The Birth of Charlie Jacob Xavier (grab a cuppa, its long!)
Friday 21st September 2006
I was booked in for an induction on Monday 9th October at 6pm.
Saturday 7th October 2006
I started to have a few signs that things were not far off. Bubs was head butting my cervix a lot and my Braxton Hicks had started up again. I felt very ready to have this baby.
Monday 9th October 2006
10:00am - Jacob and I went shopping and started feeling extremely irritable and PMS’y. Never felt like this before, I just felt very strange. Also had a bit of a back ache and a sore belly.
12:00pm – I started getting stronger than usual Braxton hicks along with my backache.
1:00pm – Decided to take a warm bath to see if it settled things. But still felt the strong Braxton hicks which were coming every 10-20 minutes.
4:30pm – Went to my Aunty’s place as she was looking after Lily while Jacob and I were at the hospital. We had a yummy dinner of Apricot Chicken.
5:40pm – Jacob and I left for the hospital leaving poor Lily crying at the door for us.
6:00pm – We checked into the Birth Centre where we met a lovely midwife, Vivian. She checked my belly and bub was found to be engaged again, yay! I was put on the CTG monitor but after around 15 minutes bub moved and we lost his heart rate. I could still feel him moving around but felt relieved when we found it again. He started to worry the midwife a bit! She found the heartbeat in a weird spot so I had a quick scan just to make sure he was still head down, which he was. That is the 3rd time he has confused a midwife with his position! CTG results were perfect and also showed I was having strong Braxton Hicks.
The Senior Registrar was called in to check my cervix and insert the gel. The midwife luckily just caught her heading into surgery. So I would have had to wait like 2 hours if it wasn’t for her good timing. The Senior Registrar checked my cervix and to everyone’s surprise found me to already be 3cms dilated and about 80% effaced. She gave it a bit of a stretch, which hurt more than I expected. Couldn’t believe my luck that I didn’t need the gel after all! So I got sent back home with instructions to ring my midwife if I was in labour or my waters broke. If nothing happened then to ring the Birth Centre at 6am to see if a room was available and to come in at 7am to have my waters broken. All this time I was still having strong Braxton Hicks with a bit of pain.
7:00pm – Went back to my Aunty’s. Lily was so happy to see Jacob and I. I started to feel really excited now. Couldn’t believe it would all happen tomorrow! I now had complete faith in my body doing its job.
8:30pm – I was still getting strong Braxton Hicks. They didn’t increase in intensity but my belly was so rock hard, I knew they were doing something. I decided not to time them just yet and just see how I went with them. I went to the toilet and noticed I was starting to lose my plug! It was all happening so fast now so I decided to go to bed and get some rest before the big day ahead of me. I woke up 3 times during the night with painful cramping and backache but overall, I got a good night sleep.
Tuesday 10th October 2006
5:00am - I woke up with the pains coming on a bit more intense. So I decided to start timing them. They were coming every 5 minutes and lasting around 30 seconds. I started to feel like this was ‘it’. So I got up to have a shower. I took a few steps and then felt a small gush of warm fluid. So I raced to the bathroom and sat on the toilet where it kept coming. So I rang my midwife to tell her I thought I was in labour and that my waters had broken. She congratulated me for going on my own and told me to have a shower and some breakfast and to come in to the Birth Centre when I was going to anyway, at 7am. I felt so extremely happy and excited that I went into labour on my own! I was so proud of myself. I had a shower, got dressed and had some toast for breakfast.
6:00am - My contractions were getting more intense and coming every 3 minutes now and lasting 45 seconds. Things were progressing quickly so we left for the hospital and got there just after 7am. While on the way to the hospital though, my contractions started to slow down a bit. Checked into the Birth Centre again and got shown to my room. My midwife Paula came in and checked bubs heart rate with the Doppler, which was perfect. Checked my blood pressure, also perfect. She made sure it was my waters that had broken, it was. She felt my belly, bub was still engaged but felt a little posterior.
She left us to it while I paced around the room breathing through contractions and Jacob sat on a chair keeping me company. My contractions started to slow down a bit to 4 minutes apart but they were getting a bit stronger. I was now having strong contractions in my lower back and under my belly. I really had to start breathing though contractions now. I got into the shower again to try a bit of nipple stimulation to help get the contractions closer together. This helped but only while I was in the shower. I had to get out again as I was getting too hot and I wanted to walk around again. Decided to try the fit ball aswell which made the contractions come closer together. But after a while they started to get irregular again.
1:00pm – I had another internal to see what was happening. But I was still found to only be 3cms dilated. I couldn’t believe it. It really shattered me. So the OB was called in to discuss options with me. She gave me the choice of having the drip put in now, or going home to wait it out and if nothing happened by Friday I would have the drip then as it would be 72hours since my waters had broken. So I chose to go home and wait it out as I really wanted a natural labour. I felt so sad though, leaving that hospital still pregnant, without my baby boy.
3:00pm – We got back to my Aunty’s where I had a sleep with Lily and Jacob went shopping to buy me more pants because my other ones were wet from my waters. My contractions were back to every 10 minutes or so, but still quite ouchie.
4:30pm – I woke up with stronger contractions again. They were coming every 3-7 minutes and lasting around 40-45 seconds. I had a bit of dinner, but didn’t eat much because of the pain. I started to get very intense back pain now too.
6:30pm – Contractions were getting more intense now so I rang my midwife to see what she suggested. She told me that I could either come in now or to ring back in an hour or if the pains got too much. I decided to wait out the hour.
7:00pm – The contractions were getting even more intense and closer together again. They were about 3-5 minutes apart now. So I rang my midwife back to say we were coming in again.
7:15pm – We got to the hospital and checked in again, hoping to god it was for the last time! We got a different room this time too which was good because this one had a way bigger bath. Bub’s heart rate and my blood pressure were checked. Both were perfect as usual. Contractions were getting really strong now and I had to really moan through them now. My back pain was horrible and I had to get Jacob to keep rubbing my back really hard through the contractions. I had another shower where the hot water felt great on my back. I stayed in there for about an hour.
My contractions started to slow down again when a student midwife came in to see what my belly felt like when I was having a contraction. I was starting to get sick of it stopping and starting! So midwife checked my urine and said I needed more water and it may be why it kept stopping. So I had a canula put in my hand, which hurt so much! I said I’d rather have a contraction then have that put in again. Got fluids put though it over an hour. This seemed to help a bit and contractions started up again.
10:30pm – Contractions started to fizzle out again! I was only getting 1-2 every 10 minutes but they were still very painful though. So midwife checked my cervix again and I was now 4cms dilated and fully effaced. Since things were going too slowly I decided to take some sleeping tablets and let Jacob and myself get some sleep because we were both so exhausted. Jacob was given a bed to sleep on. I fell asleep between contractions which I was still having to moan through.
Wednesday 11th October 2006
3:30am - Contractions started coming more frequently so I buzzed my midwife to say things were starting up again. She checked my cervix again just to make sure things were actually happening. I was 5cms dilated now, thank god! So labour was recorded as starting at 4am. I had another shower while sitting on the fit ball and had some pretty good contractions while in there. I got out about half an hour later to walk around some more. The most comfortable position I felt in was sitting on the fit ball between contractions with a heat pack on my back and then leaning over the bed through the contractions while rocking and having Jacob rub my lower back. Contractions were very intense and I was getting more vocal now.
5:00am – I decided to try the bath. So during contractions I leant over the side of the bath while Jacob had a shower hose on my back. Being in the water made it so much more easier to move around. About this time Paula brought in Vivian because she was so tired she felt she needed to go home to rest a bit and would be back to see me that afternoon whether I had bub or not. Around now my contractions started to slow down again. But I was too tired to even care now.
7:00am – I decided to get out of the bath and lean over the bed again as that was where the contractions were coming closer together. Vivian made Jacob go and get some breakfast, which I was so jealous of because I wanted to eat but was told not to, I forget why.
9:00am - My contractions were all over the place now so Vivian checked my cervix to see what was happening. To my shocking surprise I was still only 5cms! I couldn’t believe it, I just wanted to run away and hide forever. So the Ob was called in again and she said I could either let it go but that could take days or have the Syntocinon drip put in to speed things up. As much as I wanted my natural labour I decided to have the synto drip because I was just so tired and wanted it over and done with. I was so scared though that having the drip I would not be able to cope with the pain and that I’d end up having a c-section. So I discussed with Jacob if I should have an epidural or not. My mind was racing so fast and I started to think, well maybe I should just ask for a c-section and get it all over with right now. No one had even suggested me having one so I don’t know why I was thinking like this, because it was my absolute worst fear. I had a chat with Vivian about my fears and decided to go the synto drip. But I wanted to have the epidural in first because I was so sick of this pain I had been having for the last 3 days. I felt guilty though because I wanted a drug free labour so bad, that this shattered my dream of having one. I was also scared because I hate anyone touching my back and the thought of having a big needle in there made me sick. But I felt it was my only way of getting through this.
11:00am – I was transferred to the delivery suite, which was just down the hall. While we were waiting for the anesthetist, contractions were still all over the place. The anesthetist came in, she was a lovely lady. She explained the epidural procedure to me and the side effects that I might get. I had to sit on the edge of the bed with my feet on a chair and hold a pillow across my chest while leaning over. This was so difficult with a huge belly in the way! She wiped my back down with alcohol, which burnt so bad on my lower back. Must have been where Jacob kept rubbing my back and caused a friction burn and the alcohol irritated it. She then put in the local anesthetic which hurt a bit. Then she had to find where to put the epidural. First time she tired, she missed, so she had to go lower. She got it in the second time. It felt so weird, such a huge pressure when she was putting it in. I didn’t like it at all. After it was finally put in I had another lot of fluids put in and also the Syntocinon was started at around 12pm. All time from now until I had to start pushing was a blur. Jacob and I then got some much needed rest. At around 1pm Jacob went to get some lunch. I could still feel my belly tightening from the contractions but could feel no pain. I started to lose sensation in my legs too, it felt so weird. Vivian kept putting ice on my to make sure the epidural was doing its job. It was actually working too well at one point as it started to numb up to my chest so she had to turn it down a bit. In the meantime Jacob and I just talked, still trying to work out a name for bub!
5:30pm – I had a really huge contraction which made me sick, it lasted for nearly 2 minutes it felt like. Around now I had a feeling I was in transition. I started to feel a pressure in my bottom so told Vivian this and she checked to see how far dilated I was. I was 9cms, woohoo! I couldn’t believe that I would be having my baby very soon. I could also start to feel painful contractions again, even with the epi in.
I started feeling scared again with the fear that this bub might get stuck just like Lily did. I talked it over with Vivian and she made me feel so much better about it all by telling me all the different things they would do to get bub out if it did happen. Jacob also made me feel better by hugging me and telling me what a great job I was doing.
6:00pm – I really started to feel the urge to push. Vivian checked me and I was fully dilated and said I could start pushing with each contraction now. What a relief! I did about 3 pushes per contraction. After a few contractions Vivian told me what great pushing I was doing, she then turned to face me and said ‘omg the head is there, I better get ready!’. After a few more pushes I could start to feel the head crown, not pain but just a lot of pressure. Paula came in about now as she also wanted to be there for the birth since she had looked after me during my pregnancy. Vivian then asked if I wanted to touch bub’s head. So I reached down, thinking I’d only feel a little bit. But no, his head was out to his chin already! I couldn’t believe I was actually touching my baby boy. Finally it all seemed real. All I could keep saying was ‘my baby, my baby’. It really gave me the encouragement to push him out. After his head was out, they lifted my knees to my chest just as a precaution if he did get suck, but one push and he just slid out! Straight away he gave a good cry and I knew he was alright. The cord was wrapped a bit tight around his chest, so Vivian had to unwrap that and then she placed him up to my chest. I finally got to meet the little baby I had been growing inside me for the last 9 months. He was beautiful! The cord was left to stop pulsating and then I got to cut it as Jacob didn’t want to. It feels like rubber to cut so had to snip a few times. They checked his apgars while I was still holding him which I had requested them to do in my birth plan. They were 8 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes. I then gave him his first feed which took a bit to get right but he was still satisfied. I then had the injection to get the placenta out, which was fully intact. It looked pretty big so I had a feeling bub was big too, he looked it.
Charlie was born at 6:33pm and it took less than a minute from his head being born to his body. Labour was recorded as being 14 hours for first stage and 33 minutes for second stage but I had been having contractions for 37.5 hours. I went drug free for 30 hours of that which I think is pretty damn good!
After a cuddle from Jacob, Charlie was weighed and measured. He was 4100g (9lb 0.5oz) and 55cms long with a head circumference of 34cms.
He is now 2 weeks old and very much a cuddly mummy’s boy!
