The amazing birth of pickle :)
After my traumatic first birth it was needless to say I was crapping myself about doing it all again. I was told at 37 weeks that due to my 3b degree tear I was able to have a c-section if I would like to, and being told that I would stay with DH and DS2 the whole time I jumped at the opportunity as I dreaded the thought of being dragged away and missing the first 4 hours of DS2s life like I did with DS1, but mister 'pickle' had other ideas...
I woke at 7am on Saturday and thought it was great that DS1 was still asleep. Then all of a sudden I had a sharp pain in my abdomen, being 38 weeks and 5 days I thought it was just normal 'toilet pains' and didn't think anything more of it. I was 6 days away from my impending c-section which I was feeling super positive about and obviously 9 days away from my due date which meant nothing to me because DS1 went 12 days over so I figured before I agreed to the c-section that I wouldn't go before my due date, in fact I was so convinced that I joined both the late december and early January belly buddies. Anyway I was up and down a few times with these 'toilet pains' and then it occured to me that they were coming and going lol I jumped in the shower which felt amazing while DH called the midwife. I was starting to freak out a little bit so when DH put me on the phone to the midwife, whose name was Jane, I started sobbing and shaking. She explained to me that all was ok and that majority of the time labour and birth doesn't go as planned so I may end up birthing this baby virginally which scared the crapola outta me.
We had organized with my parents to look after DS1 when the time came, but they have been through a lot lately and needed to get away so I assured them that I would be fine for the weekend and I really didn't think this baby was coming anytime soon. Oops. Anyway my sister was now on call so we rang her and said it could all be a false alarm so not to call my parents just yet, by this stage the contractions were slightly stronger and very clearly indeed contractions! Our hospital is over an hour away and my labour with DS1 was a little under 2 hours so I was trying my hardest not to fret that things were progressing quite quickly. DH was doing really well at helping me keep it together, he didn't show his frustration at the slow moving weekend traffic or anything, we had the music cranked and were having a sing a long to keep my mind off the increasing pain. At the same time I was timing my contractions on an app I downloaded to the iPad, the contractions were not consistent at 2-4 minutes apart and lasting 20-90 seconds.
The sight of the hospital has never made me feel so happy. I even managed to walk into the hospital and up to the birth suite all by my self :) we were shown to a room where I got changed into a gown and all preparations were ago to get me into theatre for the c-section asap. A couple of doctors came in and one did a VE where I was told I was 9cm dialated :o I asked for some gas to take the edge off the pain, that stuff was amazing, and DH reckons I started talking crap in my 'high' state haha. Everything was ready to go about 20 minutes after we arrived and then all of a sudden with the next contraction I had the urge to push!! I was told to try my hardest not to, which was easier with the gas as a distraction, 3 or 4 contractions later the urge was getting harder and harder to stop and then I thought I had to poo when all of a sudden POP my water broke, it was official, we were NOT going to theatre.
I rolled onto my side and the catheter got taken out, I had the best midwife ever, and she talked me through how/when to push so that I didn't tear as bad. I could feel bub moving his way down, and DH was being amazing talking me through everything! I could feel bub crown and go back with 2 contractions which was frustrating, and then he crowned and stayed, yay, the midwife grabbed some scissors and explained to me all about episiotomys which I really wasn't listening to. With the next contraction, which felt like it took forever to come, SNIP I heard her cut down there. I was told to breathe through contraction instead of pushing which was insanely hard. I giggled to myself when my body involuntarily push and I felt his head come out way to quick and the midwife quickly pushed him back in! Finally I had breathed my bubbas head out and with the next contraction the midwife said 'reach down and birth your baby' it was amazing!
We had the best gooey newborn cuddles for ages while bub exercised his lungs and finally settled down once he was nice and warm. The placenta was birthed a couple of minutes later and then all preparations began for sewing me back together, one doctor checked it out and said it looked like a 2nd degree tear with slight muscle damage on one side of my rectum but said she'd get a second opinion. The next doctor said the tear was slightly worse, more like 3a degree tear but agreed with the muscle damage and was happy to stitch it up on the table then and there :hooray: I wasn't going to surgery, I wasn't being taken away from my baby, I wasn't going to miss anything!
5 hours later I was showered and feeling fantastic so I asked if I could go home and no one had a reason why I couldn't.
So final stats
Daylen Benjamin
Born 17/12/2011 @ 9.26am
Weighing 8pd 6oz
Length 52cm
HC 36cm
(all exactly the same as his big brother)
Labour was 2.5 hours all up
I couldn't be happy with how everything went and we are so in love with our second little man :)
