Birth stories and midwives!

[Angeliz]

Hi, i am SURE this has been done before but on the page about "what did you learn by giving Birth" i find all the stories fascinating but it's only snippets, I'd love to know about all your births, good and bad stories so thought i'd go first and see if anyone cared to share

I had pains all day and carried on as normal convinced this couldn't be it! At 5 i started bleeding quite heavily so went straight to hospital! They did a scan as they thought the baby was Breech as my bump was so high!!(first id heard of that) she wasn't anyway! I begged them to tell me this was it and not send me home and when they checked i was 7 cm's dilated so well on me way. I had a FANTASTIC midwife called Janine ,(at this point i must say that i am very cynical about most medical people and often feel like a number), Anyway, Janine read my birth plan and went over it with me and then i got on the gas and air! When it got too bad i asked for pethidine and she got it but i had said i'd like to try without it on my plan and Janine reminded me of this at every lull! In the end i didn't have it. They broke my waters and baby was in distress (had had a bowel movement in the womb -meconiam isn't it?) so they used forceps but i SCREAMED!That was like torture so they stopped. As they were rolling in the Ventouse, i pushed her out! Janine explained that a male paediatrician would be coming into the room to check baby!(as this was also on my plan).
She had finished her shift an hour earlier but stayed to see me through! My dd was born at 8.58pm and after a quick check and clearing her airways was fine.
We took a card and a bottle of champagne in for Janine and i wrote a sloppy note inside! Another midwife told me that it would cheer Janine up as she was going through a rough time!

So, that is mine, i realise by some of your comments that i was VERY lucky and pray i get her next time! I hope you all take a trip down memory lane and share your experiences

Here is DD's birth story. I have copied it straight from her web pages so not checked it for errors. Hope it's okay!

DD was due on the 29th March 2002. We didn't know whether we were expecting a girl or a boy, and were just getting very impatient for the new arrival. But, there were no signs at all! After 10 days I was taken into hospital to be induced. On Wednesday night I was given my first dose of gel and sent upstairs to sleep. By Thursday morning this had had no effect at all!

I was then given a second dose (very painful as the first gel had had a 'drying' effect). During the afternoon I had a few twinges but that was all. That evening I was taken down to the labour ward again and still nothing, except that my cervix had started to thin a little!

So, Thursday night - another painful dose of gel. By 2am I was in agony. The pain was continuous, making me sick and unable to stand up. I'd been warned that it might be painful but I hadn't imagined it to be that bad! The midwives suggested a warm bath and paracetamol(!!!) but these had little effect, so at 4am I went down to have some pethidine.

Friday 4am - I was examined and found to be 2cm dilated. After some pethidine I got a little sleep until my husband arrived at 7am. During the day nothing else happened, except for more and more pain. It was suggested that I such go for an epidural later that morning and it really did work wonders apart from one small spot on my back. Friday 8pm - still only 2cm dilated! By this stage I was really tired and very fed up. The doctors finally suggested a c section and I quickly agreed - I had definitely had enough and wanted to meet my baby. By this stage there was no fear at all. I think I'd have done anything to have my baby at that stage. Within a few minutes I was given a bigger epidural, DH was gowned up, and we were taken to the theatre. Within fiftenn minutes Mollie was delivered at 8:45pm, safe and well. We were able to have a quick peek and cuddle, then she was taken away for the checks and brought back 5 minutes later, absoultely perfect weighing 6lb 150z! We were able to have our long awaited cuddles then!

The doctors finished putting me back together again and I spent 3 or 4 hours in recovery. I had lost a lot of blood and was very very anaemic, so needed a bit of monitoring. To be honest though, I didn't care. I had my little girl in my arms, feeding well. I had to have iron tablets for 4 months afterwards but the recovery wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. I had a shower that morning at about 10am, after a much needed cup of tea. I managed to get a single room and was allowed to go home after just 3 days.

I did find breast feeding difficult though, My milk took quite a while to come in - common after induction and cs, and with anaemia, but something I hadn't been warned about - and poor DD wasn't able to feed much. We ended up having to give her the odd bottle of formula, and finally moved her full time onto a bottle between 4 and 6 weeks. I still think all this was due to the anaemia though.

It was defntely worth it!

giving birth part was easy .... but I did have two midwives make disparaging comments about me. One I had asked what would happen if I went into labour at work - ( given dd's known heart condition) - did not want to go to that hospital as probably be in ward with students/ex-students or student's mums. To which she replied - 'with a pelvis like yours you won't have a choice'. Another referred to me as a geriatric mother - at the grand old age of 34!!

Hoiwever the ultrasound clinic manager was brilliant (trained midwife).... at 21 weeks she had to find a fetal cardiac appointment for us and counsel us after scan picked up heart defect. Ten days prior to due date - again she had to look after me - telling me gently that I was going to give birth today and due to being short staffed - she stayed and prepped me for surgery and made sure we were both all right about this.....

DD was born four minutes after the surgeon started operating dh got a quick cuddle, I got a look before she was taken off to intensive care.

The midwives on the ward were brilliant though - I had my own room but they kept popping in to make sure I was okay. On the day we had it confirmed that dd had down's syndrome ( day 4 post natal) I was in my room with dh bawling - hormones and grief.... rather than ask me - they phoned up to SCBU to check dd was all right in case there was anything they could do.

On discharge - the young midwife laughed when I suggested that it was a little early to be discussing contraception given the last few days.... and she said it did seem silly but it had to be mentioned.

My midwife who was assigned to me for most of my pregnancy was also brilliant but she moved on to a new job a month before dd was born. She did a lot of reading on dd's heart defect so she could help if we needed it. SHe also made a couple of trips up to the hospital to see me. A friend had the same midwife and Debra ( mw) asked after us all the time when she was seeing my friend - really nice.

my waters broke 7 weeks early,i was put on a drip to stop the contractions and told i could be in hospital for 7 weeks but as soon as they took the drip away i went into labour,it was night time and i was left in the delivery room,attached to a monitor,with no bell to ring for help and in complete darkness,the pain was awful and i really thought i was going to give birth on my own,i started crying and calling for help a midwife came in and shouted in my face to shut up then without asking gave me pethidine and left me in the dark again i gave birth to ds in the morning and spent 10 days in hospital with very little sleep and crying non stop
dd's birth was wonderful and tammy the midwife was brilliant

Copied from an old thread - you will see where I got my name!

I was taken into hospital at my 39 week check with slightly raised blood pressure. They kept me there for a week and monitored me, it went back down and all was fine. At 40 weeks they decided to induce me for a combination of reasons. Stupidly, I thought this meant that I would have a baby within the next couple of days!

5 doses of prostin later, nothing. They were so understaffed that they wouldn't give me the prostin in consecutive doses, but one dose a day (in case I overstimulated and they had no-one to deal with it). After 5 days I got fed up and went home. Came back in a couple of days later and they tried again to no avail. Finally I dilated sufficiently for them to give me an A.R.M, so I had an epidural and they did. Put me on the syntocinin (?sp) drip for 12 hours and although the monitor said I was having contractions, I didn't progress.

They then said that I should go for an emergency caeserian, which had been the plan all along if labour did not progress.

The caeser was fine, Louisa was born healthy and weighing 8lb 15oz, screamed her lungs out as soon as she was born!

As they were stitching me up, I noticed that my husband had gone rather pale and they asked him to leave the theatre. I looked up and the cloth that they hang in front of you was covered in blood. They told me I was having a post partum haemmorage and that they were going back in to try and stop it. I then lay there for 2.5 hours with them running around and screaming (literally) down the phone for more blood, during which time I was shivering uncontrollably and biting my lips, which took a couple of weeks to heal up.

After 2.5 hours they said that they were going to have to give me a general anaesthetic and that I had to sign a consent form to say that they could perform a hysterectomy - this was my first child so I was understandably reluctant, but of course signed it.

So 9 hours later I woke up in intensive care surrounded by my family. I was in there for a day and then in HDU for 2 days and nights. I was on morphine for 5 days and couldn't even hold Louisa let alone feed her for 3 days.

My husband was deeply traumatised, (definte PTSD), he had been convinced that I was going to die, they came down at one point when he was standing outside the hospital and the doors were on a delay as it was the middle of the night. He said the Senior Reg was standing on the other side of this glass door staring at him and he knew then that I was dead. In fact she had come down to tell him that his parents had phoned and were on their way.

We both still feel that what should have been the happiest day of our lives was in fact the worst, however we are so delighted with our beautiful daughter that we are considering going through it all again soon! We got through it by talking about it and crying a lot together. In a way it has made us much closer, we have realised how much we love each other and how precious life is.

Oh, it didn't say that I had a 10 litre blood transfusion (which is where the drac nickname came from!)

When I suddenly developed pre-eclampsia at 36 weeks I was immediately whisked to hospital. The doctor wanted to c-section me the next day but the midwives (the two Marys!) suggested I be induced as it would be better for the babies and they were in no hurry to come out, their heart beats were nice and steady the whole way through.

For two days (Thurs and Fri) they tried but on the Sat morning, just as I was preparing for a third attempt one of the doctors came back with a blood result and the next thing I knew I was in theatre having the boys surgically removed!

So really I don't have a birth story as such!

And as it was just before New Years the midwives on the ward were so busy. To be honest it was quite scary sometimes but luckily the two women who shared the room were 2nd time mums (both also emergency c-sections.)

Amazing story Countess. I take it you didn't have to have a hysterectomy in the end if you are thinking of trying again?

oh countess that must have been horrific for all of you,i'm glad everything was ok in the end

whymummy, that is an awful story

blimey, cd, you're ttc right?

CountessDracula, your story brought tears to my eyes. I'm so glad it all worked out o.k! That must have been AWFUL for you and DP!

Whymummy, i relly hope you complained about that cow!!

These are all AMAZING! i love reading them and it makes me think that i was so lucky and mine was a breeze.....(never thought i'd say that
)

Every single birth story amazes me and it's good to get it all "first hand" from real people and not read from books! I hope to read lots more

angeliz,i didn't know her name and no one would tell me,conspiracy!,i even went looking for her one night,thankfully for her i didn't find her,i did complained but nothing was done about it

CD and whymummy ... scary stories ....

My story ...
I started contractions at 8pm Saturday night (5 days overdue) ... phoned hospital and they asked me to go in to monitor me ... so in we went ... spent an hour there and came home ... I spent the night in the bath ... while DH slept but by morning the contractions had stopped.
We went for a walk and in the middle of Reigate Heath the contractions started again ... must have looked funny to all the Sunday morning walkers!
Stayed at home all day with contractions and then went in to hospital at 9pm that night ... Cervix was only just getting soft. I was given a sleeping pill and DH was sent home
5 am Monday woke up with strong pains and went to the midwives to ask what to do ... they said they were busy so why didn't I have a bath ... so I spent 2 hours in the bath ... DH arrived at 8am and put my tens back on for me even though I had asked 2 midwives to help me ...
Spent all day contracting every 4 minutes ... became very demoralised when at 3pm I was still only 2cm ... by this time the pains were 2-3 minutes apart and I had thrown my tens machine out of the window (or I had tried to but DH saved it) ... and I was getting nicely pissed on gas and air. My parents had come but my dad couldn't handle seeing me in pain so he left but my mum stayed with me.
By 4pm I was 3cm and was allowed to a delivery suite ... and there I stayed for hours at 3cm
At 8 pm they decided I needed the Syntocinon drip ... and therefore had to have an epidural ... I was gutted ... and only agreed to it because DH begged me ...
One funny bit was that when the anaesthetist turned up to put in the epidural I nearly lost it because she had a severe squint!!!!
From 10 pm I was pretty much tied to the bed with epidural, monitor, syntocinon drip ... in agony because the epidural only worked on one side ...
At 1am they examined me to find that I was only 4 cm after 4 hours on syntocinon ...
At 3am I had gone no further ....
So at 4am I had a C/Section and DS came out looking well pissed off and weighing over 10lbs!!! "No wonder!" said the doctor ...
I have no idea what the midwives names were ... there were so many shift changes ... but they were really nice ...
Wish I could say the same for the post natal midwives ....
I fell in love with the Obstetrician who delivered DS in the end ... in my eyes he was an angel from heaven ... and he was really handsome!!

You might think that I am mad but I am going for a VBAC in 7 weeks time ... but I have told the m/w that if she starts talking epidurals and syntocinon to me she might as well start sharpening her scalpel! Not going there again!!!!

Even though I live in an area with a strong home birth unit I opted as a 1st timer for a hospital birth because I was firmly in the ?what if?? camp. I?m glad I went to active birth classes.

I?d been dead against any form of induction having heard so many horror stories and at 6 days ?overdue? I went to bed feeling completely normal. About 2.30 I woke with what felt like mild period pain and I remember thinking that something might happen the following day.

By 3.30 the contractions were very strong and only 3 or 4 mins apart. I was preparing to throw any plans for an active birth out of the window as I got into a warm bath and phoned the hospital. ? It all sounds quite normal, ring us back in half an hour? they said. By 4am I was wondering not when but HOW the hell I was going to get to hospital. There was no way I could get into a car but the hospital wouldn?t send an ambulance because I wasn?t ?an emergency?.

My dh ran the hot showerhead over my lower back and I power-screamed my way through the contractions - don?t know where that noise came from.About 4.45 I felt like I needed the biggest poo in the world and I was banging the sides of the bath. The hospital finally decided to send an ambulance and call a midwife ? apparently dh was warned he might have to deliver himself but thoughtfully he didn?t tell me this till later.

Ambulance crew arrived around 5.15 ? Sharon and Eddy. Sharon and dh finally got me out of the bath with the promise of gas and air and I found myself on all fours in the (then) spare room. They couldn?t examine me, so none of us knew how dilated I was, we weren?t even sure if my waters had broken or not. But I think it was obvious by then that I wasn?t going to be moved anywhere.I didn?t feel confident enough to push without a midwife, so I sort of swung my arse from side to side with my head near the floor in an attempt to slow things down as I?d been shown in Active birth class. Gas & air is great stuff.

Jo the midwife arrived at 6.10. ?You?re doing well but I don?t think anything?ll happen imminently I?ll just put my gloves on and we?ll take a look. Push if you like?

?We can see the head!? Jo hadn?t got her second glove on yet. Dh got down the action end and in 2 more pushes told me we had a little boy. It was such a positive experience.

We had problems getting the placenta out so dh took his top off and held ds skin to skin for a good hour and a half while we waited. Moving around only made a mess of the carpet. The placenta wasn?t going anywhere. Sharon & Eddie stayed for a while but were well over their shift so a different ambulance crew eventually arrived to take us to hospital to have the placenta removed manually. We all discussed names on the way and decided on Oliver.

The hospital staff were so apologetic, but as I hadn?t planned a home birth I didn?t really mind going in. After 4 hours on a syntocin drip, the placenta was finally removed under a spinal block at 2.00pm and I had the added bonus of having my stitches (I think I?d torn quite badly) done under anaesthetic. We were kept in overnight ? I opted to pay £50 extra for a room of our own and it was great sleeping next to a big orange panic button.

In so many ways I had the best possible birth and in many respects the best of both worlds (home/hosp) ? I am very aware of how incredibly lucky I was. But I did pay some penance 3 weeks later when what I thought was back pain, turned out to be pulmonary embolisms ? lung clots ? probably sparked by having the placenta removed manually. I had a hideous night in casualty ? a lot more painful than my experience of childbirth ? and then a week tanked and tubed up in hospital followed by a second bout of breast thrush. Misery

But Oliver is worth all of the grief a thousand times and I?m hoping for a home birth next time round

I was 10 days overdue when my waters broke at 3am. We went to hospital where they told me that although I was having contractions they weren't regular but decided to keep me in since I was nearly 4cms dilated. They let me get changed into my nightie then let Dh and I go and sit in a room to watch tv.

Around 6am the contractions started getting worse and I was making a bit of noise so the Midwife came back and asked if I wanted to go through to the delivery room. They had a check and the pain was still getting really bad and I wasn't handling it at all well. They asked me if I wanted to have diamorphine which I agreed to as I was told that it would take the pain away for a while. That was my first big mistake. I was given that at 7.30am and I promptly fell asleep for the next 4 hours or so.

When it wore off I was sick and the pain was even worse, as it should have been of course, since I was in labour. I was hooked up to a monitor so they could watch the contractions that were still not consistent or very strong but were happening. I then had an epidural, my next big mistake. Again I kept dozing off to sleep and when I did drift back out again I was sick every time.

The rest of the time is just a haze of drifting in and out of consciousness and being sick. The Dr was brought into see me at around 5pm had a look and said that he would check back again in a couple of hours. I had my epidural topped up at some point as well. Everything then ground to a halt and the Dr told the midwives to start me on Synticonin (sp?) in an attempt to get things moving again. That didn't work so they then decided around 10pm that they would take me into theatre to try forceps and if that didn't work I'd get a section. Was finally wheeled into theatre at around 11.45pm and finally after 22 hours our lovely dd was born at 00.02am by forceps. I was told afterwards, once I was back in the delivery room, that the baby had turned OP and although they had known this for some time they didn't mention it as they thought she would turn herself. This is something that still annoys me to this day even though my dd is now 6.

This time around I have a much better idea of what I will and will not be doing during labour. I'll also be asking a lot more questions and won't be getting onto the bed if I can possibly help it. Being young and not having read a lot on labour before hand, yes foolish I know, I didn't realise that you could walk around and none of the midwives suggested that I try that. I only remember the name of one midwife and that was the one who was on shift when our dd was born her name was Linda and she was lovely. I remember a horrible one who told me that I wasn't to make so much noise as I was disturbing the other women in the other delivery rooms round about and another one said to me, Oh come on it can't possibly hurt that much!

Still after all that we have a lovely dd who is getting a sibling in May, hopefully this time the birth will be nice, easy and straightforward. And I know a lot more about what to do to keep things moving along and let Gravity do it's job, So heres hoping that things go more smoothly.

Most midwives are really lovely but I've heard so many shocking quotes from horrid ones. It makes you wonder why they do the job - it's sure as hell not for the pay! I dont want to sound ageist but is it a generation thing? are the horrid ones all old school? Thinking has changed so much over the past 20 years.

I'd been diagnosed with placenta praevia about about 12 weeks, confirmed at 20 weeks. Knew that the placenta wouldn't move. Was beautifully healthy and well throughout pregnancy. Not a trace of a nausea, no tiredness, no illness, felt strong and powerful throughout. However, returning from a holiday in Dorset at 31 weeks had massive bleeding - in fact, not massive but felt it. Blood poured out of me as if someone had turned on a tap - straight through my knickers and onto the floor, where it bounced! Went to hospital sitting on a plastic bag, feeling panicky. patched up overnight then went home. Told I couldn't return to work so had to just get all my stuff biked home to me. Had another bleed a couple of days later and was advised to stay in. Was admitted at 32 weeks and stayed in until 37+4days. Got institutionalised very quickly - knew all the tv schedules. Was v frightened of bleeding in a public place but went home the w/e before the c/section for a bit of freedom. Still felt 100% despite medical condition. Had fabulous c section at nearly 38 weeks. Profoundly powerful, moving and personal. Son wonderfully well, me too. the knowledge that the proces of pregnancy and birth could easily have killed both us has left me with the knowledge that childbirth is not a benign process and with great respect for medical science. I also know (cf other thread: The desire for a lovely birth experience can be a very selfish thing. For me, my birth was utterly lovely, but what was much more important was that my son was alive and so was I.

Friday lunchtime, my waters started leaking in Brixton Market. Finished shopping, and went home to call DP and tell him to get an earlier Osteo appointment as we might be in business (and I needed his back to be in good shape)
Nothing doing, so we went out for dinner, in case it was our last chance.
Same thing all day Saturday: went out for dinner again.
Midnight, woke with contractions. DP went berserk, inflating and filling pool.
Went back to sleep til 5 am. Midwife came and went. Paced around all Sunday having contractions.
Ate whole cherry cake, then, kneeling on all fours, shouted to DP that I was about to be sick. He grabbed the waste paper bin, and for some reason up-ended all the previous contents, tissues, apple cores etc, into the midwives bag.

Got into pool, Stayed for hours. Got out, twiddled nipples, MW gave out homeopathic rememdies all round. Pushing for 3.5 hours. Nothing doing. Decided to go to hospital. My BF / birth partner drove DP and I, me shouting directions from back seat. She dropped us off in front of the maternity / ante-natal wing and drove off to park car. We discovered the door locked, and a notice 'Use main entrance', a quarter of a mile away! DP goes into A&E to see if we can get in that way. I have pushing contractions on the pavement amidst the drunks (it is now after 2a.m). DP comes out and says we have to walk round corner. I start to walk, have more contractions in a bush. Ask DP if he told them I was in pushing stages. He says no. I send him back in, have more noisy contractions alone in the bush, and he re-appears with a porter and wheelchair, who says he cannot take me unless I sit down. I give my word that I will not fall out and sue if he gets me to maternity on time, and travel kneeling facing backwards on the seat. See cockroaches and silverfish scuttling in corridors and demand to be taken home.
Finally, a fabulous female aneasthetist, reeking of cigarette smoke, tells me to pant rather than 'breathe', which is a big help, and I insist on an epidural as although I have managed that far on fresh air alone, I panicked every time I had to lie down. DS finally dragged out with ventouse at 4.47 a.m.

I can remember him cuddled immediately on my chest, shading his eyes from the light and asking everyone to talk quietly, he snuffled to feed, and it was just so beautiful.

The obstetrician said that had I been in hospital, he would definately have been born by CS.

Love reading all these..all so different!

DS was due 25 January but on the 2nd I was admitted due to protein in urine. Stayed for a week and then sent home. Got to 16th and readmitted. Decision made on the 17th to induce me which happened in the evening. DH went home. I spent whole night having contractions and attached to tens machine. Got to about 5am and I needed something more so they moved me to delivery (correction..I walked!). Then had pethidine despite orignally thinking I wouldn't like it and it was fine..allowed me to "rest" for 2 hours. Then they broke my waters (ouch!) and by this time I was attached to the gas and air! DH finally turned up about 9.30 (hospital had phoned him but he was in the bath and they didnt leave a message!!). He was freaked to discover I was in delivery! Anyway I had epidual which was wonderful but after a while they were having trouble monitoring DS and he was in distress so..you've guessed it..CS time. I was fine about that as the staff were FAB (Addenbrookes, Cambridge!) and apart from the extreme shivering due to the epidual it was all fine and DS popped out on the 18th at 2.42pm.

Next time..well..not sure what will happen. Was told I would be "allowed" to have an elective due to past history but will wait until later in pregnancy to see if the protein problem occurs again. If not then I will probably go for a VDAC if I am brave enough!

My pregnancy was easy, very little morning sickness etc. I did come down with a horrible vomiting bug at 36wks and ended up in hospital, DD's heart rate was very accelerated and there was talk of inducing me if things didn't improve within a couple of hours. Luckily my body started fighting the bug and DD's heart rate came down steadily. DH and I went home after 13 hours, with my bump still firmly intact.

About a week and a half later I was at home on my own. It was the summer holidays but the boys were at a club. The flat pack solid wood cot was delivered and I took it upon myself to carry it upstairs !!! I then proceeded to build the thing with an enormous bump (I should point out here that the instructions said that it would take 2 people to assemble it !). Anyway, DH got home and went mental. Went to bed and I woke up at around 11.20pm to go to the loo. My waters broke in the few feet from bed to ensuite ! Poked DH awake and told him to get up. I then phoned my Mum whilst sitting on the loo ! DH phoned a friend who said she'd sit for the boys when the time came. Friend arrived in a matter of minutes and I was downstairs grunting in pain with the contractions, DH was upstairs changing the bottom sheet on our bed so that friend could sleep there. I remember shouting that she was more than bloody capable of putting a sheet on a bed. He seemed to take forever !

We made it into the hospital at around 11.45pm and I was put into a little room to be hooked up to the monitors. My contractions were horribly painful at this point and lying down was really the worst thing possible. Once they'd taken the monitor off I was allowed to wander around, my waters were still coming and I remember splashing about in the copious puddles I'd made on the floor. DH slipped in one ! We were then moved into the room with the pool in it, I spent around 20 mins in that room before deciding that my labour was too far gone for water to be a useful pain relief. They moved me into a third room (!) where I grunted, swore and sweated through my transition. It just was DH and I in the dimmed room, our midwife popped in regularly to check how things were moving. I was soon ready to push and DD was born at 2.31am, just 3 hours start to finish.

Helen, our community midwife, said at the antenatal clinic on Wednesday 10th October 'if you go into labour tonight, have the baby tomorrow, you'll be home for me to visit over the weekend as I'm on call'. I think dd was listening - she certainly followed instructions!

I'd been having period-like aches all day on Wednesday so I thought it might be close. But having said that, I'd been convinced every little twinge for the last week was 'it'.

On Wednesday evening we went on a tour of the maternity unit at xxx Hospital - just in time to find out where everything was and to ask all those last minute questions. Little did we guess we'd be back 12 hours later...

I woke up just before 3am that night with definite pains, although like Mum when she went into labour with me, I did think it was just indigestion. I went downstairs to watch TV without disturbing dh and after a while realised the pains were regularly every 10 minutes - I was having contractions! When I had a bit of a show too, I knew this was it. Surprisingly enough I didn't feel worried or scared about it all - I knew I was ready for this stage. I called the hospital who got my notes ready, told me to take 2 paracetamol, have a bath and call back when the pain was 'unbearable'! I woke up dh who was most unfazed and calmly packed practically our entire belongings into the car (we maybe overdid the 'we might need this after the hospital tour...'.

After the bathwater got cold and the contractions were getting stronger, I put on the TENS machine which felt odd (yes, a bit like a minor electric shock!) but definitely seemed to help. Maybe it was all in my mind but if so, it was a great distraction. I think I was more worried about getting a parking space at the hospital than anything else (every time we'd gone before we had had to park illegally in the staff spaces and I was paranoid about them clamping the car!). About 6am I called them to say I was coming in and we headed off (and got a great parking spot!).

By 7am in the admissions room of the delivery suite my contractions were about every 6 minutes but seemed to have eased off in intensity. The midwives obviously thought I was too relaxed to be in active labour and mentioned sending me home again but then the internal examination showed my cervix was fully effaced and 5cm dilated.

So, into the delivery room. Our midwives, Fiona and Nimby, were quite the entertaining double act with Fiona eager to encourage me into different positions to give Nimby the experience and Nimby wishing I'd just lie back so she could use the sonicaid monitor more easily. Both were really great though, and the birth went just how I wanted - I felt in control throughout. I was glad everything was straightforward and I had no need to see an obstetrician.

I'd been standing up and walking around for the first bit but as the contractions came faster and stronger I knelt on the bed leaning over a beanbag. I tried the gas-and-air which took me a while to get the hang of - at first I just sucked fast at it which meant I wasn't really getting the benefit. dh was a star talking me through each contraction and showing me how to use the gas-and-air like an inhaler through the contraction. Once I got the technique it was great, I didn't feel the need for more pain relief at all. dh was totally wonderful throughout - encouraging me through each contraction, rubbing my back and mopping my brow - just what I needed. He threw himself into being an active part of the process rather than standing back and letting the midwife do it, which was great.

By about 9.30am I really wanted to push and frankly there was no holding me back by this point - I was in the zone, just doing what my body told me. I'd progressed really fast as I wasn't even scheduled for another internal until 11am and my waters still hadn't broken. Nimby broke my waters with the sharp crotchet hook-type thing which was a relief and Fiona and Nimby encouraged me to push strongly enough through each contraction. I ended up delivering on my left side as it seemed the most comfortable, with my right leg over Nimby's shoulder. Before I knew it, dd was delivered at 10.08am. I wasn't really aware of it but she was still covered in the membrane so they cut through that before completely delivering her and passing her onto my chest. We were completely shocked when they said 'it's a girl' because we'd been so sure the dh line of boys would strike again. She was remarkably calm and didn't scream at all. dh was totally joyful about it all and had tears in his eyes. He got to cut the cord and then held dd while they delivered my placenta (so huge! so gross! but thankfully fast) and Fiona sutured the rather nasty tear I'd got. I was still pretty numb and the local anaesthetic worked well so it wasn't too bad but I did bleed all over the place including down Fiona's leg!

After giving dd her first feed, we all spent the afternoon on the ward just holding dd, staring at her and smiling at each other.

My BP shot up at 37 wks having been wonderful throughout!!

I stayed in hospital 3 nights..... let home for 3 nights... back in on the Monday. I was determined that baby would be born before I was sent home again!! I asked to be induced..... point blnak refused.

Next day in hospital I was getting desperate, I asked DH to bring in Raspberry tea. On the Tues night between 10pm and 11pm I had 3 cups of it! 3am my waters broke, but no contractions. Phoned DH at 5.30am, told him not to worry and to go to work. I was in established labour 3 hours later and DH was winging his way to me on a train from 20 miles away!!!

Had Diamorphine and Gas & Air at 10am. DH arrived at 10.30am to see me laughing hysterically!

Pretty straightforward labour, but i got the urge to push when I was only 9cm dilated. The senior midwife came in and physically pushed back my cervix!! OOOOUUUUUCCCCH! By FAR the most painful thing I've EVER felt. I nearly kicked her.

DS was born at 15.35pm on Wednesday. He was totally spaced out with the diamorphine! I needed loadsa stitches.

Can't wait to do it all again..

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Just found ds's labour story in my files, funny reading it again now, 3 years later:

We had some warning contractions on Wednesday early am, midwife came round at 12pm but no dilation, just some thinning and softening of the cervix, then everything tailed off which was really frustrating and I got in a foul mood. Dh stayed home the whole day but nothing happened at all really (the odd pain but nothing regular) until 8pm when it really got going. I had the TENS machine on and was at home in my room with candles and nice music and although it was painful it was bearable. Spoke to midwife several times, tried the bath for while which was good, and then back to bedroom, doing a bit of walking and rocking on knees and upright against the wall. Got really painful about 1am and midwife came to see how I was doing as I thought I would like to go to hosp for gas and air now. She thought I wouldn't be too far along, but oh no, I was already nearly fully dilated about an hour after she got there and things were moving fast, I'd even had a couple of little pushing urges. So then a bit of drama - got an ambulance to the hosp, waters broke BIG TIME in the ambulance with me really now wanting to push. Got to hosp around 3.15 am, taken to the tiniest room imaginable and got pushing. I made some progress, but ds had always been very high up - I never got that "orange between the legs" feeling that everyone talks about before baby is due - and he had a lot of turning to do to get in the right position and possibly because I had dilated so fast, he had no pelvic floor to use to turn him. After a couple of hours pushing using gas and air and tens still, (didn't feel like 2 hrs - only minutes to me in my labour fog) midwifes got dr in to take a look and he said I probably would need assistance, but because of my medical history I couldn't have ventouse or forceps and had to go straight to c-section which was not what I wanted but at that point I was too exhausted to think straight. Waiting for the epidural was v. difficult, took ages to put in, but once it was in - oh my god, amazing, didn't feel a thing, was able to even comfort dh, who was crying all through this, out of emotion and worry for me and disappointment as he knew I didn't want a c-section. I remember the registrar saying "My god, this baby's still moving" meaning that ds never quietened down at all for labour, v. lively baby, and apparently he grabbed one of the surgical tubes on his way out, so nice and alert even then! His heartbeat had been stable throughout, but by the time the op was happening he had passed a lot of meconium so it was good we got him out. Then dh told me it was a boy, and he held him so I could see him while they stitched me up, although he was a bit blurred as I didn;t have my specs on. Did some breastfeeding in the recovery room and then off to bed in the ward. Hosp very full and busy so went home asap.

Dd's birth was very different - After the occasional contraction every now and then, things started on Saturday afternoon at about 2pm with contractions every 15 minutes or so. So I made a banana cake to pass the time. By 4pm I was using the birth ball and tens machine, just rocking through the contractions, which seemed strong to me even though they were not very close together.
By around 7.30pm they were every 5/6 mins and even stronger and so we called the hospital who told us to wait an hour or so and then call
again when they were closer together. An hour later they were getting very strong, but still not v regular, so we told them we were coming in. Moving around outside and getting into the cab seemed to move things up a level so by the time we arrived at hospital, at about 9.45pm, things were definitely progressing swiftly. I was booked in and examined and was quite disappointed to be told I was only 5cms dilated - the pain felt much stronger than I would have expected at that point, but gas and air helped. About half an hour later, a doctor came in and commented that I didn't seem to be handling the pain very well (too much shouting for 5 cms!) and offered an epidural, but literally as we were having the conversation about that possibility, I got a very
strong urge to push. So they examined me again and said I was ready to go, despite it being so little time since the last examination. Just as I was about to turn over, as I wanted to give birth kneeling over the back of the bed, my waters broke and there was a lot of meconium in them, plus they were concerned about dd's heart
rate, so things got pretty frantic and they just had me push, not in a great position, but mostly upright, and after about 5 minutes help with a Ventouse, she arrived safe and sound. So only 20 minutes for 2nd stage.

Much happier with vaginal birth than c-section, despite my poor, torn f**ny.

DS1 was a wierd birth. Due on N Years Eve started having contractions on Boxing Day. Contractions lasted for the whole of that week, meaning I did not sleep at all - just cat naps. Back and forward to hosptial but only not dilating or just to 1cm. Contractions ranged from every 20 mins to every 1 min for hours. I was exhausted. Did spend one night in hossie - gave me sleeping tablet and said I was having big contractions but no dialation and baby was fine. By New Years Day went back to hossie and just cried - said I couldn't stand it any longer. Luckily was now 2-3 cm. Gave me Pethadine to help me sleep - this was about 10pm. Not much prorgess about 2hrs on, so broke my waters, put me on drip but I didn't want epidural. More diamorphine. Contractions not regular, babys hbeat dipping, talk of c/s. Had to stay on the bed with probes in babys head. Contractions defo not regular and not effective it seems, but got there in the end.

Pushed for about 45 mins but was knackered so brought in ventouse, pushed extra hard......then senior m/wife came in and (without asking) cut me big style . Out popped son....stitching more painful than labour. I didn't mind she didn't ask...I just wanted it over.

Turns out baby was "corded" which could have accounted for slow labour.

DS2 much easier (though more painful birth)....very effective contractions, pushed for 3mins. No stiches .Bliss.