Lachlan Jack's Dramatic Entrance ..... Very long and possibly distressing....
After feeling like I had been pregnant for the best part of a decade and being quite literally the size of a house we went to get induction acupucture on Friday to try and move the little man along..... so at 6 days overdue we turned up for our first session.
Later that afternoon I started getting contractions intermittently but they stopped overnight so we went back on Saturday for round 2......
Once again we had fairly strong intermittent contractions but once again they stopped around midnight and we went to sleep but only got a couple of hours.....
Woke up at 8am Sunday morning with strong contractions every half an hour lasting about a minute.... we called our acupuncturist and the hospital and they said to go in for a 3rd treatment... by the time we left the clinic the contractions were really strong but still only ever 20-30 mins....
Sunday night they were full on - we rang the hospital but they said I had ages to go - at this point the pain was pretty hairy but it was all in my back and hips.....nothing in the front at all - that should have been my first hint...
Dan suggested that I needed to go for a walk so at 11pm we went and did the groceries so that we had some food for the week ahead.
Walking around made the contractions disappear again which really upset me .... at this point I was feeling like it was never going to happen. :wall:
Went to sleep at around 1am and woke at 3am Monday morning in soooooo much pain all through my back and hips.... contractions every 7-8mins lasting almost a minute and a half.
We rang the hospital and they told us that we had a really long time to go so just chill out.... but by 6am I knew something was seriously happening so we rang and said we were on our way in. :dance:
When we got there the contractions were so close I couldn't even lay down long enough to let them take my blood pressure and feel my tummy... I was very surprised that noone suggested an internal to see what was going on.
Dan and I were completely shattered ....we hadn't slept for almost 3 days and hadn't eaten much either as I was so nauseous.
I got in the bath and things really started ramping up.... the pain was unbelievable and once again all in my back and hips. Between each contraction I just disappeared within myself but at one point I was just sobbing in the bath....
We had this really annoying midwife who obviously thought that I wasn't ready to be there at just kept telling me to visualise somewhere nice to be and finished every sentence with a really drawn out and exaggerated ...yyyyeeeeaaaahhhhh .... I seriously considered slapping her at one point ...LOL
After 2 hours in the bath I got out and .......everything stopped.....I knew something wasn't right so when they suggested that I go home I dug my heels in and absolutely refused which really **** the midwife off....I had some lunch (not by choice) and that started things off again ... apparently my body had gone into starvation mode and just shut down.
At this point I had been there for 5 plus hours and still hadn't had an internal. The pain in my back was unbelievable so the midwives suggested I have sterile water injected under the skin on pressure points to help with this ..... they said it was just a little *****.... let me tell you that it is without a doubt the worst pain I have ever experienced in my entire life... I screamed the place down and called these 2 women giving me the injections every name under the sun...... and I am usually so polite ...LOL
Still no internal.....
At about 3.30pm Donna a midwife I had seen a lot came on and I was soooooo relieved... but another lady came in having a very quick labour so she had to go and tend to her .. but she did promise me some morphine as she could see I wasn't coping... contractions were 4-5mins apart and 90seconds long.
Donna disappeared for ages and every now and again another midwife would come in and give me heat packs... I told her that Donna was mean't to be organising some morphine for me but they just kept telling me to have a think about it and they'd come back....
I must have asked for it about 4 times before Donna came back.... at this point it was about 5 or 6 pm I think and she came in started telling us how bad it was outside ?!?!?!?
Dan looked like he was going to murder her .... turns out the mountain was on fire and he had kept the curtains closed so I wouldn't know and worry.... I made him open up the curtains and there was ash raining down around the hospital.... turns out they were evacuating everyone who didn't need to be there..... Lachie's lucky I didn't name him Ash instead ...hehehehe :rofl:
Finally after being there for 12 hours labouring I got my first internal .... I was devestated when I found out I was ONLY 3cms.....
Donna gave me a morphine shot (OUCH!!!) and put a drip in as I was severely dehydrated... she then broke my waters to hopefully move things along... the morphine was great I could still feel the pain but it was like it wasn't happening to me ... Dan and I were just sitting there watching the ash fall down around the hospital.... Donna came back in and I asked her when I could have another morphine shot as it was really starting to hurt again ....
I completely freaked out when she told me that I could only have it once and after that it was gas for me..... I have a pretty high pain threshold but I just couldn't take it the pain in my back was bad enough but during a contraction it felt like someone was drilling into my hip bones... it still makes me feel sick thinking about it ...
Donna said I might like to consider an epidural - I looked at Dan and said sorry for not being able to do it naturally without drugs and he looked at me like I was mental and told me that he didn't care in the slightest so we told Donna that we wanted the epidural ... this was about 8.30 or 9pm.
She said she'd give me another internal and then I could think about it.... after labouring since 8am Sunday morning I was only 5cm's at 8.30 Monday night.....I can honestly tell you it was a horrible feeling .. the whole time I had been telling myself that each contraction was taking me closer but it just didn't seem to be happening .....
By 11pm I couldn't cope .... we hadn't seen a midwife for over an hour and a half and I begged Dan to go and find someone and get me the epidural .... I was completely exhausted and just couldn't cope anymore....:crying:
Donna and Sharon came in and we talked about it - they tried to give me other options but after about 15mins Sharon just said - she's exhausted ... let's get the anethetist...
I was moved over to delivery from the Birth Centre at about 11ish and we waited for the man with the big needle....
I really wasn't coping at this point so they gave me gas to try and take the edge off.... horrible stuff just made me feel like i was going to throw up but they convinced me to keep taking it .... at about 12.30 the antethetist finally arrived and you wouldn't believe it unless you had seen it...he was an elderly asian man and you'd think it was a comedy skit... things went bad to worse.... the kept dropping things and then faffing around trying to organise everything ... this was the guy going to jam a needle into my spine???? :doh:
He finally got his crap together and told me that I needed to bend forward and NOT MOVE for TEN MINUTES or else I might be paralysed.... ummmm.... I am getting contractions every 4mins but ok....
Then he told me he's just finished giving another woman an epidural and she was in much more pain than me so I should stop whingeing .....rrrrriiiigggghhhhttt......:angry:
They bent me forward and taped Dan's hands to my back to hold me still when they put the needle in ...at this point I was sucking on the gas like no tomorrow .... the doc told me to stay very very still then I started to feel a contraction ... I warned him and he told me just to stay still and put the needle in at the height of the contraction.... I went bolt upright even though Dan was trying to hold me and then my leg kicked involunatrily narrowly missing Dan's crown jewels.... I looked up to see if he was ok and he was absolutely green and pouring sweat.... turns out I had been exhaling my gas directly into his face and the poor guy was about to pass out :rofl:
After that things were definately looking up..... I couldn't feel any pain and thought I would be able to get some much needed sleep.... poor Dan was absolutely dead on his feet so he grabbed the 2 birthing bean bags joined them up on the floor and was completely out to it - a lovely nurse came and brought him some pillows and blankets and that was him gone....
Unfortunately I didn't get much sleep as I had to be turned regularly and the monitor was a bit faulty and kept going off because it stopped taking readings.
At about 7am Bev one of the FBC midwives (who i think is absolutely gorgeous) came on duty.... she was looking really concerned and the first thing she asked me was why this was allowed to go on for so long?
Good question huh??:dunno:
She did an internal and I was fully dialated with just a lip left..... at 8am she told me they were turning off the epidural as it was time for me to push ..... I can tell you I had a few things to say about that .... nothing terrified me more than the idea of that epidural wearing off.....
Bev put me up in stirrups and at about 8am we started to push..... I thought we were doing really well and at about 8.50 Bev said she could see his head.... Dan went up to have a look and I was feeling soooooooo encouraged.... I think I had actually forgotten that I was going to have a baby at the end of all this......
Bev had a bit of a feel around and when she looked at me next I knew that things weren't right.... turns out my little man wanted to come out into the world looking up..... yep he was posterior......
Right at that point the heart rate monitor started going off it's head.... Lachie's heart rate had gone from a happy 140 BPM to 180BPM.... my little man was in distress .....
Bev looked at me and said that I couldn't push anymore and that they needed to think about a vaccum or forceps delivery ..... she bolted off to get the doctor ...
I just looked at Daniel and thought "What next??"
I didn't have to wait long to find out .... the doctor came up and said that they would attempt a vaccum delivery but they would prefer to do it in theatre just in case .... she also said I needed to be prepared to have a C - Section......
At this point I just switched off and left the building;..... I vaguely remember signing a consent form and being told of the risks... but at the point where she advised me there was a chance of hysterectomy and death I lost the plot and just started sobbing......
The poor orderly who had to lift me onto the trolley and wheel me down was wiping my tears and I just kept repeating "it's not fair......"
When we got into theatre the OB took one look at me and said that there is no way they would attempt a vaginal birth and that I had to have an emergency ceasar.....
I was rushed into theatre - without Daniel which upset me even more and was given a top up epidural.... I'd never even had stitches before and I was soooooo scared....Even though Dan was back before everything began I cried through the whole thing....
After a little while and plenty of ice tests they began ...... it wasn't long before we heard a startled gasp and the doctor exclaim "This kid's gonna drive his parents home from the hospital..." Followed by an almighty yell ......
At 10.13am on Tuesday 24/2/2009 Lachlan Jack made his entrance.
Weighing in at 4.8kg or 10.5lb, 54cm long with a head circumfrance of 37.5cm - 50 hrs of labour and a dramatic entrance via the sunroof .... all the while the mountain was on fire behind us.....at least it wasn't a boring birth ...LMAO
The minute they laid him down beside me on the table I forgot that behind the curtain I was wide open .... all I could focus on was my beautiful little man and his Dad right there beside me.
All in all it was a horrible birthing experience and nothing went the way we expected it too.... but I just have to look at my little boy and I'd go through it all again in a heart beat.....
xoxoxoxox
