Cooper - 10/09/08

Here is my birth story - It took me a while to write as it was a very long traumatic experience and I still am unsure if I am completely ready to talk about it.. but thought I should try.. Please.. no negative comments.. I believe I have done a wonderful job and need support to get over the horrible few days.

I must say now.. My mum and my partner Joel... well.. I owe them everything.. they were there with me through the whole thing and they were amazingly strong throughout.. They are what got me through this.. and I cannot thank them enough.

From the start of my "regular" contractions the labor was 40hrs long.. Although the hospital are only considering it 8hrs from the time my waters were broken..

On Monday 8th September (6 days over my due date) I went to my GP and my BP was 160/90, he rang the hospital and asked them to see me. After a long wait at the hospital (Blood Tests, CTG, Urine Tests, BP, Seeing 2 doctors).. We had to wait for the registrar to come have a chat with us to see what the plan was.

Finally at 7pm he came and spoke to us and said that he would do a stretch and sweep of my membranes and then if nothing has happened by Wednesday the 10th September (8 days overdue) then they would break my waters at 9am and get things going.

He did the S&S to find I was already 3cm dilated.. finally things were starting to happen.
Went home a little uncomfortable. Was having a great sleep until waking up to horrible "cramp" like feelings in my lower stomach.. this was around 1am on Tuesday the 9th of September.. at 2 am I realised that these pains were coming every 10 minutes.

By 3pm the contractions were 6 minutes apart and more intense.
By 8pm the contractions were 4 minutes apart and very uncomfortable and painful.

I labored at home over night calling the hospital every now and then with updates.
At 5am the contractions were 3 minutes apart and I wasn't coping with the pain very well anymore.

5:30am we were at the hospital (I was due there at 6:30am), Still laboring alone with no pain relief..
Hospital did urine, BP and CTG and sent me off to a single room until the doctors came to see me at 8am.

Doctors came in and decided to move me to the birthing room and break my waters at 9am.
At 11am I was still only 3cm dilated and contractions were very irregular and nothing seemed to be happening.

Epidural at 12midday..
Drip at 1pm..

Contractions were 2minutes apart and I was sleeping through them! WAS WONDERFUL! I hadn't had any sleep for days..

Throughout the afternoon the doctors came and checked up on me and watched our ob's extremely closely. My blood pressure was behaving all day, and bubs heart beat looked great!... Until.. around 5:45pm...

Doctors said that my BP was up, both our heart rates were very high and bub had to be born STRAIGHT AWAY!

After 8 minutes of pushing.. Cooper was safe on my chest.. He was absolutely adorable.. He was so small and warm. As soon as I held him I never wanted to let him go!.. Unfortunately I didn't have that luxury.

Cooper was taken away and checked as he had breathed in some of the fluid and his breathing wasn't that great... meanwhile... I had some issues of my own..

I was hemorrhaging.. in total I lost 2Litres of blood.. and almost had to have emergency surgery as they couldn't find the bleed.. Fortunately after about half hour it slowed.

*I'm not going to explain that part of the birth as it was very traumatic for me and also.. very TMI for most people.*

Cooper was returned to me after going to the SCN to get weighed, injections and get his breathing checked, he also had to have blood tests as I had a temperature throughout the day and they wanted to make sure he didn't have an infection.

Joel (daddy), Cooper and I stayed in the birthing room for a number of hours after the birth.. cuddles and first breast feed.. I was so very proud of my little boy for making it through everything.. the traumatic pregnancy and then an extremely emotional and physically painful and draining birth..

During the next few days I had to have a blood transfusion to get my blood levels back up. I recovered very well and left hospital on Sunday afternoon.

My little boy.. is perfect in every way.. and even though the birth was horrible.. he is my angel... and so very much worth that painful and terrifying experience!

...... so there's my story.. could be more detailed ... but it took me so long to get this out.. for obvious reason...

xox

Bianca- From meeting you when you were 5w 4days pg :lol: I loved going through the pg with you and finally reading the birth story! So very proud of you and Cooper!
Cant wait to watch him grow into a healthy, strong little man that he is already proving to be :hug:

Even thought it was traumatic for you, you did really well. Well done.

I had a PPH with #2 and they arent nice are they. Good to hear you feel better now with the blood transfusion.

Congratulations :D

Bianca - I'm very proud of you!! I think you did a fantastic job.

Please take the time to de-brief about your birth experience - its very cleansing and the support here is wonderful.

:clap: to you honey
:hug:
xx

I'm so sorry that you had such a trumatic birth, maybe later down the track when you feel more ready to talk you could speak to a counsellor and debrief.

Your little man is so cute as well, good job on getting him into the world safely.

hugs xoxo

Sweetheart, I can't imagine what negative comments would come.
I think you did and awesome job.

Hey hon you know how proud of you I am :)
Congratulations and thank you for sharing. :hug:

congrats!! :D:D:D:D:D

Hi Bianca,

Congratulations on the birth of your precious son. You did a great job, you can now finally hold your baby in your arms.

Luv,
Dianne

Congratulations on the birth of gorgeous Cooper! He looks soo cute! :)

Bianca what an extremely PROUD story for you to tell Cooper when he is old enough to understand :)

He is just simply so HANDSOME ... such a precious JOY in your life & forever here with you & Joel ... the MAGIC has only just begun :baby:

P.S - You have a WONDERFUL friend in Kass (Mamakass_loves_Annabelle), ... she was just beaming the morning after your birth & spoke of how PROUD she was of your AMAZING efforts :D She truely is a genuine buddy to have about, someone who shows such compassion for those she cares about :hug:

Give COOPER a lil cuddle from me ... Lorelle (another BALLARAT MUMMA) xoxoxox

Oh hun, I have been there, done that with the PPH and I had a transfusion too. I know how scary it is :hug: Maybe in time you may like to have a de-brief to help you work through the other things?

Congratulations Bianca. You did a brilliant job and have your little man safe and healthy. You did nothing wrong.

Kim

You did great!
I hope you get past how you are feeling soon. I have no idea what you went through & how traumatic it was for you, but I had a 'small' bleed after DD2, so I kinda understand how scared you were.
Good luck.

Oh hun :hug: i remember so well talking to you by PM in early labour, you were so excited and everything seemed so positive, i'm so sorry you had to go through such trauma during your birth. I am familiar with some of the immediate procedures during severe PPH, and i am just hugging you inside hun.

Your son is Just. SO. Precious!!! Good job i'm not there, or you'd be beating me off! HOW cuddlable is he!? So handsome hun, a credit to you, as was your birth. There is NOTHING in there that could draw negative comments!

Much love to you all Bianca, you're a birthing superstar!

Bx

:hug:Welldone, you did a wonderful job, birthing is not an easy job to achieve and know one should ever judge you on your effort, there bodies are completely different. My first was 18.5 hours from water breakage around 42 hours all up so sounds to me that you did an excellent job!!!! I hope that you enjoy your beautiful baby over the next few weeks, they grow way to fast and aren't newborns long enough!!!! Give Cooper a hug from us!!!!!:hug:
Congratulations!!!!!!:clap:
Snoopea

What a gorgeous little man, you did so well to birth him and there is no one in the world that can say anything negative about it. I hope you recover from the trauma and enjoy your beautiful boy.

Congratulations Banx, you did an awesome job bringing your little boy safely into the world.

Well done.

Congratulations, your little boy is gorgeous! :hug:

Bianca - I think you did a fantastic job. Its great that you shared your story with us all

You did a fantastic job, Bianca.You should be very proud.

I'm so glad you and little Cooper are doing well.

i can not see how anyone would make a negative comment about your birth , i believe you did a fantastic job and to handle it for 40hrs , takes some strength!! congratulations , and cooper is so cute !!

Hi Banx - I don't think we've met but was touched by your birth story. I didn't have a PPH but a long labour with a emerg c-s ending. I know what it's like when you want the best experience for the arrival of your first child and it doesn't happen that way. Big hugs hun - you did a TOP job and you have your little man here now - so healthy and happy. Well done sweet!!!

Hi Banx,

Just wanted to say again Congratulations!

I am sorry that you had a traumatic experience I hope in time you will be able to talk more about it and know you have the support of many many people when and if you feel like sharing the details of your birth that you would prefer not to now.

I am very glad that Cooper is healthy and everything turned out ok for you and him in the end.

Hope you will be able to debrief eventually

Congratulations once again! You did it!!

Congratulations, Banx, and thank you for sharing your birth story. You did an amazing job bringing Cooper into the world. He is a gorgeous looking little man. I also had a PPH and it was very scary. Congratulations again on your wonderful achievement. :clap:

Darling Bianca,
I cannot believe I have only just read this story now.
I just want to say, no matter what happens, you did a wonderful job bringing little Cooper into the world. You should be so proud of yourself!
I hope one day you can get past the most traumatic part of the birth.

All the best for you and your little family!

A big congrats to you! You did so well and your little boy is just gorgeous!
There is no way anyone wold have a negetive comment to make about that.

Take care