MSE Pregnancy Club Birth Stories

pinkshoes

At 2 weeks overdue, I'd tried everything to encourage junior to come out, but he wasn't playing ball. As the bump was so small, I figured he was still happy growing inside. All the midwives had said he would be small.

I was given an induction pessary at 8pm, and by 11pm I was bored of waiting for something to happen, so went to sleep. The midwife woke me at 1am and put the monitor back on whilst going to fetch another pessary. She came back to discover I'd actually been contracting regularly, but slept through it. She then disappeared to go and discuss breaking my waters with the doctor.

In the mean time, I got bored, so decided to get up and go pee. For a minute I thought I'd peed myself, but it was actually my waters breaking on their own accord!

After 1 mild contraction, I then went into full established labour, with contractions coming every minute or two and extremely intense, so it was amusing finding a convenient moment to put me in a wheelchair and take me to delivery.

No time to play with all the fun stuff in the delivery room - I just wanted gas and air as the pain was horrendous! I managed about an hour before requesting an epidural, only to be told there was no anaesthetist available (30 minute wait), so had to settle for the injection pain killer, which made me projectile vomit frequently - they kept running out of sick tubs!

The rest is all a blur (apparently I nearly dislocated my OH's arm!), but an anaesthetist finally turned up 4 hours later, only to be told it was too late then, and junior was ready to arrive! The injection had worn off, so I did the last bit on just gas and air.

After lots of relentless pushing, to no avail, I was given an episiotomy (didn't hurt), and then a bit later a doctor intervened and attached the ventouse suction cup to junior's head to help pull him out.

Junior was born after a 6 hour labour, weighing almost 10lbs!!

I was still vomiting too much to have much skin to skin contact, which was a shame. He was jaundiced, and didn't want to latch, so I spent 48 hours hand expressing milk/colostrum and feeding him with a syringe.

He's now 3.5 weeks old, and doing much better. He's also started smiling in his sleep, which is really cute.

Alas, I no longer get much time for internet...

**confuzzled**

Considering how much I posted pre-baby I guess doing my BS now seems a little late!:o:)

So baby was was due halloween, we were majorly excited and were really looking forward to our new arrival..everyone thought I would go early or on time as I'd been having irregular contractions since 38 weeks(other than that a very easy pregnancy)...
....how wrong they were!!! Not being the most patient in the world I got bored of waiting so at 40 weeks pg I raked the (HUGE)garden in the hope it'd start something, it didn't, painted the stairs..nothing, got last minute stuff ready for baby, nothing! You name it I did it, even got myself locked in the kitchen coz I was pratting about witht the lock and handle to fill my time:o:rotfl:
By 41 weeks I'd given up hope and figured if left to go naturally I'd be incubating baby til it's 18th birthday so decided to gear up ready for my induction on the 12th Nov:) I was a bit dispapointed to have to go for induction as I really wanted a water birth and everything as natural as possible but hey ho, we'd be getting our baby and it was safer for both of us this way:)
Started to get everything ready and had it all sorted barr a couple of minor bits that I was gonna get the day before induction, hubby booked day off ready and it was actually quite nice knowing when baby was gonna show......but baby had other ideas!

5 am(ish) on the 11th Nov and a twinge woke me up, slightly annoying but I was used to it, checked the time and dozed off again..what I thought was roughly an hour later I had another one...turned out it was only 10mins later!! Thought "oo 'eck lets see how this plays out" and lo and behold 10 mins later there was another, stronger this time:D Cue me getting all excited, and decided I'd try and doze for as long as possible, 20mins later I was leaning over the stairs, crouching waiting for the 4th contraction to pass:D Now most people would probs have woken their hubby by now, but I figured it being the 1st and the irregular contractions we were in for the long haul so I let him sleep, took myself off downstairs to wander around the living room and bounce on my ball.
By 7am I'd not had anymore sleep and decided I should call the hospital, contractions were around 7mins apart at this point and I have to admit I was surprised at how calm I was:) Hospital told me to sit it out til they were about 5mins apart or I couldn't cope wth the pain, felt a bit like they didn't want be there which was worrying as it being our 1st baby we didnt have a clue what to expect!!
Woke hubby up with a cuppa at 7:30am and told him he definitely wasn't going to work today....think it was the 1st time in a long time he bounced out of bed with a huge grin...the last time was the day I found out I was pregnant:D
10am, contractions very close(around 5-6mins) and with not knowing what to expect figured we should head to the hospital, called to let them know and again they said if I could manage at home do so:eek: I told them there was no way I was staying at home now, I'd feel more relaxed being in the hospital grounds at the very least so they reluctantly agreed to me coming in!

At hospital I was examined at aorund at 11am, and after worrying they'd send me home(after their reluctance to have me there at all) the midwife announced I was 4cm dilated and they'd be taking me up to labour ward......DH found it slightly odd how proud I was of this achievement:rotfl: Unfortunately birthing pool was in use so my water birth was out, although I did keep asking about it all the way through labour:o
Labour room was lovely, we were fiddling with all the electrical stuff(tv & mp3 player) in between contractions. Its crazy how fast the time goes when you're living in 3minute increments, although was getting impatient as my waters still hadn't broken! asked the mw to do it for me but she rationally explained that as everything was progressing well there really was no point, especially as I did want a natural birth...makes sense but I was getting bored of the pain at this point!
I managed to get to around 1:45pm without any gas and air which was fab, midwife was very impressed with me:A:rotfl:
Had some gas & air and inhaled a bit too deeply which made me feel sick and got me waddling as fast as poss to the loo to throw up:o Felt better after that and not actually sure the G&A did anything except distract me from the pain, but even a distraction is good At this point the bath for labouring in was ready for me so off I waddled down the hall for a nice long soak...btw hubby was being fab all the way through this, rubbing my back(heaven, highly recommended!) when contracting and generally being ace:D
Got into the bath and it was heaven, anyone thinking of a water birth, go for it, the bath alone was heaven so imagine a big pool would be amazing!
Oh and should mention the G&A followed me into the room, I wasn' too fussed about it after my adverse reaction but boy was I glad of it! After god knows how long in the bath I was seriously getting the urge to push:eek: Thank god for the kickboard in the bath, think I would've drowned without it:rotfl: When our brilliant mw showed up again(poor beggar was rushed of her feet!) told her about my urge to push and she said not to and they'll get me out of the bath, to my labour room and examined, so off we toddled, after G&A had been set back up in room and I was relatively dry again it was around 2:45pm, mw said to go try for a wee before she examined me, so off I waddled again, got an uber contraction mid-pee and then suddenly felt VERY sick so quickly finished my wee stood up, turned around and hurled in the loo and at this point my waters broke, sounded like a water balloon had hit the floor:p Must've looked hilarious and even now I giggle about it:rotfl:But typical clean freak me didn;t think about the next contraction, just about the mess I just made on the floor and asked for a mop and some towels...I got the towels but mw refused me the mop:rotfl:so towel shoved between my legs to stop me messing up the rest of the room I waddled to the bed to be examined and I was 9cms dilated:j:j although mw said something about not being able to feel and of the cervix and she needed a 2nd opinion..fine I thought, just precaution, head midwife entered, examined, said something the Becky(my mw) and of she trotted while head mw said something about not feeling cervix and could be a breech baby:eek: then suddenly a million doctors came rushing in, ok, only 5/6 but seemed like loads at the time coz they all wanna talk to you at the same time. 1 of them, the guy in charge I guessed, nicely introduced himself and them proceeded to shove his hand up my foof while talking about what was happening all this during a contraction:eek::mad: As my legs were up and his hand was where I didn't want it at that time he got a nice swift kick in the arm:p and then he decided to remove it and waited til contraction had passed...did I mention contractions were bad at this point???? Although not enough to make me scream or use G&A(personally I reckon I'm rock hard:p:D)
anyhoo, turnd out baby was breech, turned during labour as it was an active little so and so only staying still when contracting...was given the option of having bash at vaginal birth or c-section but would have to have an epidural either way:( really not what I wanted and I must admit when they mentioned vaginal birth with a baby coming out bum first my 1st thoughts were "Hell no!Its almost guaranteed 3rd degree tears and deformed foof" so off I went for emergency section. I was strangely ok with this decision as I was dead against it during pg but the only thing you think at the time is 'keep baby safe' and anyone worrying about sections, pls don't, its an odd sensation and recovery is slightly longer but its still quite a nice experience:)
On the way to theatre I had an uber contraction with urge to push and all I can remember is mw telling me not to push or it'd be too late for epidural, this panicked me as I didn't want to be put to sleep so was pretty much standing up on the wheelchair as I was pushed into the room. Yet another contraction when I got into the room and because of how dilated I was they had to move me while contracting, not an easy thing to do! then another contraction whiel trying to insert the needle, poor student midwife had no arm left by the time I'd finished with him, we joked about him giving me his gfs number so I could explain the nailmarks on him:rotfl: see I never lost my sense of humour once:D
at 15:29 our perfect daughter Charlotte Elizabeth was born weighing 7lb 1oz:D she need a little extra help to be dragged out as her butt was really stuck in my pelvis, I felt them shove her up to be taken out as it winded me!!!
Poor DH looked like he wasn't sure who he should be with so I sent him off to be with Lottie, I was fine and was concentrating on trying to get a glimpse of her while checks were being done(incidently her APGAR was 9, again very proud:D:rotfl:) was told before section it'd only take 20mins or so....40mins later I asked why I was still lying there on the table, turns out there was a minor complication....I was so full of bulging blood vessels they couldn't see everything properly and nicked my bladder with the scalpel!:eek:
coz of this we were sent down to HDU for the 1st night in hospital which was lovely as there was only 2 of us there so got all the help I needed and didn't feel too bad asking to have baby passed to me as I couldn't move much due to the section, drain for the blood and the massive cather they fitted me with:o was hoping for a 2nd night in HDU but they found a bed in the maternity ward for me so off I wheeled and as nice as it was it was busy! talk about a baby boom! I wish I'd had had my own room because of my complications I was constantly monitored or needed something so disturbed all the other ladies on the ward which made me feel bad coz once I was disturbed little Lottie would cry and that would set off the other babies, was quite comical in the daytime but at night when we all wanted sleep was a nightmare. Anyway cut a long story short, was in hospital 3nights and persuaded them to send me home with catheter on sunday, was fab to be home but had to go back on the Friday to have catheter removed, took them the whole day after cystograms and other scans and checks to say yep, bladders fixed catheter can be removed! Once that was gone I felt like a new woman and felt I could really get down to being a mum, hubby was doing everything except feeding Lottie before that!

So all in all quite a good experience despite everything going wrong, and only slightly jealous that DH got all the 1sts with Charlotte, 1st hold, 1st nappy change, 1st skin to skin etc etc but at least I got to feed her 1st, if DH had managed that we'd be millionaires:p:D

Sorry the birth story is so long:o These are just the basics I can think of and I'm making the most of Lottie having an uber sleep, doesn't happen very often, she's a little nosy parker and sleeps at most for 40mins during the day...nightmare when you're xmas shopping on t'internet!!

PoppyW

Isobel Alice born 2.56am on 24th December (due 15th)

I had fairly regular contractions from 3pm on the 23rd so I sent mt lo to stay with his godmother just in case. when things were a bit more painful but still not really regular I rang the delivery suite and they said i wasnt in labout but that i should go in to get the baby monitored as i was overdue.

The midwife put me on the monitor and everything was fine, she did an internal and confirmed nothing had changed since sweep on wednesday! I was really disappointed! I didn't realise the second internal would make any contractions worse so I was in agony when i left. MW said i could hang around but that she couldn't reexamine me until 6 hours had passed. We went home (in the snow!)

3 hours later i was in agony! My dh rang the hospital back and they said to go back in. I was terrified they would send me home and was starting to wonder if i could cope. This time my tens machine didn't do much for me.
I asked the mw if i could have an epidural which i had always been against. She examined me and said I was now 6cm dilated and the waters were litterally hanging out. If they had gone in the car she thought we would have been hard pushed to make it to the hospital! She suggested i gace it 10 mins and see how i felt, i could have gas and air on the delivery ward.

I was admitted at 230am (she didn't do the paperwork until i was safely on the delivery ward so that we didn't waste time!!). DH went back to the car to get the stuff and i made friends with the G&A. MW asked if i had urge to push and suggest i waited until husband returned. Pretty much started pushing straight away. MW gave excellent advice and said baby would be here by 3, I didn't believe her. My official stage 2 was 11 minutes and a few pushes later Isobel was born. I think MW would have told me to stop pushing when the head crowned to stop tearing but after my last eperience I felt that if i didn't push straight away I'd get stuck pushing the same section out again and again. The reulting tear was 1.5cm which isn't too bad.

I had the injection to get the placenta out and that was all very unremarkable.
Staff shortages and the snow meant we did not leave the hospital until 1230, but all the staff were lovely. A completely different second delivery!

emweaver

At 4.30am on 7/12/10 (she was due 17th) I woke up with water all down my legs I knew it was my waters even though DH tried telling me it was urine. I tried to go back to bed but could feel it slowly trickling. Around 5.15am I started getting contractions ever 10 mins so I got up and had a bath as I remember it helped last time with the pain and I rang the hospital who told me to make my way in when I was ready.

At 7am contractions were ever 5 mins so I called mum who took DD to school.

At 8am I got back in the bath as my waters had trickled more and I wanted to freshen up, I then spent all morning in the bath as it really helped with the pain and I even drifted off to sleep for a bit.

At 10.30am I was in sooo much pain and contractions were ever 3 mins so I rang mum to come get me to take me to hospital. DH was about to get a slap as I was in so much pain and had to ask / tell him everything 3 times and I really wasnt in the mood as everything irritated me.

As soon as I got in the car contractions got stronger and more frequent, now lasting 1 minute and coming ever minute. DH and sister were sat in back of car timing them for me. Waters went in the car in several gushes and everytme they gushed with a contraction and the contractions were much stronger with every gush.

I got to hospital around 12 and was in too much pain to get out of the car, sister ran in and got me a wheelchair. I was taken to triage, over to delivery suite and back to triage being left in corridors as no rooms were free. I finally got into a room and was examined at 1pm and I was 9cm dilated , midwife couldnt find heartbeat on her doppler so was rushed to delivery suite and put on a monitor and all was fine with heartbeat. I felt like pushing by now and my body was pushing but I had to stop myself as I wasn't fully dilated.

I begged for pain relief but I was too far gone so was only given gas and air. It did not help with pain but helped me to stop pushing as apparently you cant push and breathe in at same time? I started to feel dizzy and was apparently talking like I was drunk lol

At 2pm I was examined and was 10cm but had a small bit of cervix in the way so mum suggested I got on all fours and pushed. She felt much bigger than DD1 and I was panicking thinking she was stuck and screaming I cant push her out lol. She was born 2.20pm weighing 7lb 14. I then had the injection to help with removing the placenta . I had a retained placenta with DD1 I was convinced then it was midwifes fault now I know it was as she pulled the cord last time straight after I delivered without this injection and this time midwife didnt do anthing just told me to push when I had the urge which was 5 mins after deliver.

the room I delivered in and had no heating, I was freezing. I had 4 blankets on and still had goosebumps. DH, sister and mum all had coats etc on and were still complaining it was cold.

DD's temperature dropped and she had to go into an incubator to warm her up due to the cold room. She was naked on me (under blanket) for 2 hrs before we were moved and I couldn't move off the bed to find her clothes.

I was told I could go home at 8.30pm so dh and mum went home to get the car seat and dd1. However, I was still in delivery room @ 11pm hadn't been fed and my bed was taken away so I was left sat in a hard chair with baby for 3 hrs, cold and hungry! I dishcarged myself at 11pm as I'd had enough.

lilian1977

Well, here goes then...

Labour - waters broke with a massive gush at 1am on Tuesday morning (11th) which was a shock as baby was't due till 28th and so off we went, to be told at 5.30am that as I wasn't contracting and hadn't started dilating they would book me in for an induction at 10pm that night and to go home. Got home, contractions started, called back and they said stay home as long as possible. By 4pm I was in screaming cow-like agony with 3 minute apart contractions and we went back because I just wasn't coping at all. They checked me again and said I still wasn't dilated at all but sent me off to the induction bay. Then they told me that as I'd started contracting they couldn't induce me so I had to wait it out. They gave me diamorphine which I hadn't wanted but by that point I would have chopped my legs off if it'd help.

Wednesday, just a lot of waiting around, another shot of diamorphine and then everything stopped - no more contractions. But they couldn't send me home because my waters had broken so instead they sent me to the postnatal ward at 10pm because they needed my bed. Mike had to go home at that point because of their visiting hours - although he only went to the car park and slept in the car. I think the stress of being on my own at that point started things up again because I started contracting again, and they took me to the delivery room at 2am - Mike was called back.

Then, I spent from 2am Thursday morning until about 7am waiting for my epidural - again, I hadn't wanted it but I couldn't cope any more and was exhausted after not sleeping since Tuesday 1am. They wanted to start my induction drip but I was too scared of the contractions getting any worse so decided to wait for the epidural.

Eventually I got the pain relief and the drip went in. It then took 12 hours of having the drip increased until I was ready to start pushing - just as the epidural wore off. However I couldn't get him past my pelvic bone, and couldn't move to all fours like I wanted to because of the epi. So eventually the doctor came in, gave me an episiotomy and got him out with forceps because his heartbeat was dropping - again, two things I really didn't want but by this point I was petrified. The forceps were agony, Ive never experienced anything like it before. Still, he was here and he was safe.

So, since then I've been in hospital on a public ward Thursday night and a private room Friday night to attempt to get some sleep. Finally allowed home yesterday evening once all Sam's bloods came back clear.

So, born Thursday 13th January at 8.33pm, weighing 7lb 11oz. I'm completely in love but am really struggling with feeding and settling him so looking forward so seeing the HV today and the breast feeding clinic on Wednesday.

horse76

I've put off posting my birth story for a while, but here it is.

My EDD was 20/09/10, but woke up early around 2/3am on 2/09 with a sore tummy - didn't think I was in labour as had had the same pains on and off for weeks. Couldn't get back to sleep, but eventually got up around 6am to make up a hotwater bottle and took a couple of painkillers. At 8am pain got worse and was contracting so decided to time them, they were 7 mins apart and lasting around 30 secs. Phoned hospital and was told I was only in early stage of labour, and to phone back if they were 4/5 mins apart and lasting around 40 secs or if I wasn't coping with the pain.

DH took DD to school, which is 15mins away. I couldnt face going, but should have as hospital was 30 mins away in that direction. At 9am I was in agony and contractions were 4 mins apart and lasting 40 secs at a time. DH was still out, so phoned hospital who said to head in as soon as I could.

After pacing all the rooms for 1/2hr, DH finally came in at 9.40 as he'd been for fuel. Got out to car, but had to stop at the door to let a contraction pass before I got in. About 15 mins away from the hospital, I felt the urge to push! Didn't want to tell DH as he was driving far too fast as it was, so managed to keep my heavy breathing going and not let on that baby was on its way. At 2 mins from hospital, I came clean and told him to hurry up! Got to labour suite car park and DH ran to get assistance, where about 6 people came running out, dragged me into a wheelchair and into labour room. I was begging for the gas & air to help cope with the pain - 4 mins later DS was born at 10:21am, weighing 5lbs 12oz.

Great labour in the last 4 mins, due to the gas & air.

Metranil_Vavin

Ok here comes mine!

I started feeling what I would describe as a bit 'off' on Wednesday 12th Jan, 2 days after my due date. I went to a pregnant friends house down the road for a coffee. I was fine whilst I was there. She made me a lovely big smoothie which was fine, but when I got home I started feeling what I thought was like trapped wind. I thought perhaps it was fruit overload, plus I had been a bit constipated.

On the thursday I felt progressively worse. I asked OH if he would stay home from work, but he said there wasn't much point in him losing a days pay if nothing was definitely happening. He said he would come straight home if I needed him to, so we agreed he'd go.

At about 12.30pm, my mum called me and I was in tears with the pain. SHe said I should call OH immediately and get him home, so I sent him a text, and he left work immediately. By the time he got home just after 1pm, we started trying to time contractions, although at that point I still wasn't sure if it was definitely the labour starting, or a nasty bout of constipation/wind!

My bladder, which had been playing up for some time, was also REALLY hurting.

OH was trying to write down when my pains were coming, but they were really irregular, so we weren't sure what was happening. At about 7pm, I said I thought we should head over to my parents house, as the birth centre I was using was over the other side of London, near my folks house.

By the time we got there I was definitely thinking i was in labour. I was managing it quite well though by following the breathing I had learned in yoga.

Eventually I went to lie down on my mum and dads bed, and didn't leave there again until about 11pm! It was steadily getting more painful. My mum was trying to help, she made me some toast and tea which I did eat. OH was rubbing my back and generally being supportive.

I rang the birth centre and asked them if I should come in. They tried to dissuade me, saying I shouldn't come in until the contractions were about 2 mins apart and lasting 60 seconds. She obviously wanted to talk to me and see if I could actually still speak. I could, but I was in a lot of pain. She told me to wait and call again in an hour.

About an hour after that I told OH that I just wanted to go straight there. I should have called them really to check they would actually take me in, but in my state I just wanted to go. So my dad drove us there, along with my mum. Going over the speed humps was TORTURE! :eek:

Got to the birth centre, went in to a birthing room and asked the MW if I could have a birthing pool. I had asked on the phone earlier if there were pools available, and was told that yes both were, but she told me that the pool wasn't available, but 'should be later' :mad:

Then she said she would have a look to see how far dilated I was, but if I was under 3-4cm I would have to get home. I was only about 2cm. I was in tears as the thought of having to drive all the way home again, over the speed humps again..back to my mum and dads bed, was just too much. The contractions were really painful at this point. She just would not budge though, eventually saying that if I wanted to stay in I would have to go to one of the wards, but OH would have to go home. The thought of going through it all on my own without my rock, just wasn't even an option. I was so upset.

She said she would give me a sweep there and then to try and help things a long a bit. After that she left the room for a bit, and I got on all fours on one of the birthing cushions and was just crying for pain relief. She didn't even offer me any gas + air!! Just an ibuprophen tablet - ???!! Which I did take..it didn't do anything!

I then had to leave. OH had to phone my dad up and get them to come all the way back to the hospital again. They had literally only just walked back through the door..it was about midnight by now.

So they came back, and came to the birth centre to meet us. I was in tears and doubled up in pain. My dad went a bit bonkers at the midwife and started yelling at her to do something for my pain, and why were they sending me home. She was cold and stoney faced, and just said that was how it was. My mum told me that at that point she wanted to give her a good slap!

So off we went again. Me hanging onto OH and the walls. Back into the car and back to my parents house. Back onto my mums bed. At this point I was horribly sick. I laboured away on my parents bed. I decided at this point that when we went back in, I didn't want to go to the Birth Centre. I had at this point given up on the 'natural' way, birthing pool etc. I just wanted a hospital, with midwives and drugs!

At about 3am we went back in..over all the speed humps..OUCH! Got to the hospital and I swore that if they tried to send me home again, I would just lie down and give birth in the corridor!

We went straight to the delivery suite of the hospital this time, and were shown into a room. A lovely young Scouse MW came in, and I told her through gritted teeth what had happend at the Birth Centre earlier. She didn't look too impressed, and was shocked that they hadn't even offered me any gas+ air! She also didn't seem too impressed that all I had been offered was an Ibuprophen tablet! She examined me and I was 5cm dilated..GO ME! I had done that far on my parents bed with not a sniff of any pain relief! She was impressed, and I was even more impressed.

She gave me a shot of diamorphine and the gas+air pipe, telling me that it would 'become my best friend'!. It did...I absolutely loved it. The diamorphine kicked in nicely and along with the G+A, I felt SO much better. I even started cracking jokes with OH and the MW and felt 'I can really do this'! I lay on the bed and for the nxt few hours just drifted in and out of a happy conciousness. I did my yoga breathing with the help of the G+A, and all was fine. OH dozed off in the chair. I remember the MW coming in and telling OH that we could put the tv on. We ended up just putting it on CEEFAX and listening to the cheesy music! It was very soothing!

Hours passed..MW's came and went. My scouse girl popped her head in at some point to wish me luck.

I ended up with a Thai midwife called Evelyn, who was lovely. Very funny and chatty. She examined me from time to time and I was progressing nicely. I was pleased as I thought I was managing the pain quite well on the G+A, but I did make sure to ask when would be the last opportunity I would have to have an epidural if I wanted one. She said I could go right to the end and still get one if I wanted.

She said I was very constipated (sorry for tmi) and she would give me an enema to clear it. She did and I did. I felt much better (no wonder I'd felt so grotty the day before!).

When I got to about 8 or 9cm dilated, the pain suddenly increased rapidly, and my G+A was no longer cutting it. I panicked and decided at that point that I wanted the epidural. I had been in labour at that point for over 20 hours and I was exhausted and had, had enough. Evelyn was brilliant and called the anesthetist who came in and ran through the proceedure with me. I was a bit out of my head by then, and when he had explained everything and asked if I had any questions, I said 'Do I know you'? he said he didn't think so..to which I replied...'Do you know Caroline Hamilton?'..he looked confused and said no. I was convinced I had met him before and he was a friend of my mate Caroline!! How embarassing

Anyway he gave me the epidural, and although it helped, it didn't take the pain away completely. My left side went nice and dead, but the right side didn't so I was still in considerable pain. After that things happened fast. He came back several times and topped me up, but still it didn't seem to work. Another anesthetist turned up and tried to ease my pain, but although it helped, it wasn't brilliant.

Evelyn examined me and told me..HOORAY! you are fully dilated! Time to start pushing!!

I pushed for over an hour. Unfortuately the epidural had reduced considerably what I could do, and after pushing for ages, nothing much was happening. Evelyn told me that because I had been in labour for so long by that point, she would have to call a doctor for advice on how to proceed as there was a risk that the baby would be getting distressed..hi heartbeat on the monitor had started to quicken.

A doctore turned up, and after a consultation with Evelyn, I was told that they were going to have to use ventouse to get him out (suction cap), and failing that forceps :eek: I freaked out as I never wanted either of those, but was then told that if I didn't it would probably have to be a c-section. I was in tears again..after nearly 28 hours of labour and pain, the last thing I wanted was to have a c-section.

So I reluctantly decided to leave it in their hands, and the ventouse was brought in. Another doctor arrived, I was put in stirrups and what happened next was the most stressful and horrible part. The ventouse cup just would not attach to the babies head, and the pain I was in was awful. They again gave me more epidural to try and help, but it was a bit late by then. I actually screamed at the doctor to 'get away from me', and then in a typically British manner apologised profusely. I had so many drugs coursing around by then I just wasn't sure what was happening. The 2nd doctor then inserted the ventouse, successfully this time and all hell broke loose.

I was given an episiotomy, but was assured that it was a 'neat cut'.

Then I was pushing, they were pulling. It was excruciating, but after 3 pulls he was out! I was stitched up (which I could feel sickeningly)..they tried to give me some extra local anesthetic but by then it was all over really.

Josh was born at 3.45pm. He was fine considering his rough entry into the world, perfect apart from an angry red ring around his head, poor little thing.

And thats it really..there is more..about how they then stuck me in a ante-natal ward..I should have gone to a post natal ward to recover but there was no room, so I was stuck in a ward with 3 other women..all pregnant..all problem pregnancies on monitors, and me with a screaming baby..not good.

Wow this is a monster post! Sorry if I have been too grizzly, but it actually helps me to have written it all down. I did find the whole thing somewhat traumatic, and I think it will be a long time before I can think about going through it again!

Josh is glorious though, and more than worth it all

smartie12

I'm VERY late in posting my birth story... sorry!! I'm still waiting to find out where my notes have disappeared too so it's from a very "out of it" memory and from what DH has told me.

After a not so brilliant pregnancy it was discovered at a growth scan that baby was breech. I decided to give ECV a go to try turn baby as I was told to avoid a section due to ongoing medical problems. It didn't work so a section was planned for the 7th of September.

I had a phone call to go in for a scan first in the morning to check baby hadn't moved - still firmly head in ribs so was sent up to the ward to get ready. We were told baby was around 6lbs. We were met by a horrible midwife and taken to my private room. I had to have a private room as I found out during one of my many visits to the labour ward during pregnancy that I had tested MRSA positive 7 years earlier (but no-one told me!)

Got ready in my sexy gown and stockings and was told I'd be going down to theatre at about 3pm. DH phoned DS who was waiting impatiently at home so he knew what sort of time to expect phone call. Lovely midwife came and got us for the walk down and she was very good at easing my nervous mind... although I wasn't too bad as many lovely ladies and shared their happy planned sections with me!
　
DH went with me to get the spinal block done as I definitly wanted to be awake. The anaesthatist seemed nice but it wasn't until I was leaning forward into DH that I realised he was telling a woman what to do:eek:!! I don't know if she was his assistant or someone training. No-one told me!! It took a while to do then I was wheeled into theatre where DH joined me although I couldn't actually see him behind me. I was shaking VERY badly. That kept testing to see if I could still feel things down below... which I did, then finally they were happy that I couldn't feel anything BUT I wasn't so sure??! I was told once the cut was done baby would be out within minutes.
　
I felt the cut being done and it was quite painful but didn't think much of it not really knowing what to expect. Minutes passed and still no sign of baby. I was then getting very uncomfortable and the pain was getting quite intense. The anaesthatist saw my face and said it was my mind playing tricks with me!! I sort of knew what he meant but this was most definitly not my mind playing tricks:mad:!! He suddenly realised I was in awful pain and could feel EVERYTHING they were doing to me so it was all systems go. Morphine was upped... upped again... then again. Still no sign of baby. I was at the stage of being very out of it so can't remember much. Baby finally arrived at 4.11pm weighing 7lb 15oz which was a brilliant weight considering awful pregnancy and my health probelms. Apparently it was DH who told me it was girl (huge surprise for me but not for him!) but sadly I can't remember. I do remember someone telling me I had to be put to sleep ASAP as there was a problem and I remember crying. So I didn't get to see my baby

Apparently 2 more general surgeons had to be called in an emergency to operate on me. I don't know how long I was under. DH was sent away with baby and had no idea what was going on. I awoke in EXTREME pain in recovery and was also very worried about my DS sat at home not knowing what was going on. It was awful:( Luckily the anaesthatist who had just finished his shift popped by to see me but stayed to give me some sort of pain relief that involved 2 very painful injections. When I was feeling a bit better DH and baby were brought to recovery I fell instantly in love with my gorgeous little girl who turned out to be a little angel and perfect in every way!:A We named her Daisy a few days later. DH managed a quick phone call to an anxious DS at 7pm to finally let him know he had a new little sister!

I was very traumatised by what happened and in the very brief chat I had with surgeon after all I know is that they struggled to get Daisy out due to my bowel being in the way. It was expected that I'd be very poorly especially as they had to do stuff to my bowel but I made an excellent recovery which surprised everyone! It's all a bit of a mess inside me now though due lots of scar damage etc so no more babies for me.
　
And oooops... sorry its long!!:o Missed loads of gory details out as well!:rotfl:
　
　
　

Evansangel

Smartie, reading that has made me teary.
But its good to read birth stories where things dont go perfectly.

And you are right, Daisy is a gorgeous little girl!

Make-it-3

Having spent a lifetime of thinking babies, pregnancy and particularly the pain of labour was a definite no-no for me, OH twisted me round his little finger and I found myself at 41 years of age anticipating all of this.

My pregnancy was pretty straight forward and having researched like mad, came to the very strong conclusion that birthing was a natural event and not a medical one. I did yoga, read about hypnobirthing, ate well, took RLT etc ,etc and with very supportive midwives booked a home birth and purchased a pool for a water birth.

My EDD came and went, I had two attempted sweeps at 40+5 and 41+1, but my cervix was closed. The midwife booked me in for an induction, but I planned to refuse and opt for monitoring should we get to that point. I was set on things starting naturally and being at home.

At 41+4 the midwife just about managed to get through my cervix and complete a sweep. That evening I felt uncomfortable and through the night had some mild contractions which I was willing on so that we could still have our home birth without complaint. By the morning they were strong and regular, every five minutes. At 4.00pm I called the midwife and she assessed me over the phone but said she thought it was still ‘early days’. At 8.00pm I called her again as although I was coping with breathing techniques, I was getting tired. She came out and examined me and said although my cervix had made substantial progress since the sweep and I was managing well, it would probably be morning before anything happened. She told OH not to stay up as one of us at least should get some sleep!!! I contracted on through the night roughly every 5 minutes or so with no sleep.

By morning I was exhausted, but the contractions instead of becoming more frequent, became less so, going to every 6-10 mins and then to every 30 mins. I went to bed to try to rest. Then the midwife called to remind me it was Induction Day. I explained the scenario and said I wanted to wait it out. She said that the hospital policy is very strict and I would be defying medical advice if I didn’t get induced by midnight! She asked us to go into the hospital anyway to meet with the consultant and discuss induction or monitoring options.

So we went with our bags and I began to accept that I probably wasn’t coming out of the place without a baby in tow. The first thing they did was check my cervix again and I was still only 1-2cm dilated after 30 hours of contractions. They hooked me up to a monitor and confirmed they were indeed contractions. By this time I had chronic back pain too, so was in constant pain. Use of the hospital birth pool was out because I was unlikely to be in active labour by midnight and I was still too early to have my waters broken. But I was sooo tired and just needed it over with - so I begged for an epidural. Again, I was told I was too early. All they could do was offer some prostaglandin gel to help things along a bit. So I contracted on for another 6 hours getting to just 3 cms. Fortunately then midwife was then able to break my waters and called for the anaesthetist. The epidural was WONDERFUL, I couldn’t feel the contractions and was able to rest and nap.

But a few hours later the monitors began to show signs of a baby in distress, so lots of drs poured in, we had the baby’s head monitored and they said they needed to get it out quickly – so the dreaded c-section was mentioned. However, upon examination they were surprised to find I was fully dilated so said they would try an assisted delivery first. An episiotomy was performed ,then vontouse attempted and failed, so they gave me three attempts by forceps before they would go to c-sec. I gave it all I could and our daughter came into the world on the third and final push.

She was 8lb 60z and thriving, scoring 8/10 in her first minute APGAR test and we all went off to the post-natal ward to recover.

I guess part of the point of relaying my story is that despite all of this I am extremely comfortable with the events of my labour. I felt happy with my midwives, confident in the hands of the surgical team and now sing the praises for epidurals which took all the stress/pain out of what could otherwise have been an incredibly traumatic final stages of labour. Things may have been different at home, or I could have been in agony or rushed into hospital in an emergency, I will never know.

So ladies anticipating labour, I say to you get informed, but keep an open mind and whatever happens it’s only a small part of the journey of parenthood.