Gabriella Scarlett 26.08.08 (VBAC .... a bit long)

***charmalea*** · September 5th, 2008, 10:18 AM

After a wohle heap of confusion from stacks of different doctors and not even seeing 1 midwife the whole pregnancy , Gabriella came on her own , in her own time

1st of all , i am extremely impatient and tried everything to get her to come out ... nothing really worked and by 40 weeks i was over it and gave up trying to induce labour thorugh old wives tales

at my hosp visits , the 1st doctor i saw booked me in for a repeat c/s .. after the way i felt from nixons elective csec i just didnt want one ... i told him i want a vbac , he made me sign all these forms and told me all about the complications of a vbac and csec ...

so Gabby was to be born somewhere between the 6 - 11th of august by c sec .. it was soo tempting to just have the csec , just to see her early . but i held on to my will , i wanted a vbac and for that id have to be patient ....

the csec dates come and go and i was really looking forward to labour and birth .. by 39 weeks they started talking inductions .. and "going by the looks of what my baby and cevix was up to " an induction would be risky ... so do i want a csec ????? NO i want my vabc ..

at 40 weeks i was able to have a stretch and sweep , but it wouldnt work as i still had a long hard closed cervix .... so did i want to book a csec ???? and also they wouldnt induce me going by her not being engaged (still) and my closed cervix ..

see you next week and we'll talk then ..... OMG i cried all the way home , when is my baby coming and why cant i get answers ....

on the 23rd we had my nephews 1st birthday party .. i didnt want to go as i was over due and i knew that family and people i didnt know would ask me stupid questions that would p*** me off ... and they did .. everyone wanted to know every detail , it was soo annoying by the end of the party i was sooo p***ed off ... i knew i was over due , no i didnt know how the birth is going to go ... thank who ever you were for the scary birth story and yes i most certinaly am ready for her to come out ... yes it does look like im having a big baby and no im not enjoying the end of my pregnancy because stupid people ask stupid questions .....

by that night i was having pains , i had no idea what contractions felt like but i had a pretty good idea that they were real ( as opposed to the really strong bh i had been feeling during the week )

the pains got stronger but irregular , then they got regular but not stronger ... by sunday morning after no sleep i beggged DH to take me shopping , we spent a good 4 hrs walking around to help things along ... but there was nothing ... until late evening when i was in bed the ctx started again ... again not regulaer enough .. but enough to make me kneel on all 4s in bed every 5 mins and cry out in pain .... once again no sleep ....

Monday morning i had a show !!!! DH took me to the hosp for my 41 week visit and i was having ctx in the wating room ... i had to hold it all in as it was fairly busy and i didnt want to be the freak show ..

was told i was 2-2.5cm dilated .. big relief .. so now what .... the doctor said i could be induced that night ... or the nextday ... she just had to check with the head doctor ... DH and i waited to hear when we could finally expect to get labour under way ... she came back and said , not until thursday ... 7am we will induce you then .. but for now we'll do ctg and see you thursday ...

offs!! give me releif , a lovely midwife gave me panadiene and dh took me for lunch .. i was having ctx while eating pizza ... but it was soo yummy i for got about the pain ... that arvo dosed up on pandiene i had a nap and the ctx went away

arrgh i was soo over this ....

i begged dh to let me go for walk ... he was very protective of me by now ... so we all went walking around the block ...

late that evening had ctx every 5 mins .... oh the pain .. it was very uncomfortable .

tuesday DH went to work as we were banking on thursday being the big day ..

so me and nix hung out infront of the telly all day as i couldnt move and having irregular ctx ... i put nix to bed at 1pm and took pandiene and had a nap ... woke up at 3pm and got nix out of bed ... by 3:15 the ctx were 5 mins apart , so by 5 ish i took nix and we had a deep hot bath together ... (having a toddler climbing all over you in a bath while having ctx .. was not a good idea ..)

by the time i got out of the bath the ctx were about 3mins apart .. DH got home and we rung my mum to look after nix , as he was taking me to the hosp to get sleeping tablets as it had been so long since i had a good nights sleep ..

the midwife on the phone told me to bring my bags ... i didnt want to but i did .. got to hossy at 7pm ... ctx 2mins apart .. (but for some reasons not as painful as the BH id been having) and i was 3cm dilated !!!

they wanted to keep me in to see what was happening and give me pethadine to help me sleep ... as they thought it would be a while before she was born .. so into birth suite and got hooked up to the monitiors and had a welcoming shot of pethadiene ... it made me relax but didnt help the pain of the ctx ...

i spent my labour lying down on my side with DH next to me . we watched the ctx reach their peak and come every minute .. eventually i got on the gas ... i was becoming really tired .. after an hour or so on the gas , i asked for an epidural ... i always said i never wanted one .. but i was so weak from days of ctx and no sleep i needed to focus on the birth .. by now i was losing it .. it was about 11pm at the time , so much for her not being far away .... so the midwife checked me and i was 9 cm !!!!!!!

i was soo happy to hear that and im glad i didnt get and epidural .... about 2 ctx after that i need to push ...

i was a bit unhappy to put the gas away . but the pushing didnt hurt like ctx did .. i pushed in a semi sitting position , the nurse aske me if i wanted to use the stool but i was comfy and didnt want to move , after a few pushes i asked if she could vacum her out .. .just put your hand up there and get it out ...

the vacum was declined ( but i think she knew i really didnt mean it ) ... she the put this huge bar over the bed .. and i got into a squatting position and felt relief .. gravity really does help ...

by now i was demanding to get the f***ing thing out ...

but after some encouagement and " i can see the head " i got in to a headspace , where i was like just push and go with it .. it wont be over untill its out .. so i gave in and went with the urges ..

then the head was right there , stinging me and stretching me , so i knew the end was near , i knew that once her head was out , the rest is easy ,

then her head was out and with full force of gravity and the speed of the m/w to unwrap her cord from her neck , Gabriella was born ..

"oh s**T its a baby " ( can you believe i actually said that when she was born"

i scooped her up and laid back to cuddle her ...

after the birthof the palcenta and a 2nd degree tear to stich up , i showerd then dh and i bathed her together ..

she was weighed at 3500 (7lb 12) and 49cm , h/c 34 cm
born at 11:30 pm ..
from go to woe it was an 8 hr labour with 30 mins of pushing ..

i am soo lucky and feel really blessed that her birth started naturally and no major intervetion was needed !!

she was worth every minute of those 9 days that she was over due, due on the 18th of aug , came on the 26th

Welcome Gabriella Scarlett Johnston