Congratulations ilovesprouts!
My birth story is a little hazy and it seems a million years ago since I was pregnant which I never thought I would hear myself say!
I think I posted on Monday evening that I had an achey period like feeling and my bh's were becoming more regular. I put ds to bed and when it got to about 8 o clock I said to dh that I was going to start trying to time them. I was very surprised to discover that they were becoming very regular - every 5 minutes and lasting for 30 seconds. Phoned the labour ward and was told to come in. On the car journey they increased to one every 4 minutes and I could tell that they were proper contractions rather than braxton hicks. Got to the hospital at 10, had to be scanned as the midwives couldn't find the head, turns out the baby did have a head but it was so low down in my pelvis that it was hard to feel it. They also discovered that the baby was back to back which freaked me out a bit as most people I know with back to back presentations ended up with difficult births. The midwife did an internal examination which I found very painful and announced that I wasn't even dilating! I couldn't believe it as by now the contractions were quite intense although not too painful. The midwife said normally they would send patients home at this stage but in my case I would be admitted to the antenatal ward as I had had a previous section. Dh said I expect I will be back tomorrow to bring you home and I replied you will be back in 2 hours because I know that I am definitely in labour.
Was admitted to the ante-natal ward around half past 12, took a couple of paracetemol and got under the covers when I felt an almighty contraction like nothing I had experienced before! Called the midwife and as she tried to help me off the bed my waters broke and the contractions went crazy, I was having 1 a minute with just 30 seconds inbetween each one. The midwife examined me and I was 3cm dilated. I said to the midwife that there was no way I was going to be able to experience that level of pain for a prolonged period and said that I had changed my mind and wanted to have a c-section after all. The midwife suggested a short trial of labour with an epidural. I had always been totally against having an epidural but all of a sudden it seemed to make total sense to go down that route. I had to stay on the antenatal ward until they made room for me on the delivery suite and it felt like an absolute eternity as the contractions were so painful, I had always imagined a slow build up of pain and was completely unprepared for this.
I eventually made it back to the delivery suite at around 1.30 am and found dh in disagreement with one of the midwives. I had written in my birth plan that I was not to be given an epidural under any circumstances and had given dh strict instructions not to allow me to have an epidural no matter how much I begged for it. Dh then saw me being pushed towards him in a wheelchair whilst vomiting into a bedpan and wearing a bloodstained nightie and said okay just do whatever she says. He couldn't believe the change in me since he waved me off less than 2 hours ago. By now my birth plan had gone totally out of the window and I was delighed to see a perfect vision in blue as the anaethetist was already waiting for me with the epidural needle when I got to my room.
I had my epidural and the next 15 hours were quite relaxed, there were a couple of worrying moments when the monitor showed that ds2's heartrate wasn't picking up as it should be but they carried out a blood test from his head and it showed that everything was normal. It was a longer trial of labour than had been expected but I was making progress albeit slow progress so we all agreed that it made sense to continue. Got to 5pm and the midwife said I was fully dilated, because I had had a previous section I had to wait for an hour until I could start the pushing stage. Got to 7pm and I hadn't made much progress on the pushing front, mainly because the contractions had slowly been decreasing all day and I was now only having 3 every 10 minutes. The registrar examined me and announced that I wasn't 10cms dilated after all and was only 9cm. People then started talking about hormone drips and forceps and by now I had had enough and said I just wanted a c-section, they tried to talk me out of this and said that I would meet one of their top consultants in theatre and I should take her advice. Got to theatre and I was very nervous by now as I was convinced they were going to carry out a forceps delivery on me which I really wasn't prepared for. The consultant examined me and confirmed that I was only 9cms dilated, she said normally she would advise having a hormone drip to speed up the contractions but in view of my previous section and slow progress she wanted me to have an emergency c-section, I was very relived to hear this as I didn't have the energy for anymore interventions.
The c-section was fine although totally different from my first section. In my first section they used a spinal whereas I had an epidural for this one and had a lot more sensation than the first time. I got quite agitated with people as I convinced myself that the surgeons were resting their elbows on my insides . I eventually had some gas and had the wierdest dreams, dh said I relayed my dreams to everyone in theatre and asked them if they fancied going for a drink after they had finished my op.
Anyway to cut a long story short. Our lovely son, Rory was born at 8.31 p.m weighing 8lb 7oz. He is absolutely gorgeous and ds1 is besotted with him!
Despite receiving fantastic support at the hospital bfing is not going well so we are using formula and topping up with expressed milk. Hopefully it will get better when my milk comes in.