Afternoon all, I loved reading all the birth stories on here when i was pregnant and so now its my time to share.
I will admit even according to my Midwife i had a pretty text book birth, few minor dramas but i am blessed to have had an amazing midwife and Partner who helped me stick to my plan, even when i was going a little mental....so here goes.
I was "Due" the 24th April, i never gave too much thought to the date, both DP and i are pretty chilled out folk and i knew first timers usually always go late so even tho we counted down i had n misconception i would actually give birth on or even a few days either side of that date, i had a feeling he would arrive the 29th April and DP said he thought the 2nd May....
Saw the midwife on the 25th April for our weekly visit and it was decided that our next apointment would be at the Hospital to do a stretch and sweep so that was booked for the afternoon of 2nd May ( DP was now very sure he had guessed the correct date haha, Yeah Right)
Now maybe the time to let you know we live in Hahei, Coromandel and i was planning to give birth at Tauranga Hospital (approx 2.5 hour drive in good traffic) we have family in Tauranga and i was adamant i would not give birth in Thames hospital ( officaly our closest Hospital) due to a past bad experience there.
So we drove home on the 25th April, and continued our daily routine of Walk, Curry every second night and accupressure/massage to induce Labour (sorry ladies i was unfourtunaly in NO way up to hankypanky at this stage in my pregnancy, feeling like a hormonal hippo walking the beach was hard work)
I dont really feel like it was any of these things that kicked us off, i think Baby just decided it was his time to arrive..at 2am on Sunday the 29th i woke up to slightly more painful then the usual Braxton Hicks...went back to sleep, woke up again at 2.06am...then 2.12,2.18,2.24, and so on....exactly every 6min i was having a feeling, was not fully convinced so asked DP to grab me a hottie and put that on my tummy and went back to sleep, (not a very good sleep i must say) woke at 5am really busting for the loo and still having a cramp every 6min on the dot, when i wiped i saw a big bloody show and called out to DP that i had lost it....we both still didnt think i was in latent labour, i was convinced that if i got up and had a shower and a walk around that it would go away...
So i did exactly that....did our usual daily stuff, except i had a hottie on my tummy for most of it, also we decided to stop timing them til later in the day...went for a nice long (slow) walk down the beach, up the stairs at the beach and home...this was about 4.30pm...started timing them again when we got home at 5pm, i had moved to sitting/leaning over the birth ball with a hottie on my front and on my back...by about 8.30pm they had amped up in intensity but not changed in timing, we decided it would be best to start the drive to Tauranga (just incase) and i was going to continue labouring at MIL home until it was time to go to hospital...
I think by now i was still convinced as soon as we got on the road they would go away...possibly i was in denial, in hindsight i didnt quite believe we had gone into labour all on our own, i had always had the feeling i would need some kind of assistance to go into labour. but i was wrong, over the 3 hour car ride ( three instead of 2.5 due to DP needing to slow for every little bump) my contractions amped up to every 5 min, then every 4min, so by the time we arrived in Tauranga i was having a pretty horrid time and could'nt wait to get out of the car...DP was timing as well as driving and did'nt actually tell me til we got to Tauranga that they had gone to every 4min...cheeky.
we arrived at the MIL at 11.30pm on the 29th ( so i was not to have my April 29th bub...but close) Laboured until 2.30am by this time i had been having contractions 3 every 10min lasting 1min each, and dare i say the hot water bottle was now not exactly making a dent on the discomfort...as per the midwive we were now allowed to call her, she arranged to meet us at the hospital at 3am...we were only 5min away so DP packed the car while i laboured on the birth ball.
Arrived at the hospital on time, and even tho i was determined to walk to the ward i had a intense contraction half way thru the automatic doors and almost got sliced in half by them, ended up getting wheeled up in a wheel chair and bawled my eyes out the whole way because i wanted to walk...funny now...but i was so sure i would be able to walk up and was looking forward to it...was not a happy chappy when i arrived in the delivery suite....
My midwife checked me strait away, including baby heart monitor as bub had had a skippy heart beat during my pregnancy, i was only 2cm and fully effaced, and bubs Heart beat was dipping everytime i had a contraction, possibly due to him being in a strange position, slightly across wise instead of heading strait down, and he had his head tipped back so he was coming forehead first...she gave me some homeopathics and said i would need to labour on the bed with the monitor on for a while...NOT in my birth plan i wanted to keep as active as possible, I was able to handle the contractions well when sitting on a birth ball but flat on my back in bed was hideous, about 30min in i had an intense contraction and we actually saw him turn, it was very sore, but the upside was my midwife said since he was heading the right way now i was able to get up and labour in the shower for an hour, she got me a stool and towels and we turned off the lights and closed the door and me and DP sat facing each other (he was on the loo) i was having strong contractions every 3min and we were falling asleep ( still in the shower/on the loo) in between.
4.30am and the midwive checked me again, woohoo i was 3cm! i think she was pretty shocked but happy as things were progressing properly, BUT bubs heart beat was still going down a bit with contractions, she decided to Break my waters as said this bub needs to come out sooner rather then later and maybe his head will go into a better position...i was kind of against having my waters broken but after a chat with DP we decided ok, i was scared it would hurt but it didnt at all, just felt like i had done the biggest wee of my life....and strait away i went to 5cm! yahoo...easiest 2cm of my life i recon.
In my birth plan i had stated i only wanted to use Gas as pain relief and this is when i got given it, it took a little getting used to but it helped me alot, tho i apologise it did make the next few hours a bit of a hazy blur, i remember labouring (on my back again to monitor bubs) then blessed be i was able to get up and onto a ball next to the bed...this is when i noticed things amping up, i had to stand up off the ball with every contraction, and felt my-self pushing a bit...this didnt go un-noticed and the midwife checked me, said i was 7cm and to stop pushing because i was causing my cervix to swell...that comment gave me the sh*ts, it was so hard not to push but i was terrified of causing swelling and couldnt stop thinking eeek im going to swell up and will have to have a c-section....
Tried not pushing for a few contractions and didnt have much luck i felt my body take over, midwive checked again and i was getting so tired by now my legs were shaking and i was having trouble standing with my contractions...got helped up onto the bed was on my knees holding on to the uprasied bed head, oh and they took the gas off me so i could concentrate, and lo and behold i was allowed to push....about 15min after she told me not to haha..
This is when time kind of stood still, i noticed my contractions had longer rest periods in between but were so intense i felt him moving down and back up a few times, then he didnt go back up on one of them and i knew the next contraction was going to push out his head...and it didnt!...i remember feeling a bit guttered after that one, i think the midiwfe could tell because she said it would be the next and it was, DP was just standing next to me at this stage i could not handle being touched at all, and he had a look ( i had originally not wanted him too but heck i was so out of it i didnt care and he is really glad he got to see so im happy).....next push and his arm and shoulder were out and then his body....all in all DP said was only 7 pushes...My son was passed to me between my legs ( a tad awkward lol) and latched strait away...and pooped a little on me also...i got to cuddle him while they stitched up my 2nd degree tear...that bliming hurt despite the local anisthetic....
Louie James was born at 9.23am on 30th April 2012, he was 9lb2oz and 57cm long, with a head circumfrence of 36.5cm, he has blonde hair, and blue eyes and a wee dimple in his chin that i cant stop kissing...we love him so much and he is a really chilled out bub so far...
I feel so blessed i was able to have the birth i planned, i would have liked to have had a water birth but i felt that being able to labour in the shower made up for this considering bubs had to be monitored...i did try to cave a few times whilst labouring and asked for pain killers but DP and Midwife helped me thru and as soon as Louie was born i felt so proud i was able to do it with out harder drugs.
Ready to try for our Winter Wildling to join Louie and Scarlett our Autumn and Summer Babies
So my birth story ended up being a bit of a novel...
For the most part I had the textbook birth story. Woke at 6am to a really weird feeling, my underpants were busy filling up with liquid! Somehow managed to wrangle myself out of bed and grab a towel - then off to the bathroom to have a wee looksee. Found part of my show on my liner and a whole lot of pinky-clear fluid hangin' around. Woohoo things are under way!
Contractions started pretty much instantly, I was back in bed and feeling very excited. I remember thinking how uncomfortable the feeling of the contractions were. Little did I know they were just ickle baby ones... Got up around 8am and into the shower, was such an awkward space to be in while contracting - tried all sorts of positions, kneeling, sitting, leaning - everything but standing on my head. Started to feel pretty dizzy after about half an hour, so that was the end of that.
Spent the rest of the morning sitting on my swiss ball, started vocalising as the contractions hit which helped. MW came to check on me at around 1pm and asked if I wanted an exam to see how things were looking. After what felt like the longest morning ever I was more than happy for her to get in there and tell me all about it! I was so so thankful to hear that I was 6cm dilated and soft and stretchy - was petrified that she would do the VE and tell me that I had only managed a couple of cm. She left saying to get in touch when I was ready to head to the hospital. At that point I thought I could manage at home for a bit longer, but almost as soon as she left I had 3 really full on contractions and that was it. Off to the hospital we go. Most uncomfortable car ride ever, and then one block away from the hospital we hit roadworks and backed up traffic! Cue two very sad faces in our little car!! MW told me later she wasn't surprised to hear from us so soon as she had done a sneaky wee stretch on my cervix as part of the VE.
Finally we get to the hospital, and find a carpark just outside the hospital doors, and as soon as I get out of the car another cx hits - I couldn't move! My poor husband was trying to get me to keep walking, I think he thought baby was about to arrive on the footpath haha I vaguely remember some concerned passerby offering to run and get a wheelchair. So lovely. Make it up to the birthing suites - after almost passing out in the shower earlier I wasn't too bothered that it was a room without a birthpool, even though it had been part of my birthplan to use one.
Back onto the birthing ball, and pretty promptly start using the gas. Made me feel so lightheaded to start off with, but sooooo good once I got the hang of it. The next three hours are pretty hazy, I remember being really comfy on the swiss ball for a long time, but ended up on all fours on the bed leaning on the raised head of the bed as the afternoon progressed.
We had agreed on a VE 3 hours after the first, so at 4pm MW and my student MW checked me out - 9cm!! Excellent news. Started feeling pushy at around 5pm, was absolutely dismayed when they told me I had to let go of the gas if I was going to start pushing.... But, needs must - so very begrudginly gave it up. I have to say, pushing wasn't the amazing release that I thought it would be. It was damn hard work, and it took me a long time to get the hang of pushing properly. MW gave me some good direction (read: told me off for being too noisy, and told me to use my energy for pushing instead!) and we got underway. Poor bubba ended up bouncing on my perineum for around 45 minutes, so came out with bruising on the back of her head. Such a surreal feeling pushing a wee body out of your lady bits - the burn when she crowned was unreal. But, as DH kept telling me - every cx and every push was one little bit closer to meeting our baby.
So out she came at 5.47pm, putting her lungs to good use as soon as she was out. Man newborn babies look alienlike, all purply and slippery and geez how NOISY! Conehead and all. DH and I got to find out her sex together - such an amazing moment to find out we had a wee girl. I think I was in shock, I just kept saying - look, it's our baby! it's our baby!
So they leave us to have cuddles, we were both so excited that she was finally here. Kept just looking at each other with happy tears in our eyes. I had asked for a natural third stage so MW said she would give it an hour.
So the hour passed, and I wasn't feeling any contractions and nothing was happening when I gave a tentative little push under her instruction. So she said she would give me another little while and then would have to give me the injection.
So I got the injection. And we waited another hour. And we got nothin'.
So they decided to put an IV line in and give me some syntocin. We wait another hour, and still nothing is happening. Somewhere along here I have a catheter inserted. I was far too busy ogling my beautiful little girl to even notice.
Cue much pulling and tugging on the cord to see if it will come out. Placenta is obviously feeling far too comfortable in my little ute and won't budge an inch. MW starts to get a little worried she will break the cord so goes out of the room to organise someone higher up the foodchain to come and take a look. So the registrar gets called in to take a look, placenta won't behave for her either. They leave me on the drip for another wee while, telling me that I should be aware that I may need to be taken to theatre and get a spinal block so they can remove the darn thing. Registar comes back, lots more pulling and yanking. Tells me again that we will probably be heading to theatre :( then she decides to take a peek at my cervix as she thinks she can feel a corner of the placenta hanging out of it. So with speculum and 'soft forceps' and some more yanking my silly old placenta finally makes her entrance!! So utterly thankful I didn't have to have any further intervention, it got pretty close by the sounds of things.
They were unsure if the placenta had come out whole, judging by the clots the size of my palm I had in the two days following birth my guess would be no, it didn't come out whole!!
So all in all, a pretty positive experience - 12 hours labour for a first timer aint half bad really :D Had a second degree tear, which gave me a lot of grief in the first 10 days post partum, looking back now I really wish I had asked to have it stitched - my MW thought it looked like it would heal nicely as it was so left it. I'll know for next time now though!!
We are both so in love with our amazing wee girl, hard to believe she is finally here but loving every minute of it.
Went to bed early Sunday night with horrendous back pain that I was hoping was back labour, since I was due the day before. Told DP we wouldn’t make it to our 2.30 midwife appointment the next day, but he didn’t believe me and went to sleep. Woke up at 2am and went toilet, and saw some fluid and a bit of blood in my underwear. Decided it was just my show, so went back to bed until about 5, when I started feeling little gushes of fluid with contractions. So I woke up DP and said there was no way he was going to work that day, and could he ring the midwife and let her know, as I was a little worried that there was still blood on my pad. Except the MW wasn't answering and her voicemail said she was on leave. Started worrying a bit then that she'd gone away and not told me! So we called the backup who told me the blood was just my show and not to worry, just head to the hospital when I was ready to. So we waited for Mum to turn up, and I sat down with a cup of tea and toast, trying to eat a bit between pains. When Mum turns up, we get a call from my midwife, who tells me she wants me at the hospital straight away because of the blood. Turns out she went swimming in my time of need.
Left Mum with my stepson, and headed up to maternity where they settle me into a room. With a pool, as requested. Midwife turns up and immediately checks my pad and decides I need monitoring, while she talks to the obstetrician. She comes back soon, and says because the blood is more than what they’d expect for a show, they want to break my waters completely – was just the hindwaters that had gone before. Mum gets here about this point.
So out comes the amniohook, which was a lot less uncomfortable than I was expecting, and my waters were broken, instantly taking me from 3cm to to 4 – 5cm dilated. Unfortunately, when my waters gushed out, my midwife noticed meconium staining the sheets, which she tells me, instantly stressing me out. The obstetrician decides that I need the Pitocin, as we can’t risk a long labour. But I have to wait til they come back from theatre, in case things progress quickly. During the waiting time, my contractions became bad enough for my midwife to tell me that she thought I needed an epidural, since I wasn’t going to be getting into the pool and the gas wasn’t doing enough. Discussed it with Mum and DP, and decided that she was right – I hadn’t wanted any pain relief originally, but knew I needed to relax and get baby out safely. It gets a bit fuzzy round this time from the gas, but I remember the very nice (and cute) doctor coming in and putting in the epidural, which I didn’t feel except for the tingling down one leg. Once that was in, I was able to relax for a while, though I could still feel the contractions, but was able to stop using the gas and chat with Mum, Anth and the midwife, who was just eating her breakfast now. My blood pressure dropped to 70/50 and they were about to give me medication to bring it up, but it eventually rose up again by itself, with the help of fluids. Within an hour, I was 8cm, and my midwife said she wasn’t topping up my epidural just yet. Half an hour later the pains were so bad I was lifting off the bed with every contraction, so she checked me again, with the idea of topping me up if I wasn’t fully dilated. Amazingly, I was 10cm, but baby’s head was still high, so she didn’t want me to push for another half hour..15 minutes later I was telling her I HAD to push. I pushed for about 45 minutes before the midwife called in the obstetrician, who said if I didn’t get much further by 2pm she was sending me to theatre for a forceps delivery with the potential for a Caesarean. That gave me the motivation to push harder, and baby started descending more quickly, so I didn’t have to have assistance, but the doctors stayed in the room just in case. About halfway through, the midwifes phone rings, and she manages to answer it, and hold a conversation while coaching me. It had us in hysterics! Because my contractions were very short, only about a minute in length, I only got 3 pushes in each contraction, and the assisting midwife kept telling me to push after they had finished – if I hadn’t been in stirrups, I probably would have kicked her in the face! Right when I felt like it was time for the head to pop out, my midwife said she was going to have to give me an episiostomy. She managed to get the anesthetic in before I pushed again, but I tore about 3 seconds before she cut me. After that, I knew how close I was to meeting my baby, so I pushed harder than ever, and felt the head start to come out. The midwife asked Anth if he wanted to have a look, and though originally I had said no way, he was so excited by the whole thing, I had to let him. He was nearly in tears, watching our daughter slowly emerge. I had 3 different people telling me to push, when suddenly my midwife is saying “don’t push, don’t push, Nat the cord is looped, you need to stop”. Its quickly removed from around her neck, and three pushes later, I’m seeing a baby skidding across the bed! I barely have time to register the fact that my baby is here before my midwife is telling me to push again, and within 30 seconds, my placenta is out. DP chooses now to say, “see, we did make our 2.30 appointment!” Baby was dried and popped on my chest, while the assisting midwife checked my abdomen. After everything that had happened already, I wasn’t surprised when she started massaging it, and I asked her quite casually, “its not contracting, is it?” It wasn’t, so I had to have the Syntometrine Injection... then an IV infusion, and eventually, a third lot rectally. I lost about 800ml of blood all up, but my uterus contracted in the end, and we could relax. The Doctor started suturing my tears, I had torn my urethra as well as a nearly 3rd degree perineum tear. While she’s doing this, my midwife hands me a sandwich and tells me I need to eat, and she shows me my placenta (I'm a nursing student, eating and looking at a placenta doesn't bother me), and the clot on it that could have been the cause of the bleeding. About 40 minutes later, I finally get my legs down from the stirrups and can enjoy my baby! I spent 6 more hours in delivery, in case of further complications, before going over to the post natal side where we spent 5 days, with baby having a tongue tie, and me getting a uterine infection.
So officially my labour was 5 hours and 49 minutes from my first check to placenta being delivered (couldn't believe it came out so quickly after baby), which I thought was pretty good for a first time; and in the end I did all the pushing without any pain relief so the birth itself was natural, as planned. Midwife tells me I was very lucky to avoid forceps/ventouse/Caesarean.
I'm going to break the drought and post my birth story after 6 months of no updates in here :)
My birth was the most horrendous week of my life and if you want a nice induction story then this isn't for you.
Lucas was born 8 June 2012 at 2.05pm.
I go to my 37wk (tuesday) checkup and also happen to be meeting the backup midwife as I hadn't felt to comfortable with her and she takes my blood pressure and its sky high. I asked I have to go and have another blood test and she says no I'm sending you to hospital. Go to North Shore hospital to be monitored and baby is fine but they decide I may have pre esclampsia and I need to be kept in overnight for monitoring and to collect my wee for 24hrs so they can measure the protein. I stayed overnight collected what they needed and when the results came back they decided I probably just have hypertension and I could go home but needed to come back in next week to see an OB.
The following Friday I go in to see the OB and she decides that I have pre-esclampsia and that I need to be induced ASAP. I'm booked in for induction at 7.30am on Sunday (38+6). We get really excited and spend Saturday tying up all the loose ends that need to be looked after and don't get much sleep that night because we were so close to meeting our baby! Go to hospital on Sunday morning have a VE and midwife is happy to report I'm already 3cm and with the pre-esclampsia the labour should hopefully go quickly. Get gel put in and go for a big walk. Nothing really happens but they check me too late to put more in so have to sleep the night in the assessment area and hubby has to go home. He comes in the next day and I'm checked again and more gel is inserted. Nothing happens so in the afternoon they put more in and I start to get small contractions that are enough to make me take panadol. It gets late they send hubby home and tell me to get some sleep. I got up in the night a couple of times to go to the toilet and lose my plug and was still getting pains. Wake up in the morning and nothing is happening. I talked to the OB and they admit defeat calling it a failed induction. Bloods are done and the pre-esclampsia isn't a problem so they let me go home for a couple of nights but they make me come in the next day (Wednesday) to get a CTG and bloods to make sure everything is ok. Go in on Wednesday and everything is fine but have to come back the next day to start the induction again. It was really confusing being sent home as we expected we would be going home with a baby when I went in to be induced and it was a real let down that nothing had happened. We knew induction could take a couple of days but really hadn't prepared ourselves for the possibility it might not work.
We go back in on Thursday morning and they do a VE and say we could probably break your waters (they had been saying this all along and we knew that would be the point of no return) but we will do some more gel and see how we go. I was really disappointed and had resigned myself to the fact that the gel was going to do nothing but they didn't want to do anything else. At about 1pm have another VE done by an OB who thinks she wants to try breaking my waters. I had already ahead so many s&s's which I found quite painful but really wanted something to happen so agreed to let her try. We finally got moved out of the assessment room into a birthing suite but were warned that if she couldn't break my waters I would be going back there. Because of how uncomfortable I had found the VE she suggested she puts my feet up in the stirrups to break the waters. We get into position and she goes to do it but it is even more painful than just lying on the bed so we spend another 10 mins getting out of that and putting the bed back together. She has a go and manages to break my waters. We think yay baby has to be on its way now if they like it or not. Wait for an hour walking around (having waters broken is what I think it would be like to be incontinent you have no control over what comes out and was a really funny feeling) and nothing happens. After an hour they put me onto the synto drip and as they increase it I start to get contractions but they have to put the drip up as often as they are allowed. At about 10pm (have been on drip for about 7 hours now) my contractions get nice and regular and painful and hospital mw suggests we call my one in. My mw gets there about 45 mins later and contractions are all over the place but still painful and OB comes in and suggests early epidural which I agree to because these contractions already hurt and we knew we may have to wait for the right person for a while. About half an hour later get epi and once it starts to work relax a bit. Still only about 4cm dilated but mw is hoping with epi and me relaxing things might start to kick off. Get VE every couple of hours and nothing is really changing. I started asking my mw at what point would we go to cs and me mw and hubby pretty much all agree that the writing is on the wall and that's where I'm going to end up. The synto drip was now put on the maximum and OB wants to leave it the for a while to see how I go. But also says if nothing much changes next exam I will go down to theatre. A couple of hours later (this is where I start to lose track of time OB comes back in and does VE and says it much change but we will keep going. Well I lost the plot I just wanted it to be over although a cs was the last thing I wanted and emotionally I couldn't take much more. I got hysterical and started bawling my eyes out and screamed at the OB if was being left they had to top up my epi. My mw had left by this point and handed me over to the hospital as she had been there too long and the hospital mw I had was awesome (I also had a student in too) and they got wet facecloths to put on my face and eventually calmed me down. For the next 6 or so hours it was them same story. I would be checked not having made much progress but was promised every time if nothing had changed at the next exam I would go to cs. Finally I had had enough and my husband got the OB to write that specifically into the notes and sign it so there would be no repeat of it next time. A couple of hours later I get checked and have made no progress and the decision is finally made to take me downstairs. After almost 12 hours of the synto being pumped into my system they finally take it off and my contractions die right down while we are waiting to go into theatre. Although I was classed as an emergency cs because baby was still happy they didn't have any sense of urgency around it. Go into theatre and get given a spinal because my epi had not been working and I developed a patch on my left side that I could feel (at some point in the night they had come back and fiddled with it and I had lay on my side etc but the patch still wasn't being covered). I was put on the table tied down and they got to work.
Finally after over almost a week of being induced my baby was born at 2.05pm on Friday. They lifted him up over the drape as we didn't know what he was going to be and I started crying immediately and just kept saying its a boy (was convinced he was going to be a girl). They took him over to the table to weight, measure and check him out and my husband kept getting in the way so I kept telling him to move so I could see my bubba. I cried the whole time I think with relief that it was over he was born and we were both ok! The anaesthatist (sp) was awesome and was holding my hand and saying nice things until hubby came over with baby. The three of us cuddled and the student mw took heaps of pics for us. Then hubby and baby went to recovery while they finished up with me and he did skin to skin first which he was really stoked about :) then in no time at all it seemed I was being taken around to recovery. As soon as I got in there baby was out on me for skin to skin and I had my first proper cuddle with him. In recovery I heard the nurses talking saying that I had lost lots of blood and my placenta was quite small. This explained his low birthweight of 2.85kg. When we called my mw to tell her she kept getting my hubby to repeat it as I had a scan the day before they started inducing me and he was predicted to be a lot bigger than that.
So after feeling so glad it was over we then got hit with a stack of info he was IUGR, jaundiced and was so sleepy he wasn't feeding for long so I was having to hand express colostrum for him which we were then syringing into his mouth. My mw told me that if we had known how little he was I would not have been pushed for anywhere near as long and they would have made the decision to go to cs far earlier. I got baby blues a couple of days later but they didn't last for long.
So after the most horrendous experience of my life I am so looking forward to being able to choose an elective next time because there is no way I'm putting myself through that again. I was hoping for a as drug free natural childbirth as possible and got my absolute worst case scenario. But I am so glad we were both ok and he's so worth it but I do think I have the right to occasionally remind him what he put me through to get him here when he's older :)
Wow MrsLissy you poor thing! You're very strong for going all of that and I don't blame you for wanting to choose an elective next time around.
My story is very boring in comparison.
My waters broke at 2am on Monday 18 February 2013. Our DD wasn't until 1 March 2013 so when I woke up I just thought I was going to the bathroom. I woke up my partner and he was convinced it was my waters and helped me to the bathroom. We then called our midwife who told us to try and get as much as possible while we can and she'd check in with us in the morning. At this point I was having very mild contractions and they were still very irregular. My partner and I didn't find it too easy to go back to sleep as we were just so excited at the prospect of seeing our daughter so soon. We txt my mum and my sister who were going to be there at the birth to let them know that things had started but it could still take some time before she arrives. My mum lives in Nelson so had to fly to Wellington so the advanced warning worked well for her. We eventually fell back alseep and I just had to keep getting up every now and then to go to the bathroom. In the morning my MW called to check the progress and I was very dissappointed that it hadn't progressed any further and the contractions had actually stopped. My MW organised a time to come by and see me at home and just instructed me to continue my day as per usual.
So the day went on and my sister and I went to pick my mother up from the airport. Throughout the day we went out for lunch, went for a walk, watched movies and even went grocery shopping and all the while nothing much happened. My MW came to see me in the late afternoon and we went through what would happen from here. As things weren't progressing that well on their own at this stage and my waters had been broken for some time my MW instructed us to meet her at the hospital at 7.30pm that evening, if I wasn't in labour by then. At the hospital I would be monitored throughout the evening and then induced the next day. It is a risk for your waters to be broken for more than 24hours, which is where I seemed to be heading. Unfortunately no one would be able to stay with me at the hospital during this time.
So we made sure everything was ready for the hospital, babys bag, my bag and the snacks etc. I also made sure that my support crew had what they needed. During this time I had contractions but nothing too major. We then made tracks for the hospital - all the while everyones buzzing with excitement. When we get to the hospital we're put in a tiny exam room and wait for our MW. When she arrives she takes my blood pressure and monitors baby for about 15mins or so. Everything with baby and myself seem absolutely fine so we're good to go and wait on the ward to see what happens. I say goodbye to my mother and sister and my partner comes with me to the ward to help me settle in. Once settled my MW and my partner head off for the evening and I'm left in the dark on my own. I must note that I have a fear of hospitals so this was the worst thing me!
About 30mins after everyone leaves my contractions seem to be getting a little stronger and I feel slightly uncomfortable so ask to have a bath. I soak in the bath for about 20mins and then head back to my room. Once in my room i relax (as much as I can) and have a little snack. I try to sleep but its not possible at this point. About an hour passes and then I start to feel much more pain with each contraction. After I decide I have handled about all I can I call the nurse. She asks me questions and whether I would mind if she gave a VE to see how far along I am. The VE showed that I was 3cm and I could now be moved to the delivery suite. At this stage I am very scared that my partner and family won't make it for the birth. Once in the delivery suite I call home (2am at this point) and say that I am in labour and they need to hurry over. I then get in to the bath to try and help ease the discomfort and pain but it doesn't do too much to help me at this point so I ask the nurse if I could have an epidural. Another VE has to be done before they can confirm whether I can or cannot have an epidural and as it turns out I'm fully dilated and ready to push but neither my MW or my partner/family are with me. So I'm given some gas to help ease the discomfort and to hopefully help stall things until everyone arrives. By the time everyone arrives I'm sitting on the toilet puffing away on the gas. As soon as I see my partner I start crying and am ready to get this all underway. I am then transferred to the bed and start labouring. The labour is pretty smooth but my daughters head keeps going back up after each push which is very disheartning. Once her head is out we're told that her shoulders are stuck and the big red button is pushed and within seconds I have a doctor pushing on my stomach while I push with each contraction. Within seconds my daughter is on my chest and my support crew are crying and congratulating me and my partner. I was still a little confused as it all happened so fast and the additional doctors that rushed to help get her shoulders out disappeared as quickly as they came in - it sort of felt like a dream. The MW put my daughter on the breast and she just relaxed having her first feed while my MW stiched me up (they had to tear me slightly). My daughter then went to be weighed and measured while I said goodbye to everyone in preparation for the move to the ward with my daughter.
My daughter was born 19 February 2013 at 4.19am. She was 3.43kgs and was 57cm long. She is 2months tomorrow and I can't believe all of this happened 2months ago. It really does all fly by. I always wanted to labour without any drugs and minus the gas I did achieve that (even though I asked for an epidural). In my personal opinion I prefer the labour to the 9months of pregnancy.
It was supposed to be a waterbirth! The homebirth of Marley
This baby really wanted to be born, he snuck in right under the radar, only days after Ian and I agreed completely we were only having two children, I suddenly realised my period was late, and when I tested, hey presto, pregnant!
I rang my doula of choice straight away, worried she may be booked out, I had decided I did not want to have a midwife present at this birth, I wanted an unhindered birth, and this doula provided exactly the kind of support I was looking for.
This was a really different pregnancy for me, a lot more difficult than my first two, which I put down to me not being terribly fit beforehand, wheras I had been for the others.
I plodded along feeling pretty tired, running around after my two other youngsters, slowly getting bigger and bigger, seemingly much bigger than ever.
I was getting great support from my doula, we had long lovely meetings where we chewed over the failings of the maternity system in Australia.
I watched a good number of really inspiring homebirth dvds during my pregnancy, getting the boys to watch as well, to make sure they were prepared for how I may look and sound in labour, they really enjoyed them, which was reassuring.
I fully expected to give birth a little before my ‘due date’ as Louie had been a week ‘early’ and I was tandem nursing, something I expected to impact my pregnancy by the end.
Well, ‘due date’ came and went, I was not really coping with it too well, I was determined to let bub come in his own time, but was surprised (and annoyed! Whoops!) at how wrong I was about him being early.
I got a pretty bad cough around this time, and a few days later I popped some cartilage in my ribs from coughing, wow, the pain was just excrutiating! I couldn’t really take anything for the pain, I didn’t really want to being pregnant. I went to see my doc, I just wanted to get my ribs taped up, and see if I could heal up before I went into labour. I was in a bit of a panic about it all, it was so painful.
My doc was not at all reassuring, in fact she told me to go straight to the hospital and be assessed for a c/s. Hmmm…. I don’t think so.
I decided to simply wait it out, and see if I could heal up, so from wanting bub out in a hurry, I was now willing him to wait, wait, wait, and let me be able to cope with a homebirth.
I was healing well, and then I did it again, more cartilage was torn, I was over 41 weeks now, and really feeling stressed about it all. I just kept trying to heal up, still willing bub to stay put, and finally, on the evening of 41 weeks and 5 days, I got a bloody show, and started having the mildest of contractions.
This was around 9pm, so I rang my doula, just to let her know something ‘may’ be happening. I really couldn’t sleep, and the pains were niggly enough to make Ian think full blown labour might be imminent, so he convinced me to ring my doula again, and ask her to come over.
Well, she came, and nothing changed. We all tried to get some sleep, and that morning I was a bit annoyed it was not really happening, and feeling silly for having got my doula out so early.
We could see bub had his butt sticking out of my belly on the right side, and my doula offered to do some rebozo work on me to see if we could straighten him up. She put the rebozo around my back, and held both ends, and pulling the ends alternately, she flicked my belly side to side. It felt lovely and relaxing, and then suddenly I felt a really odd sensation, I could feel bub sliding further down into my pelvis.
I lay down for a sleep, and it must have been less than 10 minutes later, my waters broke, rather more than a trickle, this was midday. I was elated, good progress at last!! Yay for the rebozo technique!
I was chatting to my doula out by the clothesline (she was getting the washing in!) and suddenly had a doozy of a contraction, waters leaking like crazy, I realized there was no point having any clothes on any longer, so stripped off on the back lawn, and I had a huge bloody show from that one contraction, things were really heating up. This was about 1:30pm.
I asked for the birth pool to be filled up, dying to get in, and while I was waiting I had a couple of really good contractions while leaning on the edge of the deck, I must have been in transition at this stage, as the thoughts of “Whose stupid idea was a homebirth?” filtted briefly across my mind, and then I started to get ‘pushy’ feelings with the next contractions.
I got into the pool, and it immediately felt really wrong, I couldn’t get comfortable, I felt totally ungrounded, and like a beached whale that was just floating this way and that, I just had to get out of there.
We moved into the lounge, but I felt too exposed there as well, so my doula hung her rebozo over a door in the hallway for me to hold onto while in a semi squat. It was a really good position for me, but my hands couldn’t hold on after a while, they were just too tired, I was gripping it too tightly and the muscles in my hands were giving out.
We moved to the bedroom (where my second son was born as well) and I leaned over the edge of my bed. It felt too low, so we found the ironing board, and I leaned over that with my head on a pillow, grasping it like it was my lover, trying to breathe my way through every contraction, trying to relax as much as humanly possible, labour was really underway, and my body was intent on pushing this bub out.
I have long pushing stages unfortunately, and this was no exception, just over 2 hours of pushing, and then bubs head was on view. I put my hand down on my vagina to feel this little head sitting right on my perenium, pushing its way out of my body.
I find crowning such a difficult part of labour, the pain is so intense for me I tend to push way to hard to get my bubs out, and tear badly. I was SO determined this time not to make that mistake, and I made myself go ‘elsewhere’ while the crowning was happening, just relaxing while my body did all the work.
When my doula could see bub was about to pop out, she called to Ian to come to the bedroom to see, and I immediately tensed up, and said “No, I don’t want them here!” I was working so hard getting this crowning right, I kind of got stage fright, and didn’t want to be watched. I felt my body close up, and the baby got sucked back up into my body, it was a really uncanny feeling.
My doula stalled everyone, and I got back to labouring to get this baby out, it took a few more full on contractions until baby was back to crowning again, and then out he came, he had his fist tightly stuck to his head, and this meant I had to work a little to get him out, and as his head emerged, with two loops of cord, his arm came at the same time, then his whole body slipped out really easily.
He breathed pretty much straight away, and was quite mucously, so I faced him slightly down to drain it out.
I was overwhelmed that it was all over, and I was sitting on my bedroom floor with a gorgeous baby in my arms. I didn’t look to see what sex he was, I just stared and stared at him, until Ian broke into my reverie to ask “what have we got?” and that was when I discovered I was the mum of three boys!
Marley was 9lb 3oz, so by far the biggest of all my babies.
My big fear of bleeding was unfounded, I hardly bled at all afterwards, and my placenta came out really easily after a couple of pushes. I also had only a small tear, nothing which would need stitching, I just treated it with colloidal silver spray, and it healed very easily.
Marley was very interested in the breast straight away, and as soon as I got him positioned right, he latched on really strongly, and fed like a little champ.
So, I proved the doctor wrong, no unnecesarean needed, although my ribs were extremely sore afterwards, two and a half weeks on, they are still sore every morning when I wake up, but get a lot better during the day.
I did REALLY want a waterbirth, but obviously I am just a land birther, I like to have my feet planted squarely on the ground to bring these babies earthside.
I am ecstatic with my choice to have no midwife present, this was my best birth so far, my doula provided the most amazing emotional support I could have wished for, if I ever have any more babies (I'm not ) I would definitely have my doula again.
My lovely doula very kindly prepared the placenta for me, she made me a placenta smoothie to drink immediately after the birth, and cut the rest into small pieces so I can eat them every day to stave off a repeat performance of PND.
So far it seems to be working a treat, I'm feeling pretty upbeat despite being fairly sleep deprived.
my birth story i'll keep this brief ladies my beautiful daughter was born 21 march. I was 39 weeks pregnant and I had been drinking raspberry leaf tea to help thin out my cervix for about 3-4 weeks. I was feeling relaxed, knowing my baby would come when she was ready and nothing i could do would make her come sooner. Every day I would go for a walk, and have some fruit. (some people say pineapple helps contractions start, I am unsure of whether this actually worked) I was feeling a little queasy for a few days, my midwife sent me for a blood test to test my kidney function. I went to bed. I woke up at about midnight, bit of a sore stomach. I woke up at 1.30am, definite contraction. I just decided to stay in bed. I counted in my head how long the contractions were, I ignored them until I couldn't ignore them any longer. Then I had a couple of panadol.
By 3.30am I was in full established labour, contracting 3 minutes apart. Called my midwife.She told me to call back once the contractions were worse. By 5 they were a lot worse and I called my MW to tell her to come at 6am I was checked and measured 6cm dialated. By the time it was getting light about 7ish I really wanted to push.
Because of my pelvic pain in my pregnancy the only way I could handle the contractions was sitting up on the couch (not an ideal way to get a baby out) I tried to get itno the bath. it was awful, I felt like I was just squishing around and no gravity to hold me together. Flag that.
At about 8.25 I started pushing and at 8.40am my baby girl was born into the world at home safe and sound. :)
I have really enjoyed reading the birth stories so I thought I'd share mine. My little Samuel Donald came into the world five and a half weeks early at 1.17pm on 11 October 2013, and here is how it happened...
At 34 weeks and 2 days, the Tuesday, I had some cramping pain while I was at my antenatal group. It wasn’t coming in regular intervals and eased enough to sleep after a couple of hours. The following morning I was still achy and crampy so called my midwife. She told me to take panadol and rest for a couple of hours. Again the pain eased but didn’t go away completely so she asked me to come into hospital to be monitored. After about 4 hours of monitoring during which nothing abnormal showed on the monitor my midwife and the doctor concluded that it was probably ligament pain. Over the following day the pain eased again and I put it out of my mind.
When I woke up on Friday 11 October the cramping was a little stronger and I had my show. I phoned my midwife who told me not to worry, that it doesn’t mean anything is happening and she’d had women before who had their show at 35 weeks and didn’t deliver until 42 weeks. So, I got ready for work and tried to put it out of my mind. The cramping was still quite painful so I took a couple more panadol. Then, at about 8.15am, as I sat on the bus I had a wave of pain much worse than I had had before. I had another as I was getting off the bus and thought that I should pay attention to when the cramps were coming to check they weren’t regular or escalating. As I sat at my desk I had another and another wave of pain. I realised it was bad enough that I was holding onto the edge of my desk and concentrating on breathing through the pain. I realised that something was very wrong and called my midwife again, quite upset this time. She told me to get straight to delivery suite and she would meet me there. I told my manager that I was in a lot of pain and my midwife told me to get to the hospital. She dropped everything and took me to delivery suite in a taxi. I called my husband on the way and told him to meet me there.
In delivery suite they hooked me up to the monitors to try and work out what was going on. The pain was coming regularly, in pairs (an echo apparently) but wasn’t showing as contractions, however they concluded pretty quickly that they obviously were contractions. As I was under 36 weeks my midwife couldn’t lead my delivery, the hospital midwife did, my midwife was there though even though she had someone else being induced at the same time. The hospital midwife was lovely though, as was the chief midwife and the doctor. The doctors considered trying to stop the labour, but once the midwife had examined me they decided there was no point trying because I was too far along.
My waters broke around 11.15am during a contraction. I had gas to help with the contractions, which were getting stronger and more painful by this time, however there was no chance to talk about any other pain relief so I continued labouring and soon enough the midwives were telling me to push if I felt like I wanted to. I didn’t to start with and in the end they told me to start pushing! I pushed for what seemed like ages and nothing was happening, the baby was ok but stuck. My labour was so fast he hadn’t been able to turn to posterior. I pushed and pushed and pushed, gasping on the gas to get my through. It was the most intense feeling. I was starting to get really worried about the baby and then, eventually, I managed to push him out and Sam was born at 1.17pm.
Even though he was born at 34 weeks and 5 days my little Sam breathed on his own straight away and we were able to have a skin to skin cuddle while they stitched up my two 2nd degree tears, before he was taken to NICU.
Sam was 2.286kg / 5.03lb and stayed in NICU for a day short of three weeks. He had quite bad jaundice and had just over a week of phototherapy in an incubator before coming out into a cot. He also had two large lumps (kefalhaematoma) on his head and quite extensive bruising from being stuck. Sam came home almost two weeks ago and is thriving now.
Here's how my son entered the world! EDD 4th August 2012
I had a feeling I'd go overdue, first timers normally do. Anyhow the night before my labour started I had a nice hog long bath and hubby gave me a shoulde/neck massage. By 5am on the 6th August I woke again for about the 5th time and went loo. By 6am I thought jeepers I've been loo lots this morning and felt restless so got up. Was having Braxton hicks like had been recently. I went on Facebook and had to sit at the table as my lazy boy felt too I comfy. I was restless up and down. Hubby went to work and I text him at 7:45 and said the niggles were feeling a bit weird. I wasn't convinced I was in labour yet, but rung my mum to come out to be with me for the day. She asked f I wasn't feeling well and I burst into tears!
Mum turned up around 9:30am and said it lookalike I was in labour but I thought they might go away....how wrong was I! Rung midwife and she came out around 11am and checked how I was going. I was 1-2cm....so she said about 1cm an hour from there and I was thinking blimmin hell!!
I laboured at home ok with that horrid back pain as bubs was prosterior too. I started vomiting with contractions and couldn't keep anything down. Tried to have a sleep but couldn't as contractions woke me every few mins. Had a bath for half an hour too. Then by about 2:30 I'd had enough and wanted to be checked again. By this stage mum was concerned about me being dehydrated anyway. So she took me to meet up with DH. Then DH and I went to the maternity centre where MW was. I was 5-6cm so ready to go to the hospital where I'd planned to deliver. So a half hour journey we made it to hospital. I was not in a very good state by now with fast contractions and still vomiting.
Had a shower in the delivery room ensuite and my show apparently came not long after. By now it was about 6pm. MW had arrived and offered gas. I felt need to push around 6:45 so did and my waters still hadn't broken. She kept saying they would after each push. But the membranes were tough so I expelled the bag and she had to break them. It was 7pm. Then I really wanted to push and she said babies head was following bag down so ready to go. I began pushing and after a few pushes his head was out, but they told me to stop pushing as they had to cut the cord as babies was wrapped around babies head and under arm. His hand beside face, and two pushes and he was out.
I got pooped on as he was delivered to me lol but he was healthy and well. 7lb 13oz boy! Was a great labour and delivery, but next problem.....placenta wouldn't come. So I had to into theatre at 11pm for removal and also to fix my 3rd deg tear. So had a spinal for that.....gutted AFTER birth! All was well otherwise and know have a 18month old boy and number two on its way due In August again!.
Some great birthing stories here For those ladies still waiting for there first birthing experience I have two things to share:
1st, before I even got pregnant I was really worried about giving birth (and of course when you're pregnant everyone around you tells you how terrible theirs was! And ironically I always found the blokes to be the worst). But as my pregnancy progressed, I got calmer and calmer about it. I started thinking that no matter what others said, my birth experience would be all my own, and completely different from anyone else's. It would be an adventure all our own.
2nd, and this is advice I actually got from my father. I was TERRIFIED of the idea of a c-section. And my dad told me - if you need a c-section that means things aren't going so great. You're labouring and not getting anywhere, and you and/or the baby may be in danger. So to have someone say to you at that point "lie back and relax, we'll take over from here" would most likely be a relief. This advice helped me immensely.
And personally, I started initial contractions at about 1:30am; into hospital at 10am with stronger contractions; got urge to push about 12:45pm, and pushed my DD out by 1:30pm (for a first that's not bad!!). Unlike others on here, I didn't get gas UNTIL I started to push. I was in a bit of shock after DD came out, and I didn't want to hold her or anything - which can happen to some women, so don't feel guilty!!
You can cope with giving birth. It is on the outer limits of what you can handle; but you can totally handle it. Best of luck to you all!
I loved reading these birth stories when I was pregnant... so I'd like to share my story (novel).
On Monday 24 September at exactly 37wks, I text DP to say baby was coming this weekend. DP: “Oh yeah, why’s that?”. Me: “Because I said so”. DP “Good luck with that”. Me: “She is, she’s a good girl that listens to her mummy”. DP :”Uh huh”. I was absolutely ready, the homebirth box was sorted, the hospital bags packed just in case, I just needed my baby.
On Friday 28 Sept, I went for my usual walk with my niece, but she decided we should walk an extra block tonight, which nearly killed me. As I hobbled back down my drive, my eyes were pouring because I was so exhausted. I said I’d be devastated to go into labour tonight because there’s no way I’d be able to do it.
Lucky enough, I got a full night sleep (well as much as you can that far along), laid around in bed until 9am, when I felt a little ‘ping’. Went to the loo, and had blood dripping out. I started panicking and rang the midwife, who said to wait and see if any mucous would come out, about an hour later it did. Rang the midwife back and she said I’ll be having my baby today, which I absolutely didn’t believe, I was in complete denial the entire time up until the baby was in my arms.
DP’s family came around, so informed them that I’d had a show, but I was sure it would still be days (or weeks) before I’d actually have the baby. While they were there, I started having cramps that felt exactly like period pains.
My niece decided that morning that she wanted a bbq lunch at the Esplanade for her birthday that was earlier in the week. So off to that we went, and silly me informed the family what was happening, so every time I sat down, someone else took me for another walk. My sister wanted to go on the bush walk, but there was no way I was going that far from a road! The pains were 30 minutes apart when we got there, and then got down to 10 minutes apart, and a bit more ouchy. Everyone could tell when I was having a contraction because I’d sit up straight, and my face would go serious.
About 4o’clock I needed to go home, and 2 minutes from home the contractions started to get a bit stronger. As soon as I got home, I vomited. I paced up and down the deck during contractions, and let the midwife know they were seven minutes apart, and lasting about 1 minute. She said to let her know once they got down to 3 minutes apart, and lasting a bit longer and then she’ll come.
It was just DP and I at home, and as I was getting a bit more vocal during the contractions it was freaking DP out. DP kept asking to call my mum, but while still in complete denial, I said I was fine. About 8.00pm DP called her around anyway lol.
I had booked a birth pool, it was due to arrive on Monday (2 weeks before due date). So I found the best position sitting on the edge of the couch rocking back and forth, and then in between I could lean back and relax. I decided about 8pm I’d like to try hopping in the bath, but I didn’t like that very much because I liked to push up on my arms and straighten my back as much as possible during a contraction, so after an hour I hopped out.
My mum had turned up, and as I wanted no noise whatsoever, and no one to touch me, mum quietly did her knitting, and DP did some work. I had hunted high and low for some peaceful music to play during my labour, and ended up I actually didn’t want it at all. I carried on rocking on the edge of the couch for awhile, paced around the house a bit, noting down the time and length of each contraction.
The contractions were very irregular, jumping from 5 minutes apart, back to 7, down to 4, back to 7, and each only lasting 1 minute. They eventually started sticking between 4-5 minutes apart, but still only lasting a minute. DP starting freaking out again, wanting to call the midwife, I was determined not to, because they still hadn’t got to the time and length she’d specified (and I was still in denial that this baby was actually coming). There was one 3 minute gap, and then back to 4-5 minutes, DP was adamant to call the midwife, but I said no.
I felt like I needed to poo, so went to the toilet, tried going, but nothing, then this almighty pressure moved down with each contraction, I yelled out to mum that I think I was pushing and to call the midwife (haha). DP sort of hung back about here, only to walk down the hallway and make the lovely comment of “don’t have the baby on the toilet”… thanks!
I desperately wanted to get off the toilet, but the contractions were on top of each other and I just couldn’t move. I briefly saw the midwife run down the hallway to set up in my bedroom, and I managed to move into the bathroom and sway against the sink. I was freaking that the baby was going to fall out onto the tiles, so made mum put some towels down lol.
The midwife was ready, so I made the dash to my bed and lay down. She checked babies heartbeat, which was perfect, and then did a VE. I was terrified she was going to say I was 4cms, but I was 9!!! Woohoo! She told me not to push yet because I was only 9cm, then on the next contraction she saw a head. She quickly called the backup midwife, and in the rush said her lady was 11cm at 9 ******* Street lol. From here on out DP just hung back in the furthest corner of the room away from the bed.
I didn’t need to push, the baby just moved down with each contraction, so I just focused on my breathing. There was a big gap in contractions and I snoozed for a couple minutes when all of a sudden I felt THE burn… I had no idea about the burn, and wasn’t expecting it, so yelled out it was burning!!! Which was the only time I really lost it through the whole thing. The head was out, and I was told to stop pushing as the cord was a bit around her neck, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to not push when I hadn’t actually been trying to push in the first place, but luckily it was out of the way in time for the next contraction where the rest of my beautiful girl followed. She was born at 1.00am 30 September, weighing 2.6kg (5lb 12oz). The backup midwife arrived 10 minutes after.
After enjoying some cuddles with my gorgeous baby I was given the injection to get the placenta out. After some tugging and pulling, there was still no luck. I whipped off my top so she could have her first feed, she didn’t quite get the hang of it, so we gave it a rest. DP had finally got over the shock and had some cuddles while I was told to get upright and try pushing the placenta out, I spent 10 minutes squatting on my bed over an ice-cream container trying with all my might to get the freaken thing out! After such a beautiful birth it was such a shame that now I felt so exposed and had lost all dignity. Still no luck, lay back down to have another tug, and FINALLY, nearly 2 hours after my baby was born, the placenta finally came out. I was so glad to not have to go into hospital for a silly placenta after an amazing labour and birth.
Daylight came around, and family came and went throughout the morning to meet my little princess. I was on such a high that I didn’t manage to have a nap until 3pm.
I loved the entire experience, and I would do it all over again tomorrow if I got the same prize at the end. I hope bringing any future children into the world goes just as smoothly, and I can’t wait to do it again :)
I went into pre labour at 10-30am Saturday morning and didnt go to the hospital until greys anatomy finished (lol my mother wasnt very happy) then i stayed in the shower at the hospital and tryed the bath but that freaked me out a bit as it was deep and i get claustrophobic so i hopped out and then sat on the loo ready to do a big poop hehehe i failed at that so they took me back to my room and checked me to find i was ten cm dilated then i was instructed to push 1 hour later i was holding my first baby boy born at 3-45am monday morning at 7lb 4 ounces, 10 days over due.
My second birth-
I was 9 days over due and and was booked in for a induction they put gel on my cervix to soften it three times all failed so on the twelth day overdue they broke my waters slightly and had the drip ready to go! the contraction started slow but then got very fast very quick i started feeling the need to push and the doctor checked to see my dilation etc, my baby wasnt even head down ready to go so the doctor said it would be best to get an epi because he might not drop for awhile, i opted to not get one and the moment the doctor left the room i pushed the nurse told me to stop but i just looked at her and said i swear i felt his head fall into place like the last peice of a puzzle so laying on my side i lifted my leg up and she could see his head, for three pushes whilst cuddling my partner i met my baby boy 10 minutes later born at 1-35pm and at 7lbs 4 ounces. I loved that i cuddled my partner the whole way through it was romantic and safe in a way smile
My last birth-
I went into labour on the 4th of november thursday night shopping picking up xmas laybys, as my waters didnt break i continued on shopping and then went home we decided that the contractions werent bad enough so id sleep until they got worse and then go to the hospital. at 1-20am i got in the shower to ease pain and then thought nope those kiddies need to get in the car so i screamed to wake my partner up and said the baby is coming he near on fainted cause he got up so fast!! then we buckled the kids in the car and i went to sit but couldnt so i went for a walk through the house came back and said you need to get an ambulence cause im gonna push her out now, damien begged me not to while i pulled my pants down he could see it all dropped right down, i stood there with my hands ready to catch the baby and pushed all my waters broke over my hands, so i went and knelt next to the lounge i pushed one big push her head was out damien was instructed over the phone to check the cord which was wrapped around her neck so he took it off and then another big push and there she was my little princess! 2 minutes of pushing labour, born at 1-35am at 8lbs 5 ounces!
I love giving birth i think its beautiful and amazing just hom much our bodies can go through!
biggest tips iv learnt is breathing it really does work, water shower/bath and heat packs on the back for back labour and use gravity to help push.
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