I was due on the 6th of feb and the day came and went. I had tried acupuncture and had a S and S to try to move things along as I had been having lots of pre labour for weeks and a few shows. We had also been for long walks on the sand, bumpy car rides, lots of DTD but no baby. I was expecting to go into labour early as I had spontaneously at 39wks with DD1.
At 41+3 I went to the birthing unit and was expecting to be induced. After doing an internal and an ultrasound they sent me home and wanted me to come back that night for my first dose of prosten gel. This was put in at around 8pm with the midwives saying that my cervix was still posterior and thick. I was having irregular mild contractions by this stage. They did another internal at 2am and put in another lot of Prostin as I still wasn't progressing. In the morning an ob came to see me and said that he was concerned that as my cervix was still posterior that we might hyper stimulate the uterus by giving me anymore gel and they would wait until the following evening to do anything further. He also said that my dates might be wrong and that he felt that if a woman was ready 1 and at the most 2 lots of gel should do the job so wanted me to wait which i was happy with. Well dh and I spent the day walking around and up and down stairs and I had a show and was trying not to get my hopes up but remain positive. I had a cannula inserted due to past PPH and blood taken.
The following evening at around 8 they did another internal (I was really sick of these by now and so was my poor vagina) and said that my cervix was still the same. Dh and I then had a talk and decided I wouldn't have the gel and would wait until the morning, hoping that something happened spontaneously overnight. We were both scared of me having another PPH. I was still having contractions so they gave me some panadene forte and sleeping tablets so I could have a good rest and I asked to be assessed between 5-6am.
I woke at around 5.30 on Friday 18/2/11 and found that my contractions had eased considerably but felt pretty rested. I was sure i would have to have more gel and had lost a bit of faith in my body. When i went for the morning internal they were finally able to do an ARM with no gel and said i was 3-4cms dialated. By this stage it was around 7.30 so I went and had my brekkie and tried to come to terms with the fact I was having my baby today!
They midwife taking care of me came and introduced herself and said they would put the drip up at 8.30 which i was disappointed about and told her so as I had previously requested to be given a few hours to go into labour on my own. I had been on the drip last time too and knew it meant continuous ctg monitoring and restricted mobility.
Anyway 8.30 came and I went to the birthing suite and had the ctg attached and the first bag of synto put up. By this stage contractions were irregular again but nothing too serious and dh came in at around 9 and my mum at around 10.
Contractions were ramping up quickly and i was finding it hard to get comfy as i had bad back pain and this extremely intense pressure on my bladder, which i just could not escape. Mum was massaging my back and i was rocking on the fit ball for a while and by 10.45 the midwife declared i was in established labour. I was getting no rest between contractions, they were coming hard and fast and it was so hard to get into the zone and be comfortable with the monitoring. It feels horrible having ctx and ppl pushing those transducers around on your stomach. I asked for a heat pack but gave it back as it was more like a luke warm pack.
I lost track of time but just couldn’t get in the zone. Fear from last time crept in and it didn’t help I was in the same birthing suite as my first rather traumatic birth and that I had been waiting in this hospital for 2 days anticipating the birth. I continued to try and get comfy using the ball and the bed. I couldn’t stand as the pressure was too much for me to handle. Sometime around lunchtime I started asking for drugs. They offered me gas, which I hated but would breathe on a couple of times and the rest of the time I just bit the end and breathed air. I felt weak asking for the drugs as I had nothing my first labour until they made me have an epi for a forceps delivery. The pain was just so much worse this time. Anyway it must’ve been around 2.30pm when I started talking about having pethidine. The MW told me it was morphine now. I asked in between ctx how it affects the baby and she said the side effects are minimal and that she would have to do a VE to see how far I was. I was 5-6cms by this stage and thought no way ”I’m definitely having the drugs, I can’t take this.” The MW joked that I would be having my baby as she was sipping a chardy in about an hour. I thought yeah right it will take me way longer then that.( My first birth was 50 hrs all up with 13 of those on the drip and a 2 hr pushing stage.)
Anyways I had the morphine and while I felt guilt and like I had failed it I now have no regrets I had it. It took the edge off the pain enough for me to relax but still feel in control and by around 3pm when the MW changed shifts I was feeling the need to push. The MW had a feel and said there was a lip there and not to push yet but I was fully dilated. I couldn’t believe it. They got me to go to the toilet, which was hell and I must tell you I was pretty cranky with all the intervention by this stage and was in transition. Anyway DH rigged up the bed into the pushing position, kind of like a big seat as I had decided the bed was the most comfortable place for me. The new MW encouraged me to go on my side to help the lip and I was trying to stop pushing and breathe but it was so hard and I couldn’t help wanting to push. After a while I just went with my instincts and pushed. They started telling me they could see the head and that I would feel stinging and burning soon which I was excited about as I wanted to feel the ring of fire everyone was talking about.
Anyway once the head was starting to come the MW told me to do little breathes and supported baby’s head saying what a big head it was. She got a little stuck but I got her head out. Next came the shoulders. I heard the MW shout for another MW to come in but didn’t think to much of it until they made me flip onto my back and were very urgent at this stage. They told me to hold my legs up and that the baby was stuck, she had shoulder dysolcia. My DH said that he thought they were going to rip her head off at this point. Finally they managed to pull her out with me pushing with all my might. They placed her on my chest at 3.44pm. She was sooo blue and bruised, poor darling and has a head full of beautiful dark hair and was huge.
DH announced that it was indeed another girl and we tried to get her to attach to the breast but it took her a fair while, she was in shock. DH cut the cord after a while and they assisted me to birth the placenta. It was so big and the MW likened it to a cows, it was amazing. I felt a new rush of adrenaline that I didn’t get with my first birth because of my PPH.
The OB registrar came in and assessed my tear saying it was third degree and very lucky it wasn’t 4th degree. He said at the end of doing this that if I have another baby I should have a C-Section as I’ve had 2 big babies and the damage down there is not so good after having a 3rd degree episiotomy and now a 3rd degree tear. He gave me lots of local (ouch) and stitched me up while I marvelled at my baby and we made up our minds to name her Hazel.
DH left to pick up DD1 while mum stayed and helped me shower (baby had pooed all over me and there was blood everywhere).
The MW then weighed Hazel and told us she was 10lb 7oz or 4760g! I was pretty proud of myself.
Hazel ended up with some fluid on her lungs so spent some time in scn but is fine now.
The road to recovery continues physically and mentally but I did it and my baby is so beautiful.
Huge congrats huni...You did a amazing job and did not fail by having pain relief it helped the pain and you could refocus. I hope your recovering well and enjoying your new addition to the family xox
Again you have been a wonderwoman You birthed your girl all by yourself and she was a bigg'un lol. Congrats on the (very) late arrival of Hazel but I'm so glad you are both doing well now. Huge hugs hun and well done
i was just reading back over my birth story as i'm still recovering physically from giving birth to a huge baby. Thank you all so much for your replies and kind words. While i still feel proud to have given birth to such a big baby the on going issues of having a third degree tear continue but i know they will get better with time.
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The Long Story Of My Big Bubbas Birth
Hope the physical recovery goes well for you and enjoy your newborn
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