Juliette's late arrival into the world

[{sarah}]

My due date of May 7th came & went without a hint of labour starting. I wasn't surprised though as Zander was eight days late. On the Friday when I was two days overdue I had a stupidly long appointment at the hospital, where I had a stretch & sweep done & found out I was 3cm dilated, so at least things were happening. That afternoon I had heaps of braxton hicks due to the S&S so was getting ready for things to start happening. Two days later (40 weeks 4 days) I lost my mucus plug.

I had my 41 week appointment on May 14th & it was quite a non event, basically I was given an appointment two day later to go to the Feto-Maternal Assessment Unit (FMAU) to be checked over & see what we were going to do next. The next day I had acupuncture & an acupressure massage done to start labour, I had one contraction walking back to the car but that was it.

So Aaron & I go to the FMAU on May 16th ready to fight for our VBAC. I was told essentially I would be allowed legally to go to 40 weeks + 12 days at the maximum & I was already 40 weeks + 9 days. Essentially the appointment ended with me being booked in for ARM 7am Monday morning the 19th. Everything was favourable. I was still at 3cm, but my cervix was "very thin" and bub had moved a bit so was now only 1/5 engaged. As soon as the midwife tried to do another sweep she moved back away from her hand, though there was nothing left to sweep, the membranes were still detached after the one the week prior.

The plan was the ARM at 7am and then we would walk & do whatever we could to bring on the contractions. Intermintent monitoring probably 20mins per 2hrs. If nothing happened in xxx time, they didn't give me a time but up to 24hrs depending on how things are going then they will do the drip very, very low. The drip would be on for a max of 8hrs & if still nothing it would be off to theatre. If they were concerned about anything, bub's heart rate, unusual bleeding etc etc it would be straight theatre.

Or at least that was the plan....

10pm on May 16th, only a few hours after my ARM was booked I walked into my lounge room & felt a small gush. I went to the loo & realised that it was probably my waters as there was no urine smell. I told Aaron "Either I just wet myself & didn't realise it, or my waters have broken." So for the next hour and a half I browsed BellyBelly & every time I moved there was a small gush of fluid. I went to bed at around midnight, but managed to only sleep for an hour before contractions started.

I got up at 1am May 17th and paced the house. I had a hot shower that really helped with the back pain for a while & then got out to pace some more. At around 3.30am I felt like I wasn't able to cope on my own so considered waking Aaron, but decided to wait until 5am so he could get some rest. The contractions seemed to be coming pretty close together but I was too busy concentrating on getting through them to actually do any timing.

I woke Aaron at around 4am, as I couldn't cope on my own anymore. He said the contractions were coming every 5-6 minutes and I didn't believe him! I was so worried that something was wrong because the contractions were coming to close together & were really intense & I had only been in labour for 3 hours. Aaron called the hospital & they were convinced I was close, even though I wasn't convinced. In the end we decided to go to the hospital at around 5am. We called my parents & dad stayed at home with Zander (who was still asleep) and mum came to the hospital with us. They almost called an ambulance for me as I was struggling to get in the car. I didn't want to sit because walking & being upright felt so much better, but the thought of being taken by ambulance convinced me to sit for the 5 minute drive!

So when I finally managed to get to the delivery suite (stopping every few minutes to breathe through the contractions) I as checked still only be 3cm dilated. I was devastated that I had done all that work to be at the same place as I started. Bub was checked & had a fetal monitor thingo put on her head & I as left to labour for a while. I varied positions, on all fours on the floor, kneeling in the shower/bath with water running on my back, walking, leaning against Aaron... I started to struggle with the pain & not getting a break between contractions so had a shot of pethadine (which did nothing) and was told I was now at 4cm, almost halfway there!

An hour later I convinced everyone I absolutely had to have an epidural, as the back pain was now intolerable. The anesthetist arrived & I had another internal to check dilation & I was at 8cm. All I could say was "CRAP"; I just knew that it was too late for the epidural. The look on my mum's face was hilarious, as I don't swear, but I didn't have it in me to laugh at that point!! So this was it, 8cm (not bad going - 4cm in an hour) and I had to do the rest on my own without drugs.

I had another internal a while later as I was badly needing to push but was only at 9cm. I was asking for a caesarean again (I had been asking earlier when I decided on the epidural). I blank out here, I have no idea why it was decided or what happened, but I was going to be heading off for another emergency caesarean (I was told later that there was an issue with bub's position as she wasn't descending enough).

Off I went to theatre..... I vomited when I got there & freaked the nurses & everyone out as it was red - had to quickly explain the red cordial I had drank early in the morning LOL! I was given the any nausea meds and taken in for the spinal, all the while still contracting & feeling a huge urge to push.

At 12.06pm Juliette Catherine came into the world, with her hand on her face, a big dent in her head & looking very purple. She was kept by my side until she started coughing but then had to be taken down to the SCN to be put on oxygen (which I didn't realise at the time). I was put back together & sent to recovery where I vomited again. My blood pressure was too low so I was kept in recovery for almost two hours until it stabilised. I was then taken back to the ward, which is when I found out that Juliette was in SCN (Aaron was with her though). I was also told that I had lost just over a litre of blood so would need a blood test the next day to confirm if I'd need a transfusion (which I didn?t in the end).

I was then wheeled in bed down to the SCN & got to meet my baby girl & feed her for the first time when she was around 2.5 hours old. I was then made to go back to the ward to have my obs done due to my BP issues. Finally at 6pm, six hours after her birth Juliette was brought back to be with me.

So nothing like we had planned, but all worked out in the end.