Tyler has arrived

Baby Tyler has arrived and here is his birth story - quite long.....

Last week (a week before my due date) I started having mild contractions about 10 minutes apart that would stop once I started moving around. I had these for a few days leading up to the birth. I never had this with DS so initially I thought it was labour starting but soon realised that it was just pre-labour. I worked on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as normal. Thursday was my last day and I send an email to everyone that night saying goodbye. (Little did I know I would have a baby by the morning. Talk about timing)

Thursday night I once again had some mild contractions but they stopped. I went to bed about 10.30 wondering how much longer it would be before the real thing started. At 12.30am I woke up with stronger contractions and back pain. I had to get out of bed for each one and walk through it. I was pretty sure that this was it this time. I waited until 1am to wake DH. I think he was hoping it wasn't it as we hadn't had much sleep :)

As they were only getting stronger we decided to ring my Mum to come over just incase. She needed to watch DS for us. Once she arrived I think she was keen for us to get to the hospital since all her births had been quite quick. By 2am we decided to go since they were 2 minutes apart and had been for an hour. They were about 40 seconds long. I rang the hospital and they agreed since it was my second. Once we were in the car and at the hospital they slowed to about 4 minutes apart. I was worried it was all going to stop and they would tell me it was a false alarm. They kept coming but were no longer regular and ranged from 2 minutes apart to 5 minutes. I got the last birth suite as it was a busy night and my Ob had four patients in labour.

Because two of my Obs patients were having second babies he wanted to come in. He came to see how I was going but didn't want to do an Internal as I was managing just fine. The midwife checked the babies heartbeat a couple of times to see he was doing ok and thankfully he was. The midwives and Ob had copies of my birth plan and knew I didn't want much monitering. The Ob was sleeping down the hall and said he would check back again through the night. At some point, about 3 or 4am I guess, I asked the midwife to do an Internal just to know that I was progressing as the pain was getting worse - but still manageable. I was 4cm and completely effaced. I was happy with that. With DS I was 1cm after about 14 hours of labour.

DH and I were left now and I coped with all the contractions by swaying over the fitball and bed, listening to music really loud on my ipod and eventually in the spa bath. Like last time all the pain was in my lower back. I know this time that the baby was not posterior so my Ob said perhaps it was just the shape of my pelvis that gave me back labours. My DH was continually having to heat my wheat pack for my lower back and once again I would not have survived without it. (It wasn't allowed in the hospital but they said they would pretend they didn't see it)

After a little while in the spa the contractions started coming on top of each other without really any break. Up until this point they had remained very irregular with the odd 5 minute break (which DH kept falling asleep and not waking up when I was yelling at him to get the heatpack). After quite a few of these I started to lose it and told DH I wanted the drugs now. Up to this point I had had nothing at all. Actually I think I was demanding drugs at this point. He wasn't able to get a midwife though as they were busy. I got out the spa to walk to the bathroom as I had had enough of that. We noticed some drops of blood. My waters still hadn't broken yet either. I think DH started to panick something was wrong. I then suddenly felt like there was a bowling ball between my legs. When I reached down I could feel the bag of waters still intact. At this point DH ran out into the hallway calling for a midwife and that the baby was crowning. One of them ran in just as my waters popped and the head was coming out. I was trying to stop the head myself as I was scared of tearing as it was happening so quickly.

Apparently the midwife was holding the head and had one leg out trying to drag the cart into the bathroom with her foot. Once she checked the cord wasn't around his neck the rest of his body slipped out. I can't recall pushing at all. It was like Tyler had his own agenda and he was coming out no matter what. They had called my Ob as they ran in but he didn't make the birth and he only had to come from the other end of the hallway :) I really don't recall any pain at all during that phase and I didn't tear or need any stitches. Tyler was born at 5.55am

I am thrilled to bits with my little boy and really happy that I had a great labour. My Ob and hospital were great this time round and goes to show that you can still get the birth you want in the private system if you want to.

Thanks for letting me write this all down while it is still fresh in my mind and for reading this far :)

Wow, what a great story! Congratulations!

Congratulations and welcome Tyler. What a great entrance to the world!

Congratulations Mel and welcome to the world little Tyler!!
Sounds like a great birthing experience!

Congratulations! Love the name! ;)

Congrats to you !!!

Wow Mel, what an amazing labour & birth!!! :clap:

Congratulations, and welcome Tyler!!! :confetti:

congratulations Mel on the birth of Tyler. what an amazing birth story well done!

Wow what a great birth story, big congrats to you:clap:

Congratulations!! What a great story...

I just had a look at your website and Tyler is just soooooo beautiful!! I can't wait for my bub to arrive!!

All the best!!:D

Congratulations and welcome Tyler.

Congrats

Congratulations again, Mel!!:dance: Welcome to the world, Tyler :confetti:
Thank you for sharing your birth story, Mel - how amazing and wonderful! :happyforyou:

Congratulations Mel & DH

Welcome to the world little man!!

Great birth story!
Looks like Tyler has decided to call the shots from day one! :)
Hope you have a wonderful recovery!

Congrats!

Thanks for all your well wishes everyone. Things are going well and I'm enjoying my two little guys

Congrats on your new little boy!!

Congratulations on the safe arrival of Tyler. Sounds like you had a fantastic labour and birth.

Congratulations! Well done Mel.