Sorry for the triple post, but in the spirit of the 1 year olds celebration thread, here is my mammoth birth story as posted around this time last year:
By moosemama Thu 29-Jan-09 18:50:44
Ok right, my birth story. Short labour, but bet its the longest story!
As most of you know, I went in on Wednesday 14th (at 40 +12) for monitoring prior to being induced on the 15th.
Arrived lay down, was put on ctg and examined only to find the little darling had turned breech - again! We were also having trouble getting a reactive trace so was left on the machine for an hour. Was just being told I would have to have a section on Friday 16th, when the doctor popped out to speak to the consultant who happened to be on the postnatal ward next door and luckily he was experienced in ecv and willing to try and turn her there and then. DH and I went into panic mode as they said they would probably want to induce as soon as she turned if the ecv was successful, neither of us had our mobile phones, we had no cash between us and we hadn't arranged anyone to collect the boys from school!
Anyway, was taken to labour ward and injected with butyl(something) to relax my uterus, this was weird and made me quite shaky and a bit spacey. Then 15 minutes later the consultant came in and did the ecv. It hurt (a lot) but took less than 2 minutes and worked first time. Had an hours monitoring afterwards to make sure no foetal distress, and after drinking a jug of ice water baby finally woke up and gave them a suitable trace!
Fortunately they were too busy to induce me there and then and the consultant was happy for me to go home and come back in the morning. Cue a very uncomfortable night trying to stay as upright as possible to stop her from turning again before the morning.
Called the labour ward at 7.30 am and was told to make my way in. DH took boys to school first and we arrived at about 9.30am.
Again problems getting a reactive trace so left on the ctg for over an hour and a half until they were happy with her. First dose of prostin given at 11.45, cervix was still posterior and 2cm as it had been the previous Sunday.
MW (had two, as one was on her first day - both were lovely ladies) suggested going for a walk and getting some lunch and to come back at about 2.00.
DH and I went to hospital cafe and had a coffee and pannini then decided to walk into town (about a 10 minute walk) to pay in some cheques and buy something to read.
Started having the odd twinge on the walk back from town but nothing major.
Got back to the labour ward at 2.00 just before shift change and was put back onto the monitor. Again, not happy with the trace, but ate some chocolate and after half an hour she woke up (apparently just a sleepy baby - still is actually). Realised we'd left tens machine at home and DH raced off to get it as he reckoned he could be back in half an hour (he was thank god).
At about 3.45 started to have contractions which were very painful right away, then to cap it all a new shift started and I ended up with a mw who was constantly elsewhere! Was staying upright, leaning on wall or over bed, rocking, swaying etc etc (all the things that worked with DS2s labour) but nothing was working. Decided to put on tens but couldn't understand why none of the first setting levels were touching the pain, had to go straight to setting 2. Called MW who eventually came and offered me 2 codryamol, then disappeared again for what felt like ages! By now contractions were less than a minute apart, a minute long and really painful. At 4 MW came back gave me the pills and decided to examine me only to say no change and I would be given a second dose at 6.00. I nearly burst out crying on the spot - I was in agony and she was telling me the contractions were 'just prostin pain' and 'non-productive'. I couldn't believe it, having been through this twice before, I'd never experienced pain like it and normally have a very high pain threshold. Anyway, so she stuck me back on the ctg (which was great as it meant I was now stuck on my back on the bed) off she went again and that was the last I saw of her!
By this time I was starting to get out of my head with the pain, the tens machine was on the top level of second setting, still not touching the contractions and DH was telling me not to go to setting 3 as that was for the final stage and I wouldn't have any relief for when I got there. So I gave up on the tens figuring it wasn't working properly. (As it turns out, it was working - I should have been on setting 3.) From then on I coped by squeezing poor old DH's hand and a couple of times nearly biting his thumb but just managing to stop myself. blush My whole body was shaking violently (like you see when people are in shock) and I was hanging onto the metal headboard rungs of the bed and pulling myself up backwards with every contraction, as a result of this I pulled all the muscles in both upper arms which made it a bit difficult to hold Elizabeth at first.
A registrar turned up and told me that I was having too many contractions too close together and they needed to slow them down. She insisted I should have pethidine, but my Mum and Sister both reacted really badly to it so I tried to argue with her (during back to back agonising contractions!) and she walked off saying - "you need it I am going to draw it up".
At about 5.10 I felt really strong pressure in the rear and knew the baby was ready to come, told DH, tried calling MW (no response) so desperately tried not to push. Then at 5.25 the MW who was dealing with the lady in the other bed behind the curtain in the assessment room (poor poor lady, what she had to listen to from my side of the room) came in with a syringe, saying they'd got some butyl(something) (the stuff they used for the ecv to relax my uterus) to slow things down. My response - "Oh god you have to help me, they keep saying its just prostin pain but the baby's here I need to push" at which point she dropped the syringe and said "I better just check, you could well have progressed" then "yep, you're fully - push!".
Then all hell broke loose, the women in the next bed was scooted out of the room, 2 more MWs came in along with loads of equipment (resucitaire sp? etc).
Being off my head with pain I was insisting I shouldn't push because my waters hadn't gone and they were trying to tell me it didn't matter and I should just push and the waters would go. So a couple of good long pushes later I was told the waters were bulging ahead of her head then on the third push she shot out like a torpedo - amniotic sac intact, landed with a thud on the bed and the bag broke like a water bomb balloon!
The relief when she came out was huge and I felt instantly better and started chatting with the MW asking if I needed stitching etc and apologising for the mess I'd made of the bed (the bed resembled a massacre at the swimming baths!).
We were moved from the assessment room to a labour room and Elizabeth was put under a heat lamp as she had a v low temp (34 degrees). Her apgars were both 9 though so they weren't too worried about her.
Then it went crazy on the labour ward with wailing delivering women in every room and so we were left for 3 hours before I was stitched and could have a bath and Elizabeth was cleaned up and dressed.
Have to say the MW that delivered Elizabeth and stitched me up (took an hour to do the stitching and she kept saying she couldn't believe I didn't want G&A for the stitching just the local anaesthetic - well I did say I have a high pain threshold) was absolutely lovely. The MW I was supposed to be being looked after never came back and we didn't hear from her again.
Elizabeth was born at 5.35 pm and we were eventually taken up to the postnatal ward at 11.30 pm!
So there you have it:
4.00 pm cervix posterior and 2 cm
5.10 pm urge to push unbearable
next 15 minutes spent trying desperately not to push and to call for help
5.25 pm fully dilated
5.35 pm Elizabeth burst into the world in spectacular fashion!
Tens maching next to useless, contractions back to back and over a minute long almost from the word go and no pain relief such as G&A available as I wasn't in a labour room!
It was all quite shocking at the time, but at least it was over quickly.
Looking back the only bit that annoyed me (other than noone taking me seriously and obviously thinking I was just a wimp with pain) was the flipping disappearing MW who was sooo patronising as she told me I was just having prostin pains and had a long way to go etc etc. She implied I was just making a big fuss about nothing and as it happens - she was very wrong!
When we were in the labour room afterwards I was listening to all the yelling (and some swearing) coming from the other rooms and kept asking DH if I sounded that bad. He reckons I was nowhere near as bad as most of them. I was extremely relieved to hear this as all I can remember is yelling 'help me' at the end and moaning loudly through the contractions whilst worrying what everyone would think of me (I didn't make any noise in my other two labours).
By moosemama Thu 29-Jan-09 18:51:32
So do I win the prize for the longest birth story post then?! wink