DS amazing natural birth.<3
Being a first time mum, I found all the birth stories on here so extremely helpful, so 6 weeks on, I hope mine can help somebody also. Its long, but im sure i will still miss some details.
14/1/11 Went and had weekly cuppa with some friends. Noticed different Braxton hicks. Bit more period pain like rather than just the tightening. So i started to wonder if this was the start of labour...
DP and I went out to dinner that night. I started to notice that the pains were coming quite often. I didn’t mention anything to Grant. When we got back in the car, I watched the clock and 4 contractions were 14 minutes apart...so I mentioned to Grant that tonight might be the night.
This was not to be.
15/1/11 Woke up with contractions that were 6 minutes apart. So I started to get really excited. Waited until a decent time in the morning to call the midwife. She told me what I expected..”stay home until you feel like you need to come in”
The contractions changed throughout the day and started becoming irregular. I was getting really frustrated. The contractions were starting to get really painful but weren’t regular. Didnt manage to get any sleep that night as I was in so much pain. I watched the clock as the minutes ticked by. All i could think, was hurry up and be a decent hour so i can wake DP and we can go to the hospital.
16/1/11 woke DP at 6am and said we need to go to the hospital. Contractions were about 8 minutes apart but impossible to sleep through. I needed to know how much longer this would likely go on for.
We got to the hospital at 9am where we met our midwife. An internal exam was done which showed i was 3cm dilated. I was so excited as it was now real that i was in labour and our baby was on the way. My midwife gave me a sleeping tablet and some painkillers and told me to go home and get some sleep and come back when contractions are 5 minutes apart. She told me she would see me that afternoon.
We went home and i passed out for a good 3 hours. Painkillers and sleeping tablet wore off and i woke up with much more intense contractions. But i felt refreshed after having a sleep. I felt much more ready for labour. I still felt very comfortable at home. The contractions were very painful but seemed to end pretty quickly so i was just getting through one contraction at a time. DP and i had already agreed that we wanted to stay at home as long as possible.
I decided i really wanted to watch the sound of music for a bit of a distraction. About 20 minutes in, we decided to time a couple of contractions. At this point DP would have to pause the movie and haul me to my feet so i can stand through each contraction while i was saying “my back,my back ouch my back” lol. The contractions were bang on 5 minutes apart. So we were off to the hospital.
I now know why so many of you all post how painful the car ride is to the hospital. It really is. DP would have to stop on the side of the road just before a contraction was due to hit, and i would get out of the car. Must have looked pretty strange to people driving by. Hehe
We got to the hospital where a contraction hit at the front doors, then we ran up to birth suite before the next one. We were shown to our room and we sat and chatted to the midwife for a while. I explained that under no circumstances was I to be offered pain relief, and if I asked for it, to please distract me. Lol.
An internal exam showed that I was 5cm. I was excited. The contractions were pretty painful but I was managing to just get through one at a time and at no point did i even think about pain relief. The midwife suggested i sit on the fitball to help with the back pain. I found it really comfy between contractions, but every time a contraction hit, i would send the ball flying across the room behind me. Lol. I also found myself yelling at DP if he was doing anything whatsoever during a contraction. I was talking to my Dad on the phone then i felt a contraction coming so i passed the phone to DP. No more than 5 seconds later, i was screaming “get off the effing phone” hehehe. Then when it was over, I would be soooo apologetic and feel terrible!
I decided it might be nice to fill the big bath tub and see if that might help with the back pain. It was nice,but the contractions were hurting lots as i couldn’t stand up. It was in the bath, that i think i was starting to go through transition. I got really quiet and quite depressed. I kept saying i cant do this anymore. They are too painful. I fought the urge to ask for an epidural for what seemed like aaaages. I finally said it “i think i want an epidural”. In my head, i was screaming that i didn’t want one. But it was almost like i needed to do something.
The midwife suggested I try the portable gas which i promptly said mid contraction that “this effing thing doesn’t work”. She then said she would do an internal exam to see how far along I was. At this point I was having a bloody show after every contraction. Internal showed I was 8cm. While I was up on the bed, midwife showed me how to use the gas on the wall in case a contraction hit while she was doing exam. It did, and i was pleasantly surprised how well it worked. And her distraction worked. I never did get the epidural.
So for the next hour, i lay on my side on the bed with the midwife pressing a heat pack onto my back, me gripping DPs hand like im changing gears in a truck, and sucking down gas with the other hand at each contraction. I remember crying a lot for really silly things. For eg, DPs hand went limp at one point and i just started bawling my eyes out because i needed an armwrestler ,not a limp arm. Lol
I started to get some real pressure going on where i felt like i reeeeally needed to do a poo. Even though I knew it was the baby coming down, i couldn’t help but express how much i needed to do a poo. Hehe.
My midwife clocked off at 8.15 and wished me lots of luck. The new midwife was just as lovely. After about 15 minutes, she saw how much backpain i was in, and suggested I get up onto my knees and lean over the head of the bed. This was when everything started happening. The pressure tripled and after a few contractions, my body just pushed!!! I was so scared and shocked I screamed in fear. I did not push, it just happened. I then heard the midwife call for another midwife and start getting things ready. They didn’t tell me not to push, they just told me to go with whatever I wanted. A couple more contractions, and i knew my babies head was coming down. It started to sting but nothing unbearable. The midwife then told me at the next contraction to just breath the babies head out. It took a lot of effort to not push but i did it. Then a small wait until the next contraction and out came the rest of my baby!!
Then bubs was passed through my legs as i shuffled round and collapsed on the bed and gave him lots of cuddles. I was sooo excited that I had given birth with only gas as pain relief.
My labour and birth was such an amazing experience. I wouldn’t change a single thing. Ended up with only a small tear requiring a few stitches.
DS born 16/1/11
Weight: 7 pound 4 (3220g)
51cm long
Head circumference 35cm
Apgars 9 and 9
Thanks for reading
