is very very long (I think it will take longer to read than it took littleducks to labour ) but I sort of need to tell you the full drama!
Continuing bloody show after sweep on Thurs meant by the time I got a dull persistent backache on Sat from about 9pm, I was pretty convinced that I would be meeting my baby on Sun. First contractions started just before midnight, slept fitfully but okay, then contracted fairly gently and regularly at about 7-8 mins apart through Sun morning. At about 2pm they went to 3 mins apart and much more intense, and as we had to go in to hosp for bp monitoring on Sun anyway we headed in about 5pm. This is where the fun and games really started.
At 5pm I was 1cm, at 6pm I was 2cm. I was coping well and feeling good. They sent me off for a walk and some food, asked me to come back at 10pm expecting me to be about 5-6cm. Ctx were now every 2 mins and 60 secs long so little respite. At 10pm, I was 2cm dilated - yep, all those extra contractions had done absolutely nothing!
I was sent to antenatal ward for the night (didn't want to send me home because of bp issues) and DH sent home, and ctx got very painful while in bed so I ended up walking the corridors until I couldn't cope without dh any more and got them to examine me. I was finally (at 3.45am!) 3cm and able to transfer to delivery ward. It had taken 28 hours to get me 3cm dilated and only now was the clock officially ticking on my labour...
I had got this far just on tens and walking and standing and was doing okay, but started to use gas and air a bit more in delivery suite which was fab. I felt like I could go all the way on this in terms of pain relief, but by 8.30am I was still only 4cm and exhausted. They suggested breaking my waters to see if it moved it on and I agreed but an hour later I hadn't got anywhere and I decided to have an epidural at this point because I needed to rest in order to deliver him.
This was where problems really started, if that hadn't been enough so far. Epi gradually started not to work as well on left hand side as right so kept having to be topped up every hour. Each time it was topped up my bp crashed for about 10 mins before stabilising and I would get very drowsy. They wanted me on my side to stabilise me and make me more comfortable but they couldn't monitor the baby because of his position and only got a decent trace when on my back - they had to keep monitoring because my pulse had became tachycardic and my temperature started to rise, and the baby's pulse started to rise too so they had to start IV antibiotics as they felt I had an infection which was getting out of control. At 1pm I was examined and I was still only 6cm dilated (Leo did not want to come out!!!) At this point syntocinon was offered and I took it, although there was a stream of doctors coming in to look at baby's CTG and CS kept getting mentioned in low whispers.
I hit a low at 2pm when my epi top up sent my bp really crashing and I just wept - I had three drips and an epi line plus monitors, I couldn't eat or drink anything except water and as far as I knew my cervix was never going to dilate fully!
By 3pm I started to perk up - they were planning to examine me at 5pm and see if I was 10cm and if not then I would likely be going for a CS so I suddenly realised that I would soon be seeing my baby regardless. The antibiotics were working as well - my temp and pulse stabilised and baby's pulse improved hugely.
At 5pm, we had the first bit of good news all day - I was 10cm and baby was -1, so well ready to be born. They gave me an hour for epi to wear off sufficiently to try for vaginal delivery and allow baby to descend further. At just after 6pm I started pushing. At 6.52, out popped my little monster and my first reaction on him being handed to me was "he's massive". And then suddenly all hell broke loose because the emergency button was pressed. Baby was fine; I'd started hemorrhaging...
In rushed an army of doctors, including a lead anaesthetist who was clearly on her way home - she started ordering people around and getting an oxygen mask on me and checking how I was doing but the thing that amused me was she was carrying a beautiful red leather handbag while doing all of this!!! I had monitors attached, IV lines put in and blood test taken, and all the while I was saying "I'm fine, honestly" and DH was cuddling the baby cos nobody else was interested in him (he was perfectly fine)
Then suddenly everyone disappeared as they'd got me under control - my uterus was slow to contract and I had an internal tear, and lost 1.5l of blood but they stabilised me so quickly that they decide I didn't need to go to theatre. They keep muttering about a transfusion as my iron levels are now shot, but I'm asymptomatic and feel surprisingly okay so I'm resisting that (with midwife support) for now.
After all that trauma, the baby got weighed and came in at a whopping 4090g and we finally got skin to skin time which was wonderful. We spent one night in HDU and then one night on the normal postnatal ward and got home a few hours ago.
I think about it all, and just think ?Bloody hell, if someone told me that I wouldn?t ever have a baby?, but I just don?t feel like that about it (which is why I wanted to tell it to you all). I had two wonderful midwives supporting me all the way through labour and each decision up until the haemorrhaging was mine to make. They also encouraged me hugely throughout and never mentioned a CS directly to me despite it being discussed by doctors etc. which gave me enough self-belief to have a go at delivering him vaginally. I did that despite him being a 9lb monster, and that makes me feel so proud of myself. Despite the stats on CS being criticised, I realised that they really only do emCS where it is absolutely necessary because if I?d read my story before I would have assumed it would have ended in emCS ages beforehand but despite my problems I?ve been able to have the pretty quick recovery associated with vaginal delivery and am out of hospital within 48 hours. And my postnatal care has been attentive, consistent and wonderful ? from midwives, obstetricians and paediatricians (when there were a few later concerns about Leo?s breathing, effects of infection and associated feeding problems (now rectified)). It?s made me realise that what matters is not so much whether the birth goes according to your plan but whether you feel in control and supported by all the HCPs around you. I did, and I don?t have any regrets about how it turned out (but then I suppose I?ve always quite enjoyed ER and secretly loved all those doctors piling into the room for me when the emergency bell was rung) Big kudos and respect to the NHS on this one!
The main thing is Leo is an angel and I just love hanging out with him. He?s been sat with me all the time as I type this and we?re off now for a feed before I have dinner (lovely DH!) and we watch the Apprentice.
Thanks guys for all your support during my pregnancy ? I?ll see you on the postnatal board very soon