The birth of Grace Indiah
My story is a long one....
....I woke at 4.55am Thursday morning needing to go to the toilet really bad. I went to the toilet and the pain didn't go away straight away. Thought it was odd and hopped back into bed. 15 minutes later pain intensified and i had to get out of bed...I thought maybe it was a contraction but didn't get excited after the previous episodes I'd had. Then the pain came again, stronger and only 10 minutes later. I wandered around the house and the pains were getting stronger and faster - hadn't woken DH yet as wasn't sure if it was the real thing. At 6.20am the contractions were every 4 minutes and I wanted to hop into the shower to see if they would go away, so I woke DH. He was funny, he went 'oh, ok' and got up..very calm which was great. By the time I got out of the shower they were stronger coming every 2-3 minutes and I had to breath through them. Then I started to get real moist down below, like I was weeing but I wasn't - my waters had broken! Now I knew it was the real thing. I rang the hospital, couldn't get through for 40 minutes! When I finally did get through they told me to come in. I was going to have some breakfast but by the time I went to organise it I didn't feel like eating anymore. Got to the hospital at 8.30 - we live 4 minutes from the hospital but we copped peak traffic so it took 10 minutes and it was the longest 10 minutes of my life having 3 contractions on the way - horrible horrible to sit for so long! My midwife introduced herself and asked if I would mind if a student midwife was present, no problem. They got the details, checked that it was definitely my waters that had broken and then offered to do an internal. I wanted an internal as I was having 4 contractions every 10 minutes, couldn't talk through them and wanted to know how far along we were (I didn't think we could be very far considering it had only been a couple of hours). The plan was to go home and come back later!!!! I was 3cm, in established labour. I couldn't believe it. They said we could go home if we wanted to because we were so close, but to be warned that it was going to get worse from here. We decided to stay..luckily. I used the shower initially for pain releif, then the fitball. Then we got in the bath which was so nice because I could really relax in between contractions. Then they started to get REALLY REALLY painful and were coming on top of each other. I tried some gas but it made me feel really sick and really really weak and I was scared I would drown in the bath! I started to become irrational, stating I wanted to sleep and couldn't do it anymore. I knew that maybe it was because I was in transition but then thought that how could I be that far along already (no idea of the time). I got out of the bath and went back to the room and that's when I lost it a bit - wanted to sleep, wanted to lie down (couldn't), crying my eyes out because I needed to rest. I could hear the midwife saying she's acting like she's in transition. The afternoon shift were coming on at this time and I remember them saying hello but it wasn't until it was completely over that I actually looked at them, I was so focused on labour! I actually asked for pethidine (after an internal and I was 8cm - so definitely in transition), although did say I was worried that I had missed that opportunity - the midwifes agreed and said they would be reluctant to give it to me. I had stopped using the gas because it was making me really nauseous and could cope with vomiting and contractions! After fussing about trying to get into a position of comfort (lol), the midwifes suggested I try the shower again - so in we went, I plonked myself on a fitball, DH sprayed water on my back and the other shower forcet sprayed water over my head and this is where I sat until after Grace was born. 2.5 hours in the shower - lucky they are exempt from water restrictions! There were times when I almost fell asleep in b/w contractions! I got pushing contractions before the midwifes were ready for me to push and they asked me to pant through them....it was SOOOOOO HARD!!!! I then started to panic because I was having trouble panting through them but didn't want to do anything that would harm Grace or make it harder than it needed to be. By this stage I was on my knees in the shower - they eventually said if I can't pant anymore then don't - so I pushed and SCREAMED!!! Especially when she crowned, oweeee, nothing can prepare you for that! lol! My little girl was born 40 minutes later and was passed through to me so that we could find out the sex. The shower was turned of just as she was born (almost a water birth!). She cried within minutes. APGAR 9 and 10. DH was supposed to tell me the sex but he couldn’t speak he was so choked up with tears…it was the most beautiful moment ever. I sustained a slight graze on my labia which didn’t require stitches, perineum intact (YAY). Total labour 12.5 hours. I didn’t enjoy the labour at all but now that I have my beautiful little girl with me, I wouldn’t change it for the world. What a mind blowing, emotional, amazing experience. I have to say I was very proud of myself for only have a small amount of gas and no other drugs. All I can say is thank goodness for my wonderful DH and the shower.
Sorry it was so long. It is great though, I love being a mum.
