Louis Roberts Birth Story (better late than never!)
Friday 07th October - Woke up at 6.30am and thought my waters had broken. It wasn't a lot but was a trickle of fluid. I was so shaky and nervous. I called dh and he headed home fromwork. I had a shower and go torganised and headed into the hospital.
Louis got monitered and everything was fine. No contractions. They tested the fluid and it wasn't amniotic (but wasn't urine either!) Anyway, we were sent home. I felt so silly going in for nothing and for thinking labour was starting when obviously it wasn't. MIchael stayed home from work but I had to go and teach! I so didn't feel like it! I put a pad on just in case as I really didn't feel right. I tried not to do too much but thats really difficult wiht 3-4yo's! I was so glad the hour was over and I was able to go home. As I walked to the car I thought I felt more fluid. I sat in the car and was going to go to the bank but I pulled into the car park and thought no way am I going to risk it. By that stage I felt pretty wet on my pad. I quickly drove home and as I ran into the house I felt a big gush. Dh recalls me saying "F***" on my way in due to nerves - LOL!
I ran straight to the toilet and had to change clothes. Another call to the hospital and we were told to head in again. More monitering - bubba was fine - and another check of the fluid - which this time was definitely amniotic. We were told to head home and wait for contractions to start or otherwise I'd be induced in the morning. I was so nervous and scared and excited. I managed to get a little sleep but it wasn't very good. I was getting super mild contractions every 10-15min but nothing exciting.
Saturday 8th October - Woke up really early (6-6.30am?) and showered etec. Called the hospital and was told they'd call when they had room for me to come in. I did some housework an dmanaged to doze off with dh on the couch for a while. We ended up leaving for the hospital about 2pm. It was such a quick drive as I was so nervous. The most my contractions had come together was about 5min but generally were 8-10min apart and not very painful at all. We go to the hospital and had more monitering - everything was fine. Then the waiting game was on. We went into delivery suite. It was so scary hearing other women screaming so loudly during labour! We had to wait for a dr to come and get the drip organised. A woman dr came and tried getting it in what felt like every vein i nmy arms. It hurt so much but I tried not to complain as I knew labour would be a lot worse. She gave up and we had to wait for another one to come and finish. He came in and did it in one go! and it hardly even hurt! So now it was time for the drip to start. By this stage Mum had arrived and Dad had visited at the hospital as well!
Anyway, the slow painful process began at around 6pm. An internal showed I was only 1cm dialated. The contractions were mild to begin with. We were all just talking and laughing. They were coming 5min apart. After a while they were building and I would just be quiet and cose my eyes during it. I asked abou tmoving around but was told that it wouldn't help (grrr) I ended up with a rubbish midwife too who commented on how good looking my dh was and was just a real twit. Contractiosn were building. It was such a tiring process. At midnight I had another internal and was still only 1cm dialated! They also realised it must have been my hind waters that broke earlier and went on to break my waters again...It was at this point that the pain really started to pick up.
Sunday 09th October - The contractions were coming on really strong. I ended up being sick quite a few times which was hard during contractions. Dh did a good job of catching it though. I was really starting to have had enough and wanted it all to be over. At this point I still hadn't had any pain relief. At 4am they did another internal and I'd only dialated to 2cm. At this point I just felt like giving up. We talked about having pethidine but I was unsure after my sister had said it was so bad. It took me until 4.30am to decide but I really needed something. It didn't really take the pain away as such but I was able to sleep/rest in between contractions. Poor dh hand at this stage was getting very squished. It definitely was the best thing I could have done though as by 7.30am I was finally fully dialated! I knew that pushing when you weren't ready could be really bad and put you back a few hours so it took me a while to be convinced I was really ready. Once I got my head around it thoguh I was determined to get my bubba Louis born! After just what felt like a few contractions - although I think it was about 30min and pushing as hard as I could Louis began to make an appearance. This was definitely the easy part for me! We had a bit of a scare when the midwife called to get a dr as she thought the cord was wrapped around his neck but it was all ok once they realised it was around his shoulder/arm. I felt his head between my legs but it was all very surreal. One last push and he was out! I had him put straight up onto my chest. He was just so little. I felt very spaced out though - probably from the pethidine still. After a little while I lifted him up and he had a nibble at my boob. It felt really funny as I had no real idea of what I was doing! Dh cut the cord. Mum was there the whole time as well.
Louis' statistics: Born 8.30am Weight: 5lb 14/2.67kg Length 46cm Head Circ 33cm
I just couldn't believe I had a little baby! After a while I got up and had a shower which made me feel alot better but I was sooo tired.
We soon had lots of visitors. We got transferred to the maternity ward and managed a snooze for an hour or so. I stireed a little when I heard Louis but didn't realise it was him and closed my eyes. Of course he cried some more before I realised it was him. It was really scary because I didn't know what to do! I just tried to feed him. It was all so strange to all of a sudden having a little bubba relying on me. I didn't want dh to go home - which he did at around 9pm.
It was the start of our little Louis in our lives. The best thing that ever happened to me!
