This is the story of the beginning of the most exciting and wonderful time of my life: Being a mummy
It all began at 6.30pm on Friday May 1st. My husband had just left to go to work and while I was on the toilet my waters broke without warning. It was all a bit of a surprise considering I wasn't having any contractions and our little one wasn't due for another 2 1/2 weeks!
I quickly called my husband to let him know what was going on. Looking back, I can't believe how calm I was. I told him not to stress, but that my waters had broken and I was going to give the hospital a call and see if I needed to go in. When I spoke to the hospital they asked me to come right in, so I called back my husband and he came home to get me. We ended up getting to the hospital about 9.30pm and I had only had one or two fairly good contractions and the rest had been not much stronger than the Braxton Hicks contractions I'd been having the last few days.
At the hospital I was put on a couple of monitors for about an hour to check bubs heartrate and my contractions, and then they did a test to make sure my waters really had broken because the midwife wasn't 100% convinced. Seeings as I had been leaking since the gush at 6.30pm I was not surprised at all when the test was positive, haha! After that I was told I was in prelabour and could go home and to come back at 7am for an 8am induction. We let her know that induction was NOT our plan and she told us to still come back in at 7am and discuss it with our obstetrician.
So we got back home around midnight at which point labour started with full force. I started out trying to use the TENS machine. I wasn't able to lay on the bed at all and ended up making a strange kind of nest on the floor next to the bed made out of blankets and pillows! Once the contractions started to get quite bad I made my way into the shower. During contractions I found myself holding onto the top of the shower door and semi-hanging from it to get some relief.
At around 3.30am I got out of the shower and told my husband that if we didn't leave to go back to the hospital now, then I don't know how I will manage the 1/2 hour car trip. So we left right away and I travelled in the front passenger seat, on my knees, facing the back of the car! I'm sure it looked interesting to other drivers.
We arrived at the hospital again at about 4am and luckily my obstetrician happened to already be there and came and examined me straight away. I was waiting for the disapointing news that I was only 2cm dilated or something similar, so I was shocked when he told me that I was 8cm! I still can't believe I went from nothing to 8cm in 4 hours!
Things really stepped up from there. They wanted me on the monitors again, but there was no way I could lay on the bed! I was most comfortable standing next to the bed and leaning on the bed and a pillow, so they raised the bed and put the monitors on me standing up. The contractions were getting really unbearable though and so I was unhooked and they let me hop in the shower. The midwife mentioned that I was in transition so my hope was that it wouldn't be too long before this stage ended and I could start pushing out my baby.
Unfortunately the contractions continued to escalate and I ended up on the floor of the shower with a towel under my knees. I had told my husband that under no circumstances should he let me take drugs unless it was medically required, and the midwife had read our birth plan asking for them not to offer drugs, and she impressed me by never once offering. But by this stage I started asking for something to help with the pain. My contractions were coming on top of each other with no break in between and I was starting to have trouble breathing. My wonderful husband and the midwife tried to stall me as long as possible in the hopes that I would get through this stage and feel better when I started pushing, but after more than an hour the midwife told my husband that in her opinion it seemed like I was "stuck" and that it might be in my best interest to let me have some pethidine so that I could move forward.
I got a shot of intramuscular pethidine and within minutes I started vomitting (I'm allergic to most painkillers, grrr). Luckily there was nothing left in me to vomit up so it didn't last long. Once the meds kicked in I was able to relax between contractions and refocus. I definitely don't regret having the shot because it allowed me to move through to the next stage of labour.
Once the pethidine started wearing off I was told that I could start pushing. I refused to lay on my back on the bed, so the midwife raised the back on the bed so I could kneel on the bed and rest my arms and upper body on the top of the bed. I pushed and pushed my little heart out. All I kept thinking was that the harder I pushed each contraction, the sooner I would see my baby, and the less contractions I would have to push through!
After an hour and 40 minutes of solid pushing my obstetrician told us that the baby was stuck and not moving further down. He wasn't even moving back and forth with each contraction, he was just stuck. My obstetrician said he would have to assist with a vaccuum extraction. I didn't really like the idea, but he said that with how the baby was stuck I could still be there that night pushing with no more progress.
My obstetrician was really patient with me while I waited out a contraction before rolling over, and by the time I had my next contraction he was ready with the little suction cap already on the baby's head. With the next contraction I pushed really hard and was amazed how hard my obstetrician was pulling at the same time. I could actually see his arm shaking with the tension. It made me realise that the vaccuum extraction really was required, because there was no way my bub was coming out without a little help. And even with help it still took three contractions before my little man's head came out. I found myself really scared to reach down to touch his little head in case he was just a dream. It was a little irrational in hindsight, but at the time I was scared it was all just a dream. But then I reached down and touched his beautiful little head and it was wonderful!
With the next contraction his shoulders came out and my obstetrician told me to reach down and pull my baby out. So I reached down, put my hands under his little arms and pulled my baby out and onto my chest. It was so amazing! My brave little man didn't even cry at first. He was very alert though and was looking at me. Then he gave a couple of little "hello" cries, before going quiet again and just gazing around. Once his umbilical cord stopped pulsing my husband cut his cord.
After his cord was cut and his placenta had been delivered my husband and I were left alone to get to know our beautiful son, Kyson. What a magical time!
After about an hour Kyson had his first breastfeed, and although we both fumbled a little bit, our instincts got us through it and we both did wondefully. He's been a fantastic feeder ever since and my milk production has been on overdrive!
When the midwife came back she weighed and measured him and we found out that he weighed 8lbs 10.4oz (3.925kg), was 51cm in length and had a head circumference of 34cm. He's a big baby, but super snuggly and gorgeous! Oh, and I have no idea how, but I didn't even tear! Yay, no stitches for me!
We left the hospital after only 48 hours as both Kyson and I were doing great. Since coming home things have been fantastic. Already I can't imagine what life was like before he came into our lives. He is an absolute joy and I fall in love with him more and more each day.
Krystie - I LOVED reading your birth story, it (almost) makes me want to do it all over again - How fantastic!! Well done on such a great labour - what a strong and inspirational lady you are
Aw Krystie, that is awesome! How wonderful that you were able to catch Kyson yourself
Congratulations again, mate. I am so thrilled for you. Enjoy little Kyson!
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Kyson's journey into the world
Well done on the birth of Kyson! You did very well.
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