Felix's entrance to the world..
It has taken me awhile to write this and I figure I'd better write it before I forget completely!
For those who don't know the history. I was 10 days over due and had been booked in to be induced on the 13th of May, I was told to come in the night before to receive gels to soften my cervix.
I was admitted into Gold Coast hospital on Wednesday 12th May, started with an examination and they determined I was 1-2cms dilated and they would inject the first round of gels. I asked them whether I could walk around the ward to get things going and they felt I should have a sleep that night as I had a big day in the morning. The doctor felt confident that 1 lot of gels would be enough and they could start things off in the morning. =D>
That night after gels, I contemplated going for a walk, but it was 10 pm by the time I was put in a bed on the ward and they suggested I take a sleeping tablet and sleep. I only felt a few twinges not enough to get excited about. I decided they might be right and followed their advice.:smt015
The next day I was all excited for the big induction and when finally I went down stairs to labour ward, they looked again and I was still only 1-2cms but cervix had thinned out and shortened further. The doctor felt I should have more gel and then in the evening they would look again.
This time I was induced with double dose, and right from the insertation I started with period type cramps, I went upstairs and as it was 11am I decided I would take Katherine's advice and WALK!! I walked for about 4 hours round and round the ward and up and down stairs, and eventually was getting regular pre-labour pains, I started getting excited. When they were getting closer and closer I told the midwife and she explained that it may not be the real thing as the gels can cause short irreglar contractions.
:contract:
The other thing she told me was due to the Labour ward being totally full, with people waiting out side I was not going to be induced tonight either!!I was convinced I was going into labour, and was wondering what they would do if there was no room to give birth! :shock:
I contined having these pains until 11pm and then suddenly they started dying off and nothing....so no need to get excited, turns out they had 26 births that day in the hospital..no wonder I was left up on the ward!
Okay so finally friday rolls around and they took me down again at 8:30am, and then I waited for about 2 hours for them to examine me and they decided even though I wasn't dilated THAT much they would attempt to break my waters and then put me on the hormone drip.
They tried breaking my waters the first time around 12pm, they didn't rupture properly, they started hormone drip at around 2pm, nothing happened still, so a midwife tried to re break waters at about 4pm. Things then went from almost nothing, to almost 5 mins apart at 5 pm. Then for the next 2 hours I dilated to 3 cms.
Things were starting to get pretty intense and the worst thing was that I was attached to a foetal monitor and the drip and I had to drag it all when I wanted to go to the toilet. :smt022
My birth plan seemed like a travel plan to a hot exotic destination when I was visiting Antarctica. I couldn't even have a hot shower let alone use any other birthing aids. I felt pinned to the bed. The back pain of contractions was unbelievable. I kept feeling like I was going to vomit, but couldn't, my mouth was SO dry, there was NO way I wanted gas, the most I could handle was ice on my lips. I had a heat pack on my back which helped a bit.
I asked Lachie(DP) to turn off all lights TV everything, and after awhile all I could do was sit on the bed and moan inwardly, Lachie couldn't even touch me. I just wanted him to sit there and say nothing but just sit there.
:-$
I had discussed with the midwife about pain alternatives and since I knew induction was more intense I opened my mind to an epidural. She said if I was going to have it to do it early, as there was no point getting to the end and then having it after all the hard work was done.
I talked to Lachie about it, and of course he was very encouraging..so I asked the midwife about how long it would take, she said around 15 mins, so I decide to have it.
I am glad I wasn't at the limit of my pain threshold as of course it was not for over an hour till the anethestist came. The weird thing was by then I was getting better at handling the pain, using breathing. But I certainly wasn't going to say no to the epidural then..The hardest bit was having to hold still between contractions, while she put the wire in. People ask me if it hurt, all I can say is it is nothing compared to contractions.
The epidural went in at 8pm and then on it was a completely different story, there was no pain..it was unbelievable..Lachie said he went out when I had the epidural being put in, and I hardly noticed, he came in and I was smiling and said "hi!" We then watched "The Green Mile" on TV. It was surreal, being in labour and feeling practically nothing! the negatives were having the wee drip, having the ichy crawlies (side effect from epidural) and having MORE tubes coming out of me. Positives: I was able to chat to Lachie and drink water and of course minimal pain.. :smt039
The midwife was watching the fetal monitor and Felix's heartbeat was descending with contractions, everyone (dr's and midwives) kept coming in and looking. They told me they were monitoring it, nothing to worry about yet, but they were just watching. It depended on what stage I was at to whether there was a problem.
I started feeling pressure on my bowels and bladder at this point and towards the end I started feeling more crampy type pain, so pressed the button they gave me a few times, even though the pain was minimal compared to the pain of before.
They examined me at 11pm and the midwife said we were aiming for 7 cms at that point, I of course asked what if I wasn't, she vaguely talked about length of time and foetal distress etc. I tried to think postively but I was scared having the epidural could have affected the baby.
But when they examined me, not only was I fully dilated, but they opened up my labia and the midwife told lachie to look inside (he tells everyone this story) he looked inside with the light and they could see Felix's head! Lachie looked abit green, he said later it looked like a train tunnel with the opening stretched out. I of course felt nothing. ;)
It turns out the pain I was feeling just before this was transitional phase, and compared to what I imagined it feeling like it was painless.
Now the monitor made sense as with each contraction Felix was being pushed out and squashed. but now he was through that bit his heart rate stayed even.
Anyhow the midwife said they wanted Felix down further before I pushed.
Felix remained totally calm on the decent and 30 mins later they looked again and his head was right at the entrance! They put my legs which still had some feeling and movement on the midwife's hips and Lachie on the otherside and then she told me with each contraction to focus on pushing out a poo.
Basically it was 3 contractions each with 3 pushes each and out he slid...no tear for me, perfect head position, on the second push the midwife said to reach down and feel the head, so I did, and it was the softest thing, it was amazing. Felix slid out and cried while his head was poking out before his body was out! His Apgar score was 9, 9..perfect!
:smt023
Felix was wrinkly, with really long nails, very dry skin and withered hands and feet (like an old man's ) they suspect he was more overdue than that date. So in all I was happy he came out when he did as he was very calm once out, he wasn't even hungry, just lay there and looked at Lachie and I, back and forward like he was thinking, so that's what you look like! He was so content and happy once out and continues to be...
:boy:
I felt a bit guilty having the epidural afterwards as I was quite against it intially, but in the end, happy baby, happy partner and very happy me..equals worth the whole thing!! \:D/
I still to this day cannot work out why he needed such a prod to come out to meet us? he seems so content to be here!
:-k
