Hello everyone!
Well, at last i am getting a chance to sit down and type my birth story - hats off to all you ladies who seemed to do it so quickly after the birth!!
Phoebe is 11 days old today and a little treasure -these have been the best 11 days ever, I am thoroughly loving being a mummy.
I ended up being induced 14 days after my due date, and having a gel at about 6pm on Saturday 8th Dec. I thought they'd keep me in for the night but we got sent home and told to come back in at 9am the next morning. After trailing back to the hospital and discovering we'd left my notes at home (doh!) we finally got started about half ten.
I had been pretty anxious the whole week and had tried everything to get labour started (g&t's, bouncing like crazy on the ball, a nasty vindaloo and loads of nookie with poor DP who was very good about it all) - all to no avail, so we thought I would robably have to get two more doses of the gel and that we might have our baby by the early hours of Tuesday morning at the latest.
With this in mind DP went off to get us a bacon sarnie (well - it WAS sunday morning!) which seemed to set a precedent for something really dramatic happening every time he left the room!
While he was out I was examined and they found I was 3cm dilated and broke my waters (my god - I was expecting a trickle but it felt more like niagra falls - and I didn't expect it to go on all the way through labour either - strange!) which were meconium stained, and I was propelled through to another room which had none of the nice mats and bean bags the first one had.
DP finally arrived looking pretty panicked and heroically insisted we get mats, a ball and a beanbag as he knew how i wanted to labour - this was clearly a bit of a pain for the midwives although they did go and fetch them after a bit of negociation!
I spent 3hrs and 22mins labouring on the floor on all fours, slumped on a beanbag and doing squatting with DP - the midwife then examined me again and said I was ready to push!! I couldn't believe that phase passed so quickly and had to ask her to repeat herself!! I started pushing like mad to the strains of elton johns 'tiny dancer', while mw & DP rubbed my back and I sucked on the gas and air (which I'd managed to resist until that point!).
Then DP realised we'd left some stuff of mine in the first room we were in, round the corner and went to fetch it - while he nipped out a doctor arrived and asked me to get onto the bed while she examined me, and discovered the LO's head was at a slight angle, and said this would make pushing her out more difficult.
I tried to negociate as she said they didn't want to let me push for more that 3hrs, and I had only been pushing for 1hr and 15 mins at this stage!! But no joy.
DP arrived back to me begging them not to give me a cesarean and her asking me to sign a consent form to go to theatre - after several very painful contractions on the bed (on my back which is where I really didn't want to be) I agreed and someone came and inserted a canula before we were rushed off straight away, round the corner into the theatre.
I must say at this point what a blooming lovely anaesthetist we had - being so terrified of needles this was literally like a nightmare come true for me, but the chap we had was so calm and confident (and quite funny with it) that it was all very peaceful and no drama at all.
Actually, I was unable to sit on the bed as he gave me the spinal block, as my contractions were so intense and I could feel Phoebe's head moving down - at 6.22pm two contractions after lying down and having my legs hoisted, she was out and lying on my belly.
I have honestly never ever in my life had quite such an amazing feeling. She is the most perfect thing I have ever seen and I still can't quite believe she grew in me!!
She cuddled up with DP while they stitched me up after the episiotomy and delivered the placenta, and immediately started sucking away at him! Such a clever girl!!
I got her back in my arms at 7pm when she latched on and didn't latch off again til 2am - ouch! then she had a rest for an hour before starting again and continuing till 8 in the morning!
I spent 2 nights in hospital, really wishing i was home, but could barely move because of the bloody stitches -I've only been able to sit on my backside for the last two days, and even now it's pretty tender!
We've had visitors galore, and looking forward to a nice quiet xmas - Phoebe had her grandparents spellbound and she's had loads and loads of cards and pressies from all our relly's and the neighbours. She's a very lucky little thing.
She's feeding like a champ, and only wakes up once in the night for a feed. She only seemd to get cross when mummy or daddy try and steal her nappy - i think it's the sheer indignity as we're both still pretty poor nappy-changers!
I've uploaded some pics so you can see my little cracker, and will write an update again soon.
Right, off to read back over the days I've missed --love to everyone!