Alice Matilda's timely arrival
You need some background for this one…
My first pregnancy my blood pressure went up at around 32 weeks. I was on meds to control it and was on twice weekly ob appointments and weekly blood tests to monitor for any changes. At 38 weeks my blood pressure spiked and blood and urine tests showed that I had developed Pre Eclampsia so I was admitted to hospital and induced. My BP kept rising despite extra meds and at 4cm dilated we decided that a c/s was the safest option for everyone. I was quite unwell afterward- I am an unusual case where the PE gets worse after delivery- and it was 6 months before my BP settled and I could stop taking medication.
With my second pregnancy I hoped we could avoid PE but was not overly confident considering how long my BP had stayed elevated after DS1 was born. However I was absolutely positive that if I stayed well then I did not want another c/s. I had no trouble with my scar and had bf and bonded without problem, but I knew I wanted something else from my next birth.
My BP behaved itself and I got my VBAC. DS2 picked his own birthday. He was well, I felt great… it was a fantastic experience!
So here we are… my third pregnancy. I went into this pregnancy knowing that there was a chance that I could develop PE again, but fully expected everything to be fine since it had been last time. Another VB was pretty much a certainty in my mind.
The 12 and 19 week scans were perfect, and we found out that we were having a little girl this time around. My ob appointments were very dull… BP normal, bub measuring to dates etc.
At my 37 week appointment my ob said that bub didn’t seem to have gotten any bigger and that I might be looking at a slightly smaller than average baby. He wasn’t concerned as all my other observations were good. At 38 weeks however my BP had jumped from 120/70 to 148/92. The urine test was negative for protein so was allowed home after having bloods taken, but was back the next day for more checks. My BP was still high, my blood test results were borderline high and bub was still measuring 36 weeks on the scan. The CTG was good. After some tears and an extensive discussion it was decided that bub needed out fairly soon. I didn’t want to be as sick as I had been after DS1, especially with 3 kids to look after, and we didn’t want bub in there much longer with a potentially dodgy placenta. Because of my previous c/s induction was not an option, so we set an elective c/s date for Monday May 30th when I would be 38+6 weeks. That gave me 5 days to go into labour naturally.
I had been having quite painful BH contractions so I figured there was at least a slight chance that I could go into spontaneous labour before my deadline came around. I did everything I could think of to assist this; DTD, acupuncture, RLT, lots of spicy food and long walks. I even tried jumping on the trampoline, lol. For the rest of the week I was having cramps and contractions, sometimes every 5 minutes for hours at a time, and lots of pressure from bub on my cervix, but Sunday night came around and it had come to nothing. I figured it was finally time to accept that my baby girl was not going to be born the way I had wanted, and I tried to get excited about meeting her the next day.
DH and I got the boys to bed as usual. We made sure my hospital bag was ready. I had one last cup of RLT and some cheesecake, and then we headed to bed at around 8:30. We had an early start ahead of us.
Around 10:30 I woke to the sound of thunder. In my half awake state I felt a contraction which was not like all the BH contractions I had been having. It was in my back and butt and groin all at the same time. I thought I may have been dreaming because I wanted to be in labour so badly, but then I got another and another approximately 8 minutes apart. They weren’t particularly intense at this stage- I could easily lie in bed and count through them- but they were definitely REAL contractions!!!
The storm outside got worse and a bit before midnight DS2 woke up. It took at least an hour to settle him again; I think he knew something was up. By the time he was down again the contractions were coming 6 minutes apart and I didn’t want to lie down anymore. I still hadn’t said anything to DH just in case it all stopped again, but I needed to get up so I told him I was pretty sure I was in labour. He responded with “Holy s##t, good timing”.
I left him to get a bit more rest while I got up and walked around the house. I started timing the contractions with an app on DH’s phone and got on BB to post in my Belly Buddies thread.
The contractions really picked up then so I got in the shower. They were very close and lasting about a minute each time. When I got out of the shower it was 2am and the phone app said I had had 8 contractions in 20 minutes. The next couple came 2 minutes apart so I decided it was time to think about getting to the hospital… this was going to be a faster labour than last time.
I called my babysitter and then the hospital. My sitter was rather surprised to hear from me seeing as I was supposed to be dropping the boys at her place at 5:30. :lol: She arrived at our place at 2:30 and DH and I headed in to the hospital shortly after with the contractions still coming 2 minutes apart.
A soon as we left home the contractions slowed down again to around 5 minutes apart but were still lasting over a minute. I was a bit disappointed that they had slowed, but was pleased to only have 2 contractions in the car instead of the 5 or so I was expecting. When we arrived at hospital I was taken to the birth suite and hooked up to the CTG. Bub was very happy, but my contractions slowed right down. I was regretting going in so early now, but tried to get some rest while the contractions had eased off. The midwife did a VE and told me I was 3cm, then left us to it.
I got a bit of rest but it wasn’t long before the contractions picked up again and I was struggling to breathe through them. I decided I needed a distraction so at 5am I asked for the gas. I am sure the gas doesn’t stop it hurting but I find it helps me focus on my breathing through the contractions.
Shortly after this the on call ob came in to check on me. He seemed genuinely pleased for me that I was getting my VB instead of the scheduled c/s. He checked with the midwives that everything was going fine, asked if I wanted anything besides gas for the pain (which I turned down), wished me luck and went on his way.
I was left alone to labour again for about 45 minutes. Just before 6am the midwife came back in to do another VE to check my progress before she called my ob to let him know I was there. I was 7cm. My ob was called and I was told he would be in soon.
My contractions were really intense now. They were back to 2 minutes apart, some of them with double peaks… I was really sucking on the gas! I was also starting to get a bit cranky, which neither DH or I recall happening in my labour with DS2. I wasn’t swearing at people, but I distinctly remember telling DH that labour was f###ed and that I had no idea why I had wanted to do this again.
The midwife came back to check on me again and DH told her I was getting angry. She just responded that it was good because it meant I was close. She got me to get up and go to the toilet as I hadn’t been in a few hours and she said a full bladder could slow down 2nd stage. While I was in the toilet I had a massive contraction and felt like pushing. When I returned to my bed I told the midwife that I wanted to push, but she asked me told hold back for a few more contractions if I could as my waters were still intact and my ob was due within minutes. It was excruciating trying not to push, but I managed somehow.
It was shift change time for the midwives now so I was introduced to the new midwife and a student midwife who was in for the morning. I was asked if it was OK with me for the student midwife to stand in on my birth. At that point I really couldn’t have cared who was watching, a student midwife certainly wasn’t a problem. The midwife who was going off shift hung around too as she could see I was very close.
My ob walked into the birth suite at 7am to see me grunting and writhing my way through another huge contraction. He smiled and said “ready to push, then”. I nodded, and then he checked my cervix again. He said I had about half a cm to go, so broke my membranes and about 30 seconds later I was ready to go. He said he could see the head and he expected that she would be coming out in a hurry. I was given the green light to push as I felt I needed to with the next contractions.
The next contraction was a while coming; it felt like an eternity. The ob, midwife and I had a rather light hearted discussion about how long I could be in transition which involved him calling her a pessimist. Even I had a chuckle despite being on edge waiting for the pain to start again.
And then the contraction came. I gave a good push and her head came out straight away. It felt like I knew exactly how to push this time around, and it was soooo satisfying after having to hold back for the previous few contractions. The contraction kept going so I pushed again and it was done, my daughter was born in just 2 pushes, just 3 hours before I was supposed to go into surgery. :dance:
She was handed to me cuddles while I birthed the placenta. I was given the syntocin injection but my placenta wouldn’t budge. I was trying to push but this time I couldn’t do it. The ob and midwives were pushing on my fundus to try to help it along which really hurt, but I was haemorrhaging now and knew that they needed to get the placenta out quickly so I pushed with the strength I could muster. It took about 10 minutes for the placenta to come out. It looked very small and shrivelled compared to DS2’s placenta. The ob went to clamp the cord but I reminded him that I wanted delayed clamping, so it was left to finish pulsing while they sorted me out.
I couldn’t really see all the blood and my ob still seemed very calm so I wasn’t too worried. I got more worried however as I saw kidney dish after kidney dish filled with blood being scooped off the bed in front of me. I tried to focus on my beautiful baby and let the medical professional do what they do. I had amazing cuddles and my little girl latched on for her first feed no trouble at all. After what was only a few minutes (but seemed much longer) the bleeding was stopped. I was hooked up to a drip of saline and oxytocin to replace the fluid levels.
Once the haemorrhaging had been stopped my ob checked the cord and said it had stopped pulsing. He asked DH if he wanted to cut the cord, but DH is a bit funny about that kind of thing (I am amazed that he didn’t pass out with all the blood :lol:) so I said that I wanted to do it. I was handed the scissors and cut the cord, which was a lot easier than I had expected it to be; perhaps my high BP had weakened it? I had a 2nd degree tear so was stitched up, all the while holding DD. She was still feeding and being a delightful distraction from the stitching going on below.
Finally, about an hour and a half after having birthed DD all the prodding and stitching was finished, albeit temporarily. We were asked what we were naming her, and for the first time since she was born we said her name out loud; she was Alice Matilda. Alice was taken over to the scales to be weighed and measured. She was 2.9kg and 50cm long, head circumference 53.5cm. She was long and skinny and just perfect. DH had cuddles for a while and the midwives cleaned me up. I really needed it! I was told that my official blood loss was 1600ml and I would be given 2 bags of whole blood.
The student midwife was given the task of cleaning up the mess I had made of the room. It was now that I realised just how much blood there had been. The wall was completely splattered, (along with my ob :lol: ,when Alice came out very quickly) and the floor was covered too. It made me think of a set from a slasher film. I have to say it was quite amusing watching her mop the wall.
Despite all the drama I felt OK, a bit weak and tired but I expected to feel tired after having been up most of the night labouring and birthing my baby. DH made me some vegemite toast and got coffees from the coffee shop while I had more newborn cuddles. After snuggles, vegemite and coffee I almost felt good.
Unfortunately I was stuck in my bed for another 10 hours while I was given transfusions, but I spent most of the time cuddling and feeding Alice which made it bearable. DH went home around 10am to look after the boys and let me get some rest. He brought the boys in briefly in the afternoon to meet their sister. It really is so beautiful watching children meet their new siblings for the first time. I just sat watching contentedly and listening to them say how tiny and beautiful Alice was over and over again. :loveshower:
I was transferred to my room after dinner. I had to keep the canulas and catheter in overnight, but wasn’t actually hooked up to any drips so I managed to sleep fairly comfortably. Blood tests showed that my haemoglobin levels were fine next morning and all my needles and tubes were removed. My BP remained stable and I was released on day 3 as expected.
So …it was far more eventful than I would have liked, but I got my VBAC2. Even with the PPH and transfusions the recovery was faster and easier than after my c/s, and Alice got to pick her own birthday.
At the moment DH is adamant that Alice is our last baby (he has been traumatised enough the poor fellow :rolleyes:), but you never know, we might just do it all again… I am getting used to being dramatic. :)
