Thursday 20 September 2012

My Labour Story (Part 2)

Once I'd moved across to the delivery room, it suddenly hit me that I was going to have a baby! Much to my dismay though, I still wasn't in that much pain and Mr C was incredibly calm and composed. My first mistake however was getting onto the bed; once there, I didn't move!

As many people had told me prior to labour; my birth plan went well and truely out of the window. The midwife didn't even look at it and it was the last thing on my mind! Originally, I wanted an active labour where I birthed on bean bags on the floor and used a birthing ball to encourage baby to move down. At one point, I laughed at the sheer rediculous-ness of that & told the midwife that there was no way on God's Earth I was leaving the comfort of that bed!

I changed into my 'birthing outfit'; a beach dress from Primark, and the midwife asked me what I wanted in terms of pain relief. I opted for gas & air however, to be honest, I don't think it worked! I didn't really feel any different but the action of using and holding it in my hands during a contraction was a real comfort. Mr C even had a sneaky go but said that he felt no different! Further on into my labour when the midwife suggested giving the gas & air up, I laughed in her face and refused to let go! I was saying 'someone's turned my gas off!' and 'tell the woman in the room next door to stop using my gas & air because I can't taste it!'. Madness!

At 11pm, as well as gas & air, the midwife gave me an injection of diamorphine. Originally, I felt reserved towards using this as it can pass through to baby and make them drowsy once born however the midwife assured me that I had time to let the diamorphine pass before baby was going to be delivered therefore it would be out of my system by then. I started to have all of my pain in my back (exactly the same as my mum's labour with me!) and it felt like someone was twisting a knife in it, causing me to writhe around the bed in pain so the diamorphine was a welcome relief from the pain! It was still there but somehow, I didn't really care that much about it and at points, I even fell asleep during contractions which meant I could re-fuel my energy before pushing. On occasions, I was that relaxed that I thought we were on holiday! Apparantly I asked Mr C if we were going to the water park and whether he was enjoying his holiday in the sun!

During the night, I dozed and chatted with Mr C whilst he ate Greggs pasties all chilled! I vividly recall looking over at him and he'd reclined his seat back and was fast asleep like he was at home!

I kept focussing on the fact that I could have another shot of diamorphine at 3am so watched the clock on count down mode. The midwife had turned the lights down and the whole atmosphere was strangely serene and peaceful. I remember thinking 'this isn't so bad afterall' whilst in a lovely diamorphine fuelled haze! As it wore off, I was asking for more so at 3am, the midwife performed another examination before she was to give me another injection. She asked us how far dilated we thought I was and myself and Mr C agreed on 7cm. We were overjoyed when she told us I was 10cm dilated! She informed us that baby C wasn't quite in optimum position yet but to get myself ready because it wouldn't be long before I was to push!

At that point, I proceeded to absolutely shit myself (not literally!) and begged her for an epidural even though I wasn't in that much pain! The midwife simply laughed and said I'd coped with the pain amazingly and there was no way I needed an epidural and besides, it was way too late! I'd convinced myself that I was going to have a shoulder distocia because of his predicted size and I was resigned to the fact that he was going to get stuck. Mr C was an absolute star at this point and calmed me right down whilst massaging my feet and spraying my face with a cooling water spray.

At around 3.45am, our lovely midwife came in accompanied by another midwife and told me that my baby was going to be born! I started to push at around 4am although I never actaully got that urge. I'd been told prior to labour that i'd feel an overwhelming urge to push but that never came. Pushing was hard, hard, hard work! At times I felt like it was never going to end and giving up was the only option. It seemed like he didn't want to arrive and even though his head kepy peeking out, he'd quickly retreat back inside, much to my frustration.

Mr C was such an encouragement and when I felt like I could do no more, seeing the excitement on his face made me summon up strength from somewhere I never knew existed. He kept telling me that we were going to meet our baby soon and our family would be complete which somehow made things easier. With a little help from an episiotomy (ouch!), I managed to give birth to my (not so little) 10lbs 1/2 ozbundle of joy at 4.55am on 2.9.12.

The midwife passed him straight up onto my chest and I remember saying 'hello Freddie, you're so beautiful Freddie!' The midwife said "don't you want to double check he's a boy first?" jokingly however I panicked and said to Mr C "I don't want a girl, I want my Freddie!"

I was elated to find that I did indeed have my Freddie and what I joy he is!

Saturday 15 September 2012

My Labour Story (Part 1)

Prior to giving birth I read countless labour stories in a feeble attempt to predict what my labour would be like. In the end I decided on the fact that i'd feel like I was dying and prepared myself for an unimaginable amount of pain. In reality, I was very lucky and it wasn't half as bad as what I expected! Here is my labour story...

My Due Date was Friday, 31st August however I was already booked in for a planned induction on Monday, 3rd September as a result of being large for dates. Once i'd got the date for my induction, i'd resigned myself to the fact that baby C would never arrive on his own accord therefore I never expected to go into labour naturally. Little did I know!

Friday 31st came and I felt fine at first. It wasn't till I got into bed to snuggle down to watch The Batchelor that I started to feel a few niggles of back pain. The pains seemed to last a few minutes and were, at times, painful enough to wake me. I woke Mr C up countless times throughout the night simply to have a whinge at him but not at any point did I expect that I were in labour.

Saturday 1st September - After a restless night, I eventually decided enough was enough and got up at about 6am. I had an urge to clean my kitchen cupboards however it wasn't strong enough and I fought it and relaxed on the couch eating giant Haribo strawberries instead! Once Mr C woke, we decided to go to Toby Carvery for a breakfast. I didn't think for one minute that I was in labour so off we went! Once we got there, the pains were getting a little stronger but I thought I needed a poo! Classy lady I am!

Once we'd got our breakfasts, I stood up to go to the bar to get a coffee and as I did, I felt a trickle of liquid between my legs. I shouted 'I'm weeing and I can't stop!' to Mr C right in the middle of, a fully packed, Toby Carvery and ran into the ladies loo's where I promptly rang my friend who's a midwife. Mr C came running into the ladies toilets after telling the manager that his girlfriend was going to give birth! After finding out that I wouldn't be giving birth for a fair few hours yet, Mr C promptly relaxed and returned to eat his breakfast. I waddled out of the toilet still wearing my damp jeans to be greeted by Mr C calmly enjoying his sausages looking like he hadn't a care in the World! Men eh?! He was even more made up that we didn't have to pay as the manager said it was good luck!

Once home, I rang the hospital where a VERY grumpy sounded midwife proceeded to tell me that, my waters hadn't gone; I was in fact experiencing 'increased vaginal discharge'! (Sorry for TMI!) I was adamant that she was wrong however she told me that I wasn't to go to the hospital as I wasn't in labour. This infuriated me and I spent a good half hour stomping around the house telling Mr C that I knew my body and I most certainly wasn't experiencing increased discharge! Over this time I kept feeling slight trickles but there wasn't that whoosh that I imagined. I sat bouncing on the birthing ball watching TV whilst moaning (again!) at Mr C that 'the stupid bloody effing idiotic midwife' doesn't believe me and I'm right and she's wrong and blah blah blah! (I told you he deserved a medal!)

We went for a stroll around Asda to try get things moving and armed with a maternity pad, I was determined to prove that midwife wrong! Once we get home, I found that the pad was still dry and I started to doubt the fact that I was in labour at all. I got myself an ice pop (pregnancy life saver!) and sat on my birthing ball once again and there it was... a WHOOSH! I jumped up; splashing amniotic fluid all over my living room carpet and shouted for Mr C to come and see! I rang the hospital to be greeted by the same grumpy midwife again but was pleased to find that she advised me to go into the hospital to confirm that my waters had indeed gone. Excited, I took it upon myself to re-paint my finger and toe nails so they matched, plucked my eyebrowns and did my hair & full face of make-up. There was no way that I was going to give birth looking a minger!

We got to the hospital at around 5pm and I was hooked up to a ECG monitor to check how baby was doing. I was pleased to find that he was well and more than a little surprised when she told me that I was having regular contractions too; I still thought I only needed a poo! At this point, I wasn't in any great pain so when advised to go to the ward, I opted to go home and labour there instead. The midwife said this was fine as long as we didn't indulge in any intercourse! WHAT?! I was in labour, a quickie was the last thing on my mind! So off we went home...

Once at home, Mr C got himself comfty in front of the TV to watch Doctor Who. We thought we were going to be in for a long night so I laid down on the bed whilst the pains got more and more frequent (but I STILL was adamant I needed a poo!) . Once X Factor started, the contractions started to hurt a little more so I called for Mr C to come into the bedroom armed with his 'app' to time them. The strangest thing happened when the app showed that they all lasted exactly 53 seconds and they were 3 1/2 minutes apart. Mr C rang the hospital who advised us to go in straight away. This time, make up and sleek hair where the last things on my mind and I turned up at the labour ward wearing Mr C's Homer Simpson slippers!

The midwife said I seemed very calm to say how my contractions where going and I was a bit peeved as I felt she didn't believe me. When she eventually examined me, she found that I was 5cm dilated already! Bonus! I thought she was about to send us home again as she thought I was exaggerating so I was made up when she said I could have pain relief and I was going to be moved into a delivery room.


Part 2 coming soon!

Friday 14 September 2012

Welcome to the World!

I haven't been blogging for a couple of weeks and I apologise for my absence, however... I have a VERY good reason.

Welcome to the World, Freddie Jacob!


I am ecstatic to announce that I gave birth to Freddie Jacob on Sunday 2nd September 2012 at 4.55am. He weighed a whopping 10lbs 1 1/2 oz and truely is, an absolute gem. The last 12 days have gone by in a whirlwind on complete and utter bliss and I am loving being a mummy! I genuinely do not know what I did when he wasn't around! Nothing can prepare you for the overwhelming, unimaginable love that washes over you the moment that you meet that little bean that has been growing inside of you and I am overwhelmed by the adoration towards him that grows in heart every second.