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My 48 hour birth story

Mine was mainly traumatic due to hospital management so here we go.

My waters broke at 11 pm on thursday night so we called the labour ward and went in so they could check i hadn't just wet myself. I think anyone whose waters have broken before the onset of labour can tell you that there's a big difference in smell and feel and i'm sure only someone suffering with baby brain would confuse the two.

Anyway i wasn't feeling any contrcations but when i arrived the hooked me up to the machine and it showed i was having some even if i couldn't feel them yet. So they examined me and found that my baby's head hadn't engaged so they would have to keep me in but as my contractions wern't regular they would send me up to the ward and my oh would have to go home. at 2am i went up and could now feel the contractions. So i had a sleepless night and the next morning they told me if the head hadn't engaged by saturdasy morning they would induce. so all friday my contrcations got stronger so still no sleep but the babys head still didn't engage. my oh visted during visition hours but by the evening i was tired and upset that he couldn't be with me, my contractions were pretty much five minutes apart but not always. We asked if i could go home and was told no and then asked if there was anyway my oh could stay to be told no, we had the midwife saying she reckoned i'd be in full labour y 1pm but there was no way my husband could stay. Finally she examines me as a last ditch attempt to find the baby's head engaged (if she had done this first she would have saved alot of stress and tears for me) and we went home.

I had a night of sometime regular sometimes not contractons and at 5am was on the phone again to be told unles my contraction we definitley regular they wouldn't be doing anything so stay at home and take paracetamol. i spent most of the night on the kitchen floor in pain leaking fluid paracetamol doing nothing to help. I was booked in for induction at 9am so we left at 8am for the hospital getting there early. I was in so much pain we went onto labour ward and even though my contractions hadn't been regular they had been doing something and i now had a nie thin cervix and was 2cm dialted. unfortuanatley 4 hours and aot of gas and air later i was 2.5cm dialated and as they needed my assesment room i got moved to the prenatal day ward, where i bascially got left with some portable gas and air on a ward not set up for women in labour.

i was hardly seen and in lots of pain and at half 4 in the afternoon the ward i was on was closing, i don't know how regular my contractions were but the gas and air wasn't doing much any more and i was in constant pain not just during contrcations, i was told they couldn't accept me on labour ward as they were too busy and they would move me back upstairs which would mean saying goodbye to my husband and being confined to visiting times again, i burst into tears during a contrcation whilst trying to breathe on the gas and air. We refused to go upstairs telling the midwife to send us to a differnt hospital who could accomadate us as it had now been 40 hours since my waters had broken and we had been told after 24 hours they liked to induce as the risk of infection was high. So the midwife examined me (why they never did that before making decisions about me i don't know) to find i was 7cm and her response was 'well they'll have to take you on labour ward now' so magically a labour room was avaliable and i was wheeled in.

I got offered pethdine but refused as my family reacts bady and tend to fall asleep the midwife was very patronising telling me how in labour the pain is different and so it won't send me to sleep she stopped smiling when i said it was in labour that my mum got drowsy on it and my aunt fell so fast asleep they couldn't rouse her. But i told the midwife an epidural would be fine. It was the they found that my baby was slightly back to back which was why i was in constant pain with no releif from pain between contractions and yet they insisted i stayed on my back, hooked up to monitors, which was the position the pain was worst in. I was told i wouldn't get an epidural for a few hours as the anthestist was in a cesearean and then had to see someone who needed stitches. I had another contraction and my husand pressed the call button as i was in so much pain after the midwife saw the pain i was in the anthetist arrive 10 minutes later and the wonderful epidural was administered after 42 hours in labour i finally got some sleep for about an hour before i could feel pain in my bum with each contrcation, a result of my baby being a bit back to back. by 8pm i was only 8cm dialated so they finally gave me the induction drip to speed things up (only 14 hours late not bad for the nhs i suppose) at 11 pm saturday night i was ready to push and honestly if i hadn't spent the previous 4 hours resting up with the epidural i don't think i would have been able to do it. i needed a ventouse delivery but it all went fine even when my baby's heartbeat was raised. It was just the 48hour before that that was traumatic.

I got pushed from ward to ward and never given priority without fighting for it. i was exhausted by the end of it all and the only apologies was that they'd been busy, i was in so much pain and left alone for 4 hours when i went from 2.5 to 7 cm. I never felt like my opionon on how i was feeling was considered i could say i was in tremendous pain but only when they saw me screaming in agaony did they believe it. Being reduced to tears twice during labour because they couldn't accomadate me and my husband when i was in labour was ridiculous and the thought of sending a woman in established labour onto a pre or post natal ward was ridiculous. I was fine physically after it all but how was keeping postoing my birth after 30, 35, and 40 hours of labour really the best decision?

although i ended up with a beautiful baby girl at the end of it who of course was worth it but really it was bad management that made my birth traumatic which makes it worse to me a it could all of been prevented with better management of me and my labour.

Replies

  • Hiya . aww your labour sounds dreadfull it actually sounds very very similar to mine but ur hospital care sounds rubbish! i cant believe the made your husband go home ??? thats crazy and let u go longer than 24 hours with out being induced after your waters went ?
    have you spoken to the midwife or hospital about it since youve had your lil girl?
    heres my labour just for u to compare ..
    My waters went on the sat 2pm (i was out walking my dog lol) and the midwife came to the house within 30mins to check it was my waters. i starting having contractions an hour after waters went they were every 3 mins lasting 45secs ( for the whole of my 32 hour labour)
    arrived at hospital (birthing centre) they checked me i was 2cm straight on gas and air (ive a very high pain threshold but the contractions were very strong from start)
    they wouldnt let me go in pool as they said my contractions were too close. 6 hours later i was 2 cms still ...so i got transfered in an ambulance to hospital.
    they hooked me up to the monitor my baby had turned back to back to having alot of back pain. had pethdine twce which was brill i was sick three times not sure whether that was labour or pethdine.
    i had a hormone drip connected too , which made contractrions much harder.
    then had an epidural (which was amazing i slept for an hour) but could start feeling contractions again so back on gas and air the midwife kept topping up the epidural but wasnt doing anything (after 6 hours) aneathnatis (sp?) came back to find it had disconnected and blocked.
    they didnt want to do another incase i needed a spinal.
    after 28 hours i was 6 cms ....... then 31hours i was 8 cms. my temperature was really high and babies heart rate started to speed up and they said she need help coming out (forcepts) as she was a big baby. then another went and i was still 8cm ... and then told me i had to have an emergency c section. 20 mins later ... sunday 00.09am 9lb 3oz (my little girl) had to stay in 3 days.
    The staff in the hospital were brilliant ,they always offered my pain relief....apart from the epidural that disconnected.im still annoyed through why they let me stay n labour after obviously nothing was happening and she was back to back and big. my hubby stayed the whole time i was in labour after our daughter was born he stayed until about 3.30am then had to go. but came back at 9am.

    i hope you get your answers as i wish id spoken to hospital after it all happened. i know the midiwifes had a meeting about my labour a few days after id left hosp.
    next time elective section !!!


    [Modified by: JoJo* on December 12, 2009 10:15 AM]

  • Girls, Reading your stories has really helped me brace myself... I'm about to be induced on Wednesday - have a back to back baby who is predicted 9lb+

    I will not allow them to send DH home without me - i cant imagine being without him? If they insist he goes - I will go too....I;d be an emotional wreck we're so emotionally dependant on eachother.

    I'm also goin to speak up about the prolonged pain too....

    I hope i dont need to post a traumatic birth story - but i anticipate it wont be a walk in the park image

    K.x
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