Isaac's birth 1/10/07

It's taken me a while but i've finally written down the birth of Isaac Mark! Hope it's not too long or boring! Here goes:

Isaac?s birth story.

I had been having Braxton hicks for a few months and they were increasing in intensity and I was getting them pretty much any time I walked! I saw my ob Thursday the day after my due date and she said I was 4cm dilated and likely to go into labour on my own but booked me in to be induced on the Tuesday 2nd anyway just in case. She also did a stretch and sweep to try and get things going.
Friday night I started getting period-like contraction/cramps which I got with Callum the day before I went into labour with him. These continued all Saturday and Sunday and were pretty regular. Sunday night they felt different so I just thought they were Braxton hicks, a little more intense than before. Andy and my friend Keely got me to time them and call the hospital at about 930pm. The midwife just said to get some rest and come in when they are regular and close together or my waters break. I honestly thought they weren?t contractions! But I timed them for the next 1 1/2hrs and they were every 5 minutes lasting from 45-60 seconds. I continued making ?it?s a boy? birth announcement cards til I thought I should probably get some sleep at 11pm.
I woke up at 2:30am needing to go to the toilet and noticed there was a little bit of blood and my contractions were a little more painful. Went back to bed hoping to go back to sleep (I think I was still in denial that I was in labour!) but the contractions were too painful and I needed to go to the toilet again. There was a bit more blood which freaked me out so I called out to Andy. By now contractions were 2 mins apart but I didn?t tell Andy cause I didn?t want to go to hospital I just wanted to sleep! I couldn?t hide the contractions anymore as every time I had one I had to stop and lean over the furniture and rock my hips side to side to help ease the pain and I couldn?t talk thru them anymore. At some stage Andy put the TENS machine on me which was absolutely wonderful! No more back pain! Andy called his mum at 3:30 in the morning to come and watch Callum and the hospital to let them know we would be there soon. Contractions were still 2mins apart going for up to 60 seconds each when Phyl turned up at 4am. If Andy had his way we would have already been at the hospital! He was starting to freak out with the frequency of the contractions and wanted to leave with the front door unlocked for his mum but I refused to leave Callum home alone (even if that meant giving birth on the front step!). So we waited on the front step, me leaning on Andy every time I had a contraction til his mum turned up.
On the way to the hospital I managed to send some messages out to people that wanted to know when I was in labour (and to see how many people I could wake up at 4 in the morning!).
We got to the hospital and I got put on a CTG machine to measure the frequency and strength of the contractions. I got some pretty painful ones! I was given some cold lemonade to drink to get Isaac awake and moving since he decided to have another nap! After being on the CTG for what felt like ages I was moved to a birthing suite where the contractions continued just as painfully. The midwife I had was so lovely and was replaced by another lovely midwife at changeover. I was in tears at this stage the pain was just getting so bad especially in my pelvis. I still had no back pain thanks to the TENS machine. The midwife gave me the gas to suck on when I had contractions. I?m not sure if it helped the pain but it made me really spaced out after I stopped sucking! And the mouthpiece was a great thing to bite down on! I had told Andy I wanted to be active but every time he tried to get me up I had a contraction and then I was too light headed to stand up cause of the gas and by the time it wore off another contraction started!
The midwife did an internal and I had only dilated another centimetre which made me cry again! After so many hours in so much pain and I wasn?t even halfway it felt so unfair! I repeatedly told Andy I couldn?t do it, it was too painful. I complained a bit too about my ob telling me I?d have a short labour yet I was still going. The poor midwife almost every time she came in the room I was in tears and saying I can?t do it anymore it?s too much? But she was great and told me to just remember each contraction was one contraction closer to meeting my baby. The things she was saying to me helped to calm me thru the contractions, but if Andy said them I wanted to hit him! LOL
The doctor broke my waters which had meconium in them. Not a lot came out til I sat up and it felt like it would never stop! It felt so disgusting! The midwife suggested I jump in the shower so with Andy?s help I did, having 2 or 3 contractions before making it under the water then being told to hurry and hop out the doctor wanted to check Isaac (because of the meconium). The doctor put a probe on his head so she could trace his heartbeat. Around this time she also gave me a drip to speed up the contractions. I hated this because I barely got a break and they were so intense, much more painful. I kept saying to Andy I was going to pull out the drip just for a few minutes to get a break but every time I went to pull it out Andy stopped me and was starting to get annoyed at me!
I was in so much pain now (a lot more than with Callum) I agreed to an epidural. Andy didn?t look too happy about my decision but I really didn?t care about anyone else they weren?t the one going thru the pain! LOL The anethesis explained everything, not that I was listening, and eventually gave it to me. She had me sit on the side of the bed with my legs on a chair, Andy on one side and I think the midwife was on my other side. I said to the midwife to just knock me out as it would be easier or to just give me a c-section to which she laughed and told me I should have thought of that a few weeks ago. Later I found out she put on gloves just in case she had to catch Isaac in a hurry! By now I was almost fully dilated, in a lot of pain and my contractions were very close ? it took her a while to give me the epidural cause every time I had a contraction she had to stop. It felt like every time she went to put the needle in I got another contraction. Eventually she got the needle in and most of the pain went. I still had the pain in the left of my pelvis which was the reason I got the epidural in the first place!
The doctor was getting ready to deliver Isaac while the midwife had her hand on my belly telling me when I was having contractions. The doctor used suction while the midwife told me to push and Isaac?s head came out. Everyone was having a look at his head and I felt left out, I wanted to see it! Since I couldn?t I asked if I could reach down and touch it! I think the doctor was a bit surprised but I didn?t care, it felt unreal!
The rest of Isaac followed not long after ? all within 15 minutes of the epidural! I didn?t feel any of him come out but the pelvic pain went! He was placed on my tummy (which I couldn?t feel) and he just looked absolutely perfect! He was just gorgeous, just like his brother. Seeing him for the first time I thought to myself all that pain was worth it, all 10hrs and 17 minutes! I got a little emotional and cried I was so overwhelmed and so amazed Andy and I had made this gorgeous little man. Even Andy had tears in his eyes. Isaac was a little purple just from lack of oxygen but apart from that he was perfect. I couldn?t wait for Callum to meet him.

Isaac Mark was born at 12:43pm Monday October 1st weighing 8lb 4.5, 3760grams. Length 53cm, head circumference 37cm.