Well… lots of people have been asking about my birth story so here it is!
I had preferred, (and I say preferred because I refused to plan anything as I have seen how disappointed people get when their births don’t pan out the way they have wanted them too. My only plan was to get my little man safely earth side), to have a natural, drug and intervention free birth… which partly didn’t happen thanks to my stubborn cherub! :heartbeat:
I loved every bit of my birth, and found it very empowering and I still experience pangs on “wow, I did THAT!”
On Monday Jan 18th 2010, after waiting an extra 9 days for our little bundle to grace us with his presence and failing – despite having dilated 2cm on my own and having contraction type cramps since New Years Day - I met my lovely Dr at Saint John Of God Hospital at 7am to be induced by drip and ARM – which I wasn’t really thrilled about thanks to the numerous horror stories I’d received! (so, I’m making this an “Induction Fairy Tale” story, with a happy ever after ending and lots of gooey bits in between)
At around 8am my waters were broken with one of those little condom things with the spike at the end and the IV for the drip was inserted into my hand (but not hooked up yet) and anchored with a very cute teddy bear band aid – which lasted all of 2 seconds, apparently when they make those cute band aids they skimp out on the sticky part. This part was probably the worst part of my whole labour. I hate needles and I hate internals… ick.
Once my waters were broken I trotted off to the loo to get one of those mattresses in my knickers so they weren’t destroyed by my leaking waters – and boy aren’t those comfy – and discovered some meconium staining. I instantly went into freak out mode. Meconium = distressed baby = horrible things happening, but once being hooked up to a fetal monitor and seeing bubs heartbeat was perfectly fine the midwives explained that sometimes over due babies just poop, because they can. Lovely.
After my waters had been broken I started experiencing some contractions, although mild and irregular, I was glad that they started off this way as it gave bub (in my expert opinion) a chance to get use to the contracting before they got too full on, and allowed me to get ready for what I was in for!!
By about 10am I was hooked up to the drip, which was set at 6 (6ml… litres… I have no freaking idea) and then double every half an hour (or sometimes left as it was, or even cut back so I was able to be eased into it.)
So… contracting, contracting…
I remember thinking at one stage that this wasn’t bad at all. I had worked myself up for nothing… all these people that had said that a drip induced labour was full on, lead to more intervention and gave you no time to prepare were, well, exaggerating ><;;
By about 12pm the contractions were starting to get a little more intense. I was given an internal and I had dilated 4 cm. 4CM! Pfft… The midwives said that I’d probably dilate a cm every hour, I remember thinking ‘great, another 6 hours of this… boo’.
Contracting, contracting…
Through the whole of my labour I was pretty engrossed with the fetal monitor. I got toey when they had to take it off for my hourly pee breaks (What if something went wrong in those 60 seconds) or when it shifted and lost the heartbeat when I got into other positions, or when bubba shifted and it started picking up my heart beat instead. In hinesight I think my obsession with the fetal monitor took my mind off the pain, and allowed me to birth without any drugs. There were bigger things to worry about than what pain I was feeling, in my opinion, and what the fetal monitor was picking up was one of them!
Contracting, contracting…
I found the best position was hanging over the head of the bed, with the head raised, my knees kneeling on the… not raised part… while DH massaged my lower back through the contractions. God, did that feel good. Between contractions I’d slump my whole weight on the head of the bed and relax, sometimes not telling DH that the contractions had passed so I’d get a “free” back massage ;) Moaning during contractions helped as well, I don’t know why… but it did. Oh, and heat packs, can’t forget the heat packs…
Contracting, Contracting…
Jelly babies are the bomb, I didn’t get to use my Thomas the Tank Engine colouring in book I had bought along to “pass the time” and having the cricket on TV, or listening to 17th century music from some movie is super annoying when you’re in labour. The TV got turned OFF and my ipod was plugged into the stereo… and DH was banned from listening to Jimmy Barnes.
By 2.30pm I had a really intense feeling to push. My whole labour had been bearable until this pushing feeling. I panicked, because I still supposedly had another 4ish hours to go before I was even meant to hit this stage. I was told not to push, to pant. Mum kept telling me I was doing a great job at panting, thanks Mum. The midwives (who were amazing by the way!) told me to “relax” and not to push. This was the first time I faltered and asked for the drugs! GAS PLEASE! I asked the midwife if the gas would stop the pushing feeling. She said “mmm, maybe” and pretty much dismissed any other demands of drug usage. Later I found out it was because she was “pro no drugs”.
Not pushing when all your body wanted to do was push, SUCKED! I think I went through about 3 or 4 of these “needing to push” feelings before the midwife gave me an internal, and I knew as soon as I saw the big grin on her face that it was time for my little man to start making his way down the ol’ birth canal!
And true to Murphy’s Law, once I got the all clear, the pushing sensation quit on me and I had to wait 10 minutes before I felt it again. Humph.
Once my body got a bit of a kick start again things really got going. I remember during each push thinking that I must be pulling the most weird face ever, like a “having a giant poop” face and feeling the most relief ever (Like, when you really need to have a poop, and you hold it, and when you can finally go it’s bliss… c’mon, I know you’d have that feeling before…)
I can’t remember exactly how many pushes it took, or how long I was pushing for, but I do know that it wasn’t long. After each push I’d stick my hand down there to have a bit of a grope around, and was surprised that after each push it didn’t really feel much different down there, but the burning sensation was getting stronger. The midwives asked me if I’d like a mirror, but I said no, I didn’t really want to freak myself out and faint at the sight of a head coming out where I never really thought a head would come out of! I was quite happy feeling my baby come into this world with my hand, thankyou.
Between pushing Mum would tell me that He was almost here, the midwives started to run around in a mad panic to get my Dr here… apparently they had thought the pushing stage would last a little longer. They called once to let him know I needed to push… and again to let him know to hurry the hell up. He said he was in the car park, and he made it just in time!
During each push my midwives coached me along to avoid tearing. They explained that I should do small quick pushes as apposed to big long ones. I can’t give enough credit to my midwives, not only did they help me deliver with no tears, but they were calm and collected the whole way through my labour which helped keep me grounded and relaxed as someone in labour could be.
At exactly 3pm on January 18th Jackson Riley made his way into the big wide world! He was born and pretty much hand balled onto my chest, I remember thinking “wow, you’re like rubber!” and then falling hopelessly in love. I don’t think I have ever said “oh my god you’re adorable” so many times in my life. I looked up at DH to see tears streaming down his face and knew he’s fallen hopelessly in love aswell, and felt glad that I’d finally given him something happy to cry about.
Jackson was 8lb 71/2 oz, 51cm long with a head circ. of 38cm and absolutely perfect.
I couldn’t have asked or wanted a better labour than the one that I experienced, and I’m so proud at myself for being able to go through it drug free (except for the drip!) the way I preferred it to be. But, most importantly, I’m so glad that Jackson made it!
