After being given 3 doses of Prostin gel to induce labour early and spending a couple of nights in hospital, I began experiencing very painful contractions and thought Gabrielle was on her way. But in fact, I was sent home for the weekend after I refused a fourth dose of gel. I was able to get a wonderful sleep on Saturday night and was far more relaxed dealing with it all at home. However, all day and Sunday night was a different story.
I spent Sunday in bed all day with painful contractions every 20-30 minutes and I was just SO tired. By 6pm on Sunday night, I had had enough so we headed back into the hospital for more monitoring. I was still being told it was just “Prostin Pain” and not contractions. I was sent home with some sleeping tablets and panadiene forte but they didn’t alleviate the pain. I spent all night crying out in pain every 10 minutes.
On Monday morning, I called the hospital and explained that I couldn’t wait for my appointment at 11am at the clinic because I was in so much pain AND I didn’t fancy screaming down the clinic walls whilst waiting. That would be very disconcerting for all the other pregnant women waiting for their appointments. So they told me to come into the MDAU (my favourite place — NOT!) when I could. We got there a little after 9:30am when we were sent up to the clinic anyway because the MDAU was too busy!!!
We sat waiting for at least 45 minutes with me struggling to be quiet with each contraction. Neil was worried and hassled them to get me in earlier. When we finally got called in, a gruff, male doctor finally gave me an internal to check how I was presenting. This internal wasn’t as bad and he agreed that my waters could be broken! Yay! He said he would give the birthing suites a call and see if I could go there straight away but he warned that I may have to wait until the next day. Neil and I crossed everything!!!
Gabrielle birth
We waited for another 10 minutes when they announced that I would go downstairs and have my waters broken. Finally!!! We went down to the birthing suites and were shown to our room. Our midwife was lovely. The Doctor that broke my waters was very upbeat and pleasant. They broke pretty easily without any pain. It was a bizarre feeling! There was a little bit of meconium in the waters so they were a little yellowish in colour.
I asked to be put into a hospital gown and I was given pads to put between my legs. As I was up and moving around, I couldn’t believe how much liquid was coming out of me!! At one stage it went all over the floor. Neil walked along behind me throwing pads on the floor to soak it up. So funny to see this trail of pads all over the floor! What a dag!
The contractions started getting stronger as Mum and Lauren arrived (I got Neil to call Mum when we got news that my waters would be broken). Lauren freaked out a little seeing me in pain so she didn’t stay for long. I was also getting pissed off that there was nothing to lean on that would stay still (all the tables etc. had wheels on them and the bed had been lowered).
I asked about an epidural and when it was the right time to ask for one because I didn’t want to leave it too late like I have heard of happening. It was explained to be that because of my high blood pressure, an early epidural could help because it can lower blood pressure and help things along. So I agreed to have one straight away.
While I was waiting, I got out the bean bag and put it beside the bed. I knelt on the bean bag and leaned on the bed and rode out a couple of strong contractions. Lots of water came out and went all over the bean bag. Ewwww!
The anesthetist that came in to do my epidural was the same one that did a talk at our antenatal classes and she recognized me which was nice. She explained what she was going to do and told me to just yell out when I was going to have a contraction. I was shown the gas to help me ride the contractions out while I sat on the edge of the bed. It was fantastic!! I sucked and breathed on it like crazy during each one. I also screamed the occasional “Ouch!!” between sucks. I saved the swearing for when the midwife was out of the room, hehehe.
It really helped me to focus on something else. The Doctor, Mum and Neil were all very supportive. The epidural administration didn’t hurt at all. After it was put in, I was put on a CTG again to monitor the baby’s heart beat and the contractions. The machine wasn’t picking up the heart beat very well so the doctor put a head clip monitor on the baby’s head which only left a little mark. She also put in a catheter which was a very unpleasant feeling. Neil said the look on my face while they were putting it in was priceless! Things aren’t meant to go up THAT hole!!
As soon as backs were turned, Neil decided to help himself to the gas! He had a few good sucks and said that his chest felt all light.
Pretty soon, I felt nothing. The epidural made me feel a little shaky and my legs felt really heavy but the painful contractions were gone (for the first time in 5 days!!).
I then had an IV put in and the sintocin drip was started to get the contractions going. After a while, it became evident that the baby’s heartbeat was decreasing with the contractions so the drip was turned off a couple of times. They gave it a couple of hours and a few tries but it looked as though something was compressing the cord with each contraction and it was stressing the baby out. Her heartbeat would decrease dramatically.
So, the decision was made to have a caesarean.
I was transferred to a different bed and an inflatable warming blanket was put over me because I was shaking like mad and Mum said that I felt really cold. Before I knew it, I was being wheeled down the corridors to theatre.
I remember looking up at the ceiling and seeing the lights go by, one by one like in the movies.
We got to the surgery section where I signed consent forms and Neil got dressed into a very funky outfit. He looked like a baker with a white jumpsuit on, slippers and a hair net. It made me laugh. The anesthetist then started numbing me more. They used ice to make sure it was working. They put it on my face to demonstrate how cold it felt then put it on my legs to see if I could feel the cold. All it felts like was someone touching me. They had to wait a little while for it to take full effect.
The IV they had put in my hand actually hurt a lot and I yelled in pain when they put anything through it. Neil said he felt more nervous about that than when I was having contractions! They were going to re-do it but, because it was working well, I told them not to bother. I would just put up with the pain. Later they put in a local anesthetic to numb it a little.
All the staff were wonderful in coaching me through everything. It felt very strange with all the tugging and pulling but I felt no pain.
I did, however, start to feel very nauseated. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast but I did have some water. I told Neil that I didn’t feel very well and before I knew it, there was a kidney dish and suction thingy next to my head. Apparently the water I had drunk earlier had come up. It was so hard being sick and trying not to move (not that I could)!
After more tugging and pulling and a weird strap being attached to the bar above my head (obviously holding -something’ up — I didn’t want to ask!), they announced that the head was out. They asked Neil if he wanted to look but he declined for some reason! ;0)
Before long, we heard a little cry and it was the most amazing sound in the world. I said; “That’s my baby!” and burst into tears.
She was taken over to a table for them to do all that they do and Neil wandered over. He came back and told me it was a girl. He didn’t have one look of disappointment on his face at all! She was brought over to us, her eyes wide open and looking so peaceful. The nurses then got to take our first family photos. After the initial thrill, I was starting to feel a little over the whole thing. I could still feel tugging and pulling and I just wanted to get up and walk out. It took longer to stitch me up than it did to get her out!
Finally I was wheeled into recovery and my little, precious girl was put on my boob. Gosh it was awkward! I went to have a look at her feet but I was told off because she needed to keep warm (party poopers!). I was still pretty shaky.
We were only in recovery for short time when I was wheeled up to my room. Neil and I checked over our list of names and decided on Gabrielle Lee with Gabby being her every-day name. Neil called Mum who was somewhere in the hospital and she came up to get a look of her first grandchild. She was as proud as punch! My sisters also came up to visit and get photos with their first niece.
Gabby was taken down to special care after it was found that her blood sugars were low. They don’t check all babies but because of the c-section and the fact that there was meconium in the waters, they checked her. It was hard having her down there for the first couple of days but I was able to get some rest which was good.
So, that is my very long story on how Gabrielle Lee Morris came into the world! My perfect little angel!
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