Saturday morning 6 days before EDD, my DH gets home from work at 2am from his last shift before taking leave (he'd arranged to finish work a week early so we could spend some couple time beofre EDD!) I just got back to sleep when I was woken by a cramp in lower abdomen. I lay and thought about it for a few minutes - didn't pass, so I went to the loo where I discovered a bucket-load of CM (sorry!!) which I guess was the plug. I started to walk around as cramp was a constant pain which was worse when I lay down. After 10 mins of pacing and no change I rang the hospital as I was confused - I was expecting pain to come and go as in contractions... The hospital had an emergency underway and asked me to call back in 10 mins. During this time the pain started coming in waves so DH timed them and they were 4-6 mins apart. I phoned hospital again and they said as it was my first time I could come in if it I wanted reassurance. So we grabbed our bags and headed in fully expecing we would be home again soon...
On the way in the contractions worsened in pain and started coming regularly every 4 mins. When we got there they said contractions were real and that I was 2 cm dilated. They said at this stage they would ofetn send us home, but my blood pressure was climbing so they admitted me. Just as well they did as within half an hour I couldn't cope with pain and was taken to labour suite. I was now 3 cm dilated, and contratcions were so intense I wanted to vomit and couldn't catch my breath in between. I tried walking around and having a shower, but still felt I needed some relief. I didn't want gas as I felt so sick even the thought of the mask made me gag. I decided I needed an epi, and the midwife said she thought that was an excellent idea as my BP was soaring and the epi would bring it down. WOW - what a difference... it didn't work fully at first but it made it bearable, but they said they'd top it up anyway. A few mins later she asked how the top-up was and I said I'd tell her on the next contraction... she replied that I was in the middle of one!
I cruised for the next few hours... my parents and in-laws even came in for a vist (my parents had flown in from Melb as soon as we confirmed I was in labour so they came straight from the airport to say Hi then went to our house to give the dog a walk and wait till they heard the news.) Next time they checked me I was 8-9 cm dilated and they said it would soon be time to push.
I won't go in to details about the pushing, but after a little while (have no idea how long!) the midwife had to make a cut as the baby had gotten to a certain point then stopped even though I was pushing well... the student mw asked why she was cutting already and I heard the reply "her temperature is too high - we've got to get this baby out before it gets any higher" Well - that was all the motivation I needed to push with every ounce of strength and my boy was born a few contractions later at 5.27 pm after 12 hours of confirmed labour.
Unfortunately my BP and temp continued to climb even after the placenta was out, and by 11pm that night my whole body was shaking uncontrollably. They put me on tablets and a magnesium sulfide (or sulfate??) drip for 24 hour until it was under control.
Thanks for sharing your story Donella! - It sounds like it was a pretty scary experience towards the end... this was due to Pre Eclampsia wasnt it?
I hope you are well on the road to recovery and feeling much better now though. Congratulations again
Yes - it was pre-eclampsia (should ahve said that shouldn't I!!) My BP at ante-natal visits had been fine, so didn't know that was going to happen. Usually p-e goes away with birth of placenta, but mine went higher still. Apparently this is unusual but not unheard of... The drip was horrid though - made my arm ache so I couldn't move it properly which hindered sleep and feeding.
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