Right, lets try remember what happened.....
So at 40+1 I saw my midwife and she attempted a sweep. Unfortunately she couldn't reach my cervix so I was sent home and told to keep as active as possible. I bounced on my ball, walked everywhere, ate a whole pineapple a day, had spicy currys, continued to take RLT..... and then went back at 41+1 and saw a different midwife who managed to do a sweep and said I was 1cm dilated. At 41+3 another midwife attempted a sweep but she couldn't do it at all. I was slightly confused how my cervix could go backwards but I'm guessing this midwife had shorter fingers
I had a few tightenings and I thought I had my show after the first sweep, but I'm not 100% sure even now. So on Saturday, 41+5 I went into hospital to be induced. I arrived at 10.30am and by 12 o clock, I had been examined (still 1 cm dilated) and had the pessary inserted. It was painful but then the midwife I had was rather rough. I was told to keep as active as possible so Paul and I walked around the hospital, going sideways up and down the stairs. It was pretty boring I have to admit. I had a ward to myself too until about 8pm at night. I was put on the monitor and obs taken fairly regularly and everything was fine. It is worth mentioning that I had a low risk pregnancy up to this point and was under the midwife's care the whole time (never saw a consultant). I was aiming for a water birth.
That evening we agreed that Paul should go home and get a sleep in a bed rather than a hospital reclining chair. He left about 8.30pm and I got ready for bed. I had about 2 hours sleep when I woke with slight pains. It was just before 1am when suddenly gussssshhh my waters broke. My first thought was 'omg ive wet myself' then realised it was my waters. I called the nurse and she changed the bed and I got re-dressed. My waters continued to leak for most the night. It was amazing how much water I had. I didn't get any more sleep so when lights were put on at 7am, I was still rather tired. The girl next to me had been sick and in pain all night so she was pretty loud. I was on a baby trace thing for a lot of the night but babe was doing absolutely fine. I kept getting mild contractions once my waters had broken every 5 minutes or so.
Sunday morning we did more walking and climbing stairs, but the contractions weren't as strong or regular as during the night. At 12 o clock I was examined and the pessary to be taken out, but the pessary was not there!!! The only thing we can think is that I went to the loo and it fell out then. Gutted! The mw examined me and I was still only 1cm dilated!!! Even more gutted. The mw said she would check with the dr what to do but they thought they would give me 24 hours rest to see if I went into labour naturally.
At 4pm the midwife came over and said she had spoken to the dr and they wanted me to go to delivery suite and on a drip. The fact my waters had broken at 1am that morning and I had made no progress on dilating since Tuesday, made them think that it was better to act now. So about 5.30pm we finally taken to delivery suite and into the room where I gave birth.
The first challenge was to put a canula in. I have awful veins and the midwifes couldn't do it. In the end they got the anaesthetist in, who put it in the side of my wrist. Next was hooked up to drip and monitoring machine, and at 7.11pm the drip started. It was hiked up every 30mins until I was at full dosage by 10pm. I was continuously monitored and all was fine. Baby was doing fine too. I started off on the ball which helped lots. It then got too much and I used the tens machine which I highly recommend. I found being upright or on the ball the best position. I kept needing the loo, so Paul had to take me and essentially undress me because I was wired up and kept having contractions whilst trying to wee/poo! Not one of my better moments lol.
Eventually I was in too much pain so went on to gas and air as well as the tens machine. I kneeled on the bed and leant on the top bit. This really helped. I just focussed on each contraction and then resting in between. Paul gave me sips of water but that was it. At 1am I was examined. I was still 1cm dilated! I burst into tears. The pain had been bad but I thought I had managed it, but I honestly couldn't see me coping for much longer if I still had 9cm to go and then to push. The midwife was amazing and gave Paul and I some time together. I was a mess. In the end I said I would need an epidural. This was my worse nightmare because I was petrified of epidurals.
So everything gets set up for the epidural and I then went into full body shakes. I couldn't control myself. it was awful. The anaesthetist kept telling me to get into certain positions but I just couldn't move my body. I wasn't allowed any pain relief so now was coping with contractions alone. This was definitely the worse part and I think I was crying at times. Eventually it was done and then 20 or so minutes later I was numb.
I did manage to rest for a few hours after this. Baby's heart beat kept decelerating so other doctors were coming in, but I wasn't fully with it to be honest. They kept asking me to move position which is difficult when half body is numb. Other people had to move my legs because I simply could not feel them. I cant remember the order but at some point I was put on antibiotics because my white bloods cells were high. I was also given fluids because I was dehydrated. Also they did a scratch thing on baby's head to see if he was distressed or not - thankfully he wasn't.
At 4am, I was 2cm dilated and at 7.30am I was 4/5cm dilated. At this point I was glad we were making progress but aware that in 12 hours I had only dilated 4cm, so we could be in for a long wait. Baby's heart rate kept decelerating so they got the dr in again. I think they were thinking of sending me for a C-section, but dr said she would examine me and lo and behold I was fully dilated. This was at 9.30am!!
They gave me 50mins to rest and then at 10.20am I started pushing. They said they could see baby's head so I foolishly thought it would be long until baby was here..... how wrong I was. I kept pushing, but he wouldn't budge. They did an ultrasound because they thought he may be back to back. I think he wasn't but actually can't remember. All I know is that by 12 o clock I had no energy. The doctor came in and was going to do an assisted birth but she then thought I could do it because baby was so close.... I couldn't and so at 12.20 something, she used vontouse and at 12.26 baby Oliver was born. I had an episiotomy because Oliver came out with his shoulders across me and his arms crossed, as if he was in the brace position! No wonder I couldn't push him out.
Oliver was absolutely fine. Cried straight away, The paediatrician just mentioned how big his feet were. I had skin to skin contact straight away then Paul held him. Whilst cuddling him, suddenly the room was filled with people. Apparently I was bleeding and it hadn't stopped so the midwife called the emergency button. Thankfully the bleed stopped and I wasn't required to go to theatre. Phew! I lost about 900ml in the end. I was stitched up and then cuddles with our son.
Unfortunately I was violently sick which then made me shivery. I had some tea and toast, and then that came up too. I'll be honest I felt very weak and at one point I couldn't hold Oliver any more. He felt like 10 stone! I was given a bed bath and eventually my sensation in my legs came back. I was wheelchaired to the ward about 5pm.
So that's my labour story. Unfortunately my low risk pregnancy turned into a little less straight forward labour, but Oliver is here now and all is perfect
I have to say the midwifes were amazing, especially in delivery suite. We saw 3 shifts of midwifes and each were incredible. I really cannot praise them enough. Even though at times things were higher risk, they always made me stay calm, and provided such encouragement when required.
Hope this all makes sense. To be honest my memory is a bit hazy at times. Probably best it stays that way really!
