The birth of DS

I have been meaning to write this for the past 8 months so I thought it was time I got around to it. I put it off as I feel a bit negative towards it but I have decided that it's the only birth story DS gets so he deserves for it to be told.


During my early pregnancy I developed bad anxiety which would stay with me throughout. I had a mc with my first pregnancy at 9 weeks and I really found it hard to believe I would be taking home a baby. As the pregnancy progressed I did relax a little but I had it in my head that I could not go too far overdue.

At 36 weeks bubs noticiably dropped down (which was actually great as it eased the pelvic instability pain I had been dealing with) and he was 2/5ths engaged. A plan was made for stretch and sweeps to start from 38 weeks. I was having a lot of pre labour which was enough to make me very uncomfy at night but come day time it would fizzle out. At 38 weeks I stopped going into the office for work (I worked from home up until he came) and began to get ready to meet my baby. I had an internal and stretch and sweep done which showed I was 2cm dilated and my cervix was 50% effaced. Both the midwife and my OB said that was a good sign for a first baby and it was likely I would go before my due date. Over the next week I spent hours trying to get the pre labour to turn into something more (I pretty much tried every old wives tale apart from castor oil) but apart from it getting more painful it still wasn't becoming regular. At my 39 week appointment I had another internal and stretch and sweep which showed despite the pre labour being more painful I was still sitting at 2cm dilated. The midwife thought it might be my anxiety holding me back so she suggested we book an induction date in the hope it might allow me to relax and go into labour naturally. My OB agreed to this so an induction date was made for 40+2 with another stretch and sweep scheduled for 39+6. DS was way too comfy though so we made it to induction day.

I didn't have a big birth plan it mainly consisted of no cesarean unless a true medical emergency, no epidural unless requested and I wanted to tear naturally vs episiotomy

I didn't need gels as I was 3cm dilated at this stage so at 8am my OB broke my waters and left me in the midwives care (as an aside these were the hospital midwifes not the midwifes from my OBs clinic so I hadn't met any of them before which I think had a huge part to play in what followed) The midwife assigned to me had a student midwife with her so ignored me for the next hour whilst I self consciously walked around the room. At 9 the midwife told me it was time to start the synto drip. I wish like anything I had of said no an hour after waters breaking was too soon but I really didn't feel comfortable so I went along with it. The hospital didn't have the mobile monitors so I was hooked up laying on the bed. At first it wasn't too bad but then they turned it up and omg I have never felt pain like it. Instantly the contractions started rolling in one on top of another. I kept trying to move as I could not lay on my back through these contractions but every time I did the monitors would slip and the midwife would fuss over them and the drip cord was so short I couldn't get far. I started to loose control with the pain when the midwife looked at the monitors and told me I wasn't even having full on contractions yet. At that point I lost all faith in myself as if I was finding it hard now how was I going to cope with hours more of this. My anxiety stated taking over and I lost all focus. I tried the gas and air but that made me vomit. The midwife suggested an epidural would be the way to go and at 11 I agreed. Writing this now it's hard to believe only 2 hours had passed as it felt like a lifetime.

I battled on for the next 2 hours as the epidural man was no where to be seen. Just before 1 I lost my temper and informed the midwife I was taking all monitors off and hopping in the shower for a bit. She said no but the head midwife walked in at that point and said I could. That 10 minutes was so good. The hot water felt amazing and I began to gain a little bit of control back.

Not long after the epidural man finally arrived. Prior to going into labour I had been petrified if having an epidural but at this point I couldn't wait for them to get it in. At 1.30 it was inserted and god it felt good to have that pain stop. I could still feel a lot of pressure but I was happy to put up with that.

At some point of the afternoon the midwifes changed over. At 4.30 my epidural was topped up and the midwife did an internal which showed I was fully dilated and ready to go! As I had just been given a large epidural dose though it was decided to wait for an hour to let it wear off a bit. My OB arrived at about 5.30 and it was time to get the show on the road. I still couldn't really feel much though so it was quite hard trying to push but I gave it my all. As DS was coming around the bend he moved his head and became stuck which sent him into distress. I do wonder if I had of been able to move and change positions if I could have avoided this next bit but I guess we will never know. My OB told me that as the baby was in distress we needed to get him out quickly and suggested a vacuum delivery. I agreed and it was started. As my OB was pulling he let me know that he could tell by the way my skin was blanching that I was going to tear badly. I asked if doing an episiotomy would stop that and he said it would so I told him to do it. He made the cut and not long after that the head was out and DS was already crying. Not long after the body followed and at 7pm my beautiful baby boy was here screaming his little lungs out :)

There is no way I will ever agree to an early induction again unless truly medically necessary. My anxiety is under control now so I hope that with my next baby I am able to go into labour on my own and avoid what I like to refer to as the drip from hell and all the interventions that followed :)


Stats were:
Weight- 3810g or 8.6 pounds
Length- 53cm
Head Circ- 37cm

Thankyou for sharing your story em. Welcome again little man =)

Thanks for sharing and I'm sorry your feeling negative about the experience. Congratulations to you!

Oh em, I'm sorry your birth wasn't how you planned :( But congratulations on your gorgeous boy, and I'm so glad you're talking about a second!

Em - Congrats on your son. I had a similar first birth with DS induction/17hours/strapped to monitors- told not to get up/posterior/mec/Vac delivery/nursery care for 4 days -
............ however with my second birth posterior/water birth/ 4 hours/ natural delivery / 9lb 2! No tearing just an amazing experience empowering experience.

So I can understand how you feel hun and your next birth can be totally different! Look at mine!

Teeki I'm itching to have another baby NOW. I'm only waiting as I know my body needs time to prepare and I want to enjoy the time with DS but I'm counting down :)

Chepie thanks for sharing your experience. I'm hopeful that a natural labour will be completely different to an induced one and I'll be fine next time. I'm definitely going to have a doula or independent midwife with me for birth number 2.

Lol, you are keen! I think you know most of my story with DD & DS (haven't written that one yet lol, bit slack!) but they were both induced and very different from each other. Induction doesn't always mean continued intervention, and I really credit having a one2one midwife throughout the pregnancy for my labour and birth with DS being so different. Definitely look into a doula or IM!

Congratulations on the birth of your baby boy. Thanks for sharing your story. :)