Hello Wagon
Flying visit here to thank you all for your lovely well wishes!!! I'm sorry it's taken so long to post but there have been tons of emails, etc to send, check and read and we're actually still at the hospital.
Tristan James was born in the wee hours of yesterday morning after quite a long pre-labour. As I mentioned, began to lose my mucus plug on Monday morning, by Monday night I was having contractions every 10-15 minutes that I wasn't really able to sleep through. Contractions continued through Tuesday but then slowed down towards the afternoon - got more intense and closer together again over Tuesday night, again unable to sleep through. By 2am on Wednesday I had lost pretty much all of my plug and then had some blood. Rang the labour ward and they said I should come in. Arrived at hospital around 3am, but only 3cm dialated. They decided to keep me in but sent me down to the antenatal ward to labour because they thought it'd be fairly quick. Unfortunately by mid-afternoon I hadn't progressed as the baby and I were back to back, although it seemed that my waters had begun to leak. Back up to labour ward by about 4pm where they broke my waters in the hopes to ease and speed up what they expected to be a long back labour. Tried to get through using bath and gas & air but by then the contractions were relentless with no break in between and I was just exhausted. Had an epidural around 8pm although I was worried that it was going to slow things down even more and DH was worried about the need for future further intervention because of the lack of progression. But, luckily I had a good experience and just the opposite happened - because I was finally able to relax and rest, I went straight to fully dialated by 11pm and they said it was time to push at 12. I pushed for about 45 minutes but the baby's heartbeat began to drop in between contractions. The doctor was called in and although they said I was pushing really well, we decided mild intervention was needed. DS was born with the assistance of the venthouse at 1:07am, weighing just a whisker under 7lbs, the little peanut!
When I did deliver the doctor and midwife were concerned that the amniotic fluid smelled slightly funny and thought that I might've been leaking backwaters for a few days before labour began, so both T and I are on antibiotics and in hospital until tomorrow (hopefully we'll go home tomorrow night). I've only managed to get a decent chunk of sleep last night - it's amazing what 4 hours solid will do for you when you've been awake for three days! He's not a very enthusiastic feeder, but we're persevering. It could be because the antibiotics are making him slightly drowsy, but he seems to latch on better at night than he does during the day.
Anyway, didn't mean to write my entire birth story, but got kind of carried away Our little boy is adorable - if I do say so myself - and we're thoroughly enjoying him and the whole experience! Will hopefully get on some more over the weekend, but in the meantime, thanks again for all of the lovely wishes and the wonderful support! Maybe I'm feeling slightly too maternal, but big blatant entire wagon hug coming on!!!!!
Luv, LBOT & T