The birth of Zachery David (a little long)
It all started on the 12th of July at 11.02pm. I started to get cramps and contractions every 7 minutes. By midnight the pain was getting to much so DH drew a bath for me. I got in and the cramps dulled and almost stopped. Disappointed I got out of the bath and had something to eat. Went to bed and got hungry again (within 5 minutes of getting to bed). So I got up and had another meal. I went to bed again and had mild cramping until morning. DH stayed home for an extra hour to see if anything was going to happen. He left for work at 9am and by 10am I was fed up with eating (I could hardly eat through the pregnancy now I had eaten everything in the cupboard) and cramping so I called the hospital who advised me I was in early labour and could be expecting to hold my baby that night or the next day and I should have a birth partner with me incase anything happened. I called DH and told him what was happening and he came straight home. Well Saturday came and I was still cramping and at midnight I was cramping so bad I was vomiting (sorry if TMI) DH rushed me to hospital where I was monitored and an internal done to be told I had thinned out but not dilating and I was still in early labour and best to talk to the DR about an induction on my next appointment. I was given 2 pain killers and sleeping tablets and sent home. On Monday I went to my appointment and was able to convince the DR to induce me the next day.
Tuesday night I went to the hospital to start the induction. They were running late so the gel was not inserted until 10pm. DH went home soon after. I lay down and tried to sleep but within a few minutes I started to cramp bad again. This time it was mostly in my back. They were coming on fast and when the midwife came in to check on me an hour later she started to monitor me. I was told it would be for 20minutes. Well 20 minutes later she came back and told me she would monitor me for a further 20 minutes. When she left I turned the monitor towards me and saw that a heart rate was dropping then going back up but it kept losing the heart rate. I thought it was my heart rate so I turned the machine away and held the monitor in place. The midwife came back took the paper from the machine and told me she was getting a DR. 10 minutes later the DR came in. I was by this stage pacing around the room breathing through the cramps. He looked at me and said that I looked like I was in labour and I should be moved to delivery. I told the midwife to call DH. She told me it would still be a while and I told her I did not care I wanted DH to be with me.
I was moved to delivery and was pacing around the room when DH and my SIL arrived. I was told I would need to be monitored again and I had to lay down. This was painful as the cramps where in my back and still coming fast. As the cramps where happening in my back SIL was asked to write down when I was having contracts and how long they where lasting. It turned out I was having 5 every 10 minutes lasting about 45 seconds. The DR decided to try and slow things down and give me some morphine as I did not know if I was allergic to pethidine. I also had to start antibiotics as I had Strep B. The Dr put the needle into my hand and I started to scream and cry in pain and yelled for him to take it out. DH started to go white and told him to take it out as I have problems with needles going into the back of my hand. He let go of my other hand and had to go wash his face as he came close to fainting. SIL took my other hand and told the DR again to remove the needle. I was screaming and crying and he flushed the needle and asked if it was ok. I screamed again and told him to remove it. He finally took it our and put it into the underside of my arm and I stopped screaming and started to breath through the cramps. They gave me morphine and the stuff to slow the cramps which lasted 5 minutes. All this time I am still being monitored. The DR finally tells me that baby’s heart rate drops every time I cramp. He puts me on a drip to see if that helps. Baby’s heart rate improves but not by enough. DR does an internal and advises me that I have not started to dilate. He advises me that I need to have a C-section. It would take 90 minutes to organise. 10 minutes later I was wheeled into surgery. I was given a spinal block and DH joined me. I lay there shivering as they started. After 10 minutes they lower the sheet and hold up baby. Finally he has his legs uncrossed and I cry out it’s a boy. They clean him up and bring him to me. I cress his check and they take him to the nursery. I tell DH to go with him as I get stitched up. I am up walking around later that afternoon but Zachery does not get the all clear until Sunday. We leave hospital Monday.
