MSE Pregnancy Club XI

I was just thinking that Krystal - she was heading for an induction a week or more ago, wasn't she?

I made a sneaky order on halfcost, I buy stuff from their pound section and use it to pad gifts. I probably have enough gift stuff now for this year (birthdays and Christmas) and some of next year! But I like to buy it when I see it and can afford it. Have also been to the supermarket and to pick up my vintage coats, and unpacked my bag from Heidelberg earlier in the week. There's not enough laundry to justify a wash yet, otherwise I'd do that, and I can't reach the kitchen cupboard where the bowls are kept to clear the draining board to do more dishes. Waiting now for my lovely husband to get himself out of bed. He couldn't get to sleep till almost dawn, bless him.

Searching & Caz:
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday you lovely ladieeeeesssss
Happy Birthday to you!

Thanks for your really kind comments about my little girl... this proud mummy thing is something I could get used to!

Ok, birth story time while I’ve got more than 5 minutes to myself! This is embarrassingly long... why use one word when twenty will do right?

So, I ended up with a pretty traumatic EMCS (under general anaesthetic) last Saturday morning after a VERY rapid induction progression, it all happened too quickly for my OH to be with me at all during the labour - thanks to the stupid rule that OHs have to leave the wards at 9pm and no one actually believing I was in established labour - he got to the hospital at 5.45am just in time to see me being rushed into theatre and only had time to shout his consent for the c-section down the corridor.

I checked in to the antenatal ward for the induction early on Friday evening (15th May) for observation and the first pessary to begin my induction. I was told that they would check on me at 10pm and at 5am and then I would be given another pessary at 6am. If I hadn't started to feel anything by the afternoon (Saturday) then they would start me on the Oxytocin drip. I was the only person on the ward that night which felt a bit lonely once the lights went out and my husband went home.

Everything was uneventful until about 3am when I began to feel some really mild stomach cramps, exactly like the textbook period pain feelings. I was excited, but knowing that I had a long way to go and the best thing would be for me to try and preserve my energy in preparation for the next day, I tried to go back to sleep. By 3.30am they were getting stronger and more frequent. Not remotely unbearable, but tricky to sleep through.

I buzzed for the midwife as she had told me to do if I’d felt anything during the night...

Midwife hooked me up to the monitor and checked baby's heart rate (fine) and told me that she couldn't pick up any contractions or Braxton Hicks. I agreed that I'd call her back for a couple of paracetamol if I felt I needed them. She came to the conclusion that the pain must be my cervix effacing. She also told me that I hadn't dilated much more than a fingertip. I remember feeling pretty disappointed at this point as I thought that after my sweep earlier that week I had already dilated 2cm. I wanted desperately to phone my OH but didn't want to wake and worry him when there wasn't anything he could do.

Another hour passed and by 4.30am I was pretty uncomfortable. I was also seriously tired at this point; I kept drifting off and waking up between the pains which were coming every 3 or so minutes. Such a strange sensation as I kept waking up feeling like I'd been asleep for an hour or so only to look at my phone and see that just 2 minutes had passed - I felt like I was in the twilight zone! I also really began to fret about how I was going to cope with real labour pains when these 'effacing' ones were hurting so much. I felt like a total wuss.

At 5am I began to properly struggle, I buzzed again and the midwife agreed to examine me. Just as she finished, all hell broke loose in the pain stakes. I started shuddering and quite simply, didn't know where to put myself as wave after wave swept over me. She repeated that my cervix still felt 'long' to her and at this point I knew that she must be wrong... there was no way on earth that this pain was normal for where she thought I was with regards to labour stages. She attached the monitor again.

Everything was a bit blurry here as I was trying to just breathe through the pain. I remember telling her each time the pain began in the desperate hope that she was picking something up on the monitor. I tried to explain that I wasn't feeling the pain where the monitor pad was and that all the pain was so low down that I couldn't actually tell if it was in the front, back or right in my foof.

I suddenly became aware that there was some kind of problem, she pressed the buzzer and couple of other midwives appeared by my bedside. The monitor was showing that the baby's heart rate was dropping to 60-70bpm each time I began to moan from the pain. For a little while they thought the monitor was picking up my heart rate instead, but nearly crapped themselves when they took my pulse to see that mine was 108bpm. I remember one of them yelling down the corridor to the labour ward to clear a room (I was still on ante natal). I also remember the main midwife saying to one of the others that 'this wasn't going to happen on her watch' and to tell them to get a f'in move on...

Once in the delivery room the registrar on duty re-examined me. He told me that I was almost fully dilated but that I wasn't to push (it turns out the cord was being compressed with every contraction and pushing would not have been a good thing). I kept coming in and out of consciousness every couple of seconds, but remember hearing my husband's voice at this point just as they wheeled me out to the theatre.

2 slightly more cheery/humourous (in hindsight) things at this point though… they were in such a rush to get me to the theatre that firstly, they left me plugged in to something as they were wheeling me out; cue someone shouting 'She's still plugged in!' and then they managed to wheel the bed into the reception counter mid-contraction - I nearly fell off the bed and swore VERY loudly. I felt like I was in a Carry On film.

Some of the last things I remember were 5 different anaesthetists introducing themselves and each asking me the same bloody questions about allergies and whether I'd had a general anaesthetic before. I remember being told that the cold sensation I could feel was them prepping my belly. I kept asking if my baby was ok, but I could barely get my voice to come out because of the oxygen mask they'd put on me. Thankfully one of the midwives off the labour ward was listening and reassured me that baby was still ok, and that I needed to try very hard to relax and drift off. She said that the baby and I were in very good hands and that I wasn't to be afraid. That reassurance helped me no end through the last couple of contractions before I couldn't remember anything else. I don't remember any countdown from 10 'till I drifted off.

When I opened my eyes after what seemed like a quick blink one of the anaesthetists asked me some random questions like my name, d.o.b, what year was it, etc... My teeth were chattering and I realised that it was over and I was coming back round. I still had the blasted oxygen mask on which made it really difficult to make myself heard. I kept asking if my baby was ok but I was so scared of hearing the answer. The anaesthetist told me that my baby was fine and was with my husband and that they'd reunite us as soon as my shaking had subsided a little. OMG, the release of fear and waves of relief were overwhelming. I got taken back to the delivery room to meet Leila who was happily sucking on my OH's little finger. They'd been together for 45mins and had been able to share some skin to skin time (make sure your OHs pack lovely soft huge t-shirts that babies can be cuddled under). Leila was put to my breast under the covers for some more skin to skin with me and we stayed cuddling for about 2 hours.

They kept me on the labour ward 'till the afternoon as my BP and oxygen levels were slow in rising. But I was eventually sent to the postnatal ward later that day.

Physically, the c-section has been amazing. Far better than I would dared to have imagined. I haven't felt much pain from the wound and was up and about easily the day after when my catheter and saline drip came out. Emotionally it's been a bit weirder and I completely broke down in the 'privacy' of my little cubicle when the head midwife told me she wasn't happy to discharge me on Monday (I hated being on the ward at night on my own more than I've hated anything, ever!) So after handover when a new midwife came in I asked the new head midwife if I could go home and she agreed, SO unlike me to do anything different to what I'm told to do!

My Consultant came round the ward on Monday morning to find out what had happened. He gently chided me for "ruining his statistics" (number of EMCS under his care I guess?)... but when he looked at Leila's heart trace readout he put his hand on my arm and said that he hadn't seen many worse and that he was genuinely surprised that 'she was here at all, let alone in such remarkable condition'. Oh yeah, I forgot to say she got a 9, 9 and a 10 on her Apgar scores and the staff on the labour ward had nicknamed her a 'spoofer' as she'd come out so amazingly healthily after all the fuss!

We came home on Monday night around 9.30pm and have been adjusting to each other ever since! She's so incredibly alert, she seems more like a couple of weeks old than a newborn. On my notes, it says that the placenta was gritty in appearance - although this doesn't account for all the mental things that happened. I don't know if I'll find out what caused everything to go so strange. They tested the cord oxygen gas levels after delivery because of the cord compression and they were absolutely fine (thankfully)... so although they know that the cord was being compressed, they're not sure why it didn't directly affect her more greatly.

Sorry that's so insanely long! I think I covered everything (and then some!). This experience has made me acutely aware that I need to grow a pair. I need to tell people in positions of 'authority' what they need to hear more than what they want to hear. I need to trust in my instincts more and I need to not be scared to speak out or be a nuisance when certain situations demand it. I remember lying in the bed contracting away thinking... just one more contraction before I press the buzzer and bother someone again over nothing. I truly dread to think what would have happened to my little girl if I'd lain there gritting my teeth through however many more contractions I'd deemed bearable before bothering someone.

Nevermind, all I really care about now is getting to know her and getting b-feeding better established (thanks for the advice Krystal, I'm sure I'll be back for more!).

Hope that hasn't scared you all off!

Much love xxx

Also huge HUGE congrats to Mrs T, GreenT, Tickle and ElleG (there's lots of us this week!)

Sugar, thanks for the birth story. Its amazing how many times you read about women being told things aren't happening by a midwife when they actually are... But at least you got listened to in the end and you are both here safe and sound And great amount of skin to skin! My hubby has a clean t-shirt packed, if anything happens to me he's under strict instructions to shove the baby up his top...

And do ask me anything about breastfeeding, it's half of why I'm here