MSE Pregnancy Club Birth Stories

On_The_Edge

I woke up on Sunday 30th January with period like back pain and tummy cramps. Only odd ones but I thought I’d go and jump straight on my gym ball and put clary sage oil in the oil burner. I managed to get the contractions to continue even with a brief pop to the pub with a friend at lunch time. I carried on on the ball when I got home and let my DH go to work at 9pm as the contractions weren’t regular in length or frequency, between 7 and 4 mins apart. But before he left I got him to put on my tens machine. I tried to go to bed but was uncomfortable in every position so got back up and rocked on my ball and timed my contractions which were getting closer together between 6 and 5 mins. I was getting anxious and asked DH to come home from work.
I rang the hospital around 4 and they said to come in. Arrived at hospital around 5am. There was no rooms available on the birth unit (midwifery run) so I had to go into the delivery unit. They examined me and said I was 1cm dilated at this point my contractions had slowed to 7mis apart (average). Suggested I had a bath and they would try to get me in on the birth unit or a bed on the maternity ward. Had a bath and felt much better. They told us the birth unit and ward still didn’t have a bed free although I was top of the list for one. I asked for some extra pain relief as I had been sick twice due to the pain at this point it was around 12pm, they examined me and said I was still 1cm dilated and I should go home and wait it out. They have me some Dicodamol (I think) to take home, to take two every 6 hrs.
Went home and managed 20mins sleep. Then went to bed propped in a sitting position as it was the only thing vaguely comfortable and awoke every 15 mins with a contraction which I was controlling with the tens machine. I will also point out that I had been using a hypno-birthing CD in the weeks up to my EDD and found that it really helped with my pain visualisation and breathing techniques.
My contractions carried on until Thursday morning, infrequently, the most respite I got was two contractions an hour. On Thursday morning, 1am, I awoke with a contraction (not that I was really asleep) and the most odd sensation that panicked me and woke DH up instantly, bless him. I thought I was going to poo myself. Went to the loo but urge had gone. At this point I was very uncomfortable sitting and standing so went downstairs and timed my contractions, after 20 mins I was begging DH to ring the birth unit as I couldn’t stand the pain, I kept getting the strange feeling with every other contraction. Although I was told not to come in until I was having four contractions every ten minutes and mine were three every ten.
I rang my Dad who was my designated driver and DH whipped the dogs around the block and we went to hospital, should take 30mins but got there in 20 as it was 3.45am. Arrived at the birth unit and my DH tried to explain I’d been bleeding for the last few hours and the midwife said this was normal. She wanted to do an internal to see how far I was and as I was led down I had a contraction and this funny feeling which I was told was my body pushing, some blood and clots came out and I was 7cm dilated. The baby’s heart beat was tachycardia too. So the midwife said I needed to go to the delivery unit.
In the delivery unit I had a new midwife who popped my waters as they wanted to put a clip on baby’s head to better hear heart beat which kept dipping very low. I had gas and air at this point and had discarded the tens machine. A DR was rushed in as the baby’s head was right down but slightly angled so would not of come out. I was rushed to theatre with the intention of forceps and caesarean if that didn’t work. The DR was in such a rush to get baby out that he wouldn’t let the anaesthetist do a spinal, instead I had some local pessary and I still had gas and air. I had an episiotomy and baby was delivered with two pushes. He had his cord wrapped around his neck twice and me conium in his nose and mouth which they cleared and then he wailed. We arrived at the hospital at 4.05am he was born 5.02am. I asked if DH could hold him as I felt out of it. I was then stitched up and taken to a post/pre op ward.
Baby was weighed etc and DH was desperate to ring family and tell them so went off outside (for a ciggie too). Midwife went to get changed out of scrubs and I was left holding the baby. I had a strange pushy feeling and a gush of blood and clots came out, I called out and midwife came running then ran of to get a DR. I was then given a catheter and an internal to check if there was more. They also took some blood. I think to check my haemoglobins (iron levels). I was then transferred to a high dependency room and I had a new midwife as the shifts had changed. The new midwife stayed with us all the time, only popping out for 20mins max at a time. By 11am I was starting to feel very uncomfortable and asked for some pain killers, I was given paracetamol. An hour later I asked if there was something more, felt like really bad period pains. I was given codeine. DH had popped out at this point, when he came back in he asked if I was ok as I looked awful, I had no colour. Midwife agreed and went to get a DR. DR took awhile so she went to find her as I was withering around at this point. Midwife gave me gas and air.
Apparently the injection they gave me to close my uterus worked initially but wore off and my uterus expanded again. From where the placenta was attached to the wall there was a lot of blood vessels that were gradually filling my uterus which wouldn’t happen if it was closed. I was given the most vigorous internal that I had only gas and air to get me through. When they finished they measured the blood loss. Overall from labour and two bleeds I had lost 2.3litres of blood. Almost half of what I have in my body. I was then given 2 blood transfusions and a four hour drip to close my uterus. They think it may be that my uterus was tired from being in labour for four days. I was then told I would have to stay overnight.
We lasted through the night well and went home Friday afternoon. I have been given iron tablets to take to get my iron up but have had a nasty itchy rash reaction to them so have stopped taking them.
I think the one thing I would like you all to realise from my story is I wanted a water birth but was quite relaxed with what will be will be. This has meant that I’m very excepting of what has happened but can see how it could really traumatise some people. You just don’t know what could happen.

mummyinthevalley

I have had a very different experience every time.
Baby 1 1999, induced with pre-eclampsia, pethidine, epidural and eventually ventouse.
Baby 2 2003, lovely natural birth, just gas and air, arrived within 3 hours of getting to hospital.
Baby 3 2010, induced as waters broke and no progress, all going well until the end, baby facing wrong way and ended up with ventouse delivery (almost forceps) on just gas and air.

If I am lucky enough to have baby 4 I will have an epidural as no way would put myself in same position as baby 3 delivery! Thought it was meant to get easier with each one? It's all worth it in the end, tell my middle one that he has won the 'being born' competition, he was without doubt the best birth story I have!

gizmodo_2

Saturday 5th Feb - had planned my birthday party from 3pm onwards for today.

I am 40+3 by the scan dates, but it's my due date going by my ovulation dates

At 2am, I got a contraction, terrible heart burn and felt rubbish. Went to the loo and went back to bed thinking nothing of it as it was similar to the previous night.

3am, I got woken by another contraction and went to the loo and I had my show. I went downstairs as I felt so awake and pretty rubbish. Went on the computer for 30 minutes waiting to see if I'd get another contraction.

3:30am I went back to bed thinking it was all wishful thinking.

Then after that I started getting them in decreasing intervals from 45 minutes down to about 10 minutes apart by 8am.

They never really got that regular, for example had a strong one for 45 seconds after 6 minutes, then I'd have a 20 second small one after 3 minutes say. It was all quite random.

At 8am I felt confident enough that it was the real thing and got my TENS machine on so it had time to work. I phoned mum to let her know that things were moving. But typically they started slowing down to every 20 minutes. So then I thought it was all going to peter out.

By about 11am, the contractions were becoming more painful and were about every 5 - 6 minutes so hubby phoned the hospital to put in the request of using the birthing pool.

Mum came over and made lunch. I had egg mayo sandwiches and a cupcake (that I made for my party).

Mum kept saying to phone the hospital and to go in and I kept saying no because I didn't want to get turned away. I think at this point I upped the TENS to the 2nd level for a bit more umph.

I tried a few different things - lying on the bed, tried a bath. But I felt I couldn't cope anymore.

15:30 - I got out of the bath and spoke to the hospital again. I told them it was starting to hurt but I didn't want to be turned away! They convinced me that if I was in that much pain they wouldn't turn me away so I agreed to go in.

16:00 we left the house and got to hospital about 16:30 (only 10 mins drive) but took me ages to walk to the ward! I must have had about 10 contractions on the way. In the car I upped the TENS to the 3rd level.

The MW wanted to do an internal, and she let me have gas and air. This was my greatest fear but I knew I had to do it to get in the pool, but it was actually alright. I was 8cm dilated!! And the pool was free and I was getting my waterbirth. I could not believe it. If I were to go back the only change I would make would be to have upped the TENS machine levels sooner. I think there was a level 4 and also a 'labour' level that I didn't even use! I was paranoid about going up them too quickly and then not having more power when I needed it!

17:15 I got in the pool and it was just pure bliss. I used gas and air (although not to it's full potential as I find out later). I spent a total of 7 hours and 10 minutes in the pool, I was extremely calm and relaxed, as was baby. Maybe this dragged out the labour a bit, I don't know. But it basically took me 6 hours to get from 8cm to fully dilated.

At some point, maybe about 9pm they got me to get out for an examination to see if things were progressing, I had 2 contractions on dry land (with G&A) and OMG they were painful! I'm glad I did as it certainly proved to me that the water was a fantastic pain reliever.

The examination proved I was nearly there. Baby was moving down the canal, I was almost fully dilated but had an anteria lip or something. As baby was content and so was I, I was left to carry on as I was in the pool.

I had quite a few contractions in the pool without gas and air at all - it is that good I tell you!

Finally at 23:10 the midwife asked me to feel if I could feel babies head. I did, but wasn't sure. She checked and confirmed it was there and the pushing commenced…I now had an hour to get baby out without intervention.

90% of the pushing was nowhere near as painful as I thought it was going to be.

The part where the baby's head starts coming out is another story Hubby tells me this is the only time I ever really screamed. The ring of fire bit was ouch ouch ouch.

I did the pushing in a sitting position (had spent a lot of time on my knees) but MW assured me the position didn't matter too much and I wanted to see the baby come out.

So I'm sat there with the baby's head between my legs, they tell me to have a feel of the head and it freaked me out a little. The time it took for the baby to turn and for the next contraction seemed like a life time. Now, if I remember rightly I pushed and the body just wouldn't come out. And we had to wait for another contraction! I got a bit worried at this point, but with the next one the MW just pushed down on the shoulders and baby slid out. Madeleine was born at 00:04 6th February.

We had a cuddle in the pool for probably 20 minutes, but it felt more like 2 minutes. OH cut the cord - I can't believe he did this as he is very very squeamish.

After 20 minutes the midwife asked me to get out of the pool and deliver the placenta on land. So I went to the bed and within a further 10 minutes had a physiological third stage.

Then it went a bit downhill from there…so feel free to stop reading now.

We were told another lady wanted use of the birthing pool, and I was like "yeah she's got to have it lets go so you can get cleaning!" So I got up, saw the blood on the bed (I know blood is supposed to look more than it really is, but it did seem an awful lot), went to sit down in the wheel chair and then woke up on a bed with loads of people stabbing needles into me trying to bring me round! Was very surreal and was very much like they show you on the TV shows! OH said I stood up, loads of blood poured out on the floor and I fainted. I've never fainted before, so it's a new experience for me.

I basically then had a drip for fluids, a catheter (not anywhere near as bad as I ever imagined) and then I got to have tea and toast, breastfeed Madeleine for the first time (this was about 2 hours after she was born). Then I had to have stitches for my 2nd degree tear. I was given gas and air again for this and wow that stuff is GOOD. I did not use it to it's full potential in the pool (which is probably a good thing). I was completely high and had a few laughing fits, it was very funny (to me anyway).

I stayed on the delivery ward till about 10am. Then they moved me to the maternity ward where eventually they agreed I'd lost too much blood, gave me an anemia test and then gave me a blood transfusion the following day. I begged to go home, and they let me on the Monday evening.

Aside from the recovery afterwards (just being so weak and unable to do much), I had the most perfect birth I could ever imagine. I smile (and cry with happiness) every time I think about it. I can't recommend trying a waterbirth enough - or at least labouring in it if you didn't want to give birth in it.

Unfortunately if we did have a second child (looking unlikely as we're not having fun right now with the sleepless nights), the homebirth I wanted for baby no 2 seems unlikely due to the blood loss.

Edited to add:
I feel the need to add the following as hopefully it might help someone in the future.
I wrote above about being weak and not able to do much...well it turned out I had "Retained Products", so basically a piece of placenta was left behind. 3 weeks after giving birth I had a huge bleed and ended up in hospital where they found out the problem and I had an ERPC. I feel a little let down by the midwives who visited me as I complained about feeling ill, I couldn't walk further than 10 minutes, I had a pain in my abdomen (which was probably the infection), I was just so run down I was having a meltdown. I also felt in myself that something was 'wrong' - just wish I'd trusted my instincts and pushed it. But I was made to believe I was being a wimp, so I battled through it until the day came where I had the post partum hemorrhage. After having the ERPC I was 100% well again, it was amazing. So hopefully this might help someone in the future recognise the symptoms and get help sooner.

Oh and none of that has put me off going through it all again even though I stand a chance of the retained products happening again.

donteatthat

I'm posting on this thread quite late. I was aware that there was one having read it when I found out I was pregnant, but after I'd given birth the last thing I'd wanted to do was talk about what happened. I think I can now, and I'm writing this as there will be some on here in the pregnancy thread who will likely go through what I did, and if they want any help and support I am in a position to give it now.
My baby, Jamie was born on 26th August 2010, weight 2lbs 11oz at 28+4 weeks gestation.
My pregnancy was totally normal. At every check there was nothing at all to be concerned about. On the day Jamie was born, I saw my midwife at 2pm for my 28 week check. Everything was all fine, as usual and I went back to work. As I was walking around Tescos at around 5.30pm I started to feel a little odd, and like I had period pains. They were quite mild, and when I got home I ran a bath and when my boyfriend arrived home at around 7.30pm I was in the bath feeling a lot more comfortable. As I had no appetite that night (not uncommon) he cooked dinner which we sat down to eat at around 9pm. I managed a bit of it, then went to lie down upstairs as the pains were getting worse. I assumed OH would know if there was anything to be worried about, given that he has 2 children already. At around 9.30pm he timed the pains which were lasting around 2 minutes and were 2-3 minutes apart. He said if I was worried we could go to hospital if I was worried but I said I thought if I could just go to sleep I'd be OK by the morning. It never entered my head that I might be in labour (I hadn't had any antenatal classes by this point).
Once he had fallen asleep I realised I was never going to nod off with the level of discomfort I was in, and really feeling like I was probably just constipated that if I went to the toilet I'd feel much better. What a numpty!!
Anyway, as I was in the bathroom, feeling like I just really needed a big poo I noticed I was leaking some fluid, so I called my midwife. When I couldn't get through to her, I called the delivery suite who said to come in immediately. I woke up my (rather grumpy) OH, and told him the news. He was still of the opinion it was a false alarm as it was way too early for this baby to come, but we threw some clothes on and got int he car to go to hospital. OMG thinking back, I can remember him being so narky that I even offered to drive! In the car on the way to the hospital he had a change of heart however, and I tried very hard not to push.
When we got to the hospital at midnight, I was examined immediately. They asked me how long I'd been having contractions to which I said I wasn't having contractions, only period pains. At this point I still didn't know I was in labour, but thought maybe I was perhaps 3-4cms dilated and they would stop whatever was going on somehow. The doctor had a feel around and got a colleague who also had a feel around and announced that I was fully dilated, and nothing they could do, and no time for an epidural. So off we went to a delivery room where I had my waters broken (not painful at all), had a few puffs of gas and air before they took it away from me and delivered my son feet first around an hour later.
NICU had been informed I guess as at some point in the delivery room 2 doctors/nurses arrived with a heat lamp and told me not to be concerned but they would wrap my baby in a Tesco (how apt!) bag to keep him warm when he was delivered. When he was born he cried immediately. It took them 20 minutes to ventilate him as he was wriggling around so much. His apgar scores were 8,9 then 9 so pretty good. Then he was whisked off to SBCU.

What I can share about the labour and delivery:
Birth plans are all very well, but no-one prepares you for the fact that you might deliver your baby pre-term.
I did the whole thing with no antenatal classes, and everyone in the delivery room helped me when I needed it. Your body knows what to do.
It was painful, but not that bad. I had 2 paracetamol and a few puffs of gas and air. Some will say it didn't hurt because the baby was small, but getting dilated is the same regardless of the size of the baby I would think! Some also think that it is harder work to push out smaller babies.
I got boiling hot in the delivery room. I also found the pressure on my bladder unbearable.
Pre-term labour can happen very quick. I was likely fully dilated at 9pm that night, that was around 3 hours after the initial twinges. If it happens to you, don't waste time and get to hospital asap.

Jamie spent 6.5 weeks in SCBU before he came home. So far he is doing really well. No reason was ever found for what happened as infection and placental problems (the main culprits) were ruled out.
If anyone wants to pm me about this please do. I hope I haven't worried any of you who are pregnant, and what happened to me is really rare. But I never in a million years thought this would happen to me, so hopefully this birth story will help someone who might go through the same thing.

hngrymummy

My contractions began at around 10pm Sunday evening, and were regular straight away. 10 minutes apart lasting around a minute. DH popped the TENS machine on my back. Before too long they were 5 minutes apart lasting up to 1minute 20. By about half 3, I’d had enough and called the delivery suite, who advised me to go in if the pain was too much for me, which it was. When I arrived I was seen by a midwife who tried to find the foetal heartbeat, but couldn’t for about 20 minutes, and she had to use 4 different machines! Every time I stood up or lay down, it would start a mini-contraction lasting about 30 seconds – I couldn’t put any weight on my bum. The midwife timed these contractions and logged them, but was always out of the room for all of the other ones, and didn’t log them or ask if I’d had any. She examined me, which was really painful, and said that I was only 2cm, and also told me she’d done a stretch and sweep while she was there (I was a little annoyed as she didn’t ask if she could). She also said that my waters membrane was bulging. She said that as my contractions were so short and irregular I should go home and relax, take some paracetomol and get some sleep!! She didn’t seem to understand when we explained how regular my contractions were (DH made a spreadsheet and recorded them all). So we went home, with me almost in tears. I took some paracetomol, which I promptly vomited up, and lay down in bed. DH came and cuddled me, and massaged me for each contraction. Then my waters broke with a gush. DH called the hospital for me. After that, each contraction produced a gush of waters. I went through about 4 pairs of knickers before I gave up and just said to DH – we’re going to hospital, wet clothes or not. And they were VERY wet by the time we arrived at about 7:30am.

As we arrived at the centre I had another contraction and ended up whacking my head against the wall! We were seen pretty quickly, and they listened for baby’s heart, which was lovely and strong. I asked for gas and air and a pool if possible. The MW was dubious as they didn’t want to give G+A too quickly. A quick exam revealed I was 5cm, and the wonderful G+A arrived. Bliss I was still gushing waters with every contraction, and the MW commented on how much fluid I had!

I should say here that the MW was lovely, and said they would do their best with my birth plan (very simply, my birth plan said “no needles”), but couldn’t guarantee all of it. I said that I would do what she felt best, as I had no idea about giving birth.

I was offered a bath to help with the pain, so I took off the TENS and was allowed in to some blissful water while they looked to sort out the birthing pool for me. When the pool was ready I was wrapped in a towel and sheet and we popped down the corridor to the pool room. To be honest I wasn’t fussed about people seeing me in the buff by that point, but the MW insisted.

I climbed in and felt relief almost straight away. Unfortunately, it seemed to relax me a bit too much and my contractions slowed down. After about 2 hours the MW ordered me out of the pool as she wasn’t happy with progress and I was getting the urge to push, which she said I couldn’t do as it was too soon. A quick exam revealed I was still 5cm, so the MW made me walk around the room a bit, try the ball and the birth stool. And I was under strict instructions not to push – easier said than done. Poor DH walked round with me and supported me when I had a contraction. During one contraction I ended up stamping on his foot really really hard. He had shoes on, but I still hurt him. The next contraction I ended up lifting my other foot up, so he had all my weight on his sore toes. One bounce on the ball had me in agony. The stool was wonderful. I could grip on to it, and there was no weight on my bum.

I was allowed back in the pool, and they monitored my dilation with a mirror on a stick and a torch. :rotfl:. I was still under strict instructions not to push, which was getting harder and harder with every contraction. Then there came the blissful moment when the MW said I could push. The bliss didn’t last long though as I was ordered out of the pool again. The MW said she wanted the baby delivered while she was still on her shift, and if I stayed in the pool it was unlikely to happen for quite some time as my contractions were slowing down again. My G+A was taken away too as it was keeping me too zonked, but they let me keep the mouth piece to chew on, which helped. I came out and sat on the birthing stool. Baby crowned while I was on it, but the MW wasn’t happy, so I was moved to the bed and continued on my side. I did manage to kick her in the neck during one contraction though. Ooops.

The nurse and MW got some warm water and flannels to help prevent pereneal tearing.

The MW, nurse and a second midwife (from the delivery suite upstairs, I guess she was having a quiet night) were trying to guess on baby’s weight, and they ranged from 6 to 8lbs. He was 8lb 4oz

Then, just as I thought I just couldn’t do it any more, there was a sudden rush and his head was out, followed by an arm. One more push and he was all out and wailing. After a quick wipe down he was put on my tummy, and I burst in to tears. I was inspected for tearing, and they decided that the little tear I had didn’t need stitching up. Once he was out they said that he was back-to-back, which the MW said was the reason that my urges to push were so strong, and probably why I couldn’t put any weight on my bum, or labour on my back.

Then we just had to wait for the placenta to be delivered. After nearly an hour of trying, the MW decided that an injection was necessary, but they would try doing it into the cord first. I’m pleased to say that it worked.

Matthew breast fed quite soon, then just went to sleep and stayed that way for most of the night. I couldn’t even wake him to do a feed at 2am.

I had a shower, and washed my hair, which made me feel human again. While I was getting clean, the MW popped in and gave Matthew his vitamin K. I never even realised he’d had it!

DH was wonderful throughout and held my hands, massaged my shoulders and gave me encouragement the whole time.

The MW and nurse were amazing, and bossed me around just the right amount to get me labouring well. They did everything they could to prevent me having needles. Matthew was delivered before the end of the MW’s shift, and she stayed on until the placenta was out and she was happy with my progress.

I was allowed home the same night, once they were happy I’d had enough of a wee. The MW even sorted out some hot food for me.

We got packed up and were home in time for the end of One Born Every Minute!

Crumbs, that’s long for a straightforward birth.

System

Please keep posting, i find your stories so eye-opening and just..wow with some of them.

SJP

I woke on the Monday morning and felt as though I wasn't pregnant... I began to start thinking this baby was going to be overdue....

At 5pm that evening I felt a bit damp, looked at OH and said things might be starting. I went to loo and seemed to have a lot of discharge, so went back down and said I wasn't sure. About ten minutes later I felt as though i'd wet myself, I ran up to loo again and my waters had gone.... Started trickling and then it started flowing. As I was having an home birth OH called his parents and asked for them to pick DS up (we'd decided we didn't want him at home when it happened, as he didn't need to hear it all) He then called the labour ward and advised them that my waters had gone. The on call midwife called back and asked for directions to the house and said she would be with us by 7pm, to check me over and make sure everything was ok. At this point, I had no pain or contractions, so was just sitting on a towel with a pad on and a maternity mat underneath me.

MW arrived and asked to do an internal, she advised that I wasn't in labour as I wasn't dilated at all and we'd to carry on as normal. A bed was booked for me at the labour ward for 7am on the Wed morning to be induced, if nothing had started happening at this point.

We had tea and at 9pm we went to bed, thinking we would get an early night, we were watching One Born Every Minute when I started with the contractions. They were managable at this point, one every 15 minutes, however I couldn't rest with them. I remember asking OH how often they were coming and he was saying still the same. At 10.15pm I couldn't stand laying there any more so got out of bed to get the tens machine. At this point I felt really sick, and was sore down below from the internal earlier....
At 11pm I couldn't stand it, the contractions started feeling continous, I was walking about hoping it would help but i'd started panicking. I hadn't even looked at the tens machine when I hired it, so didn't know if I was using it correctly. OH called the labour ward back and they asked to speak to me, to see if I was in labour!!! They were happy I was and arranged for the same midwife that came earlier to come back.

By the time she got there at 11.30pm, I was doubled over leaning over the sofa in agony, the pain never seemed to ease.... She gave me G & A which really helped. She gave me another very uncomfortable internal and I was 6cm... This helped, as I thought it would be almost over. MW called for another MW as she thought it wouldn't be long. The other MW came and it was the MW that I hadn't liked when I met her at the clinic, I found her rather patronising!!! I was pretty much out of it at this point with the G & A, but the two MW's were talking about the G & A running out, think this convinced me that there was nothing in the canisters and I started panicking again. I was in agony, the contractions seemed to be never ending, and I wanted to push. They encouraged me to push, which I did and was in more pain then, this went on for about an hour. I was begging OH to make it all stop at this point, OH asked what they were going to do. They gave me another internal at 3.30am and I was still 6cm dilated....

OH said enough was enough, he wanted me in hospital, he wasn't impressed with the two MW's they were shouting at me and telling me to calm down etc He was also shocked that they had been telling me to push when I wasn't fully dilated. An ambulance was called and I was taken in.

At the hospital, they gave me another internal and I was 7cm, there was a bit of panic as they couldn't locate baby's heartbeat. They found it and asked if I would try a new epidural drug, as I had had one for DS, I agreed and this was rigged up. By this time I was feeling more in control.

7.30am and it was shift changeover for MW. My new one was lovely. She gave me an internal, she said I was only 4cm and that there was a lot of bruising. I was asked if they could take some blood from the top of the baby's head to make sure it was getting enough oxygen. OH was warned that I could be rushed to theatre at this point. The blood tests came back ok so we were just playing the waiting game.

At 11am babys heartbeat went really high, they asked if they could do another blood test. Again the results were fine. At 1pm I was finally fully dilated. I reminded OH that I didn't want an epiostomy and the MW saw no reason for me to need one. At 2pm I started to push.... The contractions weren't coming often enough for me to push the baby out, the Doctor came back and said it had gone on long enough, they were getting worried about the baby....

Immy Lou was born by ventous at 14.40, however the cord was round her neck... They put her on my tummy and it was love at first sight. I thought it was all over, but then I was asked to BF baby as they thought this might help the placenta to come out. This didn't help. At 15.15 I was taken to theatre to have the placenta manually removed, this was done by topping up my epidural.

We were both home the next day, I was on antibiotics from the op, but only needed one stitch!

I was a bit sad that I hadn't had Immy Lou at home, but with the cord round her neck and the placenta not comin away, we were in the best place.

Although I should have worked out how to use the tens machine, instead of leaving it until the last minute!!

spaghetti_monster

So here's my birth story… I live in Holland, so I think some things are a bit different and sometimes I know the pregnancy terms and conditions better in Dutch than English. Also from being on the pregnancy thread I think that you don't get so much choice over here about the details of your birth plan (if you want a hospital birth like me) - they just have their way of doing things.

From the weekend before I was getting more and more of the bloody show thing and some period-type pains and from about 6pm Tues the pains started to come in waves. About 8pm they were really more noticeable and OH and I started timing - they were about 3-7 mins apart and 30sec-1min long. Ranging from bad period pain to a bit worse. We rang the hospital just to check - I also wanted to double check as I was still losing blood all the time, although it was mostly brown and slimy (sorry TMI!) They said to sit tight.
So this went on all night and I couldn't sleep - a couple of times managed to doze off between contractions, but mostly stayed downstairs on the sofa. We called the hospital again in the morning to tell them how it was going and they said still sit tight - the contractions have to be really regular (4mins apart), although mine never seemed to get regular..
We had quite a funny day - watched Psychoville episodes and the Social Network which took my mind off things and I managed to nibble on a few things although I didn't feel like eating. Also took a bath which was very nice.
In the end the hospital called us in the evening to see how things were going - basically the contractions were getting worse but only very gradually. They said just take your time and come in this evening and we'll have a look.

Arrived at the hospital at 9pm, they said I was 2-3cm and the cervix and neck of the uterus was really thin and the right shape, ready to go (sorry don't know the word!). They left us for a while and I think it was around 11pm when they came back - it was a MW and she offered 3 options:
1. break the waters to get things going
2. take some pethidine so I can sleep and get some rest
3. go home and try to sleep/rest
She recommended no.2 as she thought I needed some sleep but didn't think I would rest at home so well. But there's the risk that pethidine could affect the baby. I really didn't know what to do as I was so knackered, didn't want to travel back home etc. So they left us to think about it.

Then I think there was an emergency/shift change etc and nobody came back to us until about 2am. This time it was a doctor and she was all for breaking the waters and getting it done, so I thought, OK let's go for it (also as I was not so comfortable about the pethidine).
Now things really got going. I remember reading somewhere about resting/gathering yourself between contractions, but this was not my experience - the pain seemed to be there all the time. In Holland gas and air is banned, so after a couple of agonizing hours (I think they told me I was now 6cm) I thought - I'll ask for an epidural. It was now 2 nights that I hadn't slept and I really felt like my tank was almost empty IYKWIM. I knew that there could be hours to go and they usually turn off the epidural for the pushing stage so my reasoning (what was left!) was that I could get some energy back for that bit.
Being my first one, I didn't know how much pain relief an epidural is meant to give, but later I described to the MW that for a very short time I had 70/80% of the pain I had before, so I think it didn't work very well. But I guess I didn't realise this at first. Soon all the pain was back on 100% and over the next couple of hours I got to 9.5cm. At various points I had tried standing leaning on the bed, sitting leaning on OH, sitting on the gym ball but basically I realised that my legs weren't up to anything and by now the only position I could manage was lying on my side.
Contractions by now were coming all the time and I also had a lot of pain in my hips and left leg. OH was being really good getting me through them, remembering to breathe and not panic.
There had been a shift change meanwhile and I also have to mention this maternity nurse that came to look after me - he was a guy in his 50's and at various moments when the pain was really unbearable he massaged my back and legs - he really had magic hands! It also really calmed me down as sometimes I would forget to stop "puffing" and breath normally if the contractions gave me a break.

OH had been badgering them for some time that the epidural didn't seem to be working and they said they would call the anesthetist and sort it out, but this seemed to take a while. In the meantime I started to get the urge to push, but the pushing contractions were not really getting going, so they gave me an oxytocin infusion to boost them ("sorry we can't wait for the anesthetist"), but still not much progress. They did an echo and discovered that the baby was lying back to back and also that his head was a quarter turn the wrong way. At some point (after I started trying to push) his heart rate was really getting low and nothing was really moving, so they told me it would have to be a cesarean. At about the same time the anesthetist came - he first put more drugs in the same catheter and then tested various points on my belly and legs with an ice-cube and sure enough I could feel everything, so he took it out and put a new one in which worked a treat.

It was a weird moment when they told us it had to be a cesarean and I felt quite tearful - happy that the pain was over, my baby was still ok and I'd see him very shortly but also disappointed and feeling like a failure. Everyone kept saying I'd done really well and had gotten most of the way under my own steam, but I couldn't really see it that way at the time - I felt like I was a bit of a wimp and couldn't take the pain very well and wondered what would have happened in the olden days without all this modern technology.

Anyway, the c-section went well - there was a really nice atmosphere in the operating theatre, friendly and informal. Someone lifted my head at the crucial moment and I could see baby's head coming out - it was amazing and quite funny - he had a really angry look! What with that and and his cone head from pushing OH said he reminded him of Grandpa Simpson (unfortunately he told me this later when it really hurt to laugh!) I think there were 4 people trying to pull him out - he didn't pop out as easily as I expected from a cesarean and apparently his shoulder was also quite stuck. He was quickly whisked away with OH into the next room where they pronounced everything fine (his APGAR was 9) and then OH brought him back to me for a cuddle. He then went in a conveuse (don't know if that's the same in English?) for 15 mins and was then brought back to me in the recovery room.

I then stayed in hospital for 4 days. The staff were great and the nurses even gave OH several lessons in nappy changing/bathing/getting wriggling arms into romper suits etc. They also gave me a lot of support for BF and helping my milk come in and so far it's going pretty well.

I also want to write something about the week after I got home. In Holland every new mum and baby is entitled to 8 days after-delivery care and we were very lucky to get a fantastic lady who we got on really well with. She came for 6 or 7 hours each day - basically monitoring the baby's and my health and giving loads of advice and tips about all aspects (she had 30 years experience also as a maternity nurse). She also kept our beds clean, bathroom and kitchen clean, did all the washing and made lunch - all quite unbelievable to me! (The Dutch are used to it!) She will also manage visitors (let them in and make tea/coffee) if you like - including playing the bad guy and chucking them out if it gets too much - although my OH can also do a good job of this! He was quite protective as after the c-section I couldn't sleep so well (when sleep was possible!) But basically this first week at home was quite amazing and I'm so glad I had all this extra help - from OH as well as the after-care lady.

So, baby Spaghetti is now 11 days old, everything is going well, we're getting more and more comfortable in our routine. I know it's a cliche, but when I was right in the middle of it all I thought: I'm 110% sure there's absolutely no way I'm ever going to do this again. And now I find myself thinking….maybe another one at some point in the future would be nice…….

brednall

Apologies for taking so long to post this. It is quite long and detailed but hope it helps someone out there to know not every birth is quick and straightforward although I know some have a much more difficult time than I did.

Our daughter, Jessica Evie, was born on Wednesday 27th January 2010 at 10.09pm and this is the story of my pregnancy and her birth.

My husband & I were married in 2007 and decided to try to start a family when we returned from honeymoon. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for us. We had 2 miscarriages. The first was picked up at the 12 week scan and resulted in a D&C operation the following day and the second was a natural miscarriage at approximately 8 weeks. We also had a third positive test but again I started to bleed only a week later so looked on this as more of a late period. As we potentially had had three miscarriages, the doctor referred us to the hospital for further tests. After 3 lots of blood tests, the results all came back ‘normal’. Although this was good news, it was also hard. A part of me hoped that something would be wrong so that it could be treated.

When we became pregnant again, I immediately contacted the Early Pregnancy Unit at Derby Royal Hospital. Little did I know that this would be the first of 9 scans during my pregnancy! We had our first scan at 7 weeks and to see the strong heartbeat on that little screen was amazing. I had gone in alone for the scan and when the nurse went to collect my husband from the waiting room, he thought something was wrong as our first miscarriage was picked up at our first scan. The relief on his face when the nurse said everything was OK was fantastic. We had another scan at the EPU at 9 weeks and we were then discharged into the care of the local midwife.

Because of previous complications, I was put under the care of a consultant at the hospital so I had scans at weeks 7, 9, 12, 16, 20, 28, 32, 34 and then one at 38 following a period of reduced movement. My final appointment with the consultant was made for 5 days after my due date of 21 January and I never expected to keep this appointment. My due date came and went with no sign of our baby wanting to enter the world so we had the keep the appointment. When we arrived, my consultant was not in the hospital so we saw one of his registrars. She offered to perform a sweep and then book an induction for a week later. She told me not to get my hopes up as a sweep only works for 1 in 7 people. I went home and kept my fingers crossed.

When I went for a bath that night, I noticed a pink show and told my husband that this could be the start of a long few days. Only a few hours later, my contractions were about 10 minutes apart. The hospital advised a bath and some paracetamol, both of which I’d tried but to no avail at alleviating the pains. We waited another hour until just after midnight and then made our way to the hospital. I wanted to know how far along I was if nothing else. When we arrived at the labour ward, the nurse told me I would have to be monitored for at least an hour before they would examine me. It was a long hour!! Upon examination, I was only 1-2 cms dilated but I said that I didn’t want to make the half hour journey home that may result in me turning straight round to come back, especially as the weather was very cold, icy and even snow in some areas. I’d been virtually housebound since finishing work on 18th December due to the weather. I was given some more paracetamol and admitted to the ward at about 4am. My husband was sent home and I was sort of left to my own devices. I managed to get myself into my night clothes and attached the TENS machine (which isn’t an easy thing to do by yourself!). Needless to say I didn’t get any sleep that night and even ate my breakfast while I was having contractions. My husband arrived back at the hospital about 9.30 after only a couple of hours sleep himself.

The contractions continued during the morning and the wonderful midwife Charlotte recommended one of their special baths in what has to be the biggest bath I’ve ever seen. It did help and was very relaxing but didn’t really change the contractions. As the day wore on, I did think I would wear out the boost button on the TENS machine. The midwife told me to call her if things got stronger and she would examine me again. My parents called for an hour during visiting and the second they left, I asked to be re-examined again. Charlotte came back and when she examined me, she told me I was at least 4 cms dilated and I would be transferred immediately down to the labour ward. When she had examined me, she did think she had ruptured the membranes but this was not the case. It was a mad rush to get all my belongings back in the suitcase before she came back with a wheelchair. A swift transfer downstairs following and the rest of the day passed somewhat surreally.

Immediately on arriving on the labour ward, I was greeted by another friendly midwife called Julie who asked my permission if a student midwife could be present throughout my labour. By this stage, I’m not sure I cared who was there! I was given gas & air (which has to be the best invention known to man) and advised to take long, deep breaths with each contraction. It took some getting used to but it was amazing. Julie hooked me up to the heart rate monitor with a strap around my bump for the baby and a clip on my finger for me but the heart rates were too close together so a clip has to be placed on the baby’s head so her heart rate could be monitored more accurately. Also, as I was taking in the gas & air, my heart rate was climbing and the baby’s heart rate was dropping. I was told I would only be allowed to push for an hour and then the doctor would be called to try an alternative method of delivery. That hour seemed the longest of my life and I really began to doubt if I could go through with it. I was in an awkward position on the bed without enough support for my back which resulted in severe backache. We did wonder if the baby was lying in an awkward position but I was examined again and told that she was in the perfect birthing position.

I tried as hard as I could to push but it has to be the weirdest thing to do as it just doesn’t feel natural even though it is what your body is telling you to do. In the end, they brought in a doctor who was lovely but kept on telling me that ‘you’ll have a baby in the next 3 pushes’. I’m pretty sure it took a lot more than that. Next thing, she’s opening up a big surgical package full of weird looking instruments and telling me that I will need a ventouse delivery. This was very painful as I had had no pain relief except for gas & air (and an earlier shot of pethidine which just made me sleepy). The insertion of the suction cup was excrutiating but she assured me that would stretch things in place for the baby to be delivered. After a couple more pushes and some pulling on her side, we had a head delivered. She then told me NOT to push but I asked her if she was joking!! ‘Ok, then push again if that’s what you feel like’ so I did and out slid our beautiful little girl. Unfortunately, I had a small tear which had to be stitched up which in my opinion was much more painful than any pushing.

Afterwards, we were left in the delivery room as a family for quite some time as they were really busy. DH held Jessica while I had a quick wash to get cleaned up and we had to wait to find out her weight for about an hour after her birth. She was a healthy 8lbs 3ozs!!! Lots of phonecalls to parents and siblings to pass on the great news. Eventually taken up to the post-natal ward but I had to have fluids due to my fluctuating heart rate from earlier which made sleep quite awkward. DH was sent home at approximately 2am and I was left to it which was quite scary. Fortunately, Jessica slept pretty much all night so I did get some sleep after two very long days previously.

I think that is everything. I am currently pregnant again so I have it all to look foward to again later this year.

jojo1978_3

OK, here's my birth story...its not very long

I woke up with my first contraction at 3 minutes to 2am on friday 18th March 2011-11 days overdue!! It felt slightly more intense than any i'd had the previous 2 weeks, but....since i was convinced i was never going to get the baby out, i wasn't sure that this was it. So i just lay in bed timing them. After an hour and a half of them being between 8 and 11 minutes apart, i text my mum to let her know that this could be it and is she available to babysit. At this point i contemplated waking my snoring dh to let him know, but my mobile rang and woke him and he heard the conversation with my mum and started to panic.
So, i got up thinking i'd better go make the sandwiches for the kids school lunches, also thought this may help speed my contractions up. In the process i woke up ds who figured i was in labour, but i told him i wasn't and to go back to sleep (surprisingly he knew i was lying and just lay in bed awake). Then dd1 woke up too.
Making the sandwiches did speed up the contractions, but made them irregular and shorter. Called the hosp when mum arrived, they said to hang on another half an hour and to call them back with my progress. I asked if they were busy and told them i planned a waterbith....not a chance though, they were overrun!!
An hour later i called back, and someone had to call me back, they were that busy! They said to hang on til it was pretty much unbearable. So i did, but by 6.30am i'd had enough contractions were between 3 and 5 mins apart lasting around 1 min. I called them and TOLD them i was coming in. Got there to be told they didn't have a bed for me yet, but one was being cleaned ready for me. Cue the hormonal woman bursting into tears, felt like such a wally. Was scared that things were going to slow down and they were going to send me home. Got in the room after about 30 mins and was checked over, they said that because the contractions had gone irregular again, i may have to go home. But i was 5 cm dilated, so was staying
The contractions slowly got worse and the tens machine although taking the edge off started doing my head in, so i had gas and air too, but was so tired and just figured i just couldn't do. The contractions were so intense by now and i felt like i could feel the baby coming down, then trickles of water. I told dh that i could feel my waters going so jumped up on the bed, i was now shouting "call the midwife-press that button" to dh, i knew it was all going to happen quickly now. Midwife came in and said "ok, i'll just get everything ready". I don't think she expected what happened next. The overwhelming urge to push happened and the waters gushed, another midwife came in and the 1st one said, we're going to need to get your pants off. All i remember saying was "rip them off" (they were disposable) and what felt like seconds later, i'd pushed his head out, then it was over (dh said it was minutes not seconds). He was finally here at 10.34am
Only lost 200ml of blood, so really had a fantastic pregnancy and labour and had a beautiful baby weighing 4.01 kg (which i think is around 8lb13.5oz) instead of the 11lber i thought i was having.

This will be my last baby and the thought of him growing up scares me, so i'm going to treasure every moment we have. He's settled into our little family well and his 3yr old sister is besotted with him, as are dd1 and ds.
I feel so lucky and so blessed. Thanks to everyone on the pregnancy thread who has helped me through since i joined it almost 30 weeks ago. For those nearing the end of your pregnancy and starting to feel that the baby may never come (like i did), it will come and the intense love and happiness you feel when you see their little face and hold them is amazing and makes you forget immediately how down you felt and the pain you went through. xx