Lucy, Andrew and Charlie's birth story.........
I was booked in for an induction at midnight of Wednesday 20th July. I felt very much in two minds about the thought of an induction in comparison to a natural birth, but was still very excited about the prospect of meeting my little man.......
We dropped Olivia off with her Auntie Alison and Uncle James and her cousins Chloe and Bella, on Tuesday evening and Andrew and I made the most of some "child free time" and ordered a takeaway pizza and some DVD's.
At midnight we arrived at Calvary Hospital, and at 1am I had the prostaglandin gel inserted. By 4am I had a bad stomach upset, but I wasn't sure if it was the pizza not agreeing with me, or the gel not agreeing with me?!
By 5am, I was vomiting everywhere, which was fairly miserable, and the midwife suggested that it was my reaction to the prostaglandin.
By 8am, nothing was happening at all, so Andrew and I decided to go for a walk around the golf course to see if we could get things moving!
I did feel a few twingey type of contraction like tightenings, but nothing very credible.
By 11am I was feeling exhausted, so decided to try and have a nap, and of course any tiny contractions I was having stopped totally.
By this time I felt frustrated, and a bit lost as to what to do next! My OB came to see me and offered me the options of a further load of gel, to be put on the drip of Syntocinon (sp?), a caesarian, or come back next week!
So I decided to take the option of the drip, as I really wanted to avoid any further delay, and really wanted to avoid a caesar.
So my OB organised the drip at 2.30pm, and I organised myself on the fit ball, hoping that some rocking would “get things going a bitâ€.
At 3.00pm I was chatting to Andrew, and rocking on the fit ball when all of a sudden I had my first contraction, and it was a full on big contraction, and my waters broke! Oh my god, it was so bizarre……there was just floods of water cascading all over the fit ball and all over me, and all over the floor……Andrew and I both got the giggles big time….
That was the start and from that point on the contractions came strong and fast. I rocked up against the window sill for a lot of the time, and also leaning against a basin which was the right height. But most of the time I just rocked on the fit ball whilst grabbing hold of Andrew’s leg with one hand and the edge of the bed with the other!
I can remember asking the midwife how this stage of labour could last & was horrified when she said “several hours†as the pain was pretty intense, so I asked for an epidural at that point…….but by the time she came back however, I had vomited again, and I think I knew that it was probably too late for an epidural, as I was beginning to feel an very strong desire to push……
On the next contraction she must have heard a difference in my grunting, as she said straight away “Lucy, do you feel like you want to bear down?†and of course I did, so I think she realised how fast things were moving, and got me up on the bed to give me and internal and confirmed that the baby was beginning to crown.
My language through the contractions by this stage was quite “colourful†and I insisted that they let me get off the bed to stand up again…………
The midwife literally got underneath me and I had my legs spread from one end of the room to another as they all told me to puff rather than push, so I guess I had to slow down my own breathing quite a bit, but it worked, because on the next proper push, out came Charlie at 4.56pm………..a fast, intense labour of less than 2 hours!
As usual, Andrew was my rock throughout the whole business….having him there, with his calm voice in my ear the whole time was what I needed.
So whilst it wasn’t a “natural†labour, I am still left with an immense feeling of satisfaction, like I really did do a good job. The Syntocinon did make things go a little faster & more intense than I would have anticipated, but I didn’t feel immobilized by the drip at all, nor did I feel the labor was any more painful than my previous labour. It was still a fantastic experience……..
Charlie was bought up to me straight away for a cuddle and he was just perfect. We had a lovely long introduction to each other as my OB delivered the placenta, and eventually Charlie was weighed and had his umbilical cut. His apgar scores were 9 & 10, and the pediatrician gave him a clean bill of health. He weighed in at 6lb 13oz (3090grams). He has dark blue eyes at this stage and reddish brown hair.
We stayed in the delivery room for a while longer and I offered Charlie the breast and the little legend latched on perfectly first go!
I am so in love with him…..he is perfect and gorgeous and he smells just delicious…………
Lucy x
