MSE Pregnancy Club Birth Stories

ems2

Good idea for a thread!

Will - Born 16 March 09

Spent most of Sunday tiding and putting together Bubs Ikea furniture. At about 6 oclock finished and went downstairs for some tea, realised I had quite a sore lower back. I thought I had just been over doing it and so had a bath. Felt some unusual spasms and thought they are probably Braxton Hicks. Went to bed and tried to get some sleep but 2 hours later they were still there. As I was only 33 weeks phoned the hopsital for advice and they said it is probably nothing but as so early come in. I left it another 1 1/2 hours but when I went to bathroom saw very small amounts of blood. Woke up hubbie to say we are going in and we should pack a bag (planning on organising that next weekend ).

Arrived at hospital and they said I was 2 cms dilated but they will try to stop/hold off the labour as so early. I was given a steroid injection for his lungs in case the labour didn't stop and some little red pills. It was about 4 in the morning at this stage.
Was still contracting but due to my wonderful husband and the hypnobirthing (seriously CANNOT recommend them enough) classes was not really in pain and dozed throughout the night until about 11am when contractions had prettty much stopped. Sent OH home for a nap and as I had a tempreture 39.6 they were monitoring me. At about 2pm they started up again every 8 -12 mins. OH got back and the contractions kept coming but still not consistent timings. 2 every ten minutes the midwives kept saying but not 5 minutes apart. Bacause of this they kept telling me I was not in labour. At 7pm I had a conversation with a midwife and once again wanted to know what was happening. She said as my waters hadn't broken, my contractions were not regular and I had had no pain releif (once again CANNOT recomend hypnobirthing enough) I definiately wasn't in labour, and as i had some sort of infection they didn't want to take the risk on an internal examination. I repeated that something was happening and got yet another 'sure there is love' smile in reply. 15 minutes later a doctor came in to do an internal examination and said that I was fully dialted and as soon as my waters broke bubs would be here:rolleyes:.
OH THE RELIEF !

2 hours later my waters were manually broken by doctor and a short while after I did some heavy duty pushing and my beautiful son come into the world and onto my belly @ 10.35pm.

He was taken away after a few cuddles from me and dad to SCBU and i went to ward and slept. Woke up and 6am and went straight down to see him and 12 days later was able to bring him home.:D

Not an experience I wish to repeat anytime soon, ,but truly I had a toothache last year that caused me more pain and that didn't create life!

Good Luck for all embarking on a beautiful journey

Glamazon

wanted to add some birth stories from the pregnancy thread which don't appear to have been posted on here. I don't want to lose any cos I want to read them all in one go when I'm on Mat Leave!

Candice - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=22712307&highlight=birth+story#post22712307

JVIC - two posts on this page

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=22678245&highlight=#post22678245

mookiandco

Little Leila was due on 19th June 2009. In the week before I had been getting some discomfort in my stomach and at the bottom of my back. I was still working so just got on with things. I gave up work on 11th June 2009. On 12th June 2009 at about 7:30pm I had a feeling of pressure down below like I really needed to do a wee but could not hold it. I hurled myself at the toilet and liquid came out. I thought that it just might have been wee so I ignored it! No sooner had I got my knickers up when I had that feeling of pressure again so I sat back down and more liquid came out. It seemed to be colourless but I still thought it might be diluted wee! After I stood up and sat down two more times I then thought that maybe it was my waters leaking. I still wasn’t convinced though! I told my hubby who persuaded me to call the hospital and ask them what we should do. I went to the hospital about 9pm. They did an examination and said that it could be my hind waters but they couldn’t be sure. They booked me in for induction on 14th June 2009 if I didn’t go into labour naturally before then.

That night until about 7:30am I had really uncomfortable pains in my back and had to use my tens machine all night. My stomach was painful like I had done 100000 situps and my back felt like someone was continually kicking me. I tried to time the pains but they were constant rather than the ‘waves’ I imagined contractions would be.

For the rest of the day I had occasional long bouts of the same pains but I still didn’t think they were contractions so I just ignored them!!
I went to hospital for my induction on 14th June 2009. There was alot of waiting around in my hospital cubicle as they had emergencies in. At 2:30pm they inserted the prostin pessary to get my cervix softening. It was really uncomfortable and the midwife said I was only a fingernail dilated! I knew I was there for the long haul! The pessary had to stay in for 12 hours before they did another check. I was in quite a bit of discomfort as it took effect but the midwives said I couldn’t be having contractions because I was still laughing and joking and they weren’t showing up on their monitor. I continued to use my tens machine when necessary.

At 2:30am the midwife woke me to do another check. The pessary had slipped out if place and I was only 1cm dilated so they left the pessary in and said they would do another check at 2:30pm. The pains were really quite strong but the midwives kept telling me that their monitor didn’t show contractions and they couldn’t feel any when they touched my stomach. I got 3 hrs sleep that night.

At 2:30pm on 15th June 2009 they checked me and said that I was 2cm dilated and that my waters could be broken in the delivery suite. Again due to emergencies I did not go to the delivery suite until 7:30pm that evening. I put my make up on just before hand and again was told that if I could do that then I definitely wasn’t having contractions!

At the delivery suite they broke my waters. It was uncomfortable but not painful. There was alot of water and it just kept on coming! They then started me on the syntocin drip to get the contractions going. I was then asked if I wanted an epidural. I had always wanted to avoid an epidural but when I was asked I felt like I had been in labour for so long already, I just wanted to enjoy the last stages so I accepted the offer. After the epidural I waited for some relief from the discomfort but it didn’t ever really come. It seems that the epidural didn’t really work properly but as I didn’t know what I should be feeling I didn’t realise this! I was left until about 12:30am to let the syntocin take effect. When I was checked at 12:30am I was 4cm dilated. It was then that the midwife realised that I was having contractions in my back which is why they couldn’t feel them and they didn’t show on the monitor. I was poked and prodded by about 7 different people who hadn’t seen it to this extent before. There were also concerns that the had over stimulated my uterus as they had given me too much syntocin because they thought I wasnt havin contractions.

I didn’t manage to get any sleep due to the discomfort but my hubby and my mum went home for an hour to try to get some rest themselves. It was horrible lieing all alone in the darkness with only the howls of labouring women for company. By about 7:30am I was fully dilated and they asked me if I felt pressure like I needed a poo. I told them I didn’t but then thought better of it and said that I did. By this time the senior registrar and a doctor had both been in and had been discussing a c-section due to concerns that they could not see whether I was contracting. I was absolutely shattered too and therefore told them what they wanted to hear. I was told to push like I ‘was doing a number 2’ every time I had a contraction. As my contractions were constant I just pushed and pushed and pushed. The midwife said she could see the head and told me to reach down and touch it. I did but quite honestly I have no idea what I was feeling!

I just kept on pushing and tried to ignore everything going on around me. I just remember my mum saying ‘chin down’ and the midwives saying ‘another push’, ‘the heads coming’ etc. It was really disheartening because for every push I could feel the head coming out but when I stopped to take a breath I could feel it going back in. At one point they started talking about ventouse and forceps and all I could think of was that my little girl was stuck half way out and I didn’t know if I had the strength to keep pushing. I remember mid push looking over at the table and seeing 2 little pink wristbands and a pink blanket and I think this gave me the determination to push her out once and for all. Once the head was out I just panted until suddenly this little thing was being hoisted onto my chest. I couldn’t believe it was all over!

I delivered the placenta 13 minutes later and then had to be sutured for a small tear. I didn’t even notice what was happening down that end as I was too busy cuddling my baby girl.

It’s true what they say about the pain being forgotten the instant they are born and she was well worth the wait.

Well that was the longest post I have ever written. Better get back to a very hungry little girl now xx

aless02

Sorry, just wanted to give this a bump to the top, as it was very hard to find & I know a few of our ladies that have stories to post!

skintchick

Yes - more birth stories please! I'm due next week and need plenty of happy labour stories to focus on!

Krystaltips

Agh Skinty, I saw your name as the last poster then and thought you'd popped! Get a move on girl!!!

money_maker_3

OK here goes - planned section birth so not much to tell

Well after my last birth story, I am pleased to say that this one is really easy and straight forward - well the birth part was anyway !!

I had a planned section on 17th June 2009 at 39 + 1 due to severe complications in my last birth in 2002.
I went into hospital on the Wednesday morning at 9am and had to fast from 7am that day. I was given an antacid
to take in the morning, and got another one just before surgery.
I was told that the section would not be done before 2pm and I was taken in at 2.20, so pretty much on time
I was taken through to theatre after signing my consent forms and talking to the anethatist (sp) to ensure I was happy with the procedure.

OH had to wait outside the room while I got my spinal block done, which unfortuneately didnt take 1st or 2nd attempt, so I got 3
of them !!!! At this point all I felt was my left leg went cold and they asked me if I could feel my toes when they touched them and I couldnt.
OH was brought in when they had cut me open and was sitting beside me the whole time. The birth only took about 10 mins and Dylan was born at 14.51pm.
He was shown to me as soon as he was born and then taken to be checked over and wrapped in a blanket. I was still tilted on the table at this point (for those of you who have never had a section, you lay at an angle on your side) so Dylan was handed to Chris and he held him right beside me. After a few minutes, I was lay flat again and I got to hold him for 5 mins as I was being sewn up.
OH then got to take him to be weighed and I was asked about the 1st feed, as I was bottle feeding OH was also allowed to give Dylan his bottle.

They finished with me in surgery and then i was taken to recovery where I had to stay for 45mins due to the rapid loss of blood I had in my last labour !!
I was then taken back to the ward, but unfortuneatly at this time, this is when things didnt go quite as planned, and my baby boy was in an incubator by the time I was there and had to go straight to the neo natal unit as he had fluid in his lungs and needed to be put on oxygen. He was there for 13 days, but now home, is a perfect little man . Wont go intot he whole NNU thing or his diagnosis etc.. the birth was fine, and for anyone who needs to have a section or chooses to have an elected one for any reason, I felt great after a few days !!! Much better than my last one

Agutka

16th October 2007 - 40+14!
I went overdue and here is what happened. (cut and pasted from ancient pregnancy club thread)
Thursday (40+9) I go in to clinic to discuss induction. I get a time for Sunday and a doc tries to perform a sweep – but cervix tucked up out of reach. Big fat ouch. They notice my BP is high (even though the previous day GP said it was fine) so I had to go in everyday for monitoring. On Sunday night I toddled off to hospital, completely unaware of the procedures awaiting…:cool:
Three hours of monitoring (baby looked tachycardic sp?, but decided it was just normal for baby) and a painful sweep and a prostaglandin gel later I was left to rest for the night. I got no sleep, as worried and had niggling period cramps and back pain. In the morning I was checked and achieved a pathetic 1cm dilation! Cervix still tucked away. But midwife said she could feel baby’s head:j, which was cute. The monitor showed I was contracting, so I was not given any more gel, but told to walk around:rolleyes:.
By the afternoon they decided to put me on BP meds and to carry on with the next procedure – breaking the waters.
So we toddled off to the delivery suite, where I was passed over to a midwife with rather large hands:eek:! Not happy. Over the course of the next six hours I was strapped to a monitor, as four different doctors donned gloves and tried to break my waters. And it hurt loads each time. In the end they decided I had no fore-waters and baby was right on the membrane thank you very much. Gas and Air did nothing for me! That was the worst bit of my birth experience really.
Then, because I had made to a giant 2 cm dilation, and they were sure my membranes were popped, so decided to go ahead with the oxytocin (is that right?) drip.
Cannula (yet another foray into pain and discomfort) was fitted and at midnight (Tuesday 16th!) the midwife was reasonably happy with baby’s hearbeat to start the drip. I was by this point rather erm… tired as hadn’t slept since Sunday morning.
I was feeling some cramp like contractions before the drip was started, but soon they got rather... stronger. And I am ashamed to say I laboured for one solitary hour before screaming for an epidural. The midwife was helpful – I’d recommend it, she said, as you’re only just starting the process! I was only 2cm, and it was only gonna get worse. So a very handsome man :Dwas called and soon he was poking at my spine (through four contractions – keep still my bottom!) – although I was disappointed how long it took to act – 15 mins. There was general merriment in the room as I turned from evil swearing thing to happy floating cloud! Then I just got to lay there as my body continued to give birth… Why doesn’t everyone do it this way?
I got to have some sleep that night, although MW kept waking me up to change positions. Hubby got a bed to sleep on too. Excellent birth experience.:T
Unfortunately, although I managed to get to six cms by 7am, that seemed to be my lot. Baby didn’t seem in distress, but was moulding to the 6cm hole. And I had a scare at 10am when the epidural stopped working.:eek: Different handsome man came to sort it out thankfully. Lots of docs came in and out with ideas, but really it was all heading in one direction. At 11 we decided to get it over and done with and signed some forms (after checking surgeon’s hands weren’t shaking!). By this point my medical notes looked like War and Peace!
Joseph was taken out of me at 12.13pm. Apparently my dear son was back-to-back, which the five midwives I encountered on my journey knew about but couldn’t mention, hence the stupid pain, and the poor mite couldn’t turn, so got stuck at the six cms.
I then spent two looong weeks in hospital as they tried to get my bp stabilised:eek:, it was then that I lost my mind and will to live. Absolute torture.
I wish you all a better or shorter experience. Good luck!!

As a post script. My blood pressure remained high and controlled by drugs for 18 months, until I lost lots of weight thanks to lovely gallstones donated by my lovely son. But that's another story... :rolleyes:

Lu_T

Birth story for DS (ooh, first time I've typed that!). My second child - it's a long story so get comfy. The first bit is straight forward, the second bit gets a bit gorey so be warned.

39+6 MW arrives to perform sweep I've begged for. I'm 1.5cm dilated but that's cos I've already had a baby. My cervix isn't ready is her considered opinion.

Have some tightenings with small amount of cramping throughout the day - about 4 an hour. Make a call to put my mum on standby to come and look after our DD.

Some contractions overnight but nothing to speak of. Now it's my due date - 11 July 2009 - but also the day of my DD's first ever ballet show, so I get up, showered and dressed to turn out for that. She arrives on stage, declares, "I'm too tired!" and promptly bursts into tears (she's only 2.5yrs). I rush to the front and she sits on my knee in the audience to watch the rest of the dance. Then we take her out so she doesn't sob through the rest of the performance and spoil it for the others. Bless. No sign of any more contractions but something definitely mucus-y on the discharge front.

4am 40+1 my water's break a bit. I wake up and think, "I have NOT just pee-d myself!" and waddle to the loo. Def my waters going, but not with a big pop, just lots of little gushes. Ring labour ward who want me in asap due to a previous c-section. Ring mum to do the 90 mins drive to come and look after DD.

Arrive on ante-natal ward 6.15am. Nurse takes my notes, "...to admit you,". Wasn't aware I was being admitted :eek: Good job we've brought the bags. Haven't yet had a contraction to speak of. Put me on a monitor. Baby is fine but sure enough, not really any contractions. Ask whether I really have to stay in hospital taking up a bed (albeit a side room ) when nothing is happening.

11am persuade consultant that, despite me being high risk due to my previous c-section, I can go home as nothing's happening. Agree to come back at 8am the next day if nothing happens naturally.

Spend the rest of the day keeping active. Had two walks around the village and go to the pub for a G&T with my mum at 9pm! Still nothing doing, but feel pretty calm about the whole idea. Later people would comment how good I looked despite the fact it was the first time I'd ever been to the pub without even a touch of concealer on!

11pm contractions get started just as I'm drifting off to sleep - typical! Take some paracetamol. By 3am contractions are about every 5-7 mins and getting painful but controlled by TENS machine. Call labour ward who say they don't sound regular enough to be established and to stay at home - which is fine by me.

5am drift off to sleep. 6.30am wake up but no more contractions. Decide to get in the shower and get ready to go in to hospital. DD wakes up and asks me if the doctor is going to help the baby crawl out of my tummy :rotfl:as we'd told her Mummy was going to see the doc to check on the baby.

Arrive on labour ward at 8am and taken straight to my room but told there's no midwife allocated as they are all busy. The MW in charge comes to see me and it turns out she looked after my DD in recovery after she was born. She apologises, says there's likely to be a delay in getting me on the drip, but puts me on a monitor.

11am the drip goes up and a MW is now free to look after me. Contractions get started and my TENS machine helps a lot. 1pm I ask for gas and air - I LOVE gas and air! Contractions now getting pretty painful but there's at least a gap between them so I can rest.

3.30pm I feel like I want to push. Have to wait another hour to be examined. Ask for some Meptid which takes the top off the pain, but doesn't really touch the sides.

At 4.30pm 3cm dilated - woohoo! :rolleyes: Problem is my scar-pain isn't going away after contractions and baby's heartbeat isn't picking up. Senior MW called to look at me. I know where this is heading...

5pm-ish, doctors appear with forms - where do I sign? General hustle and bustle as I get prepped for theatre.

5.40pm baby Alexander Harrison is born. No crying straight away but he's fine and soon handed to dad for a cuddle. We sit and baby-gaze for 10mins or so. Then baby and daddy go off to do the newborn checks while I'm stitched up.

6.30ish, back in recovery and have my first cuddle. Alex feeds pretty well. Watch him get weighed and take some pics. MW notices I'm bleeding pretty heavily. Doc called to investigate.

Over next few hours more docs come to look and check on my bleeding. I have all three drugs which they can use to stop it, the final one very rarely used. There's already talk of a blood transfusion and an anaesthetist (sp) is pretty much constantly by my side. The consultant has also been a few times to check on me.

At 12 midnight they think they are on top of things and DH is sent home. I've lost 2ltrs of blood by now. They worry after about 1ltr.

12.20am MW notices more clots. Doc called to investigate and removes another 1ltr of blood clots from my womb. They call my DH to come back - he's only just got home - and assemble a theatre team. Problem is the consultant has gone across town to an emergency at the sister hospital so they have to call another one. I see DH before they take me back into theatre under a general anaesthetic at about 1am.

My memory's a bit vague after this but I remember hearing DH saying he loves me and that he'll see me soon. This was him being sent home after I'd come out of surgery. I come round a bit at about 3am and speak to the MW. They'd already asked if they could feed Alex while I'm out and she says he's had a good feed from a syringe.

In the morning I discover that during the original operation there had been a bleed which they thought they'd sorted but hadn't. In addition my womb had been slightly nicked and this was why I was bleeding into my uterus. This made it look like 'normal' uterine bleeding rather than internal bleeding and was just a quirk of what happened.

I was hooked up to about 3 drips, including an arterial (main vein) line, on an oxygen mask and had 5 units of blood plus some stuff to help me clot (FFPs) and was in the high dependency part of recovery until 3pm the following day.

However, I was then moved across to the normal recovery ward and was discharged two days later. The only real ill effects are that my iron levels are pretty low which means I'm quite tired. Other than that I just feel like I'm recovering from a usual c-section.

It sounds like it was all pretty dramatic but the staff did an amazing job of keeping the drama from me and it didn't really hit me how serious it had been until the following morning. DH was pretty aware it was serious, but I was joking with the anaesthetist that it was like buy one get one free as I was wheeled back into theatre.

I'm just glad we're both okay and I'm around to be a mum to my two kids. We had always said we'd stop at two, but this has pretty much sealed it. DH is off for the snip asap! :rotfl:

tarajayne

Madison born 13th July at 6pm.

I had been in early labour for several days and was 3cm dilated but no proper contractions. After taking a look at my DS's records he was shown as 43 gestation so considering the SPD and being housebound for several weeks at 11 days overdue I reluctantly gave up on the homebirth and went in for an induction. I was met by one of my favourite MW's who I had seen throughout and lived near me, was so relieved. She then told me that when she left mid-afternoon my other favourite (who had originally done my 10wk booking) was doing an extra shift to take over, how lucky could I get.

We went into the labour room and it turns out that there are no wards, you have a big room each with ensuite, the birthing bed on one side and for after your normal bed, also armchair and table/chairs. So you keep your own room until you leave.

They broke my waters then bought the drip in, wasn't happy as I didn't agree to a drip and no-one had discussed it, consultant never even came in. Anyway proper contractions started very quickly, soon became bad once they turned the drip up another notch so I asked for gas and air, they should have left it there but they turned it up again. Next thing I know they're coming too strong with no breaks, as I watched the monitor go down it would start rising again and I could feel the panic as I tried not to loose control. Then registrar was called as bub's heartbeat was dipping with contractions, he tried to take gas and air so he could talk to me, as if!!! He took one look at the drip and told them to switch it off, said it was too much, well I told them it would be! Then came the bit I don't like, the transition, I always grunt . The only good thing is knowing I'm nearly there. I ended up sliding down the bed and once I was pushing nearly fell off, oops! I was on my side with one foot on OH's chest. Pushing was not too bad but no way I could get into a better position.

Well 1st stage 2hr 23mins, 2nd 7mins, 3rd 7mins, no stiches but went into shock after and shook dramatically for 20mins as it was all a bit much, not quite the easy contractions of DS last time. MW was impressed as she said I go into myself throughout, don't know any other way of dealing with it. Can't see the point of thrashing around so I curl up in a ball.

Was very impressed with the hospital, the MW's were great and OH was fantastic, she never called a second MW as he helped and then cut the cord. She was born at 6pm and we left in the early hours of the morning. I am now well and truly finished with having babies. X :cool: