I had a pretty standard pregnancy. It was my second pregnancy and I felt that I knew what I was doing. I had morning sickness for the first three months, but it wasn’t as severe as my first pregnancy with DD. I really do not enjoy being pregnant, but the second time around, it was a bit easier than the first time.
When I was pregnant with DD, I knew that she was a girl almost before I did the pregnancy test. This time round I wasn’t so sure and only found out that it was a boy at the 20 week scan. I was really excited.
I didn’t do much preparation for the actual birth. This was mostly due to the fact that I didn’t want to think about it. I had had a rather negative birth experience with DD in a public hospital, and due to financial constraints and family pressure I felt that a public hospital was my only viable option this time round too. So I booked in to the local hospital and tried not to think about it, as every time I did, I would just remember all the things that had gone wrong with DD’s birth. (For the record, DD was born at 35 weeks 5 days after a PROM. After my waters broke, I went into labour and due to lack of education agreed to a completely unnecessary induction, which led to episiotomy, forceps, DD getting distressed, etc. And the staff were rude and treated me like I was an idiot...)
From about 34 weeks, I started to think about my birth plans. Because I went into premature labour with DD (and have a history of women in my family going into early labour), I knew that there was a good chance that this baby would be born early too. I began doing some research about what my rights are in a public hospital so that I would not be bullied into doing things that I didn’t want. Eventually, I started to feel better about the whole thing.
I had an ante-natal appointment at 34 and a half weeks. The doctor said that everything was looking really good and asked me to come back at 36 weeks. 35 weeks 5 days came and went and I was glad that this bub was hanging in longer than DD had. I started to read inspiring birth stories. I was determined to have a natural birth this time. I would not agree to an induction or to any intervention without very good reason and without talking to the doctors and midwives so that I understood the implications. When DD had been born, I was told that the induction had made the contractions more painful, which in turn had led me to have an epidural. I was confident that I would not need pain relief this time.
At 36 weeks and 3 days, at 8:20pm, I started getting tightenings in my belly. They were not painful and I thought they were Braxton Hicks, which I had gotten a few times over the past couple of weeks. Then, when I was in the kitchen making dinner, my waters broke prematurely. Again. Bugger. I called out, “It’s happened!” and DH called back from the living room, “Is dinner ready already?” LOL. I explained that no, it wasn’t, but that the baby was ready to come out.
I rang the hospital, explained what had happened and they told me to come in. Because our car was in need of repairs (and hence un-driveable) I looked up the bus timetable and saw that the last bus going to the hospital that night would leave from around the corner of our house in just over an hour. Perfect. Just enough time to get my hospital bag together, as I hadn’t packed it yet.
I stopped making dinner and started to get ready (stopping to change pads several times). DH got DD ready, as I wanted her to be there when the baby was born. During this time I started getting some stronger contractions. We were ready within half an hour, so decided to walk to the railway station and catch the bus from there instead, as I wanted to keep on moving.
We got to the hospital just before 10:00pm. The midwives were doing changeover, so we were asked to wait in the waiting room, where I did my best to sit still through another couple of contractions. They were starting to get really uncomfortable.
Finally we were led through into a birthing room. The midwife examined me, determined that yes, my membranes had ruptured, then asked me to lie on the bed and hooked me up to a monitor. The contractions were coming regularly every 5-10 minutes and were starting to get really painful. After about an hour of monitoring, the midwife came back, took me off the monitor, then told me to have a shower and to get some rest as I wasn’t in labour yet because “I was only having little contractions, not real ones”. I could have punched her in the face when she said that, because those contractions felt damn full on. (But I simply nodded and didn’t say anything nasty.)
I tried to have a shower, but as soon as I got off the bed and started walking around, the contractions got a whole lot more intense and started to come closer together. I asked for some pain relief (I felt like a wuss, as I was determined not to do this, but these contractions seems even more painful than the ones I had had when in labour with DD). I was given some panadeine forte and some sleeping pills. They didn’t touch the sides of the pain, but did make me kind of woozy, so I guess they helped.
The midwife told DH and DD that it was unlikely that the baby would be born that night so that they should go home and get some rest and come back in the morning. (Un)fortunately, we had come by bus and there were no more buses until 6:00am the next day, so they got to stay (yay). This was good, as my labour progressed quite quickly after this.
After a while (I had no idea what time was by this stage), I asked for an epidural, but was told that it was too early, so they offered me gas instead. When I had had DD I had tried the gas, but it didn’t work, however I was willing to give it another go. I am glad I did, because it really helped. It took the edge off the pain and made me feel kind of stoned in a good way. I had prepared some music to listen to on my ipod, but I only had my little headphones, so after trying to listen to one song, I switched it off, as the music wasn’t helping me in any way.
The contractions kept coming and it was seriously one of the most painful things that I had ever experienced (even with the gas). With DD, I had felt them in my back mostly. This time, I felt them in my hips. Every time a contraction came, it felt like someone was driving a nail through each side of my pelvis. However, I kept breathing through them with the help of the gas. I held on to that gas mouthpiece for dear life.
After a while, I asked for an epidural again, but was told that it was too late, that I was fully dilated and that it was time to push. So I tried to push, but I just couldn’t. It was at this point that the midwives realised that they were looking at a bum instead of a head. The baby was breech, but no one had picked this up before. I tried to push a few more times, but because of the way that the baby was positioned (apparently his feet were by his head), I couldn’t do it. Someone that said something about an emergency ceasarean. The midwife explained that at this stage, the best way to get the baby out was by c-section. I knew that she was right, this was one of those genuine interventions that I was prepared to have, so I signed the paperwork, then waited as they prepared the theatre. Each minute that they delayed was agony, as I was still getting contractions every couple of minutes. Finally, they wheeled me into the theatre, with the gas mouthpiece still in my hand. When we got there, there was some discussion about what kind of anaesthetic to use. Once again, I wished that they would hurry up. I just wanted the pain to stop. Finally, they decided to do a spinal block. This meant that I would have to sit up and sit still (without the gas) for several minutes, while they got the needle ready and then put it in my back. The thought of having the gas taken away was scary, but surprisingly, once I was sitting up, the two contractions that I had while they got the spinal block ready were not as bad as the ones that I had had while lying down. So it really is trued that women are not supposed to labour on their backs...
They got the needle in smoothly, and within seconds, I could feel the anaesthetic taking effect. Yay. No more contractions. I lay down and they put a screen up in front of me. They told me that I would expect to feel some pushing and tugging while they got the baby out. I asked if I would feel the cut, but was told that I wouldn’t. Yay again. After a few moments, I felt the pulling and tugging and then I heard a baby cry. Woo hoo. The baby was out and he sounded healthy. They gave him to me to hold. Like with DD, it was instant love at first sight. He was absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. I asked them to get DH and DD, but unfortunately DD wasn’t allowed in the theatre. One of the nurses took some photos, then I was told that the baby would be taken to the nursery while I was in recovery. I told them to give the baby to DH instead, which they did.
While I was in recovery, DS was brought back to me. He had been having skin to skin with DH and had tried to latch on to his nipple, so he was brought to me and I gave him his first feed. He attached expertly and fed for a while, then was put in a basinet, and we were wheeled back into the birthing room, where we spent the night with DH and DD.
The next morning I was transferred to the maternity ward. DH and DD went home to get some sleep, before coming back later on that day. I was discharged on day 3. Surprisingly, the recovery from the c-section was easier than when I was recovering from an episiotomy after DD’s birth.
Although I had wanted a natural birth, I am happy with this birth experience. I am so glad that I didn’t end up having an epidural, and surprisingly, I am really happy that I went through the full labour, painful as it was, even though it ended up in a c-section. Most of all, I am very happy with the support from the staff at the hospital. Everyone was very helpful and respectful, and they all seemed to be on the same page, giving consistent advice, etc. It would be good if all public hospitals were like this.
Stats:
Date of Birth: 29 December 2012
Time of Birth: 3:28am
Weight: 2922g
Length: 51cm
Head Circ: 33.5cm
Agpar 1min: 9
Agpar 5 min: 10
Name: Viktor Stanley
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The Birth of the Karate Kid
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