MSE Pregnancy Club 24

4nnabella

Hi ladies and bumps!

Amelia is asleep next to me (as is OH!) so I thought I'd give a brief birth story... To be honest it all seems so surreal now, the last few days feel a bit like a dream now! I still can't quite believe I'm not pregnant any more and this cute little bundle is my daughter!

Anyway... as you know my waters went at 3am on Thursday morning. We went to the hospital at 8am, got checked over, advised baby was back to back and went home. We pottered around a bit, I was getting period-pain type cramps since 4am. I tried to sleep but pains were getting slightly stronger so at 1pm I put on the TENS machine. It was a bit frustrating as a couple of the pads kept peeling off so I had to keep pressing them back down. I was trying to time the contractions as we'd been told to ring the labour unit if I was getting three in ten minutes but I was finding it difficult to time them and concentrate on pressing the boost button on the TENS at the same time, so OH was trying to keep track of the contractions for me. By 3.30pm they were coming thick and fast and at about 4pm OH rang the labour unit as I had three or four one after the other. I also felt like I needed to push, but was trying very hard not to. After I spoke to a midwife, we went off to hospital. I was fully expecting to get there and be told I was only 3 or 4 cm dilated, or something daft like that! They got me into a room and managed to get me onto the bed to be examined. The midwife said she could tell by my contractions that I was feeling a lot of pressure and when she managed to examine me said I was fully dilated so to try pushing with the next contraction. She offered me gas and air but I couldn't get the hang of breathing through the little mouthpiece, I found it better just to scream a bit, although I wasn't quite as bad as the blonde girl on OBEM the other week, I'm glad to say! She put the back of the bed up and I was kneeling on the bed, leaning forward over the back, she kept telling me she could see the head more and more each time, then all of a sudden she told me not to push so hard, to breathe more, then with the next contraction she came out in a slippery woosh! According to my notes, I was pushing for 20 minutes.

Amelia was down between my legs, the midwife told me to look and see if she was a boy or girl, so I saw first. OH cut her cord. They then got me turned around and she was put straight on me. The placenta took ten minutes to come out. They stitched up my tear (I used gas and air for that, I reckon if we'd gone to hospital earlier I'd probably have used it during labour too) and OH went off to phone both sets of parents. They then did a few checks on Amelia, weighed her, that sort of thing, and left us alone for a bit. She was sucking at her fingers a bit and I was going to see if she would latch on but then all of a sudden she was asleep so I didn't, which frustrated me later on as we then had a bit of trouble getting her to feed. We got transferred to a room in their patient hotel, which meant OH could stay with me. If I'd had to go to a ward he'd have had to go home for the night. We then spent Friday waiting for the paediatrician to come round to do some checks. We were told they'd come at 9am but it was early afternoon before she came round. Amelia still hadn't fed, she was asleep most of the time and when she woke up, she just wasn't interested in latching on at all. She'd have a go, have a couple of sucks then stop. By the time the third change of midwife came on shift I was getting quite frustrated and upset but OH was keeping me sane! We really wanted to go home and not have to stay another night. Anyway, the third midwife was fab, she told me to try expressing some by hand into a little cup. I managed to get quite a decent amount which we fed to Amelia. The other midwives had said basically we couldn't go until they'd seen her have a good feed but this midwife said she'd be happy to let us go as she knew that I knew that I could express if necessary, that one of her babies hadn't fed until 48 hours after being born, etc etc... In the end, Amelia all of a sudden decided she *did* want to do it, she latched on and had a feed then went straight on the other side and arrived on, so we were allowed to leave around 5.30pm.

Sorry if that's a bit of a ramble! Like I said, it's all seems a bit surreal now, like it wasn't me that did all that without any extra pain relief, and so quickly! Since we've been home she's been feeding ok, every 3 hours or so. The large bag of food we'd bought for during labour didn't even get touched! Oh and I'd recommend taking as many maternity pads as you can fit in your bag! And make sure they're the biggest, fattest, thickest ones you can find! I was changing my pad every couple of hours so was getting through them like nobodies business...

keza

Gilly - I prop myself up against my pillows in my bed, legs a kimbo and have a mirror in front of me so I can see what Im doing. Haha. It is awkward but seems to be doing what it says. Or try with one leg on the loo x

Gillyx

Thanks Keza, will give that a try too :rotfl: What are we like!

Annabella, great birth story, hope mines is as good, going to order a TENS tomorrow, in the vain hope, it can happen to me :rotfl:

*Redhead*

You did Fab 4nnabella. Congratulations to you and your OH again. Hope we get to see a photo soon x

Gillyx

Okay well, I gave it a go, just finished :rotfl: it wasn't as stingy as what I thought it would be, but hopefully I'm doing it right :rotfl:

4nnabella

Here we go...

*Redhead*

Oh she's beautiful. You must be very proud. X

mozzyc

Congratulations again 4nnabella!!!! She is beautiful. I can't believe you didn't have any pain relief, well done you!!!

kelda_shelton

Awww she's a cutie!

Dashikii

Oh wow, what a cutie. Congratulations Anna.

Quick question guys, when did you guys start your antenatal classes? I'm nearly 25 weeks and its just occurred to me that the midwives haven't told me anything about it. Am i too early to think about that?

We got one of the cots today and i feel a sense of relief. Got loads more to go but i love being organised.

Oh and i think i've had an outie since 18 weeks. I've officially accepted that my bump is humoungous!