The birth story of my overdue stubborn little ray of light.... Mr P!
4 weeks ago tonight I gave birth to little Mr P, and this is our birth story.
My midwife had told me at 37 weeks that I was 2cm and she wouldn’t be surprised if I went in the next week, so I was anticipating an early arrival. So when my EDD came and went with no signs of an impending labour, I was pretty disappointed and getting impatient as you can imagine.
On the day that he was born, I was 40 + 6 weeks pregnant and felt like I was going to be pregnant FOREVER. Anyone who’s ever had a baby will tell you that the last few weeks are uncomfortable and long, and mine was no exception. This wasn't helped by the fact that we had SO many early babies in our Belly Buddies group so it felt like every time I logged onto the computer someone else had had a baby :p ! I had resigned myself to the fact that I would probably have another induced labour (I had one with my first) and wouldn’t get to experience a natural onset of labour that I had hoped for.
At about 5am I was having a dream that I was getting period pains… I woke up and was pretty disappointed to realise it was just a dream, until about 15mins later I felt a little twinge of a pain. The same length of time later, another again and I thought “I wonder if today will be the day”. I sent my sister a text and asked her if her labour had started with period type pains to which she replied “Yes, are you having a baby today?” and I told her I wasn’t sure, just had a couple of niggles. She suggested she come over and we go for a walk to see if we could ramp them up a bit and encourage some more action. So she came over and we went for a walk, and they actually disappeared, except for whenever we went uphill (my sisters idea, she’s cruel :p), when I would get one which stopped me in my tracks. When we arrived back home I was dying to pee and had a bit of a show, but I’d also had one 3 weeks prior and I remember saying to DH “no wonder he’s still in there, I had 2 plugs the whole time! haha” My sister left at about 8.30am but the pains had subsided so I was pretty disappointed and thought that I might be in for another week of pre-labour before they induced me. I went to lay back down and they started back up, coming about every 10 – 15 mins, but weren’t very painful at this stage. I called the hospital to tell them I wasn’t sure but I *might* be in labour and when to know to come in. She told me if I get 3 in the space of 10mins to come in for an assessment. At about 12pm they were getting a little more “ouchy” and felt closer together, so DH and I started timing them… I grabbed the fitball and rocked through a few of them, and they were about 6-7mins apart, every now and then I’d have a 3 or 4 minute one as well. At 1.30pm they were really starting to hurt and I was having trouble just breathing through them as I had been, so I sent BB’s very own Tegam a text and asked her if she thought I should call the hospital again or if it was just pre-labour stuff… she called me straight away and although I don’t remember our conversation exactly I remember she told me to ring them and go in as I was in labour. I was most afraid of going in and being sent home again, I didn’t think I could deal with the disappointment, but I rang them anyway and the birth suite lady told me to come on in and they’d check me out. DH and I packed a bag (I know, very slack I never packed a hospital bag) and left home at 2pm. I had barely any contractions on the way to the hospital, and was worried that it had all come to a halt.
We arrived at the hospital at 2.20pm to find the midwife on duty to check me out was the ONLY one in the entire midwifery unit that I disliked. She had been rude to me only 2 weeks prior when I was emotional and upset and needless to say I was less than impressed. She ushered me into a room and said that she wanted to time a few contractions. 15mins went by and NOTHING, she got a phone call and had to walk outside to take it and as soon as she did I had the next one…. This happened another 2 times, I think my body knew I didn’t like her and decided to shut up shop whilst she was in the room. Anyway I finally had a couple that she felt and decided they were real (duh, like I’d make it up) and intense enough for her to do an internal and see what was going on. She had a looksee and said that I was 4cm and wouldn’t be going home until I’d had a baby… HUGE sigh of relief. Well after that she ran me a bath and I half stripped off and jumped in, instant pain relief…. It was wonderful! DH went to pull the shower chair over to the bath and unbeknownst to us there was a whole puddle of bleach on it which went everywhere, all over the floor and my clothes which were next to the bath. So we thought that was kind of funny and he rinsed my clothes out for me. DH directed the water onto my lower back which was lovely, and I grabbed onto him for each contraction. MW came back in to check on me and stayed for a couple of contractions, which at this stage were starting to get very sore and I started to remember just how painful the whole “birth” thing was, which I had pushed to the back of my mind up until this point. MW asked me what our birth plan was…. I told her that we didn’t really have one but I did not want an epidural or a c-section no matter how much I begged for them :p I said maybe a bit of gas if I wanted it later on but that was about it. I figured I did my first with gas only so maybe, just maybe I could do it again. At 4.30pm (2 hours after I’d first arrived) it was incredibly painful and I asked how much longer she thought it would be. She said that she was on until 8.30pm and she thought maybe she’d be there for it. I told DH that as long as I’d had the baby my midnight I thought I would be okay… I didn’t want to get my hopes up for a quick labour.
It was at about 5pm that I first started feeling like a had to go to the toilet as I felt a lot of pressure on my bum, MW said it was probably just the baby and that I could hop onto the loo if I liked, which I did but no, must have just been baby. When the next contraction happened I told her I really felt like I needed to push, so she asked me to hop back onto the bed so she could see what was going on. DH helped me over to the bed but I got a contraction halfway which was awful, I panicked as I was not in a good position and didn’t know where to hang on to for support, so I clung to DH and screamed through it. It was probably about this time that I started begging for an epidural and a c-section… I had warned her I probably do that so she politely ignored my requests for both of these. After it passed I quickly hurried to the bed and she checked my progress. I was 9cm (yay!) but she told me that there was a bit of cervix in the way and I wasn’t allowed to push until it moved. It was then that I asked for the gas and my mum! DH held onto the gas and gave it to me when I started to feel each contraction coming on, I knew I wasn’t allowed to push so for each one I just clamped and sucked on that tube, and concentrated on a small spot on the other side of the room trying to block the pain out. This actually worked surprisingly well and I only had a few moments of weakness where I was asking if I could go home now please (yeah right) and yelling that I really really wanted to go to sleep (fat chance love). My mum turned up just as I was given the all clear to start pushing, and I put every ounce of strength I had left into concentrating on pushing down and not screaming through them, I wanted to make each and every contraction count! I gripped DH’s hand and the gas in the other and we were on the home stretch, a few contractions later I birthed his head and another push and out he came, straight up onto my chest at 7.05pm. Wow, what a relief! I looked at his little face which was all red and wrinkly (from being overcooked I’m sure :p) and just cried, he was perfect and finally here! Once the cord stopped pulsating, DH cut the cord and they gave me the injection to birth the placenta which didn’t hurt at all and felt so good once it was gone! He took to the boob straight away . I had a small tear which had to be stitched, and whilst the Dr was stitching me up he found a cyst which he drained at the same time (2 birds with one stone I guess). I didn’t want to stay very long but as it was 10pm I decided to stay that night and first thing the next morning the paed gave him the all clear and we came home to introduce him to our 17month old, such a beautiful moment!
DH was such a wonderful support to me as was the MW who I had disliked so much, she was great and I felt a bit guilty for harbouring unfavourable feelings towards her.
Stats:
Born 7.05pm after a 4hr 35min labour
7lb 13oz
49cm long
36cm head circ
Thanks for reading!
