MSE Pregnancy Club Birth Stories

Perdi

In hindsight I'd felt really uncomfortable on Thurs evening, and had backache and period type pains, which was probably things kicking off.

Went to the loo at about 4:30am on Friday morning and had what I
assumed was a show. Too excited that something was happening to sleep properly. I intended to tell OH to go to work and I'd call the midwife later on. Literally as the alarm went and he was going in the shower I had a really wierd 'kick' that I thought I could hear - realised it could well have been called a pop and sure enough I gushed when I stood up!

The assessment unit was really busy so asked us to come in later at 10am, which was fine as I just had period type pains. They confirmed my waters had gone. They booked me in an induction for the next day and I got sent home to wait it out, had to monitor my temp and now had 24hours to start labour naturally.

Had some lunch and a snooze with the TENS on - never really got on with it, it just tended to get in the way, but obviously have no idea how bad the pain would have been without it.

Found my birthing ball completely useless as sitting on it (or sitting anywhere) really hurt. I walked up and down the hall and leant against door frames, as the pain got worse I hung off OH and eventually ended up on all fours up the stairs. Realised about 5:30 it was going to happen tonight so we got some chips to keep us going! Not long after the contractions became unbearable so we rang the unit again and they tried to persuade me not to come in yet as they'd only been that bad for half an hour and they usuallymrecommend an hour or so before thinking of coming in as 'first time labour takes quite a while'. Ladies this is complete rubbish so trust your instincts!

After getting off the phone to them and suffering two more contractions I expressed my opinion quite strongly that we were
going in whether they liked it or not . I knew I wouldn't be able
to make it into the car if we waited much longer.

OH drove me to the hospital with me hanging on to the handle on
the car and moaning very loudly.I can't believe how much noise I was making, I always thought I'd be quite reserved!

I got given gas and air on the assessment unit which became my new best friend and no-one would get it off me for love nor money!

They examined me and I was 6/7cm dilated so really good that I didn't listen to them! They said they could see alot of hair as well.

The maternity unit was so busy that night they actually closed it - which is really rare here, we were lucky to get in. So I was kept on the assessment unit for a while with instructions not to push while they found me a room!

I lost track of time at this point but eventually I got wheeled into a delivery room with assurances I could push now so I think I might have been compaining quite a lot .

I took quite a while to get going though, and I just wasn't pushing effectively.The midwife kept joking she had expected to be done by now and the woman next door was beating me. I remember them coming in and offering everyone a cup of tea, in fact during one push I went to grab OH and he was too busy drinking his tea :eek:

I am very grateful for my midwife as I think without her I would have needed intervention. She examined me at one point during a contraction and helped me feel the 'right' way to push and after that things progressed. It took me just over 2 hours. At some point I got rid of the gas and air as it was just getting in the way. There was a student midwife as well, who was lovely but took too long to find the heartbeat between contractions and I kept having to push her off as she was distracting me.

I remember the midwife telling me the head was coming out and I shouted I KNOW as I could feel myself tearing. Seeing her plop out was so weird, I just stared. She was really pink and started crying straight away, not at all wrinkly. OH was fascinated by watching the head go in and out and admitted he got really over excited when the head finally came all the way out - and also freaked out about how big it seemed .

We just crept over into saturday and Isobel Grace was born 12:32am 11th June weighing 6lb 9oz.

I pretty much ignored my birth plan once I was in there, you just don't know how you'll feel.I found the contractions almost unbearable to cope with, they were just so uncontrolled and all over the place. Pushing was better as the pain had a purpose iykwim, it just took me so long I nearly ran out of energy.

Everyone laughed at me as after all that I still complained that the injection for the placenta hurt! I had a second degree tear but I was given the choice of whether I wanted stitches or not. I said no as I was so exhausted and just wanted to be left alone by that point.

We had skin to skin, she pooed all over OH and we got the obligatory tea and toast which is the best toast you will ever have. Because it was so busy they kept me in the delivery room overnight which was actually great as it was my own private room.

At 7am they came and said they had to move me to the assessment unit as they needed the room. They'd moved four of us in there and drafted in a community midife to look after us, she said it was the first time in her career she'd had to do this and never known it to be so busy! We got given more toast and left alone until just before 9 when they came to move us onto the ward. I loved being wheeled about everywhere and not having to move. Once there we got, yep, more toast :rotfl:

Once I was out of hospital it became clear to me I was actually in shock. If anyone started talking to me about the birth I would physically shake and rush to the bathroom. It took me a while to be able to think about it, despite having a 'straightforward birth'. I think it was the feeling so out of control that got me. Luckily I was able to tell OH how I felt and he kept an eye on me.

It is definitely hard work being a mom, but Izzy is so cute and I adore her.

sparkle76

Hi everyone,

Sorry it has taken a while to get round to posting this but now I have a few mins to myself, it's nice to get it down 'on screen'.

On the 11th July I took myself to hospital at 15:30pm as a suspected urinary infection has not cleared up with Amoxyccillin. I had bad back pain, still going to the loo every 10 or 15 mins, it was so uncomfortable. I had been posting on the pregnancy thread as to how to alleviate things but knew after trying many things it still didn't feel right.

So after calling the midwife triage nurse at hospital and also informing her I hadn't felt him move much that day, I went in at 15:30. To cut a long story short, they monitored me and baby for 45 mins, told me I was having mild contractions, did an internal check, saw pooling of amniotic fluid. I was told I may have had a leak and been unaware, therefore even though he was only due around 24th July they would have to induce me due to possible risk of infection and baby would be born within the next 24 hours (12th July). I was in shock, having come in due to a persistent urinary infection! Called hubby and he was also just as shocked.

Anyway at around 8pm the midwives broke my waters (very strange feeling) then at 9pm I was induced with a pill. I felt little at first and used the bath in the en suite to feel more comforable, then gas and air from around 10pm. Hubby was amazing support. At around 1pm I believe they asked me to stop using the gas and air so I could focus more. The pain was unbearable and I must admit to not pushing properly, very hard to listen to them when your body is doing it's own thing! I wish I had eaten better before they induced me, I am sure that a little more energy from food would have helped...

I tried many positions, felt like I passed out at one point, and once I was at that stage of exhaustion and baby's head was close, they cut me and also used forceps, then lots of blood loss and with more pushing Aidan James was finally born at 4:20am to the sound of seagulls waking up... with all the commotion hubby wasn't able to cut the cord but we were just glad to see our gorgeous little Aidan James and spend some time with him. Those first few moments are so calm and precious, his eyes were wide open.

Sadly the placenta did not come out of it's own accord within the hour so I was injected but this also did not work. I had to then have an epidural ready for surgery to remove it. Not being able to feel my legs was a blessing for that time, I was able to sleep a little too on the operating table. Unfortunately as we were leaving the operating room, I suddenly started to shiver really badly and got very cold, it was awful and around 12 people ended up working on me to get my blood pressure normalised, with a 'Bear Hug' blanket, oxygen, saline and eventually a blood transfusion (4 packs over 3 days). They placed AJ on me at one point for more bonding and I imagine to try and bring my core temperature back up. Hubby had him and the doctors told him to not watch as they needed space and would keep him informed, it was all so worrying. Anyway after a few hours I was better and I sent hubby home to rest, AJ was taken to special care as he was a couple of weeks premature.

Next few days are a blur as I was in intensive care then a few other different wards, very hard as other mums had their babies with them and were feeding/changing them etc or havingvisitors, packing their bags etc. I was being brought AJ once or twice a day, then eventually once I could get out of bed I visited him. I fed him colostrum via syringe when possible and apart from that they had to give him SMA to start with, I hated seeing him with tubes inhis nose, plus he had IV for antibiotics like I did. I had difficulty breastfeeding over those few days and felt so guilty, sadly only on the day we checked out did any of the staff notice that for all that time AJ had had a tongue tie, which a midwife was thankfully able to sort once we went home on the 16th.

It took 3 days for me and also AJ to learn how to start to basically breastfeed and on day 3 I was close to giving up and even bought some formula just in case, he was fractious due to hunger and my guilt at not being able to feed him was overwhelming, combined with lack of sleep for all of us. Days merged into nights and I was just in bed in pain and still taking so many different pills. Luckily the local midwives visited on the next day after we got back, then on day 2 and 3 as well, plus a breastfeeding specialist visited twice also. Once his tongue tie was sorted and I was able to get more comfortable, plus my wrists were stronger from recovering from IV drips/injections etc, we started to feel more normal.

We are now a happy and calm household, and thanks to very strong breastfeeding support able to start to do it, but I can definately see how people may give up early on. It will take 6-8 weeks to establish breastfeeding properly apparently, after that I will express milk so that OH can do his feeds also.

It was not the best first time experience but not much can be done about that now apart from enjoy our little bundle and move forward! I imagine this is the 'easy' stage as he is sleeping a lot, but every day he is more aware and so very cute, we love him to bits and he is going to be a little heartbreaker.

Apricot

Baby Lily born 27th July 2011 7lb 7oz

Thought I would post while it's still fresh in my mind.

27th July was my due date and I had loads of phonecalls that morning asking whether anything was happening yet. I was getting a bit annoyed as hadn't even had so much as a twinge to make me think that labour may be imminent.

About 11am I started feeling a bit uncomfortable, nothing major just felt really fidgety at whatever position I was sat in so I decided to jump in the bath and see if that would help. Was in the bath reading a book when suddenly things started getting a lot more painful, I still wasn't convinced that this was anything more than braxton hicks but decided to jump out and have a lie down. All I could think was that I really needed a poo but everytime I sat on the loo I had to stand up again as it was painful!
By 12ish I actually started believing it was real so started timing the contractions and put my TENS machine on. The TENS was absolutely useless for me so that got thrown across the room, on checking the contraction timer I noticed that they were getting a lot closer together so got OH to call the maternity unit. They told me to stay at home for another hour at least but the pain was so intense by this time that we got in the car anyway - glad that we did because on the way contractions were less than two minutes apart meaning OH nearly crashed the car about 10 times on the way there because he was so panicked! :rotfl:

We pulled up outside maternity unit and were taken straight into a lovely room with a birth pool and nice low lighting. MW examined me and I was already 4cm dilated so she gave me the gas and air and started to fill up the birth pool. The gas and air really spaced me out and I nearly fell off the bed but it did help a lot with the pain
MW examined me again as she didn't want me going into the birth pool until I was at least 5cm, thankfully I was 9cm already! (went from 4cm to 9cm in half an hour) so I was able to get straight in the pool.

The pool was lovely and soothing but as soon as I got in there I couldn't use the gas and air anymore as it was making me really lightheaded. I do remember shouting at OH that we should just go home and adopt a little chinese baby rather than go through the pain! My water still hadn't broken but MW said if I wanted her to break it I would need to get out of the pool which I didn't want, she told me to just start pushing and they would hopefully break of their own accord.

Started pushing and on the second push my water did break, with the next contraction I pushed again and baby came out! She sort of floated to the surface and I stayed in the pool with her for about 15 minutes. OH cut the cord, even after he said that he wouldn't, he is absolutely besotted with his little girl! She was born at 4.50pm just under 3 hours from when we arrived at the hospital!

I had the injection to deliver the placenta and had a second degree tear so was stitched up but had more skin to skin with the baby at the same time.

The whole experience was amazing, Lily is such a content little girl!

Sequeena

Thomas Emlyn born August 7th 2011 at 7:42am weighing 6lbs 8.5oz

Well Thomas has been fed and is sleeping in his bouncer so whilst I've got a quiet few minutes I'm going to try and gather my thoughts.

So on August 3rd 2011 the day before I was due I started losing my plug at around 6pm. I got very very excited and expected things to happen there and then but of course it didn't happen!! I had a few random pains that were irregular from about 10pm that night so I stayed up all night with Sean (my partner) which was a bad move, we were knackered!

They started getting a bit regular (or regular to me anyway) on the 4th so I rang my local birthing centre who said they would send a midwife round to see how I was. Well the midwife never turned up, she got caught up in a birth. I rang the birthing centre back and told them I had an appointment with a midwife that day anyway so I would just go see her.

My midwife wasn't concerned at all. She said my contractions were too irregular but it was looking good.

They were still irregular on the 5th but were getting more painful slowly. This is such a tiny part, I can't even remember what I did on the 5th! I lost a day!

I woke up at 5am on the 6th crying in pain. I told Sean we had to go to hospital so he rang his dad who took us and by 7am I was on a trace in the maternity ward. Thomas was a naughty little boy and moved so they had to rush me down to delivery and do a trace down there. I was fine, he was fine, so I was moved back to maternity ward.

Throughout the day my contractions were getting stronger but I was always told they were too irregular. The midwives so incompetent. I asked for paracetamol and Sean had to ask them himself around 3 times before I got any.

I kept getting told to go for walks. On one walk I had 12 contractions in 45 minutes but they still weren't regular enough??

The day wore on and I had no sleep. I was having around 3 every 10 minutes and the only position that helped was sitting on the birthing ball in front of Sean, holding his hands and bouncing. I seemed to be the only one in early labour on the ward, the other few women there were overdue and due to be induced.

The midwives kept asking me if I wanted to go home, and I held off for as long as I could. I didn't want to go home because I knew it was going to get worse but in the end I gave in. I finally got someone to examine me and I was 1-2cm dilated. We went for one last walk at around 10:15pm and when I got back the midwives said Sean couldn't enter the ward as they'd turned the lights off and the women were sleeping. !!!!!!!!. They had lamps on by their beds... so I was made to pick up all my bags whilst having contractions and Sean could only watch from the doorway

Our neighbour came to pick us up from the hospital. By this point the pain was so bad I was pacing like a caged animal. I wouldn't talk to anyone, I wouldn't stop moving, I kept going back and forth, round in circles breathing and trying not to cry. The ride home was awful. I held onto the car door handle as hard as I could and rocked my hips whenever I got a contraction.

We got home around 11:30pm maybe. Sean ran me a bath and whilst I laid in it he poured warm water over my belly. Wasn't working. I flipped over onto my knees and he poured water on my back. Wasn't helping. I gave up and got out and sat naked on my birthing ball, bouncing through contractions. I was ok for a little while, then I had one that made me scream and told Sean I couldn't take it anymore I had to go back to hospital. He rang labour ward for me and they could tell by my tone that I needed to come back.

Sean's dad picked up us, took one look at me and said there was no way I'd be coming back home and that I would have the baby by 7am. I didn't believe him. I had only been 1-2cm a few hours before and thought I was in for the long haul.

When we got back to the hospital we had to walk through A&E which normally would have embarrassed me, but I didn't care. I stormed through almost without seeing people and almost ran into maternity ward, got myself on a bed and demanded an internal.

As it was I was only 3cm but I was happy. I was progressing and best of all I wasn't going to be sent home! :j The midwife who saw to me was lovely and ran me another bath. It didn't help but it was sort of relaxing.

I got back into my bed and laboured for another half an hour or so before the midwife offered me pethidine. I leapt at the chance. I was so against it in pregnancy but at that point I was in so much pain I didn't think about it. The midwife told me to get some rest but it only took away the smaller contractions. Poor Sean was falling asleep in the chair next to my bed but always woke up and held my hand when I needed him to.

Two hours after being back on the ward I was transferred down to delivery. I would have gone sooner but they'd had about 4 or 5 babies before Thomas was born so they had no room. I was exmained when I got there and I was 6-7cm!! I couldn't believe how quickly I progressed!

I found the gas and air before it was even offered to me and chugged away like a pro, then promptly freaked out at how it made me feel. It changed my voice, went straight to my head and I lost control of who I was. I didn't believe I was me and swore I was someone else :eek: I was ok to take the gas and air through the 'smaller' (haha) contractions but the really big ones I just couldn't. The midwives kept telling me to breathe through them using the gas and air and I tried my best but as the pain built so did the screams in the back of my throat until I let rip. Was a very scary time if I'm honest.

I kept getting monitored which angered me and it was only when I shouted 'STOP F**KING MONITORING ME YOU C**TS' that they actually left me to it. I knew Thomas was fine but I could not BEAR being touched at that point. I only held Sean's hand when I wanted to and when he tried to wet my face I almost took his fingers off with my teeth.

My legs were all over the place. I remember saying I was going to kick through the bottom of the bed and I think I actually broke a bit of it. I know I definitely tore the matress with my teeth when I was pushing on my knees anyway!

I started thinking I needed to poo... turns out Thomas' head was right there! At first the pain wasn't so bad, it hurt but there was no ring of fire that everyone had talked about.

And then.

He started crowning and OMFG PAIN LIKE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE. :rotfl: It hurt so bad, I can't even begin to describe it. It's something you definitely need to experience to be able to talk about but the pain is MORE than worth it!

His head felt like it would never stop coming and every time I pushed and got too tired it felt like he was either slipping back in or getting stuck. They offered me a mirror to see him (I did have a feel but didn't believe it) and according to Sean I asked him to take a picture with his iPhone! There is an actual picture on there. One I won't share here lest I disturb anyone too much but it's an amazing photo and I won't ever get rid of it. Or maybe I'm just a freak.

I hit the point where you think you can't push anymore... I only pushed for 57 minutes (which is meant to be good for a first time mum) but I honestly thought I was going to die... and when I thought the pain couldn't get any worse I gave one big push and he came tumbling out of me. No 'stop now and do little pants' I just went for it!! He came out the 'proper' way, and was screaming his little head off.

I couldn't believe it, I was in shock... and after saying 'oh my god' one too many times I realised he had an extra thumb and in my gas and air induced state freaked out even more! But I soon got over it and had some lovely skin to skin with my little man.

And Sean's dad was almost right... his guess was 7am. Thomas was born at 7:42am. His dad was born on the same day 27 years earlier :cloud9: I cannot believe my 2 men share the same birthday!!





Sean didn't want to cut the cord so I gave it a go. Cords are really thick!! I managed to cut through but not all the way. I was then given the injection to deliver my placenta... and the cord snapped off so my placenta was stuck inside me :mad: Instead of having more skin to skin with Thomas I spent the next 25 minutes sat on a bedpan trying to push the bloody thing out. Except I couldn't feel anything because I'd just pushed Thomas out. I was terrified, they kept saying to me if I didn't push it out I would go to theatre, have a spinal and someone would stick their hand up me to get it out but thankfully gravity helped it along and it flopped out of me.

Placentas are also huge!! Mine was big, red and juicy, a very healthy placenta if I do say so myself I asked why there was a tear in and apparently the baby is also encased inside the placenta, how cool is that!!!

After that Thomas was weighed - I guessed 7lbs 3oz but he was 6lbs 8.5oz so I was quite a bit out I suppose :rotfl:

I don't really remember what happened after that. I think Sean's dad came into see us, we had tea and toast then I went for a shower (lovely!) and I was then transferred down to the maternity ward with our little bundle of joy.

I'm not sure I could do it again but I will never regret the pain and the months of problems we went through. I am tired as hell now but it's so worth it to see my little man fast asleep and content

LabLover

Finally getting round to posting birth story,doing it on I-pad so apologise for ant typos.
My due date was the 4th of July-nice memorable date!4th came and went and little tattie was still nice and comfy.on Tuesday the 5th I went for a sweep ,had no idea what to expect,but was totally painless and was told I was one and a half cms and things looked good.Was totally chuffed that I had started to dilate without feeling it.OH had came with me,just a swell because on the way down to the car park I started feeling really odd,had dragging period type pains and was desperate to get home.once home the period type feeling never went away,I struggled to sleep that night,nothing too painful really just a lot of backache.got up at 5am had a nice hot bath and some toast,told OH not to go into work.Roll on tea time wednesday nothing had happened all day,felt like a fraud had made OH stay home from work and I was totally fine!started to make some dinner and noticed that I was getting tightness every 5 mins or so,phoned ward and was told that I was in very early labour and this could go on for days.Sat down with dinner but couldn't manage anything,OH could see I was getting worried so suggested we go out to hospital and have me checked over.Around 7.30 pm we went to hospital,got taken into delivery suite for an examination and had the worlds nastiest midwife she told me I was still only 1and a half centimetres and the fact that I was talking through contractions meant nothing would be happening for a long while.Just as We were about to be sent home at 8.30 the midwife touched my belly and felt 2 contractions close together and said that to be on the safe side she better hook us up to the monitor to check how bubs was coping,we got sent to canteen to wait for a room to become free as ward was bursting at the seams.at ten pm I got hooked up and they said baby was a wee bit excited so they would like to keep me in.was then sent to a pre-natal ward as they still didn't believe that I was in labour.OH could tell I was getting annoyed at being treated as a silly little girl so asked them to check me again.no one bothered but at around 11/12pm they gave me a pain killer and helped me put tens on and sent OH home.The pain killer didn't take away the pain but made me feel really drowsy,they placed the emergency butting next to me but at some point it dropped to the floor,at around two am Thursday 7th I started coming round and realized that my pjs were soaking and I could feel pressure in my bottom,was still really out of it tho and couldn't reach buzzer and kept nodding off trying to get it,at around three pm I gave myself a massive shake and crawled down for buzzer.midwife came over and asked what was wrong,told her I was feeling pressure in bottom and felt a bit damp,she tutted and sighed and clicked the light on and was about to give me a speech on how it can take days for anything to happen,then she looked down and she looked shocked,she quickly examined me and I was 8 and a half cms,was then rushed to delivery room and OH was called,couldn't have any pain relief apart from gas and air as I was too far gone,got on the g&a straight away,taking long hard draws,was amazing,apparently I was really quiet but kept coming out with random comments,lol after about an hour and a half of labour midwife told me she needed to break my waters and after that I could start pushing,at around 5am I started to push but I was so tired and bubs head kept getting caught on lip and shooting back up,I hit the brick wall and told midwife I couldn't do it,by this point I had been pushing for 50mins and could no longer feel contractions,midwife was great she told me when to push and eventually at 6.13 am my son was born,he was facing the wrong way up,and just stared at OH.after I had passed the head,I gave a massive shove instead of panting so baby kinda shot out,they held him up for me to see sex as we didn't know what we were having.I had lots of skin to skin and oh cut the cord.A Dr was then called to do stitches as I had tore very badly,got to use my best friend gas and air as I was put back together,lol then Bubs started screaming for food so I sat breastfeeding for ages,was the best moment of my life,OH was sitting gazing at his son and kept smiling at me and telling me how proud he was.Brody was born weighing 7lb2and 1/2 oz,quite a bit different from the expected 6lb,lol! In total my labour was three hours 25 mins,over an hour of that was pushing ,like Perdi after the birth I went unto shock and felt very traumatized at how quickly my labour had went and how different it had been from what I had written on birth plan.have came to terms with it now and I'm so in love with my little boy.couldn't recommend a tens machine enough it was all I had and i kept it on right the way through.we've been very lucky with Brody from day one he has fed every four hours during the day and very five hours at night.he will be 7weeks on Thursday and slept from 11pm till 7 am last night, so is showing signs of sleeping thru,we gave up breastfeeding pretty early on,but I gave it my best shot and he got all the goodness for as long as we could manage and is now very happily bottle feeding,will try to post some pictures of my gorgeous wee man this weekend,
LL xx

Clarieloo

Warning - this is a long one so get a cuppa!

I was in two minds about whether to post this BS as my experience was not great and not the usual but it may be interesting to some but I would warn that if you are of a nervous disposition, maybe think twice before reading on.

Leo was due on 19th August and that date came and went. At 1.30am the following Thursday morning I got up to go to the loo and my waters went and my contractions started immediately but they were quite mild. We called the labour ward who said to make our way in for 2.30am. Once there I was examined and told to go home but come back at 8am on Friday morning to be induced if things hadn't stepped up before then.

All day Thursday I had contractions at home which were getting stronger and stronger as the day went on. By 7.30pm they were around 4 minutes apart and really painful. We made our way back to the hospital where they said I was only 2 cm dilated and we were advised to go for a walk around the hospital. That was the most painful hour of my life, having to stop every 2 minutes with a severe contraction. I should point out at this stage I had my tens machine on which I would recommend - it doesn't take the pain away at all but it is a distraction to a point.

When we went back to the ward they gave me an injection of diamorphine which was great - really helped. Then they gave me codeine which made me sick on the floor. Some miserable midwife was glaring at me for doing that (like I had any control!). Hubby was told he could go home to get some sleep at this stage as it looked like hours away. After a while I asked for another injection of diamorphine as the pain was getting really bad again. They said I was 5cm dilated by this stage and we should get hubby back - he'd only got his head down for 5 minutes when he had to get back . They noted I had wanted a water birth and offered me to try that which I agreed to. So I got in the pool with gas and air which was pretty good but the pain was still so intense. After about 3 hours they told me to get out for a bit and put me on a Syntometrin (sp?) drip to speed things up. By this stage I was begging for stronger pain relief and they agreed to give me an epidural. I was still 5 cm dilated so the pool had slowed things down. This is where things went badly wrong...

Around 7am on Friday morning an anaesthetist arrived to give me the epidural. They talk through the risks with you but you don't really listen...What happened to me was the epidural went in too far and was a total spinal block which effectively paralysed me from the neck down. Also immediately I started to get a headache and they believed they had puntured my dura (sp?). All of a sudden I had consultants and all sorts of people coming to see me and there were meetings about me and I had a student too!! Apparently a dura tap is very rare. At around 11am the effects of the epidural were starting to wear off a little and I had some feeling back. I began to feel a pressure like I could start to push. I had finally made it to 10 cm dilated and could start to push. The only problem was the doctors would only allow me to push for a maximum of 20 minutes because they were worried about my headache. It then transpired Leo had gone back to back (after being in the correct position for weeks). So obviously I couldn't get him out in 20 minutes so I was whisked off to theatre for a C Section and Leo was finally born at 1.43 pm on Friday 26th August.

I have no problem with how it ended - I was just glad to get him out any which way as I was so exhausted after effectively not sleeping since Wednesday. I have had lots of special treatment from the hospital because of what happened but I don't blame anyone - it was just one of those things which can happen.

I tried to manage the headache with strong painkillers for a few days but by Wedesday this week I knew I would have to go back to hospital for a blood patch which is a very precise procedure to block the headache pain. Luckily I managed to get home the same day and we can now finally get on with life as a family.

I feel I have lost a week of my life because of long labour followed by chronic pain and being spaced out on painkillers but I am trying to think positively about the outcome which is my gorgeous boy.

laura237

Baby Olivia – Born 26th August, 6.43 am, 6lb 8ozs. Possibly the shortest and most uneventful birth.

My due date of Monday 22nd Aug came and went with no pains or twinges and possibly the easiest pregnancy. I had an appointment with my midwife on the Thursday. I was unsure if I wanted a sweep but thought I might as well. The sweep was totally painless and not half as bad as I thought it would be. Midwife informed me I was 2cm dilated and cervix was favourable. I was shocked, no twinges and 2cms dilated.

Thursday then passed and I want to bed about 10pm. I felt a sudden pain at about 11pm, went to the toilet and that’s when my plug went. The plug was not as I expected but totally recognisable. The contractions then came about every 4mins but lasting not more than 1min. The pain was intense from the first contraction. I really wasn’t coping. At about 1.30am I rang the hospital and told them I was going in. I knew I’d be sent home but I just wanted to know how dilated I was or why the contractions were so painful.

Got to the hospital at about 2am. Midwife examined me and I was 3cms dilated. I was also informed baby was back to back and really needed to turn. I was not expecting that and just felt like I couldn’t cope. I did request a c-sec but midwife just laughed. I was then given codeine and sent home. I was really gutted but totally expected it.
Once home I just got straight in the bath and lay there from about 2.45am till 5am. At about 4.30 I really thought ‘oh god I’m pushing’??? I then had a feel down there and felt, what I though, was a baby’s head. I then rang hospital again and was told to go straight back. Got there just before 5.30am and found that it was in fact the bag of waters that hadn’t popped.

Midwife then popped the bag and examined my and I was 10cms dilated. No time for an epidural or enough to fill the water pool. Due to baby being back to back I did not want to be lying on the bed and midwife advised me to kneel. After 20mins of gas and air it was then taken off me and I started to push.

Baby Olivia was born at 6.43am and is the most perfect little girl. She is so content and I could never ask for anything more.:A

SDH

Short version:
15 days overdue, homebirth, did it all on TENS & gas+air (didn't have time to fill the birth pool!). 3rd degree tear. Transfer via ambulance to be stitched up in theatre with a spinal anaesthetic. Homebirth was a massively positive experience and i'd recommend to anyone considering it!

Long version:
Got BFP on first attempt i.e. upon returning from honeymoon and had a very easy pregnancy (please don't hate me!). Always thought i would go overdue, as my own mum had gone 14 days overdue with me.
Local NHS policy is to induce at 40+12. I refused. Was forced to go the hospital to meet consultant at 40+13 where i felt totally bullied and made to feel like i going to kill my baby. However i felt i knew my body better and that it was all about to kick off naturally, so continued to refuse induction and agreed to go back for daily monitoring.

Weds / 40+14 weeks. Fetal heartbeat monitoring and scan showed everything fine. Scan suggested I was looking at a 9lb-er. Nipped to the loo after scan and had bloody show. Never been more pleased in my life to see gunk & blood . Had chat with supervisor of midwifes, she was lovely, outlined all the induction risks versus 'wait & see' risks and agreed they would continue supporting my homebirth plan. Went home feeling relaxed & happy

Thurs / 40+15. Woke at 1am with contractions. I had been wondering how i would know the difference between braxton hicks & contractions. But its right what everyone says, you really do know! Starting timing and they were every 5&half mins. Gulp. Was this the real thing or a practice run? Decided to try getting some sleep. No joy. Got up at 3am ish for a shower. Shower great. DH suggested TENS. We then realised we didn't know how to put it on. So DH had to google it . Clipped it on my knickers and tried for more sleep.
8am - contractions not coming every 3mins. However i had expected them to get more painful but they weren't - just getting closer together! So still not convinced it was proper labour or practicing or what :rotfl:. Decided (based on the 3min thing) i ought to call delivery suite. They said they would send a midwife. Turns out my community midwife -Annaka- was on shift, and she would swing by the hospital to collect my notes (that the hospital had insisted on keeping the day before!) and come to check me.
She arrived 9am ish. Well no-one was more surprised than me when she announced i was 4cm dilated already and therefore officially in established labour and she would be staying for duration. She started ringing around for a waterbirth trained midwife to come assist her & to arrange cover for the clinic she held at the local doctors on a Thursday - that i normally attend!
Keep trying to eat but kept being sick. Annoying. Was forced to stick to just sips of lucozade in the end.
Morning progressed with me walking up down our garden in my dressing gown, wondering how on earth i was going to cope when the contractions became more painful as they were coming only 1min apart if not on top of each other, but not anymore painful than they had been at 1am.
2nd midwife -Susie- arrived at 11:30 ish. She was lovely, I actually preferred her over my midwife.
Anyway i kept complaining i didn't think i was coping very well. I had been holding off the gas+air & the pool, as didn't want to start on them too soon before i *really* needed them. However Susie suggested sitting on my ball with gas+air ....... hated ball .... felt uncomfortable 'down there'. Moved to kneeling & leaning forward into an armchair position. Much better.
Was due a check at 1pm. Wanted them to check earlier but didn't dare ask incase i was only 5cm or something! Feeling massively uncomfortable 'down there'. (BTW with hindsight, i know realise i was ready to push, i just didnt recognise the feeling at the time)

1pm rolled around. Midwife suggested i pee, before being checked. Couldn't pee (but hadn't keep anything down all morning so wasn't surprised by this at all!). Couldn't get off the loo without H help (he was amazing). Lay on our bed, clinging to gas+air and Annaka discovered i was FULLY DILATED with bag of waters hanging out. Couldn't take in what she was saying. Put my hand down and felt what i can only describe as a tough fluid-filled balloon hanging out .... weird! Annaka suggested breaking the waters. So after they'd put a gazillion towels & absorbent pads around me, they broke them.
All i heard was "thick merconium". I detected a level of concern in Annaka's voice. Susie explained that they were going to have to call an ambulance, as a precaution. I was gutted, but i understood.
They wanted me back downstairs so that if there was a problem it was easier to get out to ambulance.
Now the waters had gone this turned out to be a nightmare - contractions coming thick & fast, put knickers back on simply to hold pads in place to prevent waters/blood dripping all over the place. DH carrying gas+air helped me down the stairs.
Lent forward over the same armchair, very relieved to let my body takeover. Pushing felt more 'productive'. At this point i should mention that although the contractions were pretty intense, they still hadn't gotten anymore painful than they had been at 1am. (not sure if i have a high pain threshold or the endorphins were doing there job properly or i was simply relaxed being at home or what).
Could hear a discussion behind me about "old meconium" as opposed "distress meconium". Had no idea they could tell the difference! They seemed confident it was the former and the baby heart rate seemed to back this up.
Suddenly realised my knickers were still on. Albeit around my knees. Decided i could do with these being removed . DH and Annaka between somehow got them off whilst i was joking around that it had been a while since anyone taken my knickers off for me (I blame the gas+air!!)
Was vaguely aware of a "first response" paramedic coming through our side gate & in the open back door. He seemed relieved there were 2 midwives present (not sure what he'd been told!!), apologised to me and said the ambulance was 15-20mins away and he would sit outside in his car.
Annaka said she really didn't want me to deliver the ambulance and if i hadn't had the baby by time they arrived, i would have to cross my legs. I said i couldn't! The baby was coming! Susie then did a really good explanation of how to push. I can't actually remember what she said but i do recall her saying its not actually like doing a poo (and she's right, its not). She also suggested not using gas+air as it would help me focus.
She was right, and i could literally feel the baby progressing down with each contraction. Slipping back slightly each time. Midwives assured me i was doing a great job, that they see the head etc. I asked if there was any hair (dunno why, i think i was afraid that maybe baby was still breech!). Suddenly she didn't 'slip back' she was sat right there at the exit and with the next contraction out popped her head. That was a weird sensation .... the head out & waiting for the next contraction to get her body out ...........
She was born behind me at 13:58 on 14-7-11. DH announced she was a girl. I had to get him to repeat that, as i had been sure she was going to be a boy! The midwife's were rubbing her and she breathed almost straight away, she was passed back through my legs for me to hold. the cord however was surprising short, and felt tight with her at about tummy button level. DH took a photo! She then wee'd and poo'd all down my leg. Charming!
Bit unclear on the timings but DH cut the cord, i accepted their offer of injection for placenta. DH and I agreed the name we'd already picked out for a girl was perfect for her: Lucy Isabelle Prudames
Midwives decided Lucy was absoluty fine re meconium but that i had a 3rd -query4th- degree tear :eek: and would have to transfer to hospital for stitches. (Community midwifes can do stitches at home, but they explained this would need to be done in theatre). So the ambulance which was now sat outside would be required for me instead!
Requested to see placenta, Susie showed me all the ins & outs. Fascinating (but then i love biology) then i reluctantly climbed onto the stretcher positioned outside my back door and was taken to ambulance.
Lucy didn't come with me. This is the only bit of the whole experience I am disappointed with. Because the paramedics seemed concerned about me bleeding out and having a 'merconium baby' onboard & unable to cope with both if needsbe, she followed in her own ambulance and H brought all the bags in our car.
We didn't get any blue lights & sirens and everything was fine, we all re-united in a delivery suite at the hospital 30 mins later.
We had our first breastfeed whilst waiting for a slot in theatre. Various medics showed up to ask about previous anaesthetics etc and persuaded me that no, they couldn't do this with a local (and send me straight home again), it needed to be a spinal anaesthetic. However i was given the impression we might be able to escape home that evening.
Unfortunately an emergency c-section then nabbed my slot in theatre. Obviously have no idea what happened but the section took 4 hours (i think they usually take 40mins or so?). In the meantime, i wasn't allowed to eat & drink and since i had been throwing up all morning (the only thing i'd kept down was the gulps of lucozade in-between contractions whilst pushing) i was very hungry & very thirsty. In the end, I didn't get into theatre until half 7 in the evening and was so dehydrated that my veins had all disappeared, i felt cold shivery & just awful and they spent an HOUR trying to get a needle in. This was honestly worse than childbirth & I was covered in bruises. Spinal went in fairly easily (you have sit sooo still for that to be done, hats off to anyone who manages it whilst having contractions!) and they then confirmed the tear was a 3c (almost as bad as you can get) and stitched it all up.
The doctor explained they'd put tougher than normal stitches in and i'd have to come to hospital for my 6 week check. Oh and not to get on my horse anytime soon
A super lovely midwife brought me tea, toast & a sandwich and i was taken to a ward at 11pm, at which point DH had to go home.
I did get a bit fed up the next day, the ward was boiling hot and everything seemed to take forever although a very helpful student midwife did stay with me for half an hour helping me with breastfeeding. She was great. We finally escaped at 5pm.

After my milk came in (on day 4), she kept screaming at my left breast but with the help of a local breastfeeding clinic we seemed to have solved this and 8 weeks on she is exclusively breastfed :T

Absolutely loving being a Mummy

Puzzledbubbles

Emilia Anne Born Wednesday 14th September 7:21 weighing 7lb 2oz

Hopefully this wont be too long lol

Initially we spoke about a birth plan and we decided that for us the best possible plan was to go without pain relief as much as i could (gas and air makes me sick, didnt like the sound of Pethadine for me and really hated the idea of being immobile so no epidural plus a problem with my back meant it could have caused issues)

As it was i had nothing at all other than the tens machine.

I started getting regular pains Monday night, every 2 hours this carried on thoughout Tuesday and gradually got closer together until i was having pains every few minutes, all of the pain that i had throughout the labour was only in the front of my stomach (they kept asking if i felt anything in my back as apparently that is more common)

Called to be checked by a midwife at 5pm as the pains were getting stronger but they suggested i went to the hospital becuase of a pre-eclampsia worry the previous Thursday, so off we popped, i was checked over, contractions slowed to nearly nothing and i was just 1cm but was declared to be "very ripe" and sent home.

We walked the mile back home thinking this would help and i think it gave us both something to focus on.

Got home and within an hour or so everything was back on track again, the contractions got closer together (about 2minutes apart lasting 30 seconds to a minute) and at 1am we phoned the hospital - they said to hold on at home until i could not bear it any more (they were really busy and had lots of emergencies etc that night we later found out)

So, we decided to go to bed, not knowing if this was going to last for hours or days i told OH to stop counting contractions and get some sleep promising to wake him if i needed him.

The next few hours were spent walking back and forth to the toilet, being very sick and drinking loads of water to try to put fluids back in, i had a tens machine on which really helped for the first few hours but at 3am i gave up and took it off as when i was turning in bed i kept pulling the pad off.

At 5:30 i got up for the loo once again and realised that i was near my point of not being able to cope, again no pains in my back and i thought if it wasnt hurting there then it couldnt be proper labour so was thinking we ran the risk of hospital sending me home, got back into the bedroom and OH had woken up and he started timing things again - all of the contractions remained 1 - 2 minutes and lasting 30 seconds to a minute so on paper nothing had changed from earlier on in the morning. Apart from the increasing pain that is which left me literally shaking.

I phoned the hospital and within the first contraction the midwife said come in, so off we went (luckily we had a friend staying who drove us in we arrived at the maternity unit at 6:40.

Straight through to triage where i had to do a sample and at this point was in a lot more pain and started feeling the need to push, on examination the midwife said i was 8/9cm and was going straight around to the labour rooms so off we walked (i was offered a chair but needed to move for the pain more than anything)

7:00 we arrived in the room, i got on the bed and said i had to push and was told go with what you feel you need but we will examine you after the next contraction, midwife popped the dopplar on baby and they were doing fine, within 3 or 4 pushes my waters broke on their own with a massive pop (that i felt) and then baby moved too fast and the heart beat dropped, i was flipped over on to my side and told that baby wasnt happy so they called another midwife in (and two more arrived as there was a shift change, but the first midwife i had seen said that she would stay because i didnt have long left)

They put the belt around me for the monitor but didnt have chance to hook it up becuase the contractions were coming thick and fast and baby moved down really quickly, they kept checking and heartbeat stabalised again and everything was calmer, within another 4/5 pushes the head was free (ring of fire is not just an expression!!!!) an then i was told i had a second to rest lol, another 2 pushes and out came baby.

Arrived at hospital 6:40, moved to labour room 7:00, baby born 7:21

She was put straight onto my chest, OH (who was completely amazing the whole time) cut the cord and then the midwife said she had to start the paperwork becuase they hadnt had time lol.

Within the first 20 minutes she was latched on having her first feed, becuase of my high blood pressure they did not give me the injection to assist the placenta so the feeding helped it detatch and then i had to push it out (luckily it came out complete)

On examination i had a very small tear but they didnt stitch as they said there wasnt much point becuase it wasnt bleeding or anything and then i was asked if i wanted to go straight home or stay on the ward for one night, i decided to stay so after a shower the three of us went up to labour ward.

I cannot praise the treatment we received enough, all the time i feel like i knew what was happening, when there were concerns they explained to OH what they were checking for and what it meant etc and the team were all really nice and supportive.

We are now on the 4th day of her life and i cannot believe how gorgeous she is and that she is actually ours

cprtknight4

Hi everyone, have read through most of your birth stories, and it is so true with what they say 'every pregnancy is different'.

Our daughter born in march 2003-
This pregnancy was fairly straight forward no major hiccups just aneamic for majority of it, which none of the midwives or doctors had picked up on. Apperently when they went and double checked my blood test results from my 16 weeks bloods, I was quite aneamic then, they picked it up when i was 39 weeks gone!
Woke up a week after my due date with some mild cramp pains in my lower stomach, so put the hot water on and settled back down for an hour. Got up and had a bath and felt fine. From about 10.30am I just could'nt settle my back was hurting on and off, just niggle pains. Around about 1pm I phoned up maternity and told them I was in pain and was told to take paracetamol and a warm bath. When I could muster up the strength to get in the bath I could'nt stay in it as the pain was too severe in my back. I got out and just sat for a moment to have the weirdest sensation all through my stomach, thought I was going to be sick, went to the bathroom for my water to go with a gush.
When I phoned the hospital to advise my waters had gone they asked if I was in labour, to which my reply was I don't know as no pain in stomach just back, to be told that I was'nt in labour as pains would be in my stomach! I then screamed with pain down the phone and said I needed to push, to her shock she said an abulance would be with us soon.
When the paramedics turned up they monitored contractions which were 5 mins apart, to 1 min apart in the 10 mins drive to the hospital. To our shock I was 10 cms dilited and told to push, was a bit of a wimp and took an hour to push . Midwife wasnt impressed as she wanted the toilet lol. No pain releif except the paracetamol I had early afternoon, also a healthy 8lb6oz.

Our son born feb 2006 -
Again easy pregnancy except for a kidney infection at about 9 weeks pregnant (that was painful), no morning sickness with either pregnancies.
Went over by 12 days, would'nt induce me at 10 days as it was a saturday.
Went in on the Monday morning to be hooked up on the monitor and little ones heartrate was high (average of 200 bpm), was asked to move to my side the heart rate dropped by 10 bpm, so they decided to induce me. Went to the delivery suite and they broke my waters, of gosh the shock, contractions every minute lasting for over a minute straight away. After half an hour I told my other half something wasnt right, the pain was in my back again but 3 times as severe as previous labour. Everytime I went to the toilet it was smeared with pinkish blood which worried me.
Husband pressed the buzzer for gas and air told me to stop being stubborn. I used it for about an hour and gave in and asked the midwife for help, she told me about pethedine which I specifically remember asking for a hammer to knock myself out lol.
This is where everything went wrong -
She did an examination and told me i was 4-5cm dilited was quited chuffed, then she said 'oh i can feel a finger' my reaction was babies head was fully engaged. Cue panic stations, she whacked the panic button, we had loads of people in the room. She had to hold his head in position, the pain was unbearable I passed out to come round to my arm being whacked off something being wheeled into a pitchblack theatre.
While they were putting needles in here and there, i remember them explaining what they were doing and someones saying they couldnt find a heartbeat and then found only a slight heartbeat. When I came round, I went into shock and tried sitting up which I could'nt they told me baby was fine, born at 8lb15 1/2oz, and hubby was by me with him.
That night I would'nt let them take him to the nursery I stayed awake as much of the night that I could possibly do, sorry if that made me selfish that the midwives were coming in and feeding him and changing his nappy, but did'nt want him out my sight after nearly losing him.
I asked what had happened, it turned out I had a cord prolapse, which was very close to rupturing, and we have just bled out. To top it off the cord was also round neck several times.

To this day I know how lucky we are to be a family unit.