Madeline Natasha's birth story! :)
Always convinced (perhaps deluded!) that I was going to go early; I was somewhat dismayed to find myself still pregnant on the morning of the day before Christmas Eve with no end in sight and with the possibility of still being pregnant on Christmas Day!
Decided to relax on Friday evening (23rd) with a relaxing warm bath and performed some nipple massage for good measure. It hadn't 'worked' earlier so it was more out of something to do whilst lying in a warm bath than anything than a determined effort to self-induce. Went off to bed at 9pm with the hope of being fast asleep before my child-in-utero decided to begin her nightly dancing rituals.
At 11:10pm, I rolled over and felt a little trickle of warm water down south. Began to sat up as it became more of a stream; grabbing at the towels I had kept beside the bed just in case. Shoved them between my legs and almost ran to the bathroom. Water just gushed when I sat on the toilet; thankfully mostly a clear colour and no sign of meconium etc.
Waited for my sister to arrive and then headed off to the hospital as they had requested we come in to confirm rupture of membraines. Still no contractions at this point; so one of the midwives performed a 'spectrum' (? similiar to a pap smear to confirm that it was a rupture of membranes with the use of the clamps & a swab). She confirmed that my cervix was not visable at this point; my waters had definately broken but as I had no contractions I would be going home for a few hours. Maddy at this point had also disengaged herself completely from my pelvis.
Left the hospital and was home by 2am to 'ride out the wait'. Took the painkillers and laid down in the room. Returned to hospital at 6am, with contractions just at a managable stage and about 3mins apart. Checked straight into the birthing suite (no. 8 - my favourite number!) and got the BP etc checked. Another PAINFUL examination where I was told not only had I only dilated 1.5cms in the past 7hrs but that I had a posterior cervix at this point. She was trying to pull it forward with her fingers - OUCH!
Was advised that due to rupture of membranes and not having progressed very quickly; they wanted to induce the contractions further with a drip. I wasn't impressed at the thought but figured Maddy's safe arrival was the most important. Fortunately, they listened to me when I said I was now feeling significant pain and had a low-pain threshold; the anaethatist arrived within 10 minutes and got the epidural going. That was allowed to take affect before the drip was turned on to stimulate the contractions. Also had a fluid line going as I had been dehydrated on arrival.
Had a wonderful time with no pain at all watching the monitors until about 11:30am. All of the sudden, the epidural was not working on me anymore and the drip had brought upon some severely painful contractions. The epidural was topped up but still had to deal with 1/2hr of the worst pain I've ever felt. Never swore but I went from being completely in control and joking around to blubbering mess in the space of 2minutes. Again the epi was topped up as it hadn't appeared to work for the 1st top-up. I had been told I was having another VE to check progress at 12:30pm.
I was groaning and apparently passing wind at about 12:10pm; so my midwife looked over and suggested I roll onto my back so she could check. From telling me only minute earlier that I was progressing steadily but baby probably wouldn't be here when her shift finished at 3:30pm; suddenly I was told I was ready to push.
The epidural (2 doses *L*) suddenly kicked in by basically paralysing my left side and most of my right. I could feel the contraction pains only very slightly on the right hand side of my abdomen. Feeling exposed (I am a very modest person - even if only the midwife, my DH & sister were in the room) I kept my eyes closed the entire pushing phase and just concentrated on pushing correctly and positively. Following instructions of how to push from the midwife and the build up of a contraction that I could still just feel; I pushed for an hour & a half making good progress.
Was never so glad to hear that the baby's head was about to crown and hearing my husband and sister get all teary. Pushed carefully and then suddenly her head was out. Two little pushes and out she came; letting out a cry like a little bird within 5 seconds. My sister cried, I cried, my husband... we all cried. Everyone in the room was calling her Maddy when I suddenly asked if anyone had actually 'checked'. *L* Two people lifted the little blanket that covered her on my chest and confirmed that our little princess was indeed a girl! :)
We were left on our own for the good part of over an hour to let her suckle and for our family to bond. My sister went out to the waiting room to give our little family of 3 some private time. When the midwife returned with the on-call medical staff in tow; it was decided that I needed a few stitches. It would have been all fine and tear free; except that right before birth Maddy's heartbeat raced and the midwife pulled a little too vigourously to help get her out before she was in distress. Four internal stitches and 1 external later, we were ready to move to our ward room.
So 14 & a half hours after my waters broke and with about 5 or so hours of established labour; our little girl MADELINE NATASHA was born unto this world weighing 7 pounds 10 ounces with a length of 48cms and a head circumference of 33.5cms.
A perfect Christmas Eve present for my DH & I; and we stayed in hospital until the day after Boxing Day after Maddy was suffering from a touch of jaundice.
