@life - huge congrats! She’s a beaut! And you are a superhero.
How is everyone else doing?
We’ve been out of the loop in our little newborn bubble since she arrived and, as tough as it is, it’s also lovely and so much better than I imagined.
I know some of you said you wanted to hear the birth story so for anyone who is trying to avoid more stories (albeit a positive one!) then scroll past now!
So early Weds morning I had a proper show and thought my waters had gone. Went to the birth centre to be examined and was told no waters, but she gave me a sweep and said she very much doubted I’d be needing the induction.
Waters then went at 7pm and I started contracting at midnight. Unfortunately, I think because my waters had gone, I started quite hard - 2 in 10 minutes, lasting between 60 and 90 seconds each - and my body didn’t get a chance to build up to tolerate the pain. Sadly, I didn’t progress from that point. Contractions stayed the same and the only way I could get them to the magic 4 in 10 was when I was up and about, but after being up all night I was too exhausted to walk and just knew it wasn’t going to go my way, so I gave up my plan of the birth centre water birth and headed in to the labour ward to request an epidural. I figured that if I could at least get some sleep, I could then get up and moving and progress this labour myself!
So around 9am we went in, and labour ward almost sent me home because I was so far from being in active labour. I cried on the reception desk though and eventually the midwife took pity and took us in!
She examined me and after 9 hours of contracting I was still only 2cm (having been 1-2 for several weeks!) but fully effaced, so they gave me some pethidine and said I would be moved to delivery suite when a room was clear.
The pethidine did absolutely nothing for the pain, but it did relax me and forced me to rest a little between contractions.
Finally, around 3pm, after 15 hours contracting with no pain relief and no progress, they sited my epidural and I felt like a totally new human being. It was the BEST. I wanted to kiss the anaesthetist. Once it was in and working, I found I could get up and walk around (attached to monitors, but still!) and felt really positive about finally being able to get my labour moving myself. Honestly, contrary to what I’d expected, the epidural really freed me and made me feel back in control.
Unfortunately, by this point my waters had been gone for 20 hours and I wasn’t yet in active labour so the doctor came to talk about starting the hormone drip with the hope that we could get baby out not too long after the crucial 24 hour mark. I wasn’t keen though, and we had a good conversation and agreed that if I could get to 5cm by 5pm then he wouldn’t push the drip. So I walked and I bounced and I jiggled and did everything I could to get going, but by 5pm I was only 4cm and agreed to the drip being started.
I was dreading it, but actually it was totally fine. They increased it really slowly, just enough to reach the magic 4 in 10 contractions, and I didn’t actually need to use my epidural any more than I already was, despite my fears that it would get more painful.
They agreed to examine me at 11.30pm to see how far I’d got, and said that they needed at least 6cm and a good heart rate from baby to allow me to continue without further intervention. But by 8.30 baby was so low that I needed a catheter and my amazing midwife had to go home and I was exhausted and I just lost my mind a bit and started crying. Before she left she comforted me and said to me to ask for an earlier examination because ‘there might be a reason’ that I was feeling that way. I didn’t know it at the time but she was right - I was in transition at that point.
My new midwife was lovely, but very protocol-driven and gently refused to examine me early, so I stuck it out until 11.30, feeling more and more pressure with every contraction (I could feel them through the epidural, but not in a painful way) and when she finally did examine me she was surprised to report that I was 10cm and almost ready to push! I was really tired and a bit overwrought by that point and so ready to be done with labour, so we started pushing around midnight and she finally arrived at 1.14am. The pushing was HARD because I’d been labouring for so long and hadn’t eaten for over 24 hours and there were moments I thought I’d have to give up, but my husband was watching really carefully and getting me through it by updating me with how much I was moving her with each push. The midwife was really careful with the delivery and it’s thanks to her diligence that I managed to get out My 9lb2oz little chunk with only a small 2nd degree internal tear, a small laceration and a few grazes.
Honestly, the labour ended up containing so many things I never thought I wanted...the epidural, the drip, the catheter, pushing on my back...but absolutely none of it was as bad as I’d anticipated and the epidural and the drip actually saved my labour. If those things hadn’t happened and I’d stubbornly tried to go ‘naturally’ then my labour wouldn’t have progressed in a safe timeline (if at all), I’d have risked my baby’s life and ended with an emergency section.
As it happens, thanks to all the interventions and the wisdom of the medical team, I had a normal delivery, a healthy baby and am enjoying a super fast recovery (since they turned the epidural off, I’ve not even needed a paracetamol for pain relief).
I guess what I hope someone will take from this is that the ‘scary’ intervention route can actually be a positive experience and being open to what needs to happen can mean the difference between feeling traumatised and feeling empowered.
Good luck, ladies! However it goes for everyone, you’ll get through it and you’ll have your baby in your arms before you know it.