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Can’t believe I am finally writing this! Be warned it’s a long one as I do like to rabbit on…
Saturday 17th March
I was 6 days overdue now, and was getting mega frustrated as most of you know! Well about 3.30pm just as we were about to pop into town, I started getting awful back pains, and period type pains again. We went out anyway as I thought walking might help move it along a bit. We got home and hubby went to work so I spent some of the night bouncing on my ball as usual. Then we had a takeaway (oops!) when he got home and I went for chilli sauce as I thought that might help things along a bit too!
Sunday 18th March
I woke up at 8.15 with awful pains low down which didn’t feel like BH and felt worse than period pains, I thought ‘Oooh this must be it!’ so I rang hubby at work and told him I thought contractions had started, and then started timing them on my phone. They ranged anything from 3 mins apart to 25 mins apart so I thought it was another false alarm. I didn’t bother ringing the delivery suite as I was booked in for a stretch & sweep at 2pm at the midwifery centre anyway. The contractions carried on and hubby came home, I made sure everything was ready just in case, hubby did a bit of tidying up and I just bounced and walked about a bit.
So we went for my check up and sweep, told the mw that I thought I’d been having contractions. She then did my sweep and said I was about 3-4cm dilated, so I was right, something was actually happening! She booked me in for induction on Wednesday anyway, though she said I probably wouldn’t need it! Just when we were about to leave hubby said ‘So what we having for tea?’ We both burst out laughing as it was so random in the middle of talking about induction and labour! Typical hubby though!
When we got home my contractions started getting closer together and more regular, every 3-5 mins and lasting from 50-60 secs, and I had a bit of a show. So we rang the del suite and she said to get in the bath and stay there for half an hour, making sure the water was 2/3 up my bump or pouring water over it; they eased off in the bath but started again as soon as I got out. She said to do this as if I went and wasn’t any more dilated they would just send me home, though I told her what the mw had said and that I had had a bit of a show. My backache was really painful now and contractions kept getting more painful. So I rang back and they said to go in and they would check me over.
We arrived about 6pm, I had my BP checked which was a little high, and then I was examined, I was 5cm by now. Then the mw said ‘What do you want to wear to give birth in?’ and hubby said ‘Are we staying?!’, um yes, obviously! So he went and got the bags from the car, then I got changed. All the time contractions and backache were getting worse. They had the changeover and we had a really lovely MW take over. I got on the ball and bounced a bit but it was hurting a lot now, so I just walked around a bit instead. I went to the loo and had an actual proper big show, felt like it wouldn’t stop! I had to just get on the bed eventually, and hubby went and asked for some pain relief for me, so was given the gas & air and got laid on my side. Not sure of the exact time but it must have been about 8/9 o clock. The contractions and backache kept getting worse & worse. My waters still hadn’t gone by this point. Time went on and I started feeling like I wanted to push.
Monday 19th March
She kept examining me and I was getting more & more dilated, again not sure of time (though I kept asking what time it was!) but sometime after midnight, I was 9cm, and stayed like this for a while and I kept saying I couldn’t do any more as the backache was horrendous by now, and she kept telling me it was just baby going further down. Anyway I kept on the gas & air (still no other pain relief), and hubby kept giving me water through a straw. Between contractions I kept falling asleep and nearly dropping the gas & air which woke me up! Sometime between half 2 & 3 o clock I was so exhausted and my waters still hadn’t broke and I was no more dilated, and I just kept crying and said I couldn’t do it, so she decided to break them for me. So around 3am I started pushing. At first I wasn’t doing it ‘right’ but soon got the hang of it, though it gave me an enormous headache and I also kept saying about my backache and that I just couldn’t do it any more! Baby’s head eventually started to show, and she called hubby to come and look, and I had a feel, which was amazing. By now his heart rate was going down and he was obviously distressed and she got a little firm with me (as did hubby) and said I had to get him out. I knew this but I was in so much pain, obviously! Still had only been on gas & air, and pushed a few more times… Eventually I gave a real big push and his head popped out and he started wanting to cry! A couple more pushes and he was born onto my tummy at 3.35 am! I burst into tears and looked at hubby and said ‘He’s beautiful’, I just couldn’t believe he was finally here! Hubby cut his cord which he had wanted to do. We had skin to skin then they took him away to get weighed (7lb 8.5oz!) and dressed, and the mw called someone else as some of the membrane of my placenta was still inside. They eventually got it out, and then she told me I had raggedy 2nd degree tears and had to be stitched up, and I started crying again! I was still crying and complaining of a headache and that I was sore.
So hubby had J whilst I was stitched up by 2 doctors. I was given a local anaesthetic but puffed on my gas & air while they injected it as I was so sore. In total they took about 20/25 mins, near to the end it started hurting again so they gave me more local. My BP was still high too.
When that was finished we had some breakfast and then we had a cuddle with all 3 of us and a couple of pics taken! We had some skin to skin and tried to get him to BF but it just wasn’t happening, so we left it a while. They had another changeover and the mw ran me a bath, but I had to go do my first wee before that. I could hardly do anything as it was so sore, so she said I could try again later. I stood up from the toilet and nearly fainted, I was so dizzy and my eyes felt all funny, I was going hot & cold, so just sat back on the toilet until it passed. We decided an assisted wash on the bed would be better for me so that’s what we did. Around 8.30am I was taken to the postnatal ward.
Anyway, I had to stay in overnight as my BP was still high, and my iron levels were low, so started on tablets. I had to stay in until Wednesday, and was only really allowed home I think because hubby kept nagging as I was in tears most of the day on Wednesday as I just wanted to go home! Especially as I was still struggling to BF which was stressing me out. We both decided in the end to FF. The doctor came to see me and said that everything apart from my iron levels had improved, and they were that low it meant either a blood transfusion or iron tablets were required, and obviously a blood transfusion isn’t without its risks so iron tablets it was. And so if the mw OK’d it I could go home. So at 6 o clock I was allowed home packed with paracetemol, diclofenac & iron tablets!
As for me now, I’m still sore and still really tired and occasionally dizzy etc. from the low iron, but hubby is taking care of me and I’m getting there.
All in all, I had a 19.5 hour labour, with only gas & air for pain relief!
First family photo |
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Well done on just using gas and air. thanks for sharing your birth story. x
Thank you 🙂 x