Another DD :)
Well, after posting in prelabour asking about synto induction, I thought I'd let everyone know how labour panned out.
After 2 days of having to wear a pad because of such a heavy show, I started getting contractions on Wed afternoon. By dinner time they were quite regular & strong enough for me to call the mw and ask what they thought about coming in. They said that as I was 45mins away from the hosp, & 2nd bub's can be unpredictable, I should go in & at least get checked.
I got in & was given an internal at 9pm. I was 1.5cm dilated, and contractions had slowed down. I was offered sleeping tablets, but declined not wanting to slow things down. In retrospect, maybe rest was more important than getting it going. But I was just so excited.
Anyway, I tried to rest through mild contractions but after about 11pm they were getting strong enough to keep me up. At about 1am I had to wake DH up for support, and we laboured together for a few hours. At 5:30am the midwife offered to do an internal. I was getting tired, and although I didn't want a disappointing result from the internal, I wanted to get an idea of how much longer I might be going. The contractions were pretty painful by this stage.
She checked & said I was 8cms & as I'd dilated about 1cm an hour so far, I should have bub in about 2hrs. I was chuffed I'd gotten so far with no pain relief
But, the next 2 hours passed & then another, & then another... No waters breaking, no urge to push.
At 9:30am the mw told me that bub was OP, facing the wring way. All the contractions were doing nothing to push her down
By this point the contractions were about 3mins apart, lasting over a minute & very intense back & front.
I couldn't manage the pain anymore. I was tired from no sleep, dehydrated (was told I needed to be put on IV fluids) and there was talk of an emergency Csection if bub hadn't moved down in a few hours. I turned into a big sook & got DH to call my mum in for extra support.
Then, I requested the epidural. It was just so disheartening to know that the strongest of contractions were not making any progress & I needed to rest.
Then, after the fluids were absorbed & the epi kicked in (at about 9.5cms) my body was recovered & relaxed enough to labour on properly. A few strong contractions turned the bub the right way, and she headed on down herself. The epi was light enough that I could sit up & push. And out she came at 1:30pm on Thurs, with a full head of dark hair (her sister is completely blonde).
4kgs, 52cm long, head circ 34cm - a biggish little girl.
I never thought I'd have my mum there in labour & to see the birth, but you can never predict how it will go & how you'll feel at the time!
It was a long labour & the OP factor complicated it (it took 7hrs to get from 8-10cm!). I don't regret having the epi, as it actually helped to relax me enough for her to turn around. And I'm happy there was no synto & I could labour naturally. And in the end it was all worth it as soon as i got to hold my little Leah
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Good on you for keeping on 
x
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