The long awaited arrival of Hunter Cruz
Well, where do I start...
To say I was over being pregnant would be an understatement, I hit the 37 week mark and suddenly everything was too much and I wanted it all to be over! I guess they say most people get to this point in their pregnancy, I think I just got there earlier than most – I was so anxious to meet my little man. My due date was originally 4th May 2010 as worked out by ultrasound and was changed to 2nd May 2010 by LMP. DP had always said bub would be here on the 4/5/2010, cos DP’s birthday was the 6/7/1980...I didn’t really get it but he was adamant that was when “Junior”, as he had affectionately become known as, would make his grand entrance. I told him he was mean cos that meant going overdue and that wasn’t a nice thing to wish on anyone.
At 37 weeks I went to my antenatal appointment, I had had some issues so the doctor offered to check where things were at as an early induction had been discussed, a stretch and sweep was performed and I was found to be 1cm dialated but I was still 2-3cm long...not a good candidate for early induction. I was advised the best course of action would be to continue with the pregnancy and assess where things were at in 2 weeks....unless I went before then – famous last words doc!
Back to the hospital to see the doc again at 39 weeks on the Tuesday, another stretch and sweep was performed still 1cm and still long.....very disappointed! Discussed induction and was told I would be booked for induction at my next appointment at 40 weeks for 40+1 or 40+2. I thought the pregnancy would never end. I must admit though I did feel better about things knowing that an induction would be performed in a week.
The S&S was quite aggressive and I had some spotting after, but the next morning on the Wednesday I had quite a large bloody show (TMI - looked like a big bloody snot and was about 4cm in diameter – bigger than I expected)...I was excited – finally something was happening! After some further research and discussions with friends I found it could still be 2 weeks before anything happened – DOH!!! Needless to say it didn’t amount to anything happening! So with nothing happening I visited with family on the weekend to try to keep myself busy. Woke up on the Sunday...my due date feeling very let down to still be pregnant...I really did hope I would go early! Oh well, had a relaxing day with DP, our last weekend as two, our lives would never be the same again....
Went to bed on Sunday night knowing it would all be over soon, woke up at 4am with a weird feeling like I was wetting myself (you know the feeling you got when you were a kid when you were sleeping and dreamt you were on the toilet and started to go to the toilet) so I jumped out of bed and went quickly to the toilet. While there I emptied my bladder but noticed I could still hear dripping in the toilet bowl long after I had finished...weird! I was in denial my waters had broken as I hadn’t prepared myself for that happening – that only happened in 8% of labours and it had already happened to 2 members of my BB group so the odds of it happening to me were slim! DP called out to see if I was ok...to which I responded I think my waters have just broken...he jumped out of bed and kindly asked if I was sure I hadn’t just wet myself – ummm...yeah I don’t think I have! I asked DP to bring me a maternity pad and some clean knickers to which he promply did, if I was in any doubt my waters had broken, I quickly changed my mind as as soon as I stood more gushed out and filled that pad in seconds, I tried a second pad and the same thing happened, DP thought it was funny and was laughing at me cos I was freaking out that I was dripping fluid everywhere, including the toilet floor. Plan B was implemented and I quickly grabbed a bath sheet and stuck that between my legs like a nappy. I didn’t quite know what the procedure was so had to ask DP what we were meant to do when my waters broke, he advised me to call the hospital, which I promply did and was advised to come to the hospital to be assessed!
Upon arrival at the hospital I was told to change my pad and leave it on the sink for the midwife to assess whether my waters had indeed broken (charming) and when was hooked up to the CTG machine for about two hours to monitor how our little man was doing and see if there were any contractions happening...which I knew there were only minor ones as we could see them happening but I couldn’t really feel them. After the monitoring I was told the doctors would be around shortly to assess the situation during their rounds, it was about 8am by this time. Doctors arrived, it seemed this labour stuff was a spectator sport as there were at least 10 doctors in my room. Despite the fact the midwifes had already decided the waters had definitely broken by frequency my pad needed changing and that I kept complaining I was gushing everytime I moved LOL the doctors decided I needed to have a spectulum for them to be certain. Me maintaining there was no doubt my waters had broken as I had been gushing for 4 hours now, was obviously not enough. The spectulum is basically where they put a contraption into your lady bits (the same thing that opens you up to have a pap smear) so they can see if there is any pooling of amniotic fluid....fun fun fun! Definately broken waters was the decision they came to. Seeing as though the contractions were not strong I was then sent home to wait...wait....wait and was advised if nothing had got worse by the next morning to return at 7am for an induction.
So off we trotted home to wait...all day the contractions stayed the same...not strong but enough to be annoying and tiring all the same, we decided to visit my mum to take my mind off things, I had a bath and watched a movie. DP was getting wary so had a nap incase anything happened during the night and I plodded along. Night fell and the contractions picked up but then become 10 minutes apart WTF...they were 5 minutes! This happened all night...the pain was enough for me to have to breathe hard though each one! Needless to say, neither DP or myself got much sleep! My 6am wake up could not come soon enough – they never got any closer than 10 minutes (I was timing on my iphone application LOL).
6am come and we got up and trotted off to the hospital, we met my other birth partner there and we were shown to the birthing suite and introduced to our lovely midwife...Vicki! I was immediately distraught as there was no TV in my room, I was going to be so bored – or so I thought as the morning before we had passed the time watching the telly! Famous last words. I was given an internal and was 2cm dialated and 1cm long – this was where I started! At 730am the syntocin was hooked up and before long the contractions started...yes they had really started! Every 30minutes the syntocin was increased – grrrrrr!! And with each increase so did the pain! From the outset they were coming every 2 minutes – nothing like easing into contractions! As I was induced, I was disappointed to find out I had to have continuous monitoring and was not allowed to use the shower or bath to say I was disappointed was an understatement, I was unprepared for the continuous CTG! I thought I could just take the drip to the shower! Needless to say by this stage I no longer wanted a TV (haha) it was the last thing on my mind, I did some time on the bed, on the ball and standing to use gravity with DP standing behind me supporting and encouraging me! Both DP and my other support person were amazing and kept me focused thoughout the whole labour. After 4 hours I was given another internal which revealed disappointingly I had only dialated one more cm to 3cm! To say I was disappointed was an understatement, my mum had only took 4 hours to deliver all of her children and everyone in the family had short labours...I wasn’t good at this labour thing and I took this quite hard – I started crying – I had so much wanted to be really good at this and I just wasn’t! So I knew then I needed something else to help, I felt out of control, I wanted to go straight to the epi but was convinced by DP to try the gas! Oh my saviour, it worked so well for me, I was floating for another 4 hours until my next internal...surprise surprise I had only dialated another cm....not the best news I had ever heard!
At this stage the midwife announced she thought bub was in the wrong position and would be getting a doctor to come and assess me. A short time later she arrived and found but was looking upwards and at an angle rather than chin to chest like he should have been...the doctor advised she would give me another 4 hours to make some serious progress as I was dialating so slowly and bub was in a very unfavourable position! At this internal she tried to rotate bub..to which he responded to by promptly moving straight back...cheeky monkey! It was decided I would have an epidural as I had lost faith in my ability and by this stage it was over 30 hours without sleep! Once the epi was in...after 2 attempts bliss set in. The epi itself wasn’t what I imagined, I could feel DP rubbing my belly and legs but I couldn’t feel any pain!
I sent my support people off for some lunch and a well deserved break and I managed an hour nap! I was so tired by this stage I couldn’t keep my eyes open. We chatted for the next hour and discussed the possible csection. About an hour after this i lost the plot....I told them I needed bub here now and they needed to get him out, I begged my support people to get the doctor now as I couldn’t wait another hour...I was sobbing – they managed to calm me until the doctor came! In retrospect I realise this was probably transition as when the doctor examined me I was fully dialated...finally! But I still had to wait another hour for bub to desend as he was still too high, but had corrected his positioning. Finally an hour later I was ready to push, although I had no urge and couldn’t feel the contractions – so not the easiest thing I had ever done LOL. The midwife gave some instruction on where to push and off I went – forty long minutes later – after a hard navigation of the dreaded s-bend little Hunter made his grand entrance into the world. He come out waving to the world which resulted in a second degree tear for mummy which required some serious stitching but the reward was worth it. The emotion DP and myself experienced was indescribable but everyone who is a parent would understand, we both were crying hysterically! DP cut the cord and upon doing so was squirted square in the face with blood – it was so funny! But little man did his first wee on mummy so I guess we were even! He come out remarkably clean and his Apgars were 9 and 10! Clever boy!
Weight – 3515g or 7p12oz
Length – 52 cm
Head – 35cm
