MSE Pregnancy Club Birth Stories

sulphate

Wanted to post a birth story before details got too fuzzy.

Woke up on Monday 9 Feb (39+4) and almost immediately started having period type pains, having had these quite a lot during the end of pregnancy this wasn't unusual however these didn't go away! By lunchtime I figured that this was labour, luckily DH was only working til 2. Called birthing unit who advised to stay at home for as long as possible. Contractions continued to increase until 4.45pm when my waters broke (slow trickle, luckily didn't ruin the carpet!!), called birthing unit who advised to come in. Got there at about 5.20pm - travelling in rush hour traffic isn't fun! - and was so worried about being sent home again I told DH to leave the bags in the car :rotfl:

Luckily (!) I was 3-4cm dilated with a thin cervix so got straight in the pool with gas and air, contractions got worse quickly and asked for pethidine a couple of times but would have had to get out of the pool so opted to stay in. Again, luckily (!) contractions just kept coming and so didn't have a chance to think much about anything else.

By 9pm I wanted to push, but the student MW was skeptical that I could have progressed so quickly and was told I wasn't due for an examination just yet! However, when they finally did it I was 10cm so they allowed me to carry on pushing, after a couple of hours of this they decided it was taking too long and was promptly wheeled into the labour suite with my legs put in stirrups to my horror (!)

Carried on for awhile but was getting bloody exhausted and it wasn't progressing, the MW told me she thought the baby was back to back, doctor came in and everyone started talking about spinal anesthetics, forceps and c-section as by this point baby was also in distress but they did an episiotomy first to see if that would help. Have heard horror stories about back to back deliveries and clearly my body didn't fancy any of what they were talking about so managed to avoid any further intervention and baby boy Cameron was born at 01.25am on Tuesday 10 February weighing 6lb 2oz :j:j:j

He was still in a bit of distress and wasn't breathing properly so had to be given oxygen and his PH gases were low so didn't get any skin to skin to begin with, couldn't feed him etc. There was talk about having him in the neonatal unit but luckily he was ok. Breast feeding a challenge due to this but it is getting better hopefully. Had to stay in an extra night to get bfeeding going.

Love our boy so much, first few days at home difficult and still struggle with bfeeding at times but hope will continue to improve.

gayleygoo

On the weekend before Rory was born, DH asked if I could please go into labour on Monday morning, before he had to get up for work, so he wouldn't have to go in for the day

Baby obliged.

I felt some contractions on the Sunday evening before I went to bed. I got to sleep anyway and woke up around 2am with more, and pottered about the dark house, finishing packing the hospital bag (at 39+4 you'd think I'd have had this sorted), packing bags for our older children to stay at my mum's house. Went back to sleep and woke up at 6.30am to tell DH he didn't need to go to work today

We sent the children off to school, and phoned the midwife. Contractions were every 5 mins so she told us to come in. At assessment, she announced that I was 8cm dilated, and sent me quickly to the midwife unit! I laboured away on gas and air, listening to music, and birth didn't seem imminent so I sent DH to get himself some breakfast in the canteen.

Contractions started to slow and weren't as strong as they had been. At around 4pm the midwife examined me again, and I was actually only 5cm dilated and the baby seemed to be back to back. She decided I wasn't actually in labour and offered to send me home. We agreed to see if things had progressed in an hour. At 5pm she checked again, and some progress had been made, but not much. Midwife suggested breaking my waters but I was reluctant - if nothing happened in the following hour I'd be taken to the labour ward to be put on a drip, which I really didn't want.

At about 6pm she did break my waters and had me in various positions to encourage baby down. Within 20 minutes I felt the urge to push and midwife put me in the bath. Our son Rory was born at 7.05pm in the water (and the sex was a surprise, it was so much fun to find out that way!) He had the cord round his neck but the midwife unwrapped it and he was fine. We had skin to skin and he BF shortly afterwards. OH stayed for a few hours then went home to celebrate with friends!

Shortly after DH left, I had some more contraction pains (I thought they were "afterpains" from the BFing) and buzzed for a midwife as I didn't feel great. My blood loss seemed heavy, and when she pressed my abdomen some large blood clots came out. Soon there were at least 4 people in the room, hooking me up to a drip and various other things. When they helped me out of bed to change the sheets I felt faint. So I went down to the labour ward to be monitored, feeling unwell. I could hear my baby crying and could barely lift my head or arms. After a few uncomfortable hours I was considered fine and moved back to the midwife unit. Baby Rory slept for a few hours and a midwife held him to my chest so he could feed when he woke.

We got home the next day, and Rory is breastfeeding well and even sleeping a bit two weeks on. I can't believe he arrived on the day DH suggested though :rotfl:

Aunty-Pickle

Sorry it's so long, I guess it was as much for my benefit to write it all down as for anyone to read!!

So, baby's due date was 15th and this duly came and went with no signs of anything happening...

On Saturday 18th I had a bloody show and some contractions. Hooray, I thought, things are starting. But no. Basically I had 9 days of contractions which would get to about every 8 minutes and would last for over 1minute. Really tiring. We set up the TENS machine and basically waited for them to become more frequent. On the Wednesday I had a mini meltdown (they were every 5 minutes and lasting 1.5minutes) and felt I couldn't cope any more. It wasn't just the contractions - it was my PGP too (Pelvic Girdle Pain) OH phoned Labour Ward who advised to stay at home but I couldn't bear it so they said to go in. I was nowhere near anything - cervix still posterior but slightly thinning. So disheartening. But they did give me codeine to help with the pain.

On Saturday 25th the contractions increased in frequency and intensity so again we went in (we live 30mins away from hospital) and I was 2cm. This was really positive news and we hoped things would progress and I wouldn't need the induction booked for Monday.

Well, contractions practically stopped on Sunday/Monday so we went in for induction at 5pm. We were told that due to a high number of births, there was a backlog and Sunday's induction ladies hadn't even got started yet. OH decided to go home to get some rest and I stayed in (otherwise I would have missed my place in the queue!)

In the early hours, upon assessment before the pessary I was found to be 4cm - even bigger hooray - so was sent down to the labour ward (and I phoned OH to come in!) On labour ward everything stalled again so they started me on the drip.

The biggest problem I had at this stage was the PGP. Being on the drip meant I couldn't be in a water bath and I felt like I couldn't cope with both contractions AND hip pain. Everything I had wanted/planned - in terms of active labour etc was impossible. Gas & Air did help - fortunately. But being on the drip meant that I couldn't eat anything - Dextrose tablets became my best friend!

Basically I managed to use my hypnobirthing techniques and the Gas&Air to get to maximum setting on the drip, and to 8cm. The midwives commented that I was very calm and they hadn't known someone get to that stage "just" with gas&air. (Would highly recommend hypnobirthing)

At that stage I had some diamorphine.

When it came to pushing, it was involuntary - quite extraordinary. Sadly, they (midwife and student midwife) were talking to me all the time and wanting me to do "purple pushing" which I didn't want to do but couldn't concentrate on anything else. Baby had a few decelerated heart rates so I ended up on my back with legs in stirrups being told "if you don't push this baby out yourself, we'll have to cut you and use forceps". Well, that's what happened.

Baby Jago Samuel was born at 7.01pm on Tuesday, 28th April and was 8lb 2oz - so no wonder I needed that extra help (I'm only small!) Unfortunately, I didn't get skin-to-skin for several hours which hugely impeded feeding. I had a postpartum-haemorrhage which needed 3 blood transfusions and also ended up with a UTI because they catheterised me twice during the later stages of labour.

recovery was really hard - still is. So exhausted - mostly due to the low iron I guess. Cried a lot every day. Still cry most days but I think (hope) things are steadily improving.

Jago actively refused the breast initially and so I expressed - by hand to start with and he was syringe fed. Then by a cup and then I was given an electric pump and he was bottle fed. We only needed a bit of donor milk to top up.

Lots of people came to give advice and would come in with the "I'll get him feeding from the breast" attitude only to try, give up and kind of say that it wouldn't happen.

We came home on Sunday 3rd - we practically had to beg to do so because it was Bank Holiday weekend and they were talking about keeping me in until Tuesday. I knew I would not be able to cope until then. OH had stayed overnight on the Saturday because I couldn't cope with another night on my own.

Since then, we were given the advice to feed him via a teaspoon and to get some nipple shields. That was on the Monday. On the Tuesday morning, a breastfeeding support worker came round and he fed from the breast! - and has done ever since.

At the moment, I cannot imagine how people even contemplate having more than one child. He is incredibly cute and I do love him but I'm certainly not at the stage where I'm thinking it was "all worth it".

My OH has been my rock and lifeline throughout.

fuzzipeg

I'd forgotten this thread existed - a couple of months late, here's mine... Apologies for the length, but it was actually quite therapeutic to get it down on screen.

I was due in on the Monday (38+2) for a planned induction due to diabetes. Was informed that I was "very unfavourable" but had the prostin tablet inserted anyway in the hope that it would get things going. We went for lots of laps of the hospital car park while having contractions every 90 seconds or so. Upon examination that evening it had made no difference whatsoever and they couldn't give the second dose of the drugs because I was still contracting (uselessly!) from the first.

We repeated the prostin on the Tuesday and the Wednesday with the same result, and on the Wednesday night I had a very painful examination, after which I refused to do another round of the drugs on the Thursday morning. By my reckoning they were having naff all effect, but the contractions were pretty knackering - I was beginning to get concerned that I'd be good for nothing by the time I actually got going.

We took the decision that I was to have an epidural on the Thursday morning, when they could then try to break my waters and put me on a drip to move labour along. I was happy enough with that as a plan at the time.

When they examined me on Thursday morning, they weren't confident about the plan working and raised the possibility of a C-section. To be honest, I had been expecting that we may end up with one for months, so was mentally ready (I had no birth plan other than "go with the flow" so it wasn't like I was letting go of my dream water birth with candles and soft music or anything!).

We were left to decide whether we wanted the operation now, or try with the breaking of the waters and drugs, and run the risk of an emergency C-section later. We opted for the former as I strongly felt by then that the baby wasn't going anywhere on his own, so we'd end up with one eventually, and I'd prefer it was done in a calm way rather than as an emergency.

There were supposed to be three people in front of me (so their need was greater than mine medically!), but after an examination I was bumped to the front of the queue as I think the little dude had started to get a bit fed up of the whole affair by then. That was the only thing which freaked me out, but I didn't have time to worry about it.

Husband got gowned up ready, and I was wheeled through to theatre for a spinal block, as the epidural hadn't really done much. Unfortunately the spinal block didn't work either, so the last thing I remember was a man looming at me with a facemask telling me to take three deep breaths.

Turns out the baby was very stuck by his feet under my ribs and would never have made it out on his own. He needed a bit of help breathing to start with and (still) has wonky feet but is the most placid child we could have hoped for. He got skin to skin with daddy, and somebody must have shoved him on the boob pretty early on, because by the time I actually started to pay attention he was a pro, even if I was all fingers and thumbs.

I regret that I missed most of the first few hours because I was hopped up on drugs (which were blooming awesome!), but we got a happy and healthy boy - and I healed remarkably quickly. DH has been a brick throughout and it's lovely to see the close bond he has with his boy.

DS will continue to undergo treatment for his wonky feet for the next five years or so, but it's not expected that he'll have any developmental delay with crawling or walking, so that's all fine by us!

Mrshaworth2b

Pregnancy - This is my second child and the pregnancy wasnt as pleasurable as the first, instead of morning sickness like last time I felt like I was going to throw up every second of the day and it was exhausting. In the early weeks I woke up everyday with new spots on my face. I was off work for 6 weeks with sickness. Extreme tiredness hit me at 24 weeks and I was on iron tablets from then. I had severe hip pain this time towards the end and it made sleeping really hard, also my heartburn was horrendous, even water gave me acid. Bending to plug the hoover in gave me acid. I was up through the night chewing gaviscon tablets. I also had thrush more times than I care to say, I was miserable a lot and that really upsets me because with my first son I felt blooming.
At 40+1 I went for my usual antenatal appointment and the midwife gave me a sweep, I knew it wouldn't do much because I had had no cramps so wasn't hopeful. She said she couldn't really reach to give me a good sweep. I had two other sweeps, the last one at 40+9 felt really brutal and I crossed my fingers it would start me off. That night I had a few cramps so I paced around hoping it would encourage things to get going.

Labour - Saturday morning 6am I am woken by my first son and my contractions start, at first they were only every 15 minutes and this continued all morning. At 3pm I started to time the contractions and they were coming every 4/5 minutes and I was using my tens but I was starting to feel tired. I rang the birth centre (my birth plan was to try for a repeat of my first son, birth centre, gas and air) the midwife on the phone said my contractions werent long enough and to wait, or go in if I couldn't cope.
6pm I couldn't cope with my tens machine on its own so we went to the birth centre and I was examined, I was 3-4cm. Things slowed down from here, next time I was examined I was 5cm, next time I was 6cm, next time I was 7cm. The midwives through the night kept going on about my urine output, it was the same with my first son, I couldn't wee but I would leak during contractions. They would always want to put a catheter in but yet there would be nothing in my bladder. Having a catheter put in is incredibly painful and to be honest I lost my cool a couple of times when having this done.
At 7am in the morning (25 hrs after first contraction) my waters were broken and I soon went to 10cms. I started pushing bent over the bed and did this for about an hour and a half. The team leader midwife came in and said that the reason baby wasn't coming was because my bladder was probably full and again they needed to do the catheter, I allowed and when she saw that there was nothing in there (because I had thrown up many many times from the gas and air) she examined me and found that baby was looking up and in fact should have had his chin on his chest to come down. So an ambulance was called and I was taken to the local hospital with blue lights and sirens.

Birth - At the hospital the Dr came and said that they wanted to put the hormone drip on to bring my contractions and then do forceps, if that failed to do a c section. We were left to talk about our options and I decided that I could not do the hormone drip before going to theatre so if that meant a straight c section I was OK with it. By this point we were on 30+ hours and I had no energy, no pain relief, no fluids or food in my stomach. The Dr allowed me to go to theatre and have a spinal and then they would do the drip before attempting the forceps. So off I went to theatre. Everyone was lovely and introduced themselves, baby ended up being stuck with his shoulders and was also a whopper 9lbs 4. My previous son was only 6lb 11.

Afterwards - Baby was breathing too fast after delivery so was taken to NICU for two night's, they found he had an infection and so we only came out of hospital 5 days later. However 5 days after coming home baby is back to his birth weight and is thriving.

The birth was traumatic but worth every minute, however I think the stress of it has put us off having any more.... for now

minimuffin12

Thought I would post my birth story of my 2nd baby, baby girl born on 1.02.16 @ 39weeks.

I had a (or what I thought) was a tummy bug the night before and was vomiting most of the night. Felt better the next morning and I left my son off at his daycare on the morning of the 1st, on the way there I started to feel a bit crampy but thought nothing more of it. When I got home I lay on the sofa as I was exhausted from not sleeping properly the night before. I woke up at 11.30 with bad cramps and thought I would time them as they were coming every 5-6mins and lasting a minute. At 1pm I rang the hospital who told me to come in but they may send me away again if I wasn't dilated enough. I had 2 contractions in the space of a 4min phone call at this stage.

So off we went, hubby was home as he wasn't well either- thank goodness he was here! I really didn't think we would make it as I was in agony and could feel the need to push. He left me off at the maternity entrance and went to park the car, I was being examined at this point and was shocked to find that I was fully dilated! Next thing I was being wheeled up to the midwife led unit and being told that there was no time for any pain relief. They filled the bath for me but I didn't get in as they were having trouble trying to find baby's heart rate as she was so low and every contraction was making it dip. They broke my waters and found that there was merconium so they rang ahead for a paed to be on standby for when they baby would appear. After quite a few pushes and just gas and air baby appeared an hour after I got to the hospital. I was terrified of actually pushing as I had an epidural with my son and didn't feel a thing and was a bit worried of the pain but it was fine. I think they had numbed me as they thought I would need an episiotomy but didn't in the end. I was in shock at how quick it all happened but was pleased that the labour went this way as I had a very long one with my son that ended in forceps. I had a 2nd degree tear which seems to be healing ok. We got home the next day as baby had to be checked for 12 hrs due to the Merconium. Felt a bit strange when the placenta as being delivered and when I was being stitched but all in all a good experience.

Rambosmum

Thought I'd add my birth story. DS was born 2/1/16 at 38 weeks.

I come from a family of large babies and 42 week pregnancies so on New Years day was lamenting how I'd have 4 weeks of pregnancy left. I was huge, grumpy and suffering pregnancy insomnia and heart burn. We went to bed around 1am on the second.

I woke up at 2.55am needing the loo and felt damp between my legs, I thought I'd got pregnancy incontinence. I waddled to the bathroom and 'woosh' my waters went, all over the bathroom floor. I sat on the loo and yelled for DH. I was shaking in shock. We had nothing ready - it was all in the loft and my hospital bag was only half packed. DH got in the loft and brought the crib and car seat down, I packed my hospital bag and made p the cot and tidies and organised the nursery. At 4am I called the MAU, as my contractions hadn't started. I was given the option of going in or going back to bed and going in in the morning. I chose the latter.

I got back in to bed and as I was drifting off my contractions started, around 10 mins apart. After 3 or 4 I got up, I couldn't sleep.

I started taking down the Christmas decorations, put some washing on, cleaned the kitchen. at 6am I could no longer walk through the contractions and had to stop to breath through them. By 7 they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting 45 seconds. I woke DH and we set off for he hospital. I was 3cm when examined and advised to go home for a bit. As the midwife was processing my notes my contractions ramped up and she came back and suggested I stay and get in the shower.

At 4pm I was examined again. At this point I'd only had some paracetamol and codeine. I was 8cm dilated and transferred to the midwife led unit where they filled the pool. After a few contractions I was pushing, and pushing and pushing. And nothing was happening. I was on gas and air but gave up on it as it just made my face tingle and did nothing for the pain. The midwife suggested baby might be back to back and on examination he was.

I got out the pool and the was examined again, I was definitely fully dilated and pushing correctly. I got back in the pool and continued. After an hour the midwife called the delivery ward and they advised giving me another 30mins. After 30mins it was shift change. The new midwife got me out the pool and on the birthing stool, where I was given another 30mins before I'd be transferred to the labour ward.

At this point I'd been in labour for 19 hours and was hungry and exhausted. A further 30minutes later and I was transferred to the delivery suit as my contractions had pretty much stopped.

I was told I would be put on the drip. I'd heard horror stories of how painful the drip makes your contractions. I have to say, I found the drip wonderful. The contractions were strong and painful but felt like they were doing something and pushing eased them. An obstetrician arrived, told me I had 30mins before forceps. I hadn't written much of a birth plan - it said 2 things, DH to go with baby and NO FORCEPS.

30 mins later baby's head was visible, kept popping out and going back in. By this point I'd been pushing for 3 hours. I was so exhausted I was falling asleep between contractions. DS's heartbeat was steady throughout.

The obstetrician came back and my legs were put in stirrups and I was given another 20 minutes with the Dr sat looking up my foof. 20mins later still no baby. Dr said I could have another 20mins but by this point I knew I couldn't do it and asked for a section, which the Dr refused as DS was already in the birth canal.

A shot of local anesthetic and an episiotomy later and in went the forceps. 2 of the most painful pushes later and exactly 21 hours after my waters broke DS was unceremoniously plonked on my chest. I was refused gas and air and had had no pain relief since my gas and air 3 hours earlier. He was checked over by a pediatrician and then given back to me for skin to skin whilst we waited for the placenta to deliver.

Despite 3 injections, no sign of the placenta and I'd lost 500ml of blood. I was asked to sign consent for a spinal block and dressed for surgery. By this point I'd have consented to anything. I was starving and exhausted. My placenta was removed in surgery and I lost a further 500ml of blood. I was placed on fluids and wheeled in to delivery.

For the next 2 weeks every time I closed my eyes or my mind was clear I'd have flash backs to the delivery. I cried about it and shook when I thought about it. It was only when the community midwife and HV called it 'traumatic' that I started to consider that my delivery was not 'normal'.

5 weeks later and I still have flashbacks and nightmares and my episiotomy is not healed, I'm anemic and incontinent. Thankfully my son is absolutely perfect. I've spoken to my GP about sterilisation as I do not want to risk an unplanned pregnancy and I will not have anymore children.

frozenpenguin

Thought I'd post my birth story in case anyone is interested. DD (Lily Cerys), our first child, was born on 26th Jan 2016 (at 41 weeks exactly) at 9.05pm weighing 8lb 3.5oz.


So...my story begins on Monday 25th Jan when we popped round to a friend's house for newborn snuggles with their daughter who was born 6 days earlier. I’d had period-type pain on and off all day but nothing that made me think it was going to turn into anything proper. At the time, we all made jokes that holding our friends baby would induce my labour as I was 6 days over my due date.

Two hours after leaving their house, I went to the loo and felt what wasn’t quite a gush of water but was definitely more than a trickle. I wondered if it was my waters but wasn’t till I stood up and was leaking on the floor, I thought “okay, yep that’s probably my waters”. We went up to our local community hospital where they shone a torch up there and confirmed “oh yep, they’ve gone”. They said I’d be given 24 hours to go into labour naturally (and ideally, deliver the baby) before they’d induce me – as there’s a risk of infection the longer the waters have gone without delivering.

We went home with the idea of trying to get some sleep (hah!) but about 11pm I could feel contractions starting. Mine were all in my front, low down in my bump and I couldn’t lie down and go to sleep – it was much more painful doing that and instead I sat on the edge of the bed breathing and DH rubbing my back.

About 1am we hooked the TENS machine up and went downstairs to put the TV on as some kind of distraction - I used the chairs and table to bend over whilst having a contraction. The midwife said to ring up when they were 5 mins apart and had been like that for an hour but mine seemed to get close together quite quickly. I started timing them about 12am and they were about 7-8 mins apart from the start; by 3.30am they were about 3 and half mins apart so we rang the main hospital delivery suite and they said to come on in. DH packed up the car and we headed in, arriving about 4.30am and by then the contractions were between 2 and half to 3 mins apart. They examined me and grrr...I was only 2cm dilated. The midwives did say though, the baby was really low (and it wouldn't take much pushing - famous last words!) and the cervix had thinned pretty much completely, just hadn’t dilated.

We were allowed to stay on the delivery suite, although they couldn’t give me a room; instead they gave me paracetamol (which I don’t think did anything really) and we walked up and down the corridor and used their relaxation room till about 6.30am. We were then moved to one of the delivery rooms (one with a pool as I’d said I wanted to use that) and then left alone to labour and try and get to 4cm. The hospital had this rule that they couldn't officially admit you until you’re either a) 4cm dilated or b) have accepted some kind of hard drugs. Even though I wasn’t 4cm, they said we could use the room as they weren’t very busy.

About 9.30am they examined me and grrr again...I was only 3cm, despite having contractions every 2 to 2 and half minutes. They offered me Diamorphine (which meant I could be officially admitted) which was great! They also said it would help speed up the contractions while giving me a chance to have a bit of a rest. We had tea and toast and I kind of dozed; I could still feel some of the contractions a bit but I was still using my TENS machine and they were okay. At 2.30pm the midwives came back and arrgghh...I was still only 3cm – the Diamorphine had done nothing! Looking at my maternity notes afterwards, it says my contractions slowed down to every 3-4 minutes so having that drug hadn’t really helped other than to give me a chance to rest.

At that point they started mentioning the 10pm deadline and went through my options – because my cervix had pretty much effaced completely but just not dilated, they suggested going on an oxytocin drip which should make it dilate efficiently. It was basically the complete opposite of what was in our birth plan but by that stage I’d been having contractions since 11pm the previous night, I was shattered and my blood pressure was rising each time they measured it so we agreed to that plan.

The drip came complete with a “soft” epidural, which was perfect as it made the pain about 90% disappear but I could still feel the building pressure of each contraction. They got it organised by about 4pm and then the midwives stayed in the room monitoring me all the time. We chatted, DH went off to get some dinner (sausage, beans and chips apparently) and then had a nap and it was a really good atmosphere in the delivery room.

At 5pm they examined me and I was 7cm dilated and then by 8pm I was 10cm – much to the midwife’s suprise, she thought it’d take much longer! They did a shift changeover and about 8.45pm the new midwife said I could start pushing, using the pressure of each contraction in conjunction with the rising numbers on the monitor to give it a really good go. I could feel when to do it, even starting to push before the monitor started registering the contraction. At the same time, the drip for the placenta injection started beeping because it had run out and the midwife popped out to replace the bag, saying “don’t worry, you can carry on pushing, it’ll be a while”.

Obviously that was when I delivered the head - DH had to run round and push the help button (whilst at the same time seeing more than he ever wanted to see “down there”...) and a different midwife ran in just in time for me to deliver the body. All in all, the pushing stage took 15 minutes, the midwife said it was about 3 contractions worth to deliver her and ended up telling the rest of the staff on duty that “just because you’ve been induced and had an epidural, doesn’t mean you can’t have a straightforward birth”. Two midwives checked me over whilst we were having ‘golden hour’ snuggles with DD and said that everything seemed to be intact and not stretched – they spotted a very tiny 1st degree tear internally but both agreed it was hardly worth mentioning and didn’t need stitching.

So all in all, absolutely nothing like our birth plan (which was all natural with not much intervention) but I still feel like it was a really positive experience. I would say I’d do it again but (apart from the fact we’d be unlikely to conceive as DD was an ICSI/FET baby) I’d be a bit worried any future birth wouldn’t be as good as DD's! xx

lulu_92

Time to add my birth story!

I woke up at 3am on the Wednesday with pains every 10 minutes. We went up to hospital and they admitted me for monitoring and I stayed overnight. In terms of monitoring they didn't do much, as I was only given one dose of painkillers and I went about 10 hours without seeing any midwives or doctors! I was discharged on the Thursday after they established i was only 1cm dialated, and had a nice hot bath at home to relieve my pain.

The pain got progressively worse on the Friday and I couldn't sit, stand, lie down, or do anything without pain. Eventually at midnight we rang the hospital and they told me to go to A+E, who after an hour and a half eventually sent me to the ward.

I was put on the monitor from 2am until 7am and although I was offered painkillers I didn't get any until 8am because luckily my community midwife was on call and sorted it for me. I was examined again at about 11am and I was 5cm dialated so it was time to go to delivery.

I was in delivery until about 1am on the Sunday morning. I had my epidural which was heavenly although I couldn't feel the pressure of the contractions so they had to tell me when to push! The gas and air made me vomit, the epidural then wore off my right side when I was pushing, and then my temperature went up. The babies weren't in danger but they needed to come out because of my temperature so it was off to the operating theatre for a ventouse delivery. It was quite relaxed and I didn't feel a thing! I didn't even know I'd had stitches until I saw my reflection in the lamp above me!

Niamh was born at 01:59 and Saoirse was born at 02:11.

We were in hospital for two days and everyone was wonderful, with the exception of one midwife who was insistent that we were deliberately under dressing the babies so they'd be cold...

They were also slightly jaundiced so we ended up back and forth for tests and observations for about a week but they're totally fine now.

We had our newborn photos yesterday although they're 3 weeks old now. I can't wait to see them!

Claire_A87

Just remembered I never posted my birth story. It's 9 months ago now so I can't remember a lot of it, and some bits I probably don't want to remember!

We had an EDD of 25th July, but baby had never engaged despite all my efforts, and at some point past my due date we were sent for scans etc to keep tabs on position. It was suspected there was an issue with the shape of my pelvis as he'd been head down since 25 weeks & whilst non-engagement isn't completely unheard of, it's fairly rare with a first. After another scan on 4th August showing he wasn't engaged and was in fact now facing my thigh, an elcs was booked for 7th August. Aces. However, I still had an induction booked for the 6th, which we were encouraged to go to, if only to satisfy everyone that he was unstable and not engaged.

6th August we go in for 'induction'. They palpated me and scanned me and he was still not engaged and facing towards my thigh. So they say I just had to wait for someone to discharge me, and 2 hours later another consultant comes and scans me again, and lo and behold he's facing the right way (but still not engaged) and they say 'great we'll induce you then' (and obviously lots more stuff about what it involves). I want to shake myself looking back on it, I should have just said no. I'd mentally prepared myself for the c-section, he wasn't stable, & I just had this gut feeling that there was a reason he wasn't engaging.

From here on I'll keep it brief. Pessary inserted about 2pm, contractions started at 6pm, by 7pm I was in absolute agony, I've no shame in admitting I just couldn't cope, it had all ramped up so quickly I'd had no time to adjust. They told me I was 2cm so I carried on for a bit on the induction ward, they were about to send my OH home when a private room came available, just before we were moved I demanded they examined me again (they were reluctant) and I was 6cm. Waters broke all over the induction ward with meconium in them, but he wasn't in distress and with me being so far overdue it was expected I suppose. From here on it's a bit of a blur, I was in the private room for a while and demanded an epidural, which they couldn't give until a spot came up in the labour ward. I'd already had diamorphine which did sod all except make me sleepy. After the most painful wheelchair ride down to the labour ward I got given an epidural (trying to hold still whilst having contractions), and things slowed down a lot. Managed to get some very broken sleep, and by morning I was 10cm.

Tried pushing for an hour with no progress, so got taken to theatre for forceps. Tried forceps twice, without success, so signed the forms for emcs. I probably took my own labour slot, as I went in around the same time I had my elcs booked in for!! Oddly, the most calm I felt was when they said they'd have to deliver by c-section. I think I knew he'd be got out quickly and well looked after rather than all this pushing malarky!

Anyway Finley was born at 10.37am on 7th August, 7lb 2oz & 13 days overdue. Got up and about at 10.30pm that evening - took me 10 minutes to walk to the loo round the corner :rotfl: We were home on aternoon of 9th August after having no sleep and trying to get a baby in and out of a hospital crib however many times a night. Grim. He was a bit jaundice, but nothing major, and thankfully otherwise as healthy as could be. I'm honestly leaning towards elcs for any future pregnancies now, as I know other ladies have had things much worse, but I was pretty scarred by it all for quite a while afterwards. I'm just so thankful to all the hospital staff for making sure me and him got through it all.