Hello all.
I wanted to share the arrival of our beautiful baby girl Orianna.
Orianna was due on 31/12/2023 but arrived on 18/12/2023. We are absolutely in love!
Just wanted to share my birth story...
I was on the path to be induced as Orianna's tummy was measuring bigger during scans so they didn't want me to go full term/overdue. So I was booked in for induction on 19/12/2023 and the doctors wanted me to get a sweep beforehand to check my cervix was favourable for induction etc.
Saturday 16th December I went in for a sweep at 9am with my midwife. The experience was quite uncomfortable for me. I assumed it would be like a smear but it was a little different. She said to tell her to stop whenever I felt uncomfortable so after what felt like eternity, I asked if she had finished as I thought I was about to pee myself on her! She explained that she was just giving me a 'good sweep' as she could feel my cervix was open and I was already 2cm - all great! My husband and I then went about our day and I had what could be described as period cramps so decided it was best to go home and relax. I can't quite remember if it was that evening or early hours of 17/12/2023 but the sweep had definitely done the trick.
Sunday 17th December 2023, I had been having contractions from the early hours of the morning which started off quite painful for me but I soldiered on and just dealt with it as they were no where near frequent yet. At 10am on 17/12/2023, I was laying in bed on my side dealing with the contraction pain when I felt and heard this big POP, almost like someone had burst a balloon inside me then this massive wave of water - my waters had broken. If people had been watching the next part, my husband and I would have definitely been featuring in a comedy series! My husband grabbed some towels and stuffed them under me so our mattress would not be ruined, he then helped me to the toilet so I could get myself cleaned up and get a fresh pad on etc. Each time I stood up off the toilet, my waters would go again and again and again! I guess I was naive but in my head I thought your waters only 'go once' - definitely not the case for me. Anyway, I phoned triage and explained my waters had broken to which i expected an instant invitation down to the hospital but instead I was told to take some paracetamol for the contractions and wait at home until I have 3 contractions in 10 minutes. Within 30 minutes I was back on the phone as my contractions ramped up instantly.
We made our way to hospital and got into triage around 11am ish. I was examined and was told I was 3cm but they could stretch me to 4cm so asked if I wanted to go home, stay,etc. I chose to stay because as this was my first time, I didn't feel like going home would have been helpful for me. I was really uncomfortable with the contractions but we were given a room to ourselves which was lovely and meant I could moan and groan in peace and quiet - which I did plenty of. During my long roughly 8 hours in triage, I had a morphine injection and gas and air to help with the contraction pain. My contractions and orianna's heart were being monitored the whole time also. They ended up keeping a close eye on me as each time I had a contraction, Orianna's heart rate would drop drastically. In the end the came to the conclusion that this may have been cause by her laying on her umbilical cord each time I had a contraction. During the evening, my contractions seemed to slow down so by the time I got moved to Labour ward around 8/9pm on 17/12/2023, the plan was that I would go on a hormone drip which would bring my contractions on again.
When I finally got to Labour ward, I was given a cannula and was started on the hormone drip fairly fast. I continued to just stick to gas and air as you are only allowed 3 morphine injections so I wanted to save the other two for closer to the end of Labour incase I need them for the pushing part. The rest of the evening time was not an element for me. All my life consisted of at this time was breathing through my contractions with gas and air. The hormone drip did its thing and I was fully dilated by somewhere around 3-5am (not sure exactly). I had drop in visits through the duration of the evening from the surgeons who received updates from my midwife about how labour was progressing. Near the end, the head doctor/surgeon guy came in to explain that I had been pushing for a while and not made enough progress so he wanted to examine me. It turned out that Orianna’s head was on the right path to exit but her head was slightly turned so I was going to have to go to theatre where they would give me an epidural and use forceps to give Orianna a bit of help to turn her head into position and I would then push her out.
The rest happened so fast but I was so grateful for the amazing team in theatre. I was given an epidural, pushed Orianna out and was stitched up all within 45 minutes. Orianna decided to grace the surgeons either a big stinky poop upon her arrival.
I then was taken to the theatre recovery room where I was given tea, toast, compression socks, etc. before being moved to the ward which I would stay in the rest of that day/evening.
Although my labour took a last minute ‘turn’ and things had to move quick, I have never felt so safe and reassured in my life. The team of surgeons and doctors in the theatre all have their very important role to play and they play it well!
I stayed in hospital and returned home on Tuesday evening.
Sorry this is quite long but I wanted to share the details of how things went. Happy to go into more detail on specific areas if any has any questions.