The lightening fast arrival of Harriet Susan Louise
The birth story of Harriet Susan Louise ~ 26th November 2008 begins with a brief account of the birth of Angus Geoffrey Ian ~ 26th October 2006.
Angus
39+3, go for a routine ob appointment. Ob does an internal, 3cm dilated. That night DTD, have a big show. 11:30pm start having mild irregular contractions. 12:30am waters break with a pop and a gush (I was in bed but somehow managed not to get any on the clean sheets... amazing?!). Contractions quickly start to become painful and regular. 1:40am arrive at hospital. Have a bit of gas. 2:53am Angus arrives! Had an episiotomy as he was such a quick labour, quite big, and a compound presentation, with an arm next to his head.
Weight: 3.94 kg (8lb 11oz)
Length: 51cm
Head Circumference: 36cm
The most amazing experience of my life. I felt FANTASTIC!
Harriet
Ob keen for me to have my waters broken in hospital at about 39 weeks if my cervix is favourable. Very worried about me not getting to hospital, thinks bub #2 will be much faster than bub #1, which was very fast for a first time labour. DH and I talk about all the pros and cons, we decide we'll let bub decide.
Weeks and weeks and weeks of pre-labour, bub anterior and engaged. Sessions of mild contractions coming and going, getting my hopes up then fizzling out to nothing. 38+4 routine ob appointment, internal 2-3cm dilated. Ob wants me to come in and have my waters broken, I decline. 39+4, internal at least 3cm and cervix very, very thin. Again, ob suggests I come in, again I decline. Due date comes and goes.
As tempted as I was to put and end to my never ending, annoying pre-labour, I just couldn't bear the idea that such an exciting and suspenseful time in my life would end in such a boring and mundane way. And I really, really wanted my bub to be able to choose their own birthday. And so the pre-labour continues.
40+4 5:20am, my waters break (in bed again) with a pop but no gush. Are these my waters? I spend 5 minutes phafing around with DH and finally decided that they are my waters. DH calls my Mum to come over. I call the hospital. I'm not having any contractions at this stage. The hospital tells me to relax and take my time, DH asks me if I mind if he has a shower, of course not, go ahead. I get my things together and put them by the front door.
From here on things get a bit blurry, neither of us were paying much attention to our watches.
It must be about 5:30-5:40am, I start having contractions. DH rings my ob on his mobile (he told us to do this, not to wait for the hospital to ring him). About 5 mins later I say to DH "We need to leave RIGHT NOW". I'm on the floor on all fours and contractions are hurting. DH goes next door to get our neighbour (Mum hasn't arrived yet). DS is still fast asleep in bed. Our neighbour arrives and we leave. I look at the clock in the car, it's 5:50am. (DS wakes up at 5:55am and Mum arrives at 6:00am).
It's a 20 minute trip to hospital up a main arterial road. Peak-hour traffic is already building and there are massive trucks everywhere. I'm starting to scream through contractions.
DH pulls up right outside the hospital main entrance and we abandon the car. It is 6:10am. I roll out onto the footpath and DH runs inside to get a wheelchair. I'm on all fours screaming through a contraction and a dear old lady comes over to comfort me. But I HATE, HATE, HATE being touched while I'm having a contraction, I find it unbearable. She has her arms all over my back, I feel like she's an octopus or a boa constrictor and I scream at her to stop touching me.
DH and two hospital staff arrive with a wheelchair and I hop in. They ask DH how far apart contractions are, he says 3 minutes (neither of us have any idea really). At the lift I have another contraction, the lady says "They're not 3 minutes apart anymore". I'm on the ground again on all fours and the lift opens, I think to myself, I have to get in this lift, so I crawl in. There's a midwife with us now, she pats me on the back and says "good girl". I feel like I'm a puppy dog and scream at her not to touch me. DH says "Don't touch her". I crawl back out of the lift, the contraction ends and I hop back in the wheelchair. We're joined by another midwife, she put her arms on my shoulders. The first midwife and DH say "Don't touch her".
We arrive at the birth room, the midwife asks me to do a wee in a container, I do. She does and internal and says "You're 7cm". It must be about 6:15am now. I hop on the bed and ask for some gas. They hook me up and tell me to breathe the gas, breathe the gas. I breathe too deeply and feel myself slipping out of consciousness. It feels AMAZING! Then I feel myself coming around again and hear the midwife saying "No more gas". I protest to no avail.
DH tells me later that it was a bit scary at this stage, the midwife was on her own and I was totally unconscious. DH poked me and I didn't scream at him so he knew I was definitely unconscious. He reckons I was out for about 20 seconds. I say "but I was aware of everything that was going on and I could here the midwife really clearly". DH says, "Umm, no you weren't, you were totally unresponsive and yes you could hear the midwife when you were coming around because she was shouting in your face".
Another midwife arrives and I can feel my body pushing the baby out (this pushing was completely involuntary). The midwife has her hands on my cervix. I don't like the feeling and I ask her what she's dong. She says she's supporting my something-or-other and trying to stop me from tearing. I can't be bothered discussing it further. The tell me not to push and to try to pant.
I'm screaming (and swearing too apparently, according to DH). They tell me to push now. I do a bit of half-hearted pushing but I'm just hanging on to the side of the bed for dear life. The pain is full-on. The midwife tells me to "use the scream to push through my bottom". This was good, I understand what she means. The midwives are worried about DH and tell him to go and lie down on the lounge with his feet up. He doesn't want to leave me but they force him. They tell him "She's fine, don't worry about her". I want to tell him that they're right I am fine, he should look after himself, but I can't speak.
I feel the head come out and then the body. They tell me "It's a girl". I'm delighted but I knew she was a girl (I just knew it) so I wasn't surprised. It is 6:25am! WOW!
They tell me the cord is very short so they'll need to cut it before I can hold her. I don't think they think DH is up to it so they just do it themselves (neither of us care anyway). I finally get to hold and know my darling daughter.
10 minutes later my ob arrives huffing and puffing. He is very embarrassed and disappointed that he has missed it. He delivers the placenta and stitches up a first degree tear.
I don't feel fantastic like I did after DS. I feel like I've been run over by a truck. That was too fast and too scary. What if it had been an hour later in the middle of peak-hour traffic? With a truck break down?
30 minutes later I feel much better.
Now it gets really boring. We weigh her, she has a feed, I have a shower. DH moves the car and gets the paper, DD helps him do the crossword. We agonise over a name. We call a few nearest and dearest, have some breaky, blah, blah, blah... and so begins our life with our gorgeous new daughter.
Weight: 3.705 kg (8lb 2oz)
Length: 49cm
Head Circumference: 34cm
Thanks so much for reading (I didn't know such a quick birth could end up being such a long birth story).
