Jack William's Birth Story if you are interested!

Well, Saturday 24th July (40+6) was my parents last day here of the 2 weeks they were staying to help us with Max when I went into labour they were going to leave on the morning of Sunday 25th. So on the saturday we went to the Sunderland Coastline to watch the free airshow that was there, it was a nice day and we picnicked and watched planes and then headed home - nothing to report. We put Max to bed and headed off to a friends 30th BBQ - we were there a couple of hours and her normally very comfy patio furniture was the most uncomfy stuff I felt I had ever sat on but I just thought it was from being out and about all day, we stayed out till after 10 which for me at that stage of pregnancy was a VERY late night - we didn't go to bed till after 11 so I should have known something was going to kick off!

We had joked with my parents that Sunday 25th would be the day and that they would have driven all the way back to London only to get a call from us that I was in labour and to drive back! Thankfully it happened a bit earlier than that!

So I woke at 4.20a.m and went to the loo. As I lay back in bed I started to have some odd crampy aches in one side of my bump and couldn't get comfy. So as not to disturb hubbie (although he was awake) I get up and went downstairs to the spare room I lay there checking facebook on my phone and wondering if these niggles were regular. Then when I was less comfy still I went into the nursery and stood at the windowsill swaying my hips, reading a magazine and sipping water. I managed till half 5 when things were getting painful and I decided to wake hubbie to put my TENS on - so I went back upstairs and he put my TENS on and also started to use his Iphone contraction timer App. He started to potter and put the few extra bits I had listed into my hospital bag. By 6 am I was having to breathe carefully and contractions were quite strong, I wanted to last at home until 7 so it was a reasonable time to phone my parents to come over and so we could see MAx and say goodbye to him before we went to hospital. However by 6.15am my contrations were every 2 minutes and lasting nearly a minute so hubbie put his foot down and we rang my parents and then the midwife led unit - the midwife on duty was about to tell me to hold on at home for another hour before she checked if this was my first baby or not and when I said no second she immediately changed her mind and said 'oh come as soon as you are ready'.

So we both had showers and I made a cup of tea and toasted some muffins that I really fancied to eat but by 6.55 putting the muffin in my mouth nearly made me spew! We got Max up (a bit early - his sleep trainer clock had not yet turned to the sunshine and although he was awake and chatting in his room he got really upset that we had got him up before Mr Sun!!!) and my parents arrived and we left in a bit of a flurry as things suddenly intensified!!

The drive to hospital was HORRID - sitting down was a BIG no no it was massively uncomfy and leaning back was impossible too - I was clinging to my TENS for dear life and using the boost button a LOT. I remember saying to hubbie in the car this baby better be here by lunchtime or I will cry!

We got to the midwife led unit at 7.20 and it was a shift change at 7.30 so the midwife who met us said she would let the new shift officially register us etc. but when she offered me the gas and air I GRABBED it! she left us and we got the ipod set up and the music on I started sipping water for dear life and paced about a LOT as well as getting changed into the big t-shirt I had brought in for birth. The midwife returned and asked if I could manage a wee sample and so I went to try over the loo and just about managed it between contractions and realised my show had started.

The new midwife (gayle) was lovely and examined me at 7.40 - she wanted me to get up on the bed but again sitting was a No goer and nor was lying on my back so in the end she just jumped in as I stood and I was 9cm gone - THANK THE LORD!

I spent the next hour PACING, boosting my Tens, leaning on the bed with my legs WIDE, making hubbie feel useless cos I didn't want him anywhere near me, and moaning that I didn't know whether to push or not - the midwife was great really letting me take the lead but cos MAx's birth was so medicalised adn I was basically told when to push I didn't trust my instincts but she kept telling me I would know when to push but I was worried I would miss all the signs! I was VIOLENTLY sick all over the floor and just missed my midwife at some point here - I had drunk about a litre of water while pacing and this just ALL came back. I was feeling a LOT of pressure cos my waters hadn't gone yet butat 8.30 Gayle said 'we'll give it 10 ins so we are an hour from when I examined you and then we'll get these membranes burst and have a baby' and remember shouting 'oh yess please' - those next 10 mins went SOOOOOOOOO SLOW!!!!!

I HAD to get on the bed and sit up to have my membranes broken and it was the MOST uncomfortable painful thing ever - not the membranes by my back was AGONY I kept yelling 'I've GOT TO MOVE' but luckily it only took a second without even using the hook. Then gayle calmly said ok babies had a poo but that's not unusual when they are overdue but then she immediately buzzed for a second midwife and passed on the info of meconium in my waters. The second midwife then stayed and babies heartbeat was monitoed FAR more often than it had be but both midwives kept an air of calm and although I was aware something was up I was not panicked by it.

We then spent the next 20 minutes trying to get me in a position where I was comfortable and where my pushing was effective - the midwives wanted me on my back but it was just excrutiating, I tried kneeling on the bed leaning ont he head end which was comfy but was not getting baby shifted enough so in the end I ended up on one side with one midwife and me holding my top leg up and out of the way. Finally baby then got on the move and I could FEEL the movement which was amazing - unfortunately I could also feel baby moving back again between contractions which was a bit depressing to say the least. after 40 minutes of pushing Jack was born his head crowned between contractions which stung like hell while I waited for the next contraction to allow me to push him right out! Listening to my FAB midwife meant I got no tear, stitches or scratches!!!


Last time I LOVED the gas and air this time I didn;t really bother with it as I was not enjoying it - just clung to my TENS!

Jack needed some assistance to get going as he had swallowed A LOT of meconium. Once he was suctioned and given a push start, he was weighed at 6lb8oz while we waited for my placenta to get out! My placenta was VERY small and was blackened and pretty much useless my midwife said :roll: It was also now that they came clean adn told us that there was WAY more meconium than there should have been and if my waters had broken ANY time before being 10cms I would have been an ambulance emergency transfer to the big city hospital - so quite scary but glad they didn't let on and that they let us birth there as it was a BRILLIANT experience! 3hr15 mins for first stage of labour and 41 mins pushing.

Jack didn't feed for over 24hrs as he had ingested so much meconium but he is now breastfeeding well! I stayed in 2 nights but now I am back home with my 3 boys and so far it's going well. MAx has taken very weell to Jack and is v gentle with him but is totally curious and amazed by it all - cue 50 MILLION questions

Hope everyone else has as much positive experience as we did this time!!!

[Modified by: MaxiMum+1 on 28 July 2010 15:32:04 ]