Emerson Pauls Arrival... a little long!
THE BIRTH OF EMERSON PAUL – 18 MAY 2006
Due to high BP I was booked in for an induction at 7 pm. We woke up at about 6 and got dressed and ready to go the hospital so I could be induced. We were both fairly excited and nervous and tired as well. I had fallen asleep at about 12 but Gordon later admitted that he didn’t fall asleep till about 2. He said that he laid there for awhile with his hand on my belly feeling Emerson move while I slept - which I thought was sweet. So we left for the hospital and dropped by our local deli to get chocolate milk hehe!! We were half way there when I remembered that I had forgotten the camera! So we ended up arriving at the hospital just after 7. We were shown to our room and I was put straight onto CTG monitoring. I was having rather strong tightenings without any pain and the midwife was quite interested in them. After having that on for almost an hour the Dr came in to look as well. They decided to do another internal and the results of that would decide whether my waters would be broken or gels inserted. I was rather nervous at this because I wanted the gels rather then having my waters broken. To make things worse suddenly the room filled with people – 2 Dr’s and 3 midwifes. The internal showed there had been no change from the last internal so the gels were inserted and I was told to lay down for ½ hour and then I could get up and walk around.
So after ½ hour we started walking around which really did nothing. At my next BP check my blood pressure was up so I was told I had to stay still which frustrated me because I wanted to help the gels along to avoid any more intervention. By 2.30 nothing more was happening. So another internal was performed and there had been no change. The Dr came back and decided that at this point they would break my waters – it was 3 o’clock. I was soooo nervous and gripping Gordons hand soooo tightly. But there was virtually no pain and just a warm gush of liquid that felt rather gross. Before I had even had a chance to get off the bed the tightenings became painful. By the time I had gone to the toilet and changed ready to be moved to the birthing suite I had had at least 4 contractions. At this point they also explained that if my blood pressure went too high during labour they would have to give me an epi-dural to lower it – I was not happy with this and made it clear that I wouldn’t have it until absolutely necessary.
Once in the suite things began moving fast. The contractions were irregular but quite intense and we were joking in between them. It didn’t take too long though and I wasn’t as cheerful!! By 4 o’clock I decided the pain was enough to call in my second support person so my mum came down. She arrived by about 4.30 but I’d jumped into the shower as I couldn’t take the pain and didn’t get out for over half an hour. I didn’t know at the time but the contractions were remaining extremely strong but erratic.
I spent the next hour leaning over the end of bed with my mum mopping me with cold flannels and Gordon massaging my back. By this stage I’d also started vomiting at the peak of contractions which was great! The funny thing was the more I was sick the bigger the sick bowels were! My blood pressure was getting higher but not high enough for them to want to give me an epi-dural. But the Dr wanted me monitored on the CTG for awhile anyway to make sure that Emerson was coping okay. The bed seemed like the worst place for me to be as I wanted an active labour but seeing as it wasn’t for long I laid down. I had Gordon on one side and I was gripping his hand/arms and then my mum on the other side massaging my lower back! The CTG monitoring showed everything was fine though the contractions were still erratic (which I didn’t know till afterwards).
As I’d made a fuss about lying down they went to get me back up but I wasn’t budging LOL. I decided I couldn’t handle the pain anymore and I was offered a jab of pethidine as they thought the gas would make me even more sick. So I had a jab in the butt and it seemed to take the edge off the pain however for the next 2 and a bit hours I didn’t open my eyes lol. Gordon and my mum were watching TV as they supported me and Gordon was telling me what was going on and telling me jokes which was a wonderful distraction. Though I don’t think any body else got our humour lol. He was saying things like ‘Seriously Dramatic’ when Boyd came on neighbours… or telling me silly things about Homer – to which I think I replied ‘Bed goes up, bed goes down’ every time!
At about 7.15 I was just in agony. The back massage wasn’t hard enough and the contractions were just too strong. My BP was steadily rising and they wanted me to have an epi-dural just as I asked for one. I was moved ready for an internal and I surprised everyone by being around 7-8 cm dialated which of course meant no pain relief. There was a bit of discussion between the Dr and the midwife – I was still suffering through the contractions but somewhere around this time the pain started to change. I told the midwife I needed to push and she said ‘No you don’t’ so I said well I need to go to the toilet then to which she said ‘No you don’t’… I wasn’t impressed by these answers and took myself to the toilet anyway! While I was in there I had another shower and Gordon came in and this is when I really noticed that the pain had gone and instead my whole body was just bearing down so strongly that with each contraction my legs would bend and I’d almost fall on the floor. My eyes were also open and I was a lot more alert then I had been. The hot water on my back led me to a new pain – stinging… so I asked Gordon what it was – ‘Your mum gave you blisters massaging you’ LOL (Later my mum blamed Gordon!). So still unimpressed with the situation I was rushed out of the shower only to find the Dr and another midwife in the room and a hospital gown being put on me.
I was told I could push and a mirror was set up and the bed moved so I was basically sitting up. They showed Gordon and my mum where the head was and told me to start pushing. The midwifes were great and really helped me. I had a midwife either side grabbing my legs (thank god I shaved them the night before!) and I was bracing against them. I got the hang of it rather quickly and he was crowning soon enough. The worst part was stopping pushing when they wanted me to as it was stinging as is stretched. The midwife kept saying she wanted to perform an episiotomy to which I said no to twice. The third time she said if his head doesn’t come out this time then I’m going to have to do it. Well I pushed with all my might and out he popped – the rest of him just slid off no worries!! So after 5 hours and 20 minutes of labour and 22 minutes of pushing Emerson Paul was born at 8.42pm weighing 7 pound 4 ounces, 49 cm in length and a head circumference of 36cm.
They popped him on my chest and he was just looking around and it was amazing. He was a bit blue so they took him and popped him onto the oxygen while I birthed the placenta. Then we had a hold and took pictures and the Dr came into stitch me up. I had a labia tear and had 3 external stitches and 1 internal stitch. My mum went home and Gordon and I were transferred back to our room where I breast fed for ½ an hour and Gordon fell asleep on the pull out sofa!!!
I couldn’t have asked for a better birth. Everything went how I wanted it to and I was extremely impressed with my pain tolerance! And of course the end result was just adorable….
