The Arrival of Ben Oliver
Ben Oliver was 12 days overdue, but when he decided to make his entrance to the world, he came like a rocket!
I was admitted into hospital Thursday 23rd February, half expecting to give birth that day. Was I wrong! I was given a ****tail of labour inducing hormones mixed with champagne. It was actually nice. I got all excited whilst walking with dh around the hospital yards as I started to get contractions. I was hooked up to the monitor, but the contractions weren't painful or regular, so I was sent back to my room and they disappeared.
The next day (Friday), I was given a prostaglandin pessary at about 9am... this didn't do anything! In the afternoon I was hooked up the CTG machine and it showed no contactions, I was told to come back at 7pm for another pessary. At 3.30pm I started getting pains, so I went to see the midwife, and she just sent me back to my room and told us that the doctor decided that they wont do anything else until the next morning. I was heartbroken! DH and I found a quiet corner while I cried.
At about 8pm I started getting contractions, and these were painful. I decided to make my way to the labour ward so they could monitor me. After about 1 hour or so the midwife left DH and I alone in one of the rooms and we tried to get some sleep. A couple of hours later I woke up, and my contractions were gone! How stupid did I feel? I once again made my way back to my room, while DH went home for some decent sleep!
On Satuday I was told I wouldn't be given a pessary that morning as I was still getting light contractions (mind you, I couldn't feel them!). They told me that the contractions were my own and that if they give me another pessary labour might come too fast and hard. So I was to come back to the labour ward that afternoon.
That afternoon I was hooked up to the machine again, and my contractions were gone. They then decided to give me another pessary. Nothing happened until about 7.30pm. As I started getting contractions, I went to the labour ward to be monitored yet again. I was 3cms dilated. As I was watching the numbers go up and down all of a sudden the contractions became so intense that I begged to come off the machine as I was lying down this made it more painful! The contractions were coming fast and hard, with no real regular pattern. Sometimes I would have 10 seconds in between, others had 1 minute. I was given something to help with the pain (don't ask me what it was, but it didn't work!), and something else to help my cervix soften. I was helped onto the birthing ball, with the CTG still hooked up. I felt like I needed to go to the toilet, so DH helped me to the bathroom, I burst out crying "I don't want to do this anymore, make it stop!"
When I was back into the room I was checked again, and found that in 1 hour I had dilated from 3cms to 7cms! No wonder I was in so much pain. I couldn't stop screaming and crying. I also kept saying "Im so thirsty! Why am I so thirsty???" During the very short breaks I was shaking, but the shaking felt so great!! I asked for an epidural, but there wasn't enough time to have it organized.
Then, all of a sudden I felt like I couldn't breathe and I felt really queasy. I knew I was entering the Transition stage, so I started panting and I needed to push! The midwife told me that I shouldn't push until she knew I was fully dilated, so I was carried onto the bed and the midwife checked me and told me I was safe to push "I KNOW!" I screamed! With the first push, my waters broke!
Ben's heartbeat started slowing down, so I was put on the drip to slow down my contractions. What a break this gave me! I still felt like pushing, but the midwife kept saying "don't push, do it for your baby". How hard this was! Then finally I was allowed to push.
I didn't want to deliver on my back, so the midwife and DH helped me onto all fours. The doctor came in and kept and eye on everything, not that I even noticed who was in the room! As I was pushing the Midwife and Doctor commented "He is coming like he is your third baby!"
With a few more contractions and a lot of pushing, Ben Oliver entered the world at 10:47pm on the 25th February 2006. He weighed 3820 grams, 51cms long with a head circumference of 36.5cms. I ended up with a few stitches (internal tear), but nothing bad. Ben had an apgar of 10, and then 10 again.
I couldn't have done it without my wonderful husband, right there beside me holding my hand throughout the whole thing. My labour was so fast, the midwife didn't really have time to note much down, but she basically said official labour was about 3-4 hours. I was so proud I didn't have the epidural. It is such a great feeling to go with your instincts whilst pushing. It felt so natural!
:heartbeat: Ben is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to DH and I. He is truly the sunshine of our life, an angel sent from heaven.
