On Monday 20th December at 9:30am Aidan was 8 days overdue, l was induced with prostin gel. I settled in for the day as the gel would be inserted again 6hrs later and labour normally starts with the 2nd application, with birth the following day, especially in first time labours.
Contractions started almost straight away, non painful just tightening and were regular. My husband went to get some lunch at about 1pm and while he was gone the contractions started to get a little painful, by the time he got back at 2pm they were getting quite -uncomfortable’.
A midwife came to check on me and I finally agreed to taking some Panadeine Forte, which I threw up straight away (another good sign labour had started). The doctor who inserted the gel was back at 3:30pm and she did an internal before applying more gel and pronounced me 3cm dilated — yippee!! So no more gel and off to the birth unit where I wasn’t to realise the real fun had only just begun!
In the birth unit I settled on the fit ball which was comfy for about 20mins while the midwife run the bath which I was looking forward to and knew it would help as I’ve always loved the water! Gas was my new best friend from this point right up until birth (although it doesn’t take the pain away but seems to make a difference in some way).
Birth of Aidan
Once in the bath my contractions were regular (sorry cannot remember timings) and quite strong and at about 5:30pm I started asking for more pain relief and the midwife suggested pethidine which I finally decided to take at 6pm. To be honest it didn’t feel like it helped with the pain at all but DH says I was much calmer during the contractions and stopped my shaking. At about 6:30pm I started to get the strong pushing urge which got stronger and stronger with each contraction. Finally got out of the bath at 7:00pm and back to the birth unit for pushing, (I chose to kneel and lean on the bed) for 1.5hours, waters broke at 8:15pm (meconium stained) and Aidan James was born at 8:30pm!
Unfortunately I have a 2nd degree tear which was stitched up (about 12 stitches) at about 10:30pm but I didn’t feel the tear at the time, just stinging when Aidan’s head was coming out, nothing compared to the contractions. Our beautiful little Aidan had an Apgar’s of 9 at 1min and 10 at 5min, weighed in at 9pounds 9 ounces with a head circumference of 35.5 cm and was 52.5cm in length, perfect all round (nice and big which Mummy is feeling but it’s all worth it).
Sorry for such a long birth story, I just don’t want to forget everything and I feel so lucky to be finally writing this and know the effect on what other birth stories had on me leading up to Aidan’s birth.
I still can’t believe I was in labour for only 7.5 hours and thought for sure I would end up having an epidural. The midwife came to see me the next day and said what a wonderful birth it was and that she went home feeling really chuffed, which makes me feel pretty damn proud! I wonder why I only had the one internal and I guess it is because it all went so well and the midwife relied on my natural instincts.
Aidan James kept us waiting but he just needed a little inducing and he was out in no time!!
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