the entrance of Connor Johannes
Warning this is LONG so maybe go and get a cuppa, and some bickies 1st to get you thru this; it is a bit of pregnancy and birth story.
We found out we were pregnant quite early after extreme morning sickness kicked in. We were a bit surprised due to it not being the best timing (we’d only been engaged for a month...) but very excited. At 11 weeks I had a bit of spotting and had an early scan and got put at only 9 ½ weeks. I finished work at 15 weeks cos the morning sickness was so bad I was only working about 10 of my normal 38hr week and had my sister staying with us so she could drive me to and from work. All the different anti-nausea drugs they gave me didn’t work only made me woosy or really dehydrated (I was NOT going to hospital for bedrest. I could rest as well at home. lol). The morning sickness didn’t let up all thru the pregnancy, only decreasing from vomiting to simple nausea at 5 months thanks to natropathic stuff. The nausea lasted right up until the end of labour :roll eyes: At 31 weeks I was admitted to hospital for observations and extra scans after more bleeding and mild cramps. It turned out to be nothing but meant I was more restricted in what I could do until full term. Other than those things I had a reasonably uneventful pregnancy doing share care with my GP.
I was booked into the birthing centre at the hospital and planned to labour at home for as long as possible with my DF, mum, MIL and sister. I was also wanting a drug free birth, with gas if needed, a waterbirth depending on how I felt once I went into labour. My MIL works as a midwife at the hospitals as well so we were going to know several of the midwives.
At 38 and 39 weeks I had 3 false starts of labour but the contractions went away again. For my 40 week check up I had to see a consultant for the hospital that I was going to birth at, at the womens clinic at my local hospital (that doesn’t do births). The consultant refused to do an internal to see if my false starts had ripened my cervix or if I had started dilating at all. He tried to tell me they were BH, despite my having had BH for months and these were DEFINALTEY different. Basically treated me like a moron despite my voicing concerns that I didn’t feel great and didn’t feel like bubs was doing very well as he had been a bit quiet after the last lot of contractions. He listened to his heart which was apparently fine and said I’ll see you next week for another check. Hahaha yeah like I was going back to see him!!!!!! After having hysterical pregnancy tears on the phone to both DF and mum, DF and I went to the hospital I was birthing at’s outpatients and got assessed by an OB there who said bubs looks to be fine now but your 2cm dilated already so we will book you in for a induction in 7 days. So much for those contractions being BH!! :wall:
At 40 + 5 weeks my waters started leaking at lunchtime but it was only a little bit, only enough for a liner not a pad. I figured it was just discharge increasing and didn’t really worry too much about it. At a bit after midnight I was lying awake in bed and my waters broke, thankfully slowly not the big rush but as soon as I went to the toilet it increased...a lot!! It was then I saw that it was a horrible greeny brown colour and I realised what it was I went and told DF (who had just got to bed after a 15hr day of work oops) who said oh good, come back to bed...*snore* lol so I went and called the hospital who said to come in and get checked and probably be admitted. There went my idea of labouring at home for as long as possible. I also would have to be admitted to the labour ward rather than the birthing suite. So I msged my mum and MIL and let them know we were going in, but not to come yet cos there were no contractions yet.
By 2am I had lost 3 towels worth of fluids and we were in the car heading to the hospital ( I had a beach towel wrapped like a nappy around me over the top of my trackies, then sitting on a garbage bag cos we couldn’t find the tarp :rolleyes:) with the 1st contraction coming just after we got in the car. On arrival at the hosp I was told I would have to have constant monitoring and an IV for antibiotics for my waters having been broken for over 12 hours, merconium in the waters AND it turns out that I was GBS+ but this is was the 1st I’d heard of it! On examination I was 3-4cm dilated already with the contractions coming nice and regularly but not really hurting much. Since it was my 1st bub we assumed it would be a while progressing so DF went to sleep in the chair after msging MIL and mum to let them know what was happening and I was given panadine forte so I could have a rest. By 6am the contractions had stopped being regular and were getting weaker (suspiciously similar to my previous false labour starts) and bubs heartrate had been dropping off the machine so they decided that I would have to have the synto drip to make better contractions. They also repositioned the CTG thinking bubs was running away from the heartrate monitor. So we msged my MIL, mum and sister to come to the hospital and I msged my dad so he and his partner could find a flight to come over from melb. After they put the drip in my contractions picked up again and felt 100 times stronger than my natural contractions, at this stage they didn’t want me off the bed cos bubs was still escaping from the heartrate monitor on and off. This made the contractions impossible to deal with and I got a pethidine shot, I swear that needle in the leg hurt just as much as a contraction!! But by this time the new shift had come in and a lady we knew (Jenny) was on shift and decided she was going to be there for our birth despite not being assigned to us, lol.
By the time my mum and sister got there I was not able to keep anything down, even water or ice chips despite the maxalon (before I even had peth) and I was writhing on the bed despite the pethidine and bubs heartrate was still not behaving but I had progressed to 5-6cm. The midwives were getting me to shift position on the bed trying to find somewhere that they didn’t loose his heart beat. The hospital OB got called in to have a look and started talking about putting a scalp clip in to make sure it wasn’t his hear that was misbehaving rather than him moving away from the monitor. To see if it helped I got allowed off the bed to see if standing up fixed his heart rate. After 1 contraction standing up it hadn’t changed and the OB wanted me back on the bed to put the scalp clip on. Much to his shock and horror I said no I wanted 2 more contractions to see if it improved then I would get back on the bed. The OB tried to convince me otherwise but I dug my heels in and said no. I learned afterwards from Jenny that the OB came and found her and was having kittens over the fact that I wasn’t doing as he advised... after 3 more contractions (I had one while arguing with the OB) it wasn’t improving so I got back on the bed and got a scalp clip put in. MAN I swear that OB had the biggest hands in the world! After a while with the scalp clip in bubs heart rate was still misbehaving and going haywire so they tried turning down the synto (which continued until I wasn’t getting any just before I was fully dilated). At this stage I had started on the gas cos I didn’t want bubs to have pethidine in his system when he was born, knowing it effects their feeding etc.
With bubs heart behaving badly the OB wanted to take a couple of blood samples to make sure he was getting enough oxygen. While he was out getting ready Jenny gave me oxygen to try and improve it. It felt like it took hours to get the samples cos I had to get back on the bed (I had escaped for maybe 1/2hr) and lie with one leg in a stirrup. I had 3 contractions while on the bed. While he was doing it I had to restrain myself from kicking him (mum was snickering in my ear at my leg twitching in the stirrup). After that particular trauma it turned out that bubs oxygen levels were fine...but bubs heart rate wasn’t improving and the darling OB started talking about a c-sec. Jenny made him check how dilated I was 1st before getting too carried away with that train of thought since I was involuntarily starting to push. When he wanted to check I refused to get on the bed cos there was no way in hell I was going to lie down again! In the end I agreed to go on all fours on the bed for him to check. Low and behold I was 10cm but bubs heart actually stopped while I was on all four so I had to lie on my back with my legs in stirrups (in prep for more intervention) like something out of a bad American movie. I was pushing and I have to say it was the worst pain I have ever felt! I was sucking like a madwoman on the gas and also biting the mouthpiece when some guy I hadn’t even noticed come into the room (turns out he was a paed) confiscated it and told me to focus on pushing, jesus if I could have I woulda got up off that bed and belted him!! The gas got replaced by an oxygen mask which instead of breathing it I promptly started biting the mask. Bubs head was crowing and going back in with the end of each contraction. What I didn’t know was bubs heart was stopping again but I was telling the OB to just get him out cos his head crowning and going back in was UNBEARABLE. Little did I know they were already prepping the local for an episiotomy and were talking about helping him out. THAT I heard and was wanting to know what they were going to use, forceps or venthouse. Thankfully it was venthouse but when they put the venthouse on it pulled him down a bit but then the cap came off and the next contraction I pushed him out all at once and the OB had to catch him!
I was almost shocked when bubs got put on my chest, could he really be out? DF cut the cord while he was on my chest but he wasn’t crying just gurgling so he got taken by a different paed to get suction and get checked over while I birthed the placenta a couple of mintues later and then get stitched up. I went into shock just before he came out and was just lying on the bed shaking with my eyes closed while the placenta and stitching happened. In one photo you can see my foot in the stirrup still and its purple :OMG:
Apparently when the paed was looking at bubs DF went over and started talking to him, he stopped crying looked at DF and held onto his fingers... made my mum cry to see it. In the end he got apgars of 9 & 9 which is about right after all drama!! We stayed in hospital for 4 ½ days thanks to him not feeding very well and my high risk for PND but DF got to stay as well so it wasn’t too bad. We had another midwife we knew for the nights (who is also my hero regarding BF cos we had feeding issues) so it made it just that little bit easier.
Labour (counted from when the drip went in):
1st stage- 3hrs 20min
2nd stage- 21min
3rd stage- 5min
So much for peth not being in his system when he was born!!
Connor Johannes born 24/6/2010
Weight 8lb 4oz
Head 36cm
Length 52cm
well if you got thru all that u deserve an award!!
oh and i just remembered that when i was whinging later about them freaking out about his heart MIL said if it was her patient she woulda been thinking that they were going to loose the baby :OMG: im glad i didnt know that at the time!!!
the entrance of Connor Johannes
Great story, thanks so much for sharing!
Got a bit teary when your DF went over and spoke to bubs... Awww how sweet!
Well done, amazing job!
