POSTED BY IR
I had my baby girl in January and had actually written the birth story down at the time while it was still fresh. Then I sent it to the other ladies and felt a lot lighter in my mind. So I recommend writing out the birth story to everyone soon after you've had your baby. I wish I had done it with my first as that was a very traumatic birth for me and I feel it would've helped me with my post baby blues.
This birth, thankfully, was not traumatic. Although the pregnancy was. I developed severe SPD which many people are not aware of. I'll need a whole other post to explain that so watch this space. But in short, I had a surge of hormone which softened my ligaments and caused excruciating pain in my pelvis which prevented me from moving my legs. SPD can affect people at different levels so don't worry if you've been diagnosed. But for me, it was going to be a challenge to give birth if I couldn't move my legs so I knew I would be needing the epidural to numb any pain. I also had the option of being induced due to the pain. I did opt for this when I reached 39 + 4 days. So here goes my birth story. Look away if your squeamish as I don't hold back.
Friday the induction started 11am. I had intense contractions by end of day that I had the pessary removed to stop baby getting distressed.
Saturday was rest day. They make you rest for 24hrs so that the baby doesn't get upset. I was still getting some contractions every 5 mins which got me to 2cm dilated. But they died off.
Sunday I had prostin gel inserted at 8am. Some contractions started. Not regular but by 3pm docs sent me to delivery suite to get waters broken and get things moving.
In the delivery suite, the Midwife managed to break waters and contractions started. They were still not regular enough. I then had the midwife changeover. It was a very experienced midwife with a student who was excellent. They said I was not getting enough contractions and I would need to be put on syntocin drip to get things going. I requested an epidural first as the drip can get things going quickly and is more painful as you can't build up your contractions. The Anaesthetist came and was very thorough and very serious. He talked me through all the risks and this made me very nervous.
So I was now linked up to epidural, to the drip AND given intravenous fluids. It seemed so medicated but I was happy I was getting somewhere.
I managed to go to the toilet once with the epidural, but the second time my legs were numb. I couldn't walk so catheter it was. So now bladder was empty, but I kept getting pains. So I was feeling contractions. The Epidural was topped up a few times to keep contractions at bay.
What they do with the syntocin drip is up the quantity going in very slowly so baby doesn't get distressed with too many contractions. But at some point when it was increased a little further, the baby became distressed. My birth partners were asleep at the time and I felt something was not right as I could feel a contraction that wouldn't pass. The babies feet were in my ribs n pushing up n I was trying to push them down. Midwife jumped up n looked at monitor. I started squirming from the pain and the Midwife woke my husband and calmly asked him to press emergency button. This happened with first baby so I knew what was coming. The room instantly filled with 2 doctors and about 10 midwives. All talking at once. I was really calm at this point as I knew there was absolutely nothing I could do. If I'd panicked, the baby would be more distressed so I just waited. It's lack of control. My life was literally in their hands.
I was told to lie on my side n I just waited for baby's heartbeat to pick up. Which it did thank God. They decreased the drip n left the room to us again. But this meant I wouldn't sleep. I was exhausted. But kept panicking thinking the baby would be in distress. So I had eyes wide open.
At some point my midwives went for their break. I think it was 3am ish on Monday morning so by now and another midwife came. She was very thorough and literally never took her eyes off the monitor. While she was there my contractions picked up and the epidural was wearing off. The contractions were really strong and she wanted to examine me. She was sure I was fully dilated.
My midwives had come back by now and the contractions were in full force. I couldn't breathe through them. They decided to stop the epidural completely and said it would be better I felt all contractions now and that I knew when to push. My SPD was not a problem at this point. The epidural had numbed my legs and I was concentrating more on contractions than the SPD.
As I hadn't felt any contractions with my first labour, I became nervous and unsure if I could do it, but I had no choice as the epidural had stopped working anyway. But at least it had got me to fully dilated so I'd had some rest.
So they checked and I was fully dilated but they were going to give me 1 hr so baby could come further down and then I'd push. After 10 mins my controlled breathing through contractions changed their tune. My sister and midwife kept asking if I was pushing. But I didn't think I was. But the breathing becomes a groaning type sound. And I started crying and saying I couldn't do it. So they offered me gas and air to get through the rest of the hour. Big mistake. I'd taken it with number 1 and was fine but this time I think I took too much too soon. During one of the contractions I felt baby come down and with it came lots of air. So I shouted baby's coming down! And the release of air made me laugh. Not normal laugh. I started cackling loudly. My eyes closed I was slapping my thighs and clapping my hands with laughter. That gas n air is magical. I took one more puff for the next contraction and they took it off me! As it wore off, which is does quickly, I couldn't stop apologising and was devastated as I had lost complete control. The midwives were very normal about it!
So all is serious again with next painful contraction and then they think I'm ready to push. The Midwife says it can take an hour sometimes and sometimes less. So with next contraction they asked me to do my first practise push. Much to everyone's surprise, the midwife sees the head! It took me 4 pushes in 5 mins and the baby was out!! Always amazing. Always extraordinary. They told us it was a girl and it was the best feeling and I was glad I hadn't found out in the scans.
So midwife informed me I had no blood loss unlike the first labour and only a small tear which would heal itself without stitches. They finished their paperwork and I was left to hold baby n given my toast. I felt good, as last time the haemorrhage meant that I was out of it. So it felt amazing to watch what was going on. The baby was checked and weighed. Then these midwives were finishing their shift and next one came. By the time next one came, I was feeling sick. So she injected me with anti-sickness. But I was now feeling pretty dazed and out of it. The midwife kept saying it was tiredness. And she was in and out the room. As I kept coming round I was telling my husband to do something as I felt I was losing blood again. He told the midwife. She was checking n said yes lots of blood loss but I'd had anti blood loss injection too so she said it's cos I have full bladder so it's making me bleed more. I went to the loo but I couldn't wee so catheter again and I had a very full bladder! While she was there she decided to check my tear. She was taken aback as it wasn't a small tear at all. And after a second opinion they said they needed to stitch it. But because of my SPD they might need to take me into theatre to give me a spinal block rather than a local anaesthetic as I couldn't spread legs wide enough. Luckily I said I'd try in delivery room first and the midwife was an expert stitcher n she managed it. So once stitched, the bleeding stopped and I was sent to the ward to spend my night.
I'd had a great experience in the ward and delivery suite. I had compared it to the first time and it was a total opposite experience. This time, I asked more questions, and wasn't afraid to ask for help when needed. I was well researched in induction and SPD which helped lots. And most importantly, post labour, I rested very well. I wasn't in a hurry to move. I knew I'd get better and needed time to heal and this meant that any post natal blues were more controlled as I didn't tire myself out too much.
I had my baby girl in January and had actually written the birth story down at the time while it was still fresh. Then I sent it to the other ladies and felt a lot lighter in my mind. So I recommend writing out the birth story to everyone soon after you've had your baby. I wish I had done it with my first as that was a very traumatic birth for me and I feel it would've helped me with my post baby blues.
This birth, thankfully, was not traumatic. Although the pregnancy was. I developed severe SPD which many people are not aware of. I'll need a whole other post to explain that so watch this space. But in short, I had a surge of hormone which softened my ligaments and caused excruciating pain in my pelvis which prevented me from moving my legs. SPD can affect people at different levels so don't worry if you've been diagnosed. But for me, it was going to be a challenge to give birth if I couldn't move my legs so I knew I would be needing the epidural to numb any pain. I also had the option of being induced due to the pain. I did opt for this when I reached 39 + 4 days. So here goes my birth story. Look away if your squeamish as I don't hold back.
Friday the induction started 11am. I had intense contractions by end of day that I had the pessary removed to stop baby getting distressed.
Saturday was rest day. They make you rest for 24hrs so that the baby doesn't get upset. I was still getting some contractions every 5 mins which got me to 2cm dilated. But they died off.
Sunday I had prostin gel inserted at 8am. Some contractions started. Not regular but by 3pm docs sent me to delivery suite to get waters broken and get things moving.
In the delivery suite, the Midwife managed to break waters and contractions started. They were still not regular enough. I then had the midwife changeover. It was a very experienced midwife with a student who was excellent. They said I was not getting enough contractions and I would need to be put on syntocin drip to get things going. I requested an epidural first as the drip can get things going quickly and is more painful as you can't build up your contractions. The Anaesthetist came and was very thorough and very serious. He talked me through all the risks and this made me very nervous.
So I was now linked up to epidural, to the drip AND given intravenous fluids. It seemed so medicated but I was happy I was getting somewhere.
I managed to go to the toilet once with the epidural, but the second time my legs were numb. I couldn't walk so catheter it was. So now bladder was empty, but I kept getting pains. So I was feeling contractions. The Epidural was topped up a few times to keep contractions at bay.
What they do with the syntocin drip is up the quantity going in very slowly so baby doesn't get distressed with too many contractions. But at some point when it was increased a little further, the baby became distressed. My birth partners were asleep at the time and I felt something was not right as I could feel a contraction that wouldn't pass. The babies feet were in my ribs n pushing up n I was trying to push them down. Midwife jumped up n looked at monitor. I started squirming from the pain and the Midwife woke my husband and calmly asked him to press emergency button. This happened with first baby so I knew what was coming. The room instantly filled with 2 doctors and about 10 midwives. All talking at once. I was really calm at this point as I knew there was absolutely nothing I could do. If I'd panicked, the baby would be more distressed so I just waited. It's lack of control. My life was literally in their hands.
I was told to lie on my side n I just waited for baby's heartbeat to pick up. Which it did thank God. They decreased the drip n left the room to us again. But this meant I wouldn't sleep. I was exhausted. But kept panicking thinking the baby would be in distress. So I had eyes wide open.
At some point my midwives went for their break. I think it was 3am ish on Monday morning so by now and another midwife came. She was very thorough and literally never took her eyes off the monitor. While she was there my contractions picked up and the epidural was wearing off. The contractions were really strong and she wanted to examine me. She was sure I was fully dilated.
My midwives had come back by now and the contractions were in full force. I couldn't breathe through them. They decided to stop the epidural completely and said it would be better I felt all contractions now and that I knew when to push. My SPD was not a problem at this point. The epidural had numbed my legs and I was concentrating more on contractions than the SPD.
As I hadn't felt any contractions with my first labour, I became nervous and unsure if I could do it, but I had no choice as the epidural had stopped working anyway. But at least it had got me to fully dilated so I'd had some rest.
So they checked and I was fully dilated but they were going to give me 1 hr so baby could come further down and then I'd push. After 10 mins my controlled breathing through contractions changed their tune. My sister and midwife kept asking if I was pushing. But I didn't think I was. But the breathing becomes a groaning type sound. And I started crying and saying I couldn't do it. So they offered me gas and air to get through the rest of the hour. Big mistake. I'd taken it with number 1 and was fine but this time I think I took too much too soon. During one of the contractions I felt baby come down and with it came lots of air. So I shouted baby's coming down! And the release of air made me laugh. Not normal laugh. I started cackling loudly. My eyes closed I was slapping my thighs and clapping my hands with laughter. That gas n air is magical. I took one more puff for the next contraction and they took it off me! As it wore off, which is does quickly, I couldn't stop apologising and was devastated as I had lost complete control. The midwives were very normal about it!
So all is serious again with next painful contraction and then they think I'm ready to push. The Midwife says it can take an hour sometimes and sometimes less. So with next contraction they asked me to do my first practise push. Much to everyone's surprise, the midwife sees the head! It took me 4 pushes in 5 mins and the baby was out!! Always amazing. Always extraordinary. They told us it was a girl and it was the best feeling and I was glad I hadn't found out in the scans.
So midwife informed me I had no blood loss unlike the first labour and only a small tear which would heal itself without stitches. They finished their paperwork and I was left to hold baby n given my toast. I felt good, as last time the haemorrhage meant that I was out of it. So it felt amazing to watch what was going on. The baby was checked and weighed. Then these midwives were finishing their shift and next one came. By the time next one came, I was feeling sick. So she injected me with anti-sickness. But I was now feeling pretty dazed and out of it. The midwife kept saying it was tiredness. And she was in and out the room. As I kept coming round I was telling my husband to do something as I felt I was losing blood again. He told the midwife. She was checking n said yes lots of blood loss but I'd had anti blood loss injection too so she said it's cos I have full bladder so it's making me bleed more. I went to the loo but I couldn't wee so catheter again and I had a very full bladder! While she was there she decided to check my tear. She was taken aback as it wasn't a small tear at all. And after a second opinion they said they needed to stitch it. But because of my SPD they might need to take me into theatre to give me a spinal block rather than a local anaesthetic as I couldn't spread legs wide enough. Luckily I said I'd try in delivery room first and the midwife was an expert stitcher n she managed it. So once stitched, the bleeding stopped and I was sent to the ward to spend my night.
I'd had a great experience in the ward and delivery suite. I had compared it to the first time and it was a total opposite experience. This time, I asked more questions, and wasn't afraid to ask for help when needed. I was well researched in induction and SPD which helped lots. And most importantly, post labour, I rested very well. I wasn't in a hurry to move. I knew I'd get better and needed time to heal and this meant that any post natal blues were more controlled as I didn't tire myself out too much.
