Tate Leo's speedy arrival!

[JordieC]

First a quick recap of the few days before his birth.

I saw my ob on the Wed (2 days before due date) and he did an internal which showed that I was already 3cm dilated. He then did a stretch and sweep and said he could induce me that day or the next. DH and I decided we might wait a few more days before that so we booked in for the following Tues.

That night I had some irregular contractions but enough to call MIL to watch DD at 3am! By 4am they had died down and I was sooooo tired that I rang the hospital and said we would be okay. The next morning I lost my mucus plug and continued to lose more over the next couple of days.

Thurs night I had a couple more contractions but that was it!! GGRRRRR Made me quite impatient! I then spent the next 3 days hovering around home thinking it was going to happen but NOTHING! My DH went to the grandfinal and he was mighty pleased when the CATS won! I had no more symptoms or signs for these 3 days.

On the Monday evening I decided to do my final packing for hospital as I knew I would be induced the next morning. I was actually quite excited because I had vision of me relaxing in room with DH playing cards until the contractions started!! HA I should have known better!

At about 6pm that night (when I started getting teary about missing DD) I felt trickling. I figured my waters were about to break but NO they didn't! They trickled for about 4 hours! I rang the hospital a couple of times and they just said to monitor it and come in when I felt I needed to. I went to bed early but couldn't sleep - wonder why!!

OKAY - now for the actual labour!

At 11.20 I felt a contraction and decided I might hop on the computer to kill some time thinking that like the other nights it would be a false alarm. By the time I decided to do this and told DH to sleep and walked down to the rumpus room I couldn't sit at computer because I had another contraction. Okay that one was 6 mins. Next one 5 and then next one 3!!! I told DH we better get going and rang the hospital who said to call back in 10 as they were doing a delivery!

Told MIL we were leaving, threw bags in car and drove to hospital - contractions still every 3 mins lasting for approx 30 seconds. I used a heat pack annd had 2 panadol at home. In the birthing suite I found walking and DH rubbing back were the best pain relief options.

Midwife did an internal after normal checks and said I was 8cm dilated! Ob was rang and he arrived about 1.15pm. He broke my waters which was not painful but did feel weird! Both him and the midwife kept saying "we'll have a baby soon!" Them telling me this and having DH being so encouraging really helped me work through each contraction. I could even speak between them which was a surprise cause with DD I couldn't do a thing! A couple of times I did think "I can't do this anymore" but I really knew I could - I even asked if it was too late for an epidural knowing full well they would say yes it was too late!! I think I just said it to get through the contraction.

I hopped on the bed about 1.30pm and tried the gas which was quite cool. I had no idea what it would do but it didn't send me loopy - just took the edge away from the pain. I did say at one stage that my teeth hurt and the ob was quite confused. I explained that I was biting the gas too hard!

They said that when I felt like I needed to push I could but to be honest I didn't know what that was! They explained if I felt a lot of pressure in my bottom then it was a good thing. I did so I started to push and I can not believe it - I pooed!!! I kep on saying sorry and they said it doesn't matter but each time I pushed i pretended I was on the loo and I pooed

After about 15 mins of pushing (won't describe pain but you know!!!) my DS was born!! It was 2.00am so labour was 2 hours and 40 mins! It felt soooo incredible to feel each part come out because with DD I had en epidural so didn't feel any of it. The shoulders coming out was the worst but I even threw the gas away because I was doing better without it.

After the birth I felt FANTASTIC!!! We had a healthy son but I was sooooooo PROUD of myself for getting through it! Of course a quick birth does help and I don't know how long I could have done it for but it was just terrific. I had a tiny tear but no stitches required and DS was ony my chest for about 2 hours - an hour of which he fed like champion!

So that's my story - I am still singing "I am WOMAN" because of what I achieved!