The birth of Zachariah William 11.8.09
I hope that this makes sense, as since Zach came along, I have had difficulties with constructing sentences, but will do my best. Sorry if it is a bit long.
I had a very normal pregnancy, hardly any morning sickness, continued cycling to work until 22 weeks (where I stopped due to pain in my pelvis) and generally felt in very good health. I booked in to have the baby at the local hospital which is a birthing centre, so there are no obstetricians on site. If any intervention is needed from a doctor or if I wanted an epidural i would need to go to the main hospital. My aim was to avoid interventions as much as possible and not take pain relief other than gas if I was able to manage.
I was told at 35 weeks that my baby was breech and that it would need to turn in order to deliver at the birth centre. I tried a number of techniques such as moxibustion, however they didn't work so I was booked in to have ECV to turn the baby at 37 weeks. Thankfully it was successful and I was still able to have a vaginal delivery at the birth centre.
Well the due date (29th July) came and went with no sign of impending labour. I was having regular tightenings which were quite strong, but no pain with them and they remained constant for a number of weeks. I negotiated to be induced at the main hospital on 11.8.09 at 13 days overdue if the baby had not arrived yet. I was keen to delay it as long as possible to avoid the need to be induced.
At my midwife appointment where I was 9 days overdue, she did an internal and checked my cervix. She advised me that while it was softening it was not yet favourable enough, and I would need to go to the hospital the night before the induction to have the tape inserted to prepare my cervix. I hoped and prayed that baby would hurry up and make an entrance but this did not happen.
On 10.8.09 I prayed about the induction as I was very scared of having the syntocin drip due to the increased intensity of the labour and contractions. I felt a peace about going to the main hospital and having the induction even though this was not what I had planned. I turned up the the hospital on the Monday evening (10.8.09) where they informed me that I was 3cm dilated and did not need the tape. I was then sent home and advised to come back at 7.30 the following morning.
Around 2am that morning I started feeling some pain with my tightenings so didn't get much sleep. I got up around 6 and had breakfast and the pains continued. On the way to the hospital I had 2 stronger contractions in the car and realised that I was definitely in early labour. I was so excited. I arrived at the hospital and informed my midwife that I was in early labour. I asked if there was any way I could avoid the drip. She negotiated with the obstetrician that they could break my water, and if that was enough to bring on labour I would not need the drip. They told me that I would need to be 5cm dilated by 11am to avoid the drip. I was ok with that.
At around 9am the doctor broke my water. This was so painful. They were having trouble getting the hook around baby's head and it was awful. I eventually asked the doctor if there was another way to break the water. At this point she gave me the gas. It was great, I felt like I was no longer in the room and was then able to cope with the discomfort. Thankfully soon after I got the gas she was successful at breaking the waters. Very quickly, the contractions got stronger and closer together, but I was able to manage them by squeezing DH's fingers and breathing through them. I planned to have an active labour and walk around etc but when in labour all I wanted to do was remain still. I ended up sitting on a chair leaning over the bed. I tried the fit ball, but because I am tall it was unsuitable for me as it was too small.
By 11am I was finding the contractions harder to cope with and was feeling uncomfortable. My midwife did an internal and I was 5cm so didn't need the drip. I was so relieved. At that point I asked for the gas to help me with the pain. It was great, and really took the edge off. The rattling noise when breathing the gas also helped distract me from the pain. I had always planned to use hot water for pain relief during labour, however knew that I would not fit in the baths at the birthing centre because they are tiny and I am very tall. At the main hospital, the bath was HUGE so I requested to jump in. I had a wireless monitor on so was able to move around freely both in and out of the water and still be monitored. I was so glad to be at the main hospital in the end just so that I could use the bath. It worked really well for pain relief and spaced out the contractions a bit more so that I could have a break. I was feeling really calm and in control and was pretty quiet during contractions, just moaning softly.
By 1pm I started to feel like pushing when I was in the bath. I was then told that I had to get out of the bath and the doctors did not want me to give birth in there, and were also a bit concerned about the baby's heart rate. The gas was also taken away from me. :doh: I pushed for a while on all fours, but got quite tired and was in a lot of pain. The baby was pushing on my tailbone and the pain between contractions was excruciating due to the tailbone stretching nd being unable to use the bath or the gas for pain relief. I asked the midwife how far the baby was from crowning and was told that it was 1cm. 30 minutes later (after 1 hour of pushing) she told me it was still 1cm from crowning. She encouraged me and said that the baby was pretty small and that I should get it out soon. I told her that I couldn't go on and wasn't coping. Both my DH and midwife didn't believe me. I started yelling quite loudly by this point as I was losing control and wanted someone to realise that I wasn't ok anymore.
The doctor came in and spoke to me as he was concerned re the baby's heart rate. The midwife asked him to give me another 15 minutes of pushing. I was in so much pain and was no longer interested in continuing to push. I looked the doctor in the eye and screamed "GET IT OUT". He suggested the ventouse which I agreed to enthusiastically. It felt like an eternity as they got everything ready due to the tailbone pain, but eventually after 4 more contractions of pushing and a lot of pulling from the doctor, out came the baby after 5 and a half hours of active labour (4 hours to dilate and 1hr and 21 minutes to push). I forgot to check if it was a boy or girl, I was just excited that we had had our baby! Someone said in the distance that we had a boy.
They were surprised how big he was as I was not showing very much. He was 4kg, 55cm long, and had a head circumference of 38cm. He needed a bit of resuscitation when he was born so I didn't get to hold him immediately or wait for the cord to stop pulsating before cutting it. I did not mind tho, as I was so relieved that he was out and that the pain had stopped.
Zach is now three weeks old and doing very well. We love having him around. I was so thankful to be at the main hospital, as if i had gone to the birth centre I may have had to transfer to the other hospital in the middle of labour for assistance, and the bigger baths were great. I was so relieved not to need the syntocin drip and felt really empowered to have given birth only using gas as pain relief. My tailbone is still a bit sore, but other than that I feel great.
I would definitely be prepared to do it again to have another child once Zach is a bit more independent as I had such a positive experience.
