here's the birth story - it's long...
Just to say that madam was up in Suffolk with dad and ladyfriend, so we didn?t have to worry about her.
Wed 5pmish. Was at a friend?s house for tea and felt some period pain like grumblings. She got all excited thinking I was going into labour ? she has a history of friends coming round and going into labour. Anyway, there was nothing like contractions, just grumblings. Went home, dh came home and i told him i thought something was up ? bless, but he got really quite tense, really worried about not having had enough sleep to get through it. I texted kate, my old friend and doula, to say i thought something might be starting but wasn?t sure yet. She texted back to say keep her informed. Also, that she was out that eve at a big awards ceremony for her dad, but that she?d have her mobile surgically attached to her, and wasn?t drinking and had a change of clothes, so not to worry.
Around 9pm i decided i needed paracetamol, and at 10ish they started becoming contractions. Poor dh spent all his time timing contractions ? i don?t think he knew how else to help. I could see him getting so tense. I texted kate who called back and said she was on her way. She got to us about 45 mins later. I was coping with moving around and it was perfectly doable. Once kate got to us, she put dh to bed in the spare room and spent her time with me ? she was amazing, mopping my brow, talking to me, lighting candles, putting music on/off. I started shivering like an idiot, and even though i didn?t feel cold, she said i was. So she popped me in the bath and showered me with warm water for what felt like ages. I loved the bath and felt i could stay there forever, but she wanted to make sure i was going to get some rest, so wrapped me up in towels and popped me back into bed. And then for an hour or two, dh was sleeping in the spare room, i was in bed dozing between contractions, and kate popped herself into the bed next to me and did some dozing/doulaing as well. It was a really magical time. I don?t know if a ?proper? doula would get into the bed too, but it was great that we?ve been friends for a such a long time, that it didn?t feel weird at all, just really intimate and magical.
Around 3am the contractions started getting a big stronger and i put the tens machine on. I felt i needed to get out of bed and lean on my chest of drawers. Dh woke up at 3.30 feeling way better and ready for anything. Suddenly my waters broke (on the blinking carpet) ? not like a massive gush like with R, but only a bit, and suddenly the contractions got way worse and i know i started making lots more noise. I started panicking a bit and dh rang the hospital who said to come in. So i?d been labouring at home for about 6 hours ,and we all set off for the hospital at 4ish. Now it became hell. The journey only takes about 15 mins, but there are speed bumps galore in north London (not to mention once you?re through the gate at the maternity ward entrance FFS), and i never realised how painful those could be. I was on all 4s in the back of the car with my head shoved on kate?s lap, desperately wanting it to be over. The word epidural was already in my mind.
We arrived around 4.30am, booked in, and we were led to the same room in which we laboured for madam. It was really comforting. But I was in so much pain, i really thought i must be in transition already because there was an urge to push, and i thought i might die if this didn?t stop soon. When they examined me i was 3-4cm. So guess what the girl who has made such a fuss for the last umpteen weeks about NOT WANTING CONTINUOUS MONITORING did? Screamed ?get me a fucking epidural?. Honestly, i apologise for boring you all with it. Just goes to show, eh?
Kate later told me that she considered trying to pop me in the bath instead, as it had been such a great experience for me before, but she realised i was dead set on an epidural and that it would probably take too long to fill.
So there i was, lying on a bed, strapped continuously to a monitor ? i got the epidural (which mysteriously last time i was convinced worked immediately, but this time seemed to take ages). I was also taking gas and air, which didn?t make me sick like last time, but nor was i really aware of what it did do for me, but it was something to do, i suppose. Once the epidural kicked in, dh, kate and i (and our lovely mw) had a lovely 4 hours of dozing in the room, chatting, and waiting for dawn. Apparently the contractions were going ?beautifully?, the baby was doing well and all was great. Everyone who had examined me told me the baby was ?a good size? ? i.e. massive. This slightly stressed me, understandably.
They checked me again after 4 hours and i was at 6cm (better than i?d ever been before) and Corinne, my mw, was convinced i was going to give birth vaginally to a baby boy. Suddenly something was spotted on the trace and the baby wasn?t doing quite so well ? the doctor said she was happy to let me go a bit further and check again in a couple of hours. Then she came back in again and said her consultant wanted to talk to us ? this wonderful consultant came in and gave it as it is: i had blood in my urine and in my liquor, the baby was beginning to get quite distressed and because it was a vbac, she didn?t want to induce the labour with syntocinon and would highly recommend another cs. She said something isn?t right in there and better to be safe than sorry. And then the whole team left the room to give us some time to talk about it and make our decision. I suppose i was a bit disappointed, but i felt i?d given it my best shot, that i?d had an experience of labouring at home with a doula (where i have honestly never felt so pampered ? lying in the bath, i felt like Cleopatra), and i was faintly terrified of trying to push out a ?good size? baby. So we went for it.
The operation itself took forever compared to last time, because there was some sort of problem contacting the team, and i was really uncomfortable as the epidural top up topped up a bit too much and came into my lungs and arms and hands. I also had a sudden ridiculously blocked nose, which meant breathing was really really hard. But they did the operation, the baby was born and we heard s/he cry a little bit, so were pleased (R never made any noise in the operating theatre as she refused to breathe for ages). Hilariously when they cut through the umbilical cord, lots of the blood spattered on the ceiling and on dh ? they later asked him to cut the cord again nearer the stump, but he tried and tried, but he?s a lefty and those scissors are made for right handed people, so he couldn?t do it. We were told she was a girl who weighed 7lb 5oz, so who knows where everyone got the idea of a ?good size? baby from ? it might be she was lying high and was wrongly positioned. As the consultant stitched me up, she asked if the first cs had been tricky or if i had endometriosis. I said no to both, although the endometriosis might be undiagnosed as my periods are a bit mental and painful. She said it was very mucky in there and my next pregnancy should be an elective cs conducted by a top consultant as it might be v tricky.
And then we were done. It turns out both our babies were born just in time: they were both pretty poorly with apgar scores of 2 at 1min, and both rallied to 8 at 5 mins. I lost 1litre of blood which narrowly missed needing a transfusion. I cannot fault the hospital ? i was initially terrified of going on the postnatal ward as i had such a hellish time last time, but this time it was fantastic ? had an individual midwife to talk to each time, not just a random collection of people as with last time.
So there you go... and Georgia is gorgeous. And dh said having kate there made all the difference. He says that this traumatic cs experience, but done in a very different way and with kate with us, has somehow completely cancelled out the previous experience which sent him a bit doolally. Hurrah!