Thought I'd post my Birth Story!

It's taken me 3 weeks but thought I'd post it )

My Birth Story
My contractions woke me up at midnight on the Friday 22nd October. They weren't too painful but I remember thinking I hope this is it because I had a night where I had regular contractions a week before. They were every 15 or so minutes until about 3am where they got closer together and more painful but nothing too bad. I couldn't sleep through them as I was excited but still thinking at the same time they might be braxton hicks and they will disappear soon! Luckily they didn't and by 6am they were every 10 minutes or so... from what I remember. My partner's alarm for work went off at 6:40am and I remember saying to him to get ready for work just in case they stopped. They got worse so at 8am I rang the maternity unit to ask for advice... the midwife said to go into hospital to be accessed. I got my hospital bag sorted really calmly and didn't rush about... My partner rang up work and told them he wasn't coming in and went downstairs and started watched the Grand Prix qualifying! Men eh?! By 10-11am I was finally ready to leave and shouted at my partner to stop watching the tv and get a move on!! We arrived at the hospital at 11.30am and saw a midwife who accessed me and said I was about 2-3cm dilated. As we lived 30 mins from the hospital they told us to stay. We went for a walk around the hospital to speed things up and I bought a sandwich and a baby magazine... by 1pm they got quite painful so we made our way back to the hospital room I was staying in (which was a huge room with a waterbirthing pool!) it was very nice as I wanted a waterbirth! Midwife said she would check me again in 3-4 hours... she checked me again about 3:30pm and I was 4-5cm dilated. Midwife said if I wanted any pain relief to which I said 'I don't know, would paracetamol help?' She laughed and said I could have gas and air and I could get in the pool!

I don't remember much after having gas and air but I remember thinking how nice the pool was and the gas and air really helped!! I then got really nauseous and after eating my sandwich I was very sick and vomited several times. That was horrible. My partner was very good and comforted me and told me to be strong. I was in the pool for hours!! Didn't want to get out but I do remember saying to the midwife how much I needed to wee! Got out a few times to go but couldn't but was sick again The midwife was really lovely and chatted to me to make me feel better- I kept saying thank you to her to which she said- 'Your Mum brought you up very well, you're so polite!!' Must have been the gas and air because every midwife that came in I said thank you to them.

Still coping on gas and air I remember looking at the clock- it said 7pm... still in the pool!! Baby was doing fine but the midwife made me get out as I was so relaxed my contractions slowed down. 7Pm till 8pm went too slow and I just kept looking at the clock. I so don't remember anything after 8pm but I do remember her saying don't push when I was 8-9cm dilated but it was so hard not to!!! That was the worst bit, the contractions were fine but being told not to push was awful. I also did a little poo too and was devastated lol. Then when it came to pushing her out, it was lovely being able to push. When the head started to show all I remember thinking was 'where is this burning pain they go on about?' Didn't hurt at all pushing her out! Maybe was all that time spent in the pool?

Baby Holly Megan was born at 12:51am on Saturday 23rd October! Labour was fine and wasn't as bad as I expected. I got a 2nd degree tear and had to have stitches and I lost quite a bit of blood. The worst part was my placenta was retained and all the midwives on shift couldn't remove it and they had to send me to the operating theatre to get it out... I was so upset- My midwife who delivered Holly had to go home sick too after trying to remove my placenta.... I had to have a spinal and after having a labour with no pain relief!! The doctors were also very very attractive!!! I was shaking lots as I was so shocked and didn't stop shaking for 3 hours! I was in hospital for 2 nights and had a lot of trouble breastfeeding and Holly had a lot of mucus and was sick all the time which was horrible for me because I couldn't get up and help her. I also had a catheter fitted and was on antibiotics and had to have clexane injections to stop blood clots. My OH went home at 6am for a sleep as he was exhausted.... he managed to stay with me all that time in a huge thick hoddie while I was sick on him several times and ignored him most of the time because I was so high on gas and air! Bless him. Anyway, Holly is 3 weeks old today and breastfeeding is going well and haven't slept at all in 3 weeks!! I never read my baby magazine until a few days ago! xXx

[Modified by: CharlotteB2B on 13 November 2010 18:46:09 ]


[Modified by: CharlotteB2B on 14 November 2010 12:58:27 ]