The Birth of Kaleb John

At check up at antenatal clinic at lunchtime on Friday, my due date, was told nothing was happening. It was DH's last day of work before holidays, he cooked a mega hot curry for dinner, jokingly saying it might move things along. Then at 2am Sat morning, woke up and was easing myself out of bed to go to the loo when I felt a big gush. Woke DH up and made my way to the toilet to find the waters were bright green. Phoned hospital and they said to come in right away. Couldn't feel baby moving all the way there and was getting really anxious. When we arrived, I was put on CTG, which showed baby's heartbeat was fine - he started moving around heaps then. We waited until about 5.30am till a birth suite was free - DH managed to sleep for an hour while I was laying on the bed feeling the very first contractions. I was really excited at this point, it felt like the start of an adventure. They put a drip in at 6.30am to move the contractions along, due to the meconium. A midwife I had seen a couple of times in clinic and liked started her shift at 7am, and was with us the whole time - she was very no nonsense but I really trusted and felt safe with her. Started getting a bit uncomfortable at about 9am and she let me in the shower for 10 minutes, which was bliss. She then did an internal and attached a fetal scalp monitor as they were quite concerned about the meconium - from this point on I was stuck in bed, so my plans for an active labour were shot. I was 5cm at this stage and started on the gas, which did nothing at first, but I stuck with it and it really helped. Contractions became more and more intense, at about 11.30 I felt this immense pressure at the back and an overwhelming urge to push. Another internal, I was only 9cm but because bub was posterior it made me want to push. Ob popped in and said no way could I start pushing and that I should have an epidural to stop the urge. However, anaethetist arrived and argued with the midwife, saying he didn't think I need one, it would be over soon, blah blah, and pretty much refused, to mine, DH's and the midwife's disgust. So midwife gave me a shot of pethidine which was great - didn't really stop the pain but made me feel quite removed from the situation - I was practically falling asleep between contractions. At 12.30ish she did another internal and found that the anterior lip of the cervix was still over, so she pushed it back, got the birthing stool set up with me on it and let me start pushing. That was such a relief, and I felt really upbeat and positive again, chatting and laughing between the contractions. Midwife called the paed to say any minute now (he had to be there cos of meconium) and DH and I thought yep, it's happening, here we go. 45 minutes later, no progress, back pain was getting bad so it was back on the bed. Another 30 mins of pushing lying on my back and nothing. Ob came and said she'd give me another 30mins, so I then tried lying on my side and pushing like mad. Started to run out of steam at this point - from managing 3 or 4 good pushes every contraction, I was flat out after 1. So after 2 hours of pushing and bub banging his head against my cervix Ob said we had to go for a caesar. I didn't care at that stage, just wanted it over, midwife was quite upset for me, kept saying 'if only bub wasn't posterior you would have got him out for sure'. So off to theatre, anaethetist had to give me the epidural after all (hah!) and once that kicked in I felt great again, such a relief. Started the op and DH, who up to this point had been an absolute tower of strength, just broke down - I guess the theatre is pretty overwhelming, there were about 8 people in there all together, but I was so drugged up and relieved to be pain free I was chattering away while they were making the cut. Then at 3.15pm out he came, held him up over the curtain for me to see then took him over to clean up etc with DH - they do this in the room where you can see though, which is great because it totally distracted me while they were sewing me up. Kaleb was absolutely perfect and we were all really happy. Physically the recovery from the caesar was great and I felt back to normal after a week. Emotionally things have been a bit of a rollercoaster but are definitely improving. Sorry for epic story, but feels good to get it all out finally!

Thanks for sharing yor story Beth. Welcome to the world Kaleb!

Awwwwwwwww Beth congratulations!!!!!!!!

:happy4u:

That birth story was great, it makes me more excited(and a little nervous 8-[ ).Glad to hear your recovery was fast to.

Congratulations, Beth, and a huge welcome to Kaleb! Thanks for sharing your story with us!

WOW Beth! What a fantastic birth story, but what an ordeal... you did SO well!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!! =D>
And Welcome again to little Kaleb! :boy:

Beth, thank you for writing your story and look forward to sharing many baby experiences with you!

Jess

Yay Beth! Thank you for that great story......I loved reading it!

Congratulations to you and DH

Megan

Congratulations Beth. Thanks for sharing your story with us!!

Congratulations Beth and welcome to the world little Kaleb. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

Take care
Trish

What a great story - thanks for sharing it.

Congratulations and I hope all is going well.

Wow, Beth! What an incredible story! I was in tears when you said that your DH broke down in the theatre. As much as we women have to go through the pain, it must be so hard for our partners to watch us go through it.
Welcome to the world little Kaleb!

Wow going through all of that and then ending up with a caesar, that happened to my girlfriend too! You poor luv! Well done though, my DD was posterior too and they were amazed that I got her out.

Have fun with your new little boy :boy:

wow beth, thanks for sharing your story!

take care
Lesley

Hi Beth,

Lovely to hear your story, and welcome to little Kaleb - a great name.

It can be a bit daunting seeing all those peeps in the theatre, but at least you know they're ther for a purpose!!! you usually have a surgeon, assistant, anaesthetist, paediatrician, midwife and three nurses - so 8 sounds about right!!! LOL - there'd be more if you had twins!!!!

Glad you recovered well, and enjoy your new little fella! Boys are great.