Charlotte's Birth Story

Charlotte was born at 6:15am on the 9th of March, 2005. With little intervention and no drugs.

Charlotte's birth story starts on Monday the 7th of March. We had an appointment to see the obstetrician. Charlotte was 10 days late, she was due on the 25th of February. The obstetrician said that she should be induced because there was a risk that she could be in distress because of low amniotic fluid. That worried me, I didn't want to have her induced, I wanted her to come when she was ready. So the obstetrician suggested that DH and I go and discuss it and come back to him with our decision. We went to the hospital cafe and sat there and talked about the pros and cons. Eventually we decided that the induction was the way to go. We returned and told the obstetrician, he seemed pleased with the decision and he booked us in to be induced on Wednesday evening. He wanted me to have some tests the next day to check how the baby was going. One test was to see how the heartbeat was going and the other was an ultrasound to check how much amniotic fluid was left.

The obstetrician had done an internal at our appointment and I was 2cm dilated, he said to expect some blood but I got a whole lot more. There was blood that night and some more the next morning. Just before we left to get the tests done there was some clear fluid dripping out. I had to change out of my panty liner and put on a heavy duty pad. We had the tests which were fine. My baby had a strong heartbeat and the amniotic fluid was on the low end of normal. I mentioned the leaking but they didn't seem to be worried.

DH took me home and went back to work. I confessed to him that one of the rules that we learnt at our pre-natal classes was that if my waters broke that we were meant to contact the hospital because of the risk of infection. DH got antsy then and made me ring. The midwife told me to have my lunch and then come in. DH came home from work again and we got to the hospital at at 2pm. They checked me out and decided that it was amniotic fluid but it was just a leak and so nothing to worry about. They called my obstetrician and it was decided that the induction would be brought forward 12 hours and so I would have the indution at 7am the next day. We went home again.

As we got home I started to feel some pains, nothing major just period like pains. I made a joke to DH as we went in the front door that the baby didn't want to be induced and wanted to come early. At around 6pm I started having real labour pains. It was quite manageable to start with, I lay on the couch watching the TV and during the contractions I rolled on the exercise ball. As the evening wore on it got worse so we tried putting a warm wheat pack on my stomach but somehow that made the contractions more unbearable. Then I thought I would try a bath because I had heard wonderful stories of baths easing the pain. I got in and had the same reaction as I did to the heat pack so I poured in cold water and sat through 15 mins of labour in a cold bath. DH eventually had to get me out. It was about 11pm and we rang the hospital for the first time. They said to give it another hour and see how I am going. The contractions were getting more and more intense and all I could do was walk around to manage the pain. We waited out another hour and made another call to the hospital. The midwives said that I seemed to managing the pain well so I may as well stay at home. I suppose it is my own fault for not screaming through contractions and being stoic. It was then about 2am. I had to do something so I wanted to go for a walk. I told DH that if he came with me then I would go out otherwise I would just wander around the backyard. He is a good husband and came with me so we walked down Poath Rd at 2am. It was quite surreal, there was no-one around except an Asian lady on a pay phone. There weren't many cars. There was just DH and I. With me needing to stop now and then to get through the contractions. We walked up to Dandenong Rd (a 20 minute walk) and back again. I remember wondering if I would manage to get back because I was so tired from walking and from the pain. DH then went for a nap. I finally had enough so I rang the hospital to tell them I was coming in. I woke DH and off we went.

We got to the hospital at about 3am. They got me in and wanted to measure the baby's heartbeat so they strapped me up. I couldn't lie down because it hurt too much so they had to attach it to me standing up. It wasn't working, they only got my heartbeat. It seemed like ages that I was connected to the machine and they were fussing around me. Eventually they got me onto the bed and said that I had to stay there until they could see how the baby was. I forced myself to be still on the bed but they still couldn't find the heartbeat. They started talking to me about pain relief which I was quite open to by this stage. They said that it was too early for gas but pethidine was a possibility. First they had to do an internal to see where I was. The look on the midwives face was priceless, I was fully effaced and 10cm dilated. I was ready to push! She checked a couple of times because she couldn't believe it. She had to call in the other midwife to show her.

So began the long hours of pushing, I had no urge to push and so it all had to be done by will power. I started labouring on all fours but I got too tired so for most of the time I sat up in the bed with my feet on DH and the midwife. It was nice to feel DH so close, I didn't want to be stroked but it helped to feel him there anyway. It was a strange thing, I just wanted to stop, I was so tired. I didn't want to get the baby out I just wanted to rest but the contractions wouldn't let me. I found it hard to know what the right sort of pushing was, sometimes I would feel that I had it but other times I just couldn't push in the right way. I pushed for two hours. I started tearing and the midwife gave me an episiotomy which is the one thing I didn't want to happen but at the time you don't even care. DH said that the worse thing was seeing me tear. It all happened very quickly after that. Suddenly they were saying "Stop pushing." and they were showing me a baby. "What is it?" I asked and they said "You look." So I looked and thought it was a boy and they all laughed at me. They gave me the tiny little red thing and lay it on my chest. DH cut the cord and she was here with us. It was so surreal. DH and I closely examined her whilst the midwives were bustling down below. I don't even remember the placenta being delivered but I remember getting an injection in my leg and later on looking at the midwife checking out the placenta in a metal tray. It was huge. How could that and the squirmy pink thing fit in my stomach?

She was born at 06:15, weighed 2985gm (6lb 9oz) and was 50cm in length.

It was at about this time that the obstetrician arrived. He didn't even know that I was in labour and thought that I was going to be inducted that morning. So all he managed was to stitch me up and check out the baby.

We had to wait until 11am for a single room to be ready for us so we sat in the labour ward with the baby for a long time. They washed Charlotte but I lay there messy for a long time. We didn't have a girl's name ready, just a boy name. We had talked about a girl's name but had not come to any decision. As we sat there alone I looked at DH and said "What about Charlotte Kathleen?" He said "That will be fine." and finally we had a beautiful girl with a beautiful name.

WoW! Welcome Charlotte Kathleen. Bet you're glad she decided she was ready to come and not have that induction.

What a great story Maryann. That's amazing that the midwife had to double check you were 10cm!

Well done! Sounds like a good birth! I hope you're enjoying Charlotte!

Awww Maryann, that was a beautiful story, thanks so much for sharing it!
OMG @ you being at 10cm already when the midwife first checked!
Congrats again! :D =D>

Well done Maryann... it sounds like you coped very well.

Tanya

Well done Maryanne, thats a lovely story and thank you for sharing it with us.

Congratulations again on your beautiful little girl Charlotte Kathleen.

Take Care

Deeanne

Thanks for sharing and congratz again!

Thanks for sharing your story Maryanne. How happy you must have been when you told you were already 10cms.


Take care
Trish

Wow what an amazing birth story! Thanks for sharing it with us, Maryanne!

Wonderful story Maryann
so glasd things worked out closer to the way you had hoped, and hope you are all well
Cheers Michelle

Wow! What a story Maryann! I know a couple of things happened that you originally didn't want but it sounds like you took it all in your stride. Well done!

Wow what an amazing birth. Thanks for sharing it with us Maryann. :)

I love the name Charlotte.