MSE Pregnancy Club Birth Stories

xmaslolly76

Birth Story of Alexandra Wilson 17/08/10

Firstly I apologise to all the lovely ladies on the thread for queue jumping, I knew I would go early just not that early :-D

Well I went to bed as usual on the Monday night had no signs of baby wanting to make an appearance not so much as a niggle. Bubs woke up at 5am wanting to come in with us so he curled up with his dad whilst I lay there feeling some tightening but nothing regular or overly painful. I decided to get up so as not to disturb the others. Tightening got more regular and I decided to go tell OH what was happening just in case at about 7am. From then on the pains got gradually worse and closer together but knowing my previous history of long drawn out births at this point I wasn’t worried so told OH to go to work. He hadn’t left the house more than 10 minutes when the pains suddenly got really bad and were coming more or less one after the other so in a bit of a panic I called him and told him to get himself back home quick sharp. Once he arrived we called the midwife team this was now getting on for about 9am I think but times are all a bit fuzzy for me. The on call midwife called us back and as I couldn’t speak through the pains said she was coming right over and would be about 10-15 mins. During this time OH and DD had been filling up my birth pool.

Midwife arrived at 10am I was slouched over my ball trying to breathe through the pains which was getting increasingly more difficult as soon as she saw me she hooked me up to the gas and air which helped a little but not a lot. After two contractions she examined me I was fully expecting to only be 3-4cms dilated and was quite shocked to find I was actually 7cm and she said only thing holding baby back was my waters. She asked if I wanted to get into the pool to which I replied “I’m getting in that pool if it’s the last thing I ever do” I was adamant that this baby was being born how I wanted after the last one. So after the next contraction I made my way down stairs to the pool room. I had to stop in the lower hall as another contraction ripped through me and I had an almighty urge to push but managed to hold back, I finally made it to the pool got one leg over the side and could feel another contraction coming so kind of threw myself in. As soon as my body hit the water my waters popped and babies head appeared I must have pushed although I don’t remember doing so the head just seemed to appear. About another minute later there was another contraction and out came rest of baby I turned around and scooped her up sat down and stayed there cuddling her. OH almost missed her coming out as he had to run back upstairs to get the delivery pack for the midwife he made it down just in time to see her slide out. We sat there cuddling until the cord stopped pulsing then OH cut the cord I was given the injection to get placenta out and I exited the pool and placenta came about 20mins later. Alexandra weighed in at 8lb 15 ½ oz and was born at exactly 10:30am

All in all it wasn’t the relaxing birth I had been expecting but it was a very good birth and I am very happy with the way it all happened.

I will say the water birth is the best thing I have ever done and highly recommend it the pain relief you get from it was fantastic. Even being in there for such a short time I could feel the difference immediately.

As for my hypno birthing well I never really got chance to put any of it into practise was it was a bit of a waste of time for me. But I dare say with time on your side it would have been useful.

My little family is now complete so no more babies for me. Alex is beautiful and she is such a good baby so far and bubs is facinated by her and DD1 and DS1 wont put her down either Daddy hasnt really had chance to cuddle her yet lol :-) xx

mumof1and1ontheway

Found it lolly.. thats an amazing birth story I am so happy you got a good experience and congratulations xx

mumof1and1ontheway

My birth story

The Friday before I had gone in with painful irregular contractions, as they were like braxton hicks but really painful. Anyway they sent me home after giving pain killers. Saturday I went back because again paracetamol wasnt helping and I needed something stronger... same again I hadnt dilated etc so after being monitored for an hour they gave me pain killers and sent me home but wouldnt prescribe.

By Tuesday I could no longer cope.. since Friday morning my contractions have been all over the place from 3 mins apart to 10 mins apart constantly changing. I hadnt slept since Thursday evening and couldnt cope with the pain so 4am Tuesday morning I went back in.
They checked me.. I still hadnt dilated any but they said because Id been in twice already they were keeping me in now until baby came. So they put me on post natal ward with 3 women who has just delivered. They gave me strong pain killers alongside paracetamol 4 times a day and I tried to sleep inbetween contractions and had regular baths.
I ended up getting no sleep and pacing the ward even all through the night. Weds morning the midwife promised they would check if I was dilated but they then had shift change and the next midwife refused. I tried baths etc and pacing the ward again, was in so much pain but my contractions were still irregular. Theyd be 3 mins apart for an hour and get my hopes up, but then they would go to 5 mins or 10 mins again.

Anyway by lunch I was in tears as I really couldnt cope any longer and the pain killers were no longer working. I had thrown all ideas of vbac out the window and asked to see my consultant about a section.
They bleeped the consultant.. and because they are busy told me it would be a long wait.
Anyway 3pm came for visiting hours and my mum came to see me... I had just had ANOTHER bath lol. Was in tears at the reception desk because I needed something stronger.. and they couldnt give me anything else until I was in labour.. then all of a sudden the contractions came at 3 mins apart.
So they put me on a monitor for 20 mins and checked me.. I was 5cm dilated!!

So was in tears of relief lol. Anyway down to labour ward given gas and air and pethidine. 5 hours later the pethidine ran out.. but I hadnt noticed so they didnt give me more.. I couldnt even speak sense from the gas and air and was struggling to stay awake lol.
I loved it.. just lay on the bed chilled... until I was fully dilated. And even then with gas and air felt chilled with my first Id had gas and air and pethidine before I was even 4cm!!!

Anyway got to the pushing stage and I couldnt feel when my contractions were coming.. kept pushing too soon etc. And they couldnt tell on the monitor when I was about to contract, because my contractions were still irregular!! so Id get them a minute apart... then 2 mins.. then a mini contraction.. then a big one and so on.

They were going to give me another hour of pushing as I was doing really well, but babys heart rate went down to between 60-80bpm. So they took me to theatre and gave me a spinal.. and I was told they would try forceps.. if that didnt work the suction thingy.. and if that didnt work Id have a section

I was given a very bad episiotomy and bailey was delivered thursday morning at 1.47am on the 2nd forceps attempt weighing 6lbs 10oz.

I was allowed home from hospital on friday evening. have been back to the hosp since because my stitches burst but am now recovering very well and finally allowed out yay! poor bailey has conjunctivitus in both eyes and has had colic for 4 days, but we are getting so much better now.

sorry my post is so long!! i am not sure i will ever have more kids in the future if i get the chance, as both have been slightly traumatic for me. but now its over i dont regret it one bit.

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

Baby Ronan 7lb 1 oz born 8.43 27/08/2010

Went to term + 9, had 2 sweeps with no joy, book in for induction 26/08/2010

Thursday 26th went to hospital for induction at 6.30pm sat about waiting until 10pm when I was assessed and told I didn't need the gel as I was 3 cm and favourable ( didn't realise the gel was only to get you to 2 cm so they could break your waters, I thought it was actually meant to start labour ) was told I'd have to wait and see what happened on Friday

Friday 27th sat about most of the day waiting for a labour room to become free, TMI alert - started to get a really heavy, slimy green discharge - midwife checked and thought it had possible merconium so I would need to be bumped to the top of the induction list.

At 3pm was brought to labour ward, no one was available to break my waters but I started to feel them leak - waited until 4.30pm then I had quite a bit gush of waters and started to get strong contractions straight away, was put on syntocinen drip to speed labour up due to merconium, contractions started to come on top of each other, gas & air wasn't even touching the sides, asked for remifentanil drip ( self administered drip, pain relief available every 2 minutes) which I was put on almost straight away - the relief was unbelieveable, if I pushed the button at the start of a contraction I went almost totally numb which helped, took 3 hours 15 minues to get to 10 cm dialated, wanted to push on all fours was told I was too drowsy ( I felt fine ) I got pushy and said I would only push on all fours and as two midwives were in the room, on either side would make sure I was safe, they agreed, pushed for 43 minutes and baby was born. I found the pain relief did not really help in the crowning stage as I still could feel quite a lot, torn slightly and needed two stitches.

I didn't get the water birth I wanted due to the syntocinen drip, had to be constantly monitored which meant I could move about. i found the midwives good except when I expressed a wish to do something then they were very dismissive.

After Ronan was born I was so thirsty due to gas and air I drank 500ml of isotonic drink which I promptly threw up and due to the midwives form filling I was left to lie in it for half an hour which wasn't nice. My partner came up to see me and was left waiting for 3 hours - I got so upset they finally let him in ( to keep me quiet )

It was a good birth but sum small factors re my care really irritated me but we are both home now and safe. I understand midwives are really busy and feel the NHS should allow more funds for staffing and beds as I feel people could be put at risk. Bet Sam Cam didn't get left lying in her own sick ?!?

delain

Baby Squeak norn 7.47pm on 21st August.

After an epic week in which I spent all night and half the morning in a&e (on DD1's birthday :eek:), daily visits to the hospital, and an MRI scan I got told I had MS and that a steroid injection should help me to move again (my right leg was a dead weight by this point - couldn't walk unaided, or even wriggle my toes :eek:)

The doctors decided to book me in for induction, but there wasn't a bookable space for 4 days so they admitted me to wait so I could be squeezed in if they were quiet enough

18th August admitted, given a few of the pessaries over the next couple of days but they didn't do much except for make me really uncomfortable!

Sat 21st, someone comes at about 11 and tells me they can break my waters :j so we go down to the delivery suite, I tell them OH has work until 1 can be here by 2 and if I just wait rather than ring him now would he miss anything, was told most likely no, he won't miss anything especially as was early induction and little monster wasn't in any hurry.

OH walks in just as they're brandishing the crochet hook the lady who escorted him in looked mortified but I said it's ok I don't mind. I asked for gas and air for this bit! It does make you feel really peculiar.

Then we had to wait two hours to see if any contractions started on their own. They didn't! Sent OH to get some drinks and a new parking ticket. Had the drip line put in, bit of a disaster by all accounts but I know I'm a nightmare for that sort of thing, either they can't find any veins or I bleed all over the floor (both in this case) and it wasn't the staff's fault, they were all wonderful

The lovely midwife and doctor sent someone to get a jug of ice for me which I was merrily chomping on whilst they put the drip on low and not much happened. I had decided not to have an epidural and was getting worried that I would wuss out and ask for one

Then after a while the drip went up and the contractions got more painful, so I asked for the gas and air again. OH could see from the monitor when they started building so I was trying to get it working for when it hurt rather than inhaling like a mad woman whilst it hurt then floating on a fluffy cloud in between :rotfl:

After a short time I thought I'd stop waiting for contractions because it always seemed to hurt.

I became almost completely unaware of what was going on, and felt I needed to push as soon as the MW popped out of the room. They started telling me to push and I remember saying 'but I've still got my knickers on!' OH had to tell me they'd taken care of that about ten minutes before and I'd been too wasted to notice. Oh well Then OH said he could see the head and I asked him about four times if she had any hair!

During this stage I noticed that my mouth felt funny and asked OH to pass me a drink of water. I was hit by a wall of pain and almost threw the water at him in my haste to get the mouthpiece back in

I remember pushing harder than they wanted me to and little monster shooting across the bed.

On the whole even with the mobility and other issues I'd been having it was still the most relaxing and positive birth experience I've had. My OH was great even if I was too out of it to even know who was there for most of the time.

After the drip went up I was only in labour for less than two hours.

All the staff on the ante-natal and delivery wards were absolute stars, can't fault any of them, even if I am still black and blue eight days on from all the various line ins and blood tests :rotfl:

Baby weighed 3.402 kilos, which is 7lb 8oz apparently. A good weight for 37+4

sir_monster

28 August 2010, baby boy born (still name to be decided but thinking of Thomas)

I was meant to be induced on the 3 September at 38 weeks with high blood pressure diagnosed at 34 weeks but this was brought forward by a week after a scan identified issues on the dopler which looks at blood supply to the fetus from the planceta. This also identified a possible reason for decrease in growth of baby which happened at about 34ish weeks.

Anyway we were scheduled to go in on the 27 August for induction, but after attending labour ward triage and having another doppler scan we told to come back on the 28 which meant I was 37 weeks exactly. After some confusion and about 3 hours it was decided to go with the induction gel. Pretty much soon after they sprayed it up there I was in agony with the worst period pains I had ever felt and fake type contractions. I was also on a monitor with belts and had to lie with leads laying on my back which made the pain a lot worse, I was also given no pain relief despite writhing around and told just get on with it. Anyway they wanted me on the trace because the gel can distress baby, which despite me being told to be in the best position on my back for the baby his heart rate was still dropping and not coming back up. After an hour or two of this the registrar decided that a c section would have to be carried out as if he wasn't tolerating one dose of gel how would he cope with everything else they would have to do in the process?? I was left on the trace in agony to see of it would improve whilst they got things ready, but to be honest the trace just got worse (although was finally given gas and air as was screaming out in pain by this point). Went to the theatre and was a lot of prep, giving me drips and doing my anaesthetic which I was on the fetal trace, was taken off it for my anaesthetic then put back on it and the midwife couldn't find the heartbeat then did and was really low - key me having a breakdown in theatre. Anyway as soon as I was down they rushed in as became more urgent and started on me before DH came in. Only about 5 mins later our son was born with an almightly cry at 5 pounds and 7 ounces.

Bunny

Emily Violet – 07/09/10, 03:16am, 10lbs 7ozs

Well after 2 sweeps, last one being on 4/9/10 and being told I was 3cms dilated and was very favourable; Contractions started on 6/9/10 at around 06:30am lasting a couple of mins every 15 mins. I felt nauseous from the start.

We went to the hospital birthing suite at 10:30am to be told I was 5cm dilated, so we stayed. I got in the pool once it was ready which was lovely; the gas and air was great!
Gas and air made me feel really woozy, spaced out and a bit more sickly, but the pro's really outweighed the cons.

I was sick a couple of times and my waters went mid-contraction, fortunately whilst sat on the loo, I can be tidy at times. The waters were quite bloody, so I was examined and was told that it may be better if I went to the Central Delivery Suite; I was transferred down on a chair at around 13:00

The baby's heart rate was monitored, so I was confined to the bed, had some diamorphine and was put on a drip for hydration and Syntocinon, in an attempt to create more regular contractions; at around 14:00, told I was fully dilated and could start pushing. I was pushing on and off sporadically for approx 6 hours, but I was so drowsy and sleepy from the diamorphine and gas and air that they weren't very effective.

At approx 9pm there was a switch over of midwives, enqueue another internal, who said there was still a bit of cervix to dilate just at one side, the midwife attempted to help this along and at 10pm, I was told to start pushing again; at this point the babys crown was visible.

At approx 11pm, the Doctors were called in, at this point I was still pushing on a contraction, while the surgeon was in the room the babys heart beat dropped, but the nurse moved me on to my side and her heart beat went back up; because nothing was progressing and baby wasn't in a good position other action needed to be taken. I was completely exhausted and begged for a C section there and then; I literally begged each person in that room, but they said I could still have a normal delivery at that point.
I found that it helped me a lot that the anaesthetist who came in for the epidural who was on that night was someone I knew from where I worked and trusted him to really help me; so I calmed down a lot then and agreed to a plan of care. He said if I was to have a c-section it would be out of necessity and not just me wanting one.

The contractions weren't getting any stronger and were becoming more irregular. I had the epidural put in so that I could rest for an hour, then I was to start pushing again at 01:00am, I carried on pushing until 02:15am.

They decided to take me to theatre to attempt a ventouse delivery to try and turn her.

In theatre, they tried with no success, she turned slightly, then they attempted forceps, which hurt a lot even with the pain relief, and again no success. An emergency C section was decided upon, but the spinal anaesthetic via the epidural catheter didn't work to the extent it should have, so I ended up with a general anaesthetic.

When I woke up at approx 05:30am, I was told I'd lost 2 litres of blood during the op and would have to stay in the central delivery suite for 2 days, to be monitored on the high care chart. I was still a bit out of it but was able to breast feed Emily.

On Wednesday I was moved to the regular maternity ward, I narrowly escaped a blood transfusion as my bloods were borderline, so I'm currently just on Iron tablets and rest.

Emily was very restless at night, wouldn't settle at all, even the midwives couldn't get her to settle and she breast fed a lot; when we got her home we realised she had colic. She's now a lot more settled.

julie03

Harrison 03/01/2007

went to hospital in morning for appt and was given a sweep.
came home and had niggly pains all day, cooked dinner and felt very uncomfortable, then the contractions hit really hard, stood up and waters broke.

we had no car so had phoned my sister to come and get us and her partner was going to look after my other 2. she was taking a while and my contractions were getting quicker and more intense so we called 999.

i then wanted to start pushing, so no chance of getting to hospital now, i was in a corner of the kitchen stuck on the floor as i just couldnt move. my son was getting towels, my husband was on the phone , then my sister arrived, and i coulld feel the head crowning but i couldnt get my underwear off, and noone could find a pair of scissors then
liam the paramedic arrived, thank god, tho i think my hubbie could have done it with some assistance from 999 as he arrived Harrison flew out
after the birth and ambulance arrived and a midwife, placenta arrived
still had to go to hospital as i am rhesus neg and had to be checked

overall a chaotic experience but a good one and no pain relief at all, took 1 hour start to finish

DON79

Bronte - 19/9/2010

Woke up at 7am with what appeared to be yet another BH contraction - quite intense but they had been for a few weeks. Got through it and dozed off, another one 15 minutes later and this time couldn't get back to sleep. Had another mild contraction in bathroom and on the stairs but wasn't anything to worry about so I thought.

Came down and got myself a drink of milk and sat down to check emails etc. Had more contractions but they were not regular at all but were more intense than before. Went upstairs at 8am to wake hubby. By this time they were closer but I had not timed them, so hubby timed them and they were four minutes apart and very quickly two minutes apart.

He called the midwife who spoke to me and said she would come straight away but she did say she was not very close to us so she said if I felt like pushing then we were to call an ambulance. This set me thinking that she would not get there in time and I probably panicked a little. Got hubby's gym ball out to lean on on the bed and got things ready. Was pacing the floor during contractions to cope and then got on the bed kneeling to lean on the ball.

At this point I did get husband to call 999 who were trying to insist I lie on my back so hubby could have a look - no chance! I just refused lol!

They did send an ambulance who in the end did arrive at the same time as the midwife so things were ok and I calmed down a bit. The midwife came in and got things ready. She called her student midwife in for support as the other midwife was at another home birth further away. They were both lovely. Got checked and was 6/7 cm's dilated. Midwife said just to push whenever I felt the need to.

I was leaning on the gym ball finally with the gas & air and eventually started to push but because of the way I was leaning, she kept slipping back. Midwife got hubby to let me put my arms round his neck and lean on him to push so that I was more vertical. That helped and I could feel her moving down now except that it got more painful obviously.... but sometimes I didn't want the gas and air as I felt it was making me a bit sleepy so I pushed without it a few times too. Felt the baby crowning and I remembered this time to not give a big push and I just breathed through it and let her slip out. Thing is once the head came, I felt relieved almost straight away as I knew it was almost over, she came out quickly after that at 9.43 am weighing 7.5 llbs.

Was able to turn around at this point and let the midwives deal with the rest of things as I had skin to skin with baby, then had a bath and back to bed.

Was quick for me again like the second time but I prefer quick really even with the pains.

BudgetBlonde

Right, here's mine (quite long, sorry):

"Bellymonkey" was officially due on 25th September. On 7th I woke up in the night with contractions that were not exactly painful, but felt like very strong period pains. They went on for a few hours over night pretty irregularly and then stopped at about 8am. I had a mw app that day and told her and she said that labour pains can stop start and this can go on for several weeks, and not to worry too much.
This happened every night until Friday 10th, always stopping in the morning. On the Friday though, they didn't stop although they weren't getting any worse. I woke OH at about 3am as they were about 6/7 mins apart although still not that painful. We agreed he'd not go to work that day and that we'd call triage after I'd had a bath. At about 7am my waters started to go. They didn't go in one big gush, every so often I would get a steady trickle.

We had been staying at our rented place as we were still decorating at our house, so we drove over to home at about 8am and called triage. They said it sounded like I was still latent and to come in at 7pm so they could start me off as they didn't want to leave me too long after waters had gone.
So, we spent the day going to Tesco, bouncing on my ball, went for a walk etc and at about lunch time the contractions stopped completely. At about 4pm I went for a lie down as I'd been up all night and we were expecting to be up all Friday night in labour.

At about 5.45 I had a really painful contraction. It actually made me cry and it was like I was being ripped in half - I said at the time it was almost as if my cervix had gone to fully dilated as I felt something "rip" or "pop" (it later turns out this was exactly what had happened).
Anyway, OH asked if I wanted to go in then and I said yes so we started getting our bags and coats etc, by this time I was having contractions every 5 mins and they were very painful so it was slow work as I had to keep stopping. OH rang triage to tell them we were on our way and they wanted to speak to me. In the middle of them telling me I could come in but to try to stay at home a little longer I had another contraction and had to pass the phone to OH :rotfl:

We then had a discussion (still thinking we were hours away) about OH going to our rented house to feed the cats before we went as it's only 10 mins away but I was in so much pain by then we decided to go straight to hospital. I checked my pad before we left and there was blood in it which made me :eek:
So, we left our house at 6.55pm, and by the time we were half way to hospital I could feel the head coming. I was screaming by this point and thought the baby was going to come in the car.

We got to hospital and I collapsed in the car park, and OH had to get a wheelchair as by this time I couldn't move. Some random bloke helped us to the delivery suite who first of all wouldn't let us in as we hadn't been to triage first :mad: But when OH explained I was needing to push they got us a room.
The midwife said lets have a quick look and I was telling her I really needed to push, so she got me on the bed and went "oh yes, there's the head" :eek:
I started pushing and they gave me the gas and air pipe, but then the mw said not to hold it and to hold on to my thighs as I pushed. OH held the tube for me but I was so oblivious I didn't notice so I'd only had one small puff on it. What I did notice was the clamp they use for the umbilical cord which in my panic I mistook for forceps and I thought she was going to use them on me. Let me tell you that gave me some motivation :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Next thing, the burning started when Milo's head was coming out. That feels like being burned with an iron, but only for a few seconds then his head was out then his body just kind of plopped out at 7.23pm.

We left home at 6.50, arrived at hospital 7.05 and Milo was lying skin to skin by 7.25 :D No pain relief, no stitches :j
Because I'd been ill last trimester his placenta had been compromised so he was a weeny 4lb 9 oz. We spent the night expressing colostrum and syringing it into his mouth but he was too weak to feed and couldn't maintain his blood sugars so on the Saturday afternoon he was transferred to Neo Natal. He stayed there for a week on a drip and with a feeding tube, but improved a little each day and from the Monday was breast feeding. He came back to the ward with my Thursday (day 6) after regaining his body weight we came home on the Saturday.
It was day 10 yesterday and he has put on 1oz so hopefully he'll soon catch up.

Can't wait to do it all again :T:j