Ryley Morgan's arrival!

Monday night I had quite a few really painful "Braxton Hicks" or so I thought. I said to DH that I thought that at my OB appointment the next day i would probably be dialated. I was able to get about 2 hours sleep that night. Tuesday I went into the Ob clinic and they said they would be induding me that Thursday. I was stoked but i said to them can you check my dilation first before you book me in. They checked me out and I was already 2 cm dilated!! I was stoked and they said that if i hadnt of had Ryley by Thursday they would induce me but it looked like my body FINALLY decided it was time.

All that day I was having niggling contractions and every so often I would have a HUGE one that would last about a minute. At about 10 o'clock I said to my Mum and DH i am going to go into the hospital coz I havent felt Ryley move all day today. DH and I went into the hospital and they checked him out and Ryley was fine. They checked my contractions on the monitor but when I was having them they came up like I was just pushing my belly out. I said to them- I am having contractions but they are all in my lower back. I never had any real pain in my stomach. The nurse said to me they would do an internal but because I was still laughing and joking with DH and the nurse and the fact that I could talk through the contractions gave her the indication that i wouldnt have dialated any more than 2 cms. Well when she did the internal the nurse looked soooooooo shocked and she said- well we better get you a birthing suite as your 6 cm dilated. I looked at DH and I said to him wow you were right as my guess was on 4 cms.

It seemed that every extra big contraction I had dilated me a cm so i was keeping note of these. Upon another internal the nurse said to me that Ryley was prosterior that was why all my contractions were in my back. I asked if i could still deliver vaginally with a prosterior baby and she said that they still can it is just a little slower. By this time I had been in hospital for about 6 hours and in labour for about 14. I told the nurse that all I wanted was to be in the bath as my total pain relief. They seemed suprised at this but I was very determined. I sat in the bath and listened to music, sang and chatted to Mum and DH in between contractions. My contractions never became regular and some would be one on top of each other others minutes apart. I was in the bath for 2 hours and then I got bored. This was about 2 a.m. and the midwife said she expected me to deliver by 4 a.m. but they would come and check me out at 4. At 2 I decided I was too bored to stay in my room so I went out to the visiting room and sat down with DH, Mum, Dad and Step Mum. Then at 3.50 I went back into the suite to see how far i had gone.

At this point I was wondering what was taking so long and getting impatient. I was breathing through the contractions and also singing through them. I bought a CD of music and I sang my heart out when I was having an intense contraction. Also when I felt one coming on I would take a deep breath in and say in my head- In with the good oxygen- deep breath out- and out with the pain. This really did work quite well. By this time DH, Mum and I had been awake for more than a whole day and my Mum and DH were so tired but so very supportive. I have never seen my DH so dedicated and motivated in my life. When the midwife did my internal she said i had made it to 8 cm but that my uterus was starting to swell. They then broke my waters hoping this would make things progress. (And this is the most weirdest feeling ever!! Kind gushy- not at all what I expected!!)

They decided to leave me for an hour and then check again. More breathing and chatting- then i got checked and my uterus had swollen so much I was now only 5 cm- I had gone backwards. I still hadnt had any pain relief because I wanted to be awake when I delivered and coherant. At this point in time they decided to induce me with the drugs. They started me off at the lowest amount and then progressed up. Every hour they kept checking me and I was getting more swollen and 'lazy' in my uterus. The nurses kept insisting to me that I have at least the gas and I said that no way- I have come this far- I am going to see it through.

The Ob then came in and she said to me that there is only a slight chance that I would deliver naturally and my options were to have an epidural and pump the induction drugs to the highest or just go straight for a caesar. DH and I agreed to put in the epidural and try for natural. I was crying and crying by now thinking that my little boy is stressed because h had passed meconium. I also was crying because I did not want a caesar and/or an epidural and to be honest I was really really scared.

The epidural didnt hurt at all but I still have bruising in my back from it. I had a really good doctor. So we waited for another 3 hours and when the OB came back and I was still 5 cm they said to me I will have to have an emergency caesarian because Ryley was getting stressed and my body wouldnt be able to push him out anymore. At this point I bawled my eyes out out of fear, confusion as to why my body wasnt 'working' and out of exhaustion.

Things happened very quickly from here on in- they took out induction- put in a catheter- attached about three more needles into me that i'm not sure why- said we were on our way- threw clothes at Bryan and said my Mum couldnt be there. As they wheeled me down to surgery my Mum ran along the side of the trolley holding my hand bawling her eyes out too because she knew how frightened I was. As i entered surgery I saw Mum leave and I told her to look after Ryley while I was in recovery please.

It is so weird when they start prodding and poking and pushing around inside you. I was numb from breasts down and I was so tired and so drugged I dont remember much but the feeling of people hands moving me inside. It was quite surreal. I had the best anathesitst ever. He answered all my questions and kept talking to me through the whole thing. After about five minutes they said- Here he is- and isnt he beautiful. Everyone else started holding their breaths and looking shocked and Bryan started to have tears in his eyes because- to me- Ryley hadnt cried yet. I asked twice is he okay and no one answered me. It felt like a lifetime of not knowing. Then they said- do you want to see him- I said of course and then they showed me my little boy and then he had his first big cry as I was watching him. I started sobbing but I was so tired that I couldnt even cry fully. As they were fixing me up I passed out and stopped breathing twice- luckily as DH started to freak and so did the anaesthetist they started talking to me I woke up. Ryley's Apgars were 9 and 9 so that was good.

The rest of the surgery was gross and I wont explain how it felt or what happened but lets just say everything that happened after that made me the most tired person ever. I was being pumped full of panadeine forte and pethadine for the first few days yet I got up and was walking day two so i dont know why i was so full on drugs.

When I came out of a weird recovery I saw my little boy for the first time with his half cone head where he actually 'could' fit through and him looking over at me- my heart melted. No nurse put Ryley onto me for a cuddle and I only saw him once in his first day of life, but I will never forget it. I would go through all that pain again for a perfect little guy like I have now.

awww... thank you so much for telling your story Pee and its great that you have your little boy in your arms now!

Thanks so much for sharing your birth story. Ryley is adorable and I wish you the best luck together as a family

Awww what a beautiful story Pee. Thanks for sharing

Love :hbeat:

WOW :)

Thankyou for sharing your story Pee.

aww, thanks for sharing pee
:)
birth is an amazing thing no matter how u do it :D

take care
Lesley

Wow! What a birth story! Congratulations again, Pee.

Thanks for sharing your story, pee. Ryley is so cute!

Thank you Pee and Ryley for sharing your wonderful story.

The 'Birth Stories' forum is becoming so important to me as each day I get closer to the big day, thank you to everyone who contributes!

Jess

Thanks for sharing your story Pee.

I hope all goes well with you and your family. :)

nellbe

Thanks Pee!

You worked hard and it was unfortunate that you had to have the caeser but the end result id the same no matter how it happens. COngrats and well done!
Cheers Michelle

Pee,
It really does sound as if you had a tough time but you were so brave and you did so well! =D>
Ryley is so cute!
Thanks for sharing your story with us, I'm sure you don't want to remember the bad bits, but it does help other people to read about what can happen. What a beautiful end result though.
CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations again Pee!!
Thankyou so much for sharing your beautiful story with us... O:)

Congratulations Pee!

Riley is adorable. I wish we'd thought to take a photo when Brandon was first born, but with no one there to help, and then the ambulance came and whisked us off, we forgot untill my parents came later that night. I just wanted to ask did the bath help you at all?

As you know I gave birht in the bath, and I was just wondering if it helped you because as I remem,ber it was no good for Kathryn (? am I right or wasi it someone else?) and I'm interested to hear when it does / doesn't work for someone else.

Congratualtions again!

Thanks for sharing your story Pee, you must be so happy to finally have Ryley with you and I am so glad that DH was so supportive throughout.

Carmen

Susan- the bath helped me soooo much. I think it was the best option I could have had. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to try naturally and has a good chance at natural birth.

I thought I replied to this thread #-o :-k Sorry Pee! Just wanted to say congratulations again, and thanks for sharing your birth stories, looks like we've had some real troopers lately!

WTG!

*hugs*
Cailin

Thanks for sharing that with us Pee. How is little Riley going??

Kazz & co \:D/
Nicholas 26/10/02

He is doing really well. He has put pretty much all his weight loss back on and is sleeping well. He is very alert and guess what! He already follows things with his eyes and holds his own neck up for like 5-10 seconds. He is the cutest baby ever!! Not that I am biased!! There is a photo of him smiling already aswell on his website!!

Oh Pee, he is gorgeous!!! :D
Glad to hear everything is going well too... O:)

I have updated his website if anyone is interested in new pics!

Awwww what a cutie :)

Yep i dont think i could be prouder if i tried!! hehehe

thanks i am biased but i think he is beautiful too!!

he is gorgeous Pee. Go the fords !!! ;)

Love :hbeat:

Wonderful pics, Pee! What a beautiful little boy you've got! :D

Thanks girls!
He just gets cuter and smarter by the day. He's such a placid and loving baby.

Dear Pee;

Well done!

He is a really cute baby. You're not biased at all!

I love the name too. Where did you get it from?

Divvy

Ryley was Buffy's boyfriend but we actually go the name from one of the name websites!! :-)

He makes me smile every day except now that he is teething so friggen early!!!