Happy Monday everyone! Dd you have a nice weekend?
Today on My Story Monday we have the fabulous Sarah from Yummy Mummy in Training. Please enjoy!
After 2 sweeps which failed to do anything I ended up going 14 days over so was booked in for an induction on Friday 25th May. I was told to phone the labour ward at 8:30am to get a time to go in, but as they were really busy from the night before they didn't have a time for me to go in. I had to phone them a further 2 times before they finally called and said I could go in at 5pm. So I thought wayhay we are off.
At first they couldn't break my water so I had to have a pessary fitted to soften and open the cervix and had to have that for 24 hours before they would examine me again and try to break my waters again. Once I had that fitted I have to be monitored for 2 hours to make sure the baby was still OK after they had been messing about with me and then I was allowed to go home but I had to be back at 8am the next morning for another hour of monitoring. Whilst I was in hospital the next day I started getting a tightening pain which the midwife said was caused by the pessary and it was a good sign as it meant it was working. Those pains lasted me pretty much all day. Once we got home we went for a long walk and I bounced on my birth ball to try and get things moving but no such luck. At 7:30 that night we went back to hospital this time I wasn't leaving without my baby boy.
The only thing that I was gutted about with having an induction is that my wish of a nice active labour in the birth centre was out of the window now. I had to be hooked up to the monitor for continuous monitoring.
After a further hour on the monitor the midwives came to try and break my water which they managed to do. That is a horrible experience I'm so glad they broke in hospital and not whilst walking around Tesco. The only way to describe it is it feels like you are weeing yourself but you have no control over it and can't stop it. We also discovered Thomas had done a poo which could have been because he was a bit distressed or because he was 2 weeks over.
After they broke my water I was then attached to a drip which started my contractions almost instantly. They were horrible and having to lie in bed made it worse I felt like I needed to walk around like it may take some of the pain away but I couldn't. I soon started on my gas and air which is amazing stuff, it doesn't take the pain away completely but it does help a little and it gives you something else to think about. The only way I can describe it is the feeling you get when your lying in bed drunk after a night out and the room spins and your not quite with it.
I was having really strong regular contractions for about 2 hours and was having about 6 every 10 minutes when things too a turn for the worse. Every time I was contracting Thomas's heart rate was dropping. I can't really remember anything from then on because I was out of it on gas and air but apparently the midwife said to David and my mum that if his heart rate dropped again she would press the red button and the room would fill with people. She didn't get to finish the sentence before she pressed the button and people came running in to the room.
They tried to put a monitor on Thomas's head to monitor him more effectively but his heart rate was still dropping and I was still only 2cm dilated which is what I was when they first broke my water so the decision was mad to perform and emergency Cesarean. All I can remember at this point was somebody thrust a consent form in front of me to sign and then I was rushed to theatre.
As soon as I was in theatre the epidural was fitted and I can remember having freezing water squirted on me to test if it had started to work and it was touch and go whether I would have to be put to sleep or not as it wasn't kicking in straight away but luckily it worked.
David was then allowed in to theatre just in time for Thomas to be delivered. It was a weird sensation I could feel pulling and tugging as they were getting him out but there is no pain at all. Imagine having a tooth out, it was like that. The next thing I knew there was an ear peircing scream. My son had been born I just burst in to tears it was the most beautiful sound in the world hearing your child for the first time.
Thomas was then passed to David and I saw him for the first I fell in love instantly words just cannot describe that feel it was absolutely amazing.
I was then stitched up and taken to recovery to wait for some feeling to come back in my legs and I was finally allowed to hold my son and have skin to skin with him it was the most beautiful moment ever the first cuddle with my beautiful baby boy.
I'd like to say a big thank you to Sarah for sharing her experience with us here today, please go and check her blog (link above).
If you'd like to share your real birthing story, please read the intro post here and check out the other birthing stories on the My Story Monday page.
Clare
Labels: birthing, Caesarian, epidural, labour, My story Monday
