The painless but intense birth of Sammy
My pregnancy was a normal textbook pregnancy (from what I can tell). I would go in for my appointments, where the midwife would take my blood pressure, and they would take it a second time as they would get 60/120 and think they stuffed up, but each time it was the same. The various tests they did all came back within the appropriate ranges for the bloodwork, or negative for the sugar test / the strep B test etc. So it was all straightforward.
The day of my due date (Saturday), I noticed that my plug was starting to come away. So I told DH that the baby could be here in the next day or two. Monday rolled around,, and my DH asked if he had to go to work, and he was most disappointed when the answer was yes.
On Tuesday I was still feeling fine, so I decided to take the dog for a walk, a couple of times throughout the walk I found myself out of breath and barely able to walk, but I didn't think much of it. Getting back from the walk I decided it was time to go grocery shopping, this also took my breath away for a little bit.
That night I started to get more intense feeling of breathlessness, but still no pain, so I asked my SIL (who has had 3 kids) could these be contractions. She suggested timing them, they were about 5-10 mins apart lasting for about 30s, and I also noticed that I had some pinkish discharge so I figured it was my cervix dilating. My SIL said they definitely sound like contractions, but I was a little confused as they were still not hurting.
At 10:30pm, I decided to give the hospital a ring. I told them that I am having what I think are contractions but they are not hurting, and they said they are probably just tightening and that I should try and get some rest. So off to bed I go. This made the contractions changed to about 20 mins apart and still lasting for about 30-1min (although I wasn't really timing them, just more looking at the alarm clock). This also made me need to pee about every hour, and I ended up having a couple of showers overnight as well.
5am, I spewed up dinner, and looking on the web this is usually a sign of active labour (although still no pain), so I rang the hospital again, and they said relax spewing is usually a sign of early labour and nothing to worry about. And to get more rest.
I got up around 7am where I had a feeling of needing to push with each contraction. So I started timing the feelings again. They were 3-5 mins apart. I decided to hop in the bath as I read that is a good way of relaxing, as the shower really wasn't doing it for me. Luckily Wednesday is the day my DH works from home, so he was helping out. I still wasn't sure if this was the real thing, as there still wasn't any pain. The contractions were very intense and there was a lot of pressure and no pain.
By 10am the contractions were about 2-3 mins apart and lasting from 1-2mins. I decided I better call the hospital again. They insisted that I still have plenty of time to go, I told them I really want to come in, and as I live only 10 mins away I am happy to get checked up and go home. They said if they send me home then I will HAVE to take some pain relief medication. I agreed and said we are coming into the hospital. (this call was still while I was in the bath)
It took me a while to manage to put some clothes on to make it to the car. But we were off and arrived at the hospital by 10:30. They sent me off to a birthing suite to have a look at my progress. The midwife had a look and said, you aren't going anywhere, you are fully dilated, and feel free to push anytime I wanted to.
Everything I have read told me that labouring while lying on your back is the worst thing you can do (to avoid tears and added "help" etc) so I told myself that I wouldn't do that part while at hospital lying on my back. But once I got onto the bed, I wasn't going to move. By about 11:50am the midwife said she could see the head starting to come out, but bubs seems to be stuck, so they asked if they could rupture my waters, I agreed, and bubs moved a few more cms down the canal.
After a few more contractions of pushing bubs seemed to be stuck, and they were about to ask me to shift my position, when bubs started bleeding on bubs' head, so I had torn somewhere near the cervix, so they asked if they could give me a tiny cut. I was going to disagree but DH said I should go for it due to the tear. So I agreed and bubs came out during the next contraction (immediately after the cut).
The midwives put her straight onto my chest. I knew she would be blue when coming out, but I was surprised at how blue she was. It was almost blueberry in colour. So now I had this slippery blue thing on my chest, when the midwives asked did you see what sex bubs is. So I had a quick look, and we have a girl. I was amazed at how quick she became dry and clean, I thought for sure she would be covered in blood etc.
The placenta was out in the next couple of minutes (after being jabbed with the synotocin) , and all in one piece. DH cut the cord (he was amazed at how grisly and tough it was)
The midwives told me that I had lost about 450mls of blood and it looked like I had a couple of small tears, a graze, and of course a cut. After having a feed on the boob (where she latched on pretty well) and while the doc was stitching me up, Samantha was being weighed and measured. She managed to pooh on the midwives, which I found quite amusing.
Samantha Alice
Born 12:31pm Wednesday 28/3/2012
Head Circumference 35.5cm
Length: 50cm
Weight : 3470g (7 lb 10.5 oz)
Sam was put back on my tummy after being measured, and the midwives were checking my various stats. My pulse was higher than normal, and my blood pressure was up, they were concerned due to the loss of blood. I said it was probably due to dehydration, as I haven't had anything to drink since sometime the day before. So they asked me to try and pee. I didn't have any luck, so they did an in-out catheter to see how much was in my bladder as they were concerned with one of the tears being near the bladder that there may have been more damage. The catheter revealed that there was only 200ml of urine and it was full of ketones so it proved that I was dehydrated. They decided that it would be better to put me on a saline drip to boost up my hydration. (We figured it was because they kept saying that I will be going to Ward 5C but don't know the bed number, so we said it was because they didn't have a bed ready).
The midwives thought it was amusing I was wearing a superman top, as they thought it quite appropriate as I didn't think labour hurt that much and it hurt more getting my blood pressure done and the midwives sticking fingers in various places than the actual birth. It was quite intense but not much pain.
After the saline drip finished (it was put on a quick release so was done in an hour and made me cold) we were given the option of going up to the ward in a wheelchair or to walk, so I choose the walk option. I think it was a good thing I had the little crib to push along as I was a little unsteady for the walk and I felt my pulse racing again.
I have been told by the midwife who visited me after I was discharged that my labour is what is known as a silent labour due to not having any pain, so it's something that I should keep in mind for my next one. The MCHN also said that my next one could be a home birth if I wanted it to.
