Isaac Neil - 1st July '09
It's been a while since his birth so I'll do my best to remember, should have done this earlier...
I had researched heaps and written up my birth plan long in advance and decided I wanted a drug free, intervention free (if possible) birth.
My waters broke at 5am on the 30th of june - at 37 +3 weeks. I thought I'd wet myself, again :rolleyes: but it kept coming, and didn't smell like urine.
We called the hospital and they said to come in and get checked out sometime in the next few hours, no hurry as I wasn't having any contractions. When we got to the hospital they monitored my belly for a little while and said everything was fine and to go home until I was having contractions 3 - 5 mins apart.
We rang and made an appointment to go and see the naturopath and get things moving along with some accupuncture. We dropped into a shopping centre for breakfast and then went to the appointment. After the accupuncture we headed home stopping in somewhere for lunch. The lady behind the counter, at the cafe, asked when I was due. When I told her my waters had broken that morning the look on her face was priceless and she asked "shouldn't you be at the hospital?" :lol: But I explained that I hadn't had any contractions yet and they'd sent me home to wait it out.
A few hours after the accupuncture, about 2:00pm, the contactions started. They didn't became regular until much later, just got more and more intense. When I felt I couldn't handle the pain anymore, about 8pm-ish, we headed to the hospital with MIL driving. Which she did with a sense of much urgency, which wasn't really neccessary :lol:. Everytime she floored it it triggered another contraction.
At the hospital they took me into the antenatal ward where we stayed for a few hours. During that time they put in an IV in my hand in case I needed antibiotics later since my waters had broken so long ago.
At 10pm-ish we went to the labor ward and got settled in. Up until this point I'd just been breathing through the contractions it was starting to get really hard so I decided to get in the shower with DF using the shower hose on my back. After being in the shower for about 3 hours and trying as many different positions as I could get myself into, I decided it was getting too hard and needed something to help. So I asked the MW for the gas. It made me feel pretty sick at first but once I got the hang of it it was a godsend.
After a while, I don't know how long (time was a pretty hazy from now on), I felt like I needed to push. DF called the MW in, who had been staying right out of my way the whole time :D. The MW did an internal and found I was wrong, lol. Wishful thinking.
I was really tired from holding myself up in the shower for hours, so decided to stay on the bed. Alot of people talked (when I was researching) about how I should move around and not lie down because it makes the pain worse, but it was fine. I felt much better when I didn't have to support my weight and handle the contractions as well.
The contractions gradually got closer and closer together and when they were one on top of the other I again felt like I needed to push, around 4am. It wasn't with the urgency that I expected but, by this point I couldn't wait for it to be over, so I got down to business.
The midwife said that I coudn't have the gas while I was pushing. I said I didn't want to give up the gas because I couldnt do it without it and she said I could and I had to because I couldn't push while I was sucking. I said I could suck in between :lol:, but she insited I give it up so I did. I was in surprisingly good spirits given how much pain I was in, probably because of the gas. lol I think I was getting a bit giggly by this point.
At about 4:25am I couldn't handle the pain anymore and despite my birth plan being a drug free one, I asked a few questions and decided to get the Pethidine. After that I spent the next to 24 mins waiting for it to kick in. The time went so slow.
The MW was telling me not to vocalise and put all my strength into pushing but I couldn't do it, so I just continued doing what I was doing. It was working for me, I think.
I didn't feel the burning (or if I did I dont remember) that your told you experience, when he was crowning. All I knew was the contractions hurt and I couldn't do it and I told the MW as much repeatedly. But she and DF kept encouraging me to keep pushing. I was asked, at some point, if I wanted to have a look with a mirror. I said a very definate no but did put my hand down and feel his head though. It was really soft, wet and a little hairy.
I kept almost getting his head out and then running out of energy and have to stop pushing, so it went back in. After a few attempts, I don't know how many, the midwife said that I was begining to stress the baby out and that was enough for me to force myself to push even though I didn't think I could, I had no choice, I had to, I couldn't hurt my baby. That time I did it his head was out, my DF put his hands around our baby's head and held him as I birthed his body, which was comparitively easy.
About 5 mins later the pethidine kicked in :rolleyes:
The MW passed him to me and we discovered he was a boy, although we instinctively knew already, and had a cuddle for about 10 - 15 mins. After that DF cut the cord, we opted for delayed cord clamping, and asked the MW to take him off me because I was getting too tired and didn't want to drop him. She took him away and weighed him, and did all the stuff they do, apgars and such, she asked us what his name was and filled in the card for his cot. Then he was put in his cot to sleep for a few hours.
I dont remember alot after actually giving birth to Isaac partly because of the peth and partly because I was exhausted! But somewhere in that time I birthed the placenta and had a look at it, very interesting. Kinda like a steak. lol. DF went home for a rest, and I had the most enjoyable shower I have ever had and a sleep.
I woke up at about 7 or 8am and had some breakfast, and Isaac did too. Thankfully I found it really easy to bf and he latched on imediately and fed for about 5 or 10mins. Then he went back to sleep in my arms and the midwife came in to check on us. She said when I was ready we could go up to the maternity ward, so I finished my breakfast and she took us upstairs. I was offered a wheelchair but decided I could walk and push Isaacs cot.
Our MW's name was Lisa and she was brilliant, I couldn't have asked for a more respectful, supportive and encouraging person to help my birth my baby. She followed my plan to the letter except when I changed it and told her I wanted the drugs, which was my choice she never offered me a thing.
For the next couple of days Isaac did hardly anything but sleep and was feeding very little, he had urates in his urine and I was worried he was dehydrated. The MW's assured it me it was normal, he was just too tired to feed because of the birth and the pethidine and to keep an eye on him. They did a quick blood test to check his level of jaundice and said he was quite jaundiced but still in the safe zone. I had a pen and notepad so I started to write down the times and how long I fed him, his nappies and anything else they needed to know or I thought might be helpful. This was great because my memory was (and still is) hopeless and the MW's said they thought it was a good idea too.
My concept of time and what day it was was pretty out of whack so I think it was...
On day 2 aside from all the usual feeding, nappies and stuff, I got to give him a bath and he loved it.
On day 3 he had to have a heel pr*ck test and he and I both hated it. He was in tears, I was in tears. I felt so bad that I was allowing someone to hurt my baby. I am supposed to protect him after all. So I spent that whole day either in or on the verge of tears.
At the end of 3rd day we were allowed to go home. Which almost didnt happen because we couldn't work out how to adjust the shoulder straps on the car seat and no-one would tell us how. :wall: Eventually we found someone who could help us and we got to go home. :yay:
Throughout the whole experience my then DP was wonderful. Very encouraging and did everything he could to help me battle through the labor and keep me going. Afterwards he visited us everyday and stayed as long as he could. We had a few visitors in the hospital, I would have prefered to be left alone for a while but I was ok and I was so proud to show off the beautiful little boy we had created.
The stats:
Baby:
Isaac was born at 4:49am on the 1st of July 2009.
Weight - 3614gms
Length - 50cm's
Head Circumference - 32cm's
Apgars were:
1 min - 9
5 mins - 9
10 mins - 10
Me:
Total time after contractions started approx 12hrs
Time after contractions (finally) became regular was approx 6 hrs 45 mins
Water's broke 23 hours 19 mins before birth
Antibiotics (because of risk of infection due to above), Gas and pethidine
1st deg tear and a small graze
I'm so proud of myself my DF and most of all my gorgeous little boy. I couldn't have asked for a better birthing experience.
