Labour stories please

[Vikkijayne2507]

Hello I am 33 weeks pregnant today as its past midnight and cant sleep so am MNing. I was hoping you guys would share your own labour stories with me. I am fascinated about all the different types of births and when they happen. It also helps me relax a bit knowing what can happen and that there is a light at the end of this uncomfortable journey as it seems to be right now.

Mine was quite short - waters broke about 11pm, then straight into hospital for them to check and send me home (not sure I agree with that -two extra car journeys when you're in labour!). Felt very shaky and had mild contractions.

Got home about 1am and got into bed at which point my husband fell asleep (helpful!). The contractions were immediately 7 or so minutes apart and very intense (quite sudden with no build up). About 5am I pestered them to let me back in. They seemed reluctant as I wasn't sure they were five minutes apart but I can't tell you how painful it was. Was immediately admitted on arrival and sent reluctantly to the mlu despite begging for an epidural 'to see how I went'. Immediately accepted diamorphine which was not the epidural id planned but seemed the only available option (gas and air wasn't doing the job). I was then told it was too late for an epidural and the diamorphine wore off. They took the gas and air away to concentrate and I was extremely miffed at them at that point, but on my knees focused inwards throughout so there wasn't much conversation - and within 4 hour of being there he popped out. Very painful and surprisingly messy!

I'd had contractions on and off all week, sweeps on Tuesday and Friday (when I was 3cm). Waters broke at 9.15pm ish, went to MLU but there was meconium in my waters. He was also back to back. Anyway, referred to hospital labour ward, got there and hooked up to machines. By about 2am I was 7cm and I got gas and air but my lo wasn't very happy as my waters got darker and darker with meconium. So I was put on a drip. By about 9am they were muttering about c-sections. At 10am I was ready to push but apparently only 9cm - believe me, not pushing when I wanted to was the hardest bit of it all - and 11 I was given the go ahead to push. He was still btb and at this point I gave up my gas and air. He also had a monitoring clip on his head and they could detect he wasn't happy. So I had an hour til they brought the forceps /did a c section depending on how far down the birth canal he got. I spent as much time on my hands and knees or standing, despite being monitored.

1201, 5 minutes before the doctor came in with the forceps, they got me to sit down on the bed in 'on your back' position. Apparently this is what he needed - he turned and slithered out. A very slight graze, three stitches up near urethra and I went from 'I'm never doing this again' at 1030 to 'I can't wait to do that again' by 1205.

So: meconium, drip, monitoring, back to back- all was fine. After care on post natal ward was shocking but I transferred back to MLU after a few days (lo had low blood sugar) which was much better.

hmm it seems hospital care can vary greatly i guess i will make sure they let me know exactly what pain relief is an option

I have a low pain threshold but really surprised myself. I wanted to do it with just gas and air as labour was a bit of an achievement I wanted to have gone through.
I was in early labour for 3 days with really irregular contractions that i assumed were Braxton hicks (turns out they werent)
By night 3 they were rather painful so I didn't sleep but due to being a wimp I just thought it was me.
Then at 9am my waters went and I really knew I was in labour.
Arrived at the birth centre at 10am and was already 6cm with no pain relief.
Dd arrived at 10:49am in a birth pool with gas and air.
I suffered a tear and so had to have surgery but other than that the birth couldn't have been better.
You might surprise yourself with what you are capable of as I really thought I would scream the place down but other than lots of grunting I was told I was rather quiet. That's quite an achievement for a wimp!

Thats refreshing to hear Roxie, I hope I can go as long as possible without much pain relief i am a proper wimp so I cant see me lasting as long as I would like to. lol How many weeks were you

I gave birth at 37+4 (on Xmas eve).