Amelia Rose Gorvett, Sunday 2nd March, 2014 @ 11:03pm weighing 9lbs 8oz (exactly 2 weeks overdue!)
Well ladies, here is my birth story. Grab a cuppa tea and a biscuit - this could be long! I'm going to be 100% honest about every aspect, as I hope this maybe helps any future ladies xxx
Friday 28th February
Hubby and I made our way to the antenatal ward at the hospital for 10am ready for me to be induced. On the way dropped off the dog at the in-laws, and had a cup of tea whilst speculating about when baby G might arrive. Once we had arrived at the hospital they were ready for us straight away, got taken to a bed, had my obs done and put me on the monitor to check baby's heart rate. All was lovely, so MW came over to examine me (1cm) and inserted the propess. I was then put on the monitor for another hour to see how baby reacted to the propess - again, everything fine and the MW could see I was having mild tightenings which I could feel in my back. I stayed for lunch which was at 1pm (nasty hospital food!) and then was allowed to return home to wait for contractions.
Got home at about 2pm, and because of no sleep the night before I decided to go straight to bed for a nap in order to try and conserve some energy for what may lie ahead. Woke up at 4 with slightly stronger contractions, again I could feel them in my back and at this point they were on average every 5-10 minutes, fairly irregular with some 6 minutes apart, some 8, 10 etc. I monitored them for a few hours (whilst rocking on my birthing ball) and they didn't stop, by about 8pm they were anywhere between 3-6 minutes apart (again, still irregular in exactly when they came). Mildly painful, but bearable although I did have to stop what I was doing to concentrate on them and breathe through them. My mum was round our house too and wondering if labour was on its way, John went out and got us all a McDonalds lol.
By 9pm they were still coming quite close together and so I called the antenatal ward and was told to go in to be checked.
Upon (a painful) examination I was disappointed to be 1-2cms dilated, but the MW on duty said I could stay in overnight in case anything progressed. I was ok with this as being a first time mum I wasn't sure what to expect. The contractions continued throughout the night every 3-5 minutes but I could tell weren't "proper" labour pains as they would increase/decrease in intensity depending on how I was lying. What was strange was the pressure when I went for a wee. OMG! lol Going for a wee was hard work - painful, and felt like I needed to wee out a bowling ball! MW offered me some co-dydramol to take the edge off so I could get some sleep - didn't work though as it's hard to sleep when you have constant tightenings.
Saturday 1st March through to Sunday 2nd March
Woke up and still had bearable contractions in my back, but they were 10 minutes apart again. Frustrating. Today was the day though that the MWs would either break my waters, or use the gel to help me dilate. Knowing I was at least 1-2cm I was sure they could break my waters, and it felt promising having had lots of tightenings. So, I was put on the monitor at 11am for 30 mins to check bubba again, and then at 11:30 had another examination. By this point it was my third examination in 24 hours and those MW's weren't gentle either (think it's because my cervix was far back, rather than them just being mean
) so I was feeling very tender and sore down there which actually made me cry - especially when after a night of no sleep and constant tightenings I found I was still only 1-2cms and the MW "could no way reach to break my waters".
So, I had the 2mg gel which actually seemed to start working straight away. It brought on period pains (which apparently is normal anyway) and as the timewent on, I could feel the tightenings get more intense. John went home for a bit, and mum came up to the hospital about 2pm. By this time, I was just starting to feel the contractions move around to the front. We went for a hot chocolate & coffee down in the hospital cafe, and I was beginning to feel more and more pain as a result of the gel. Back on the ward, mum suggested I get some rest. I took some more co-dydramol, put my chill out music in my ears and mum (bless her) sat there and massaged my back, feet and stroked my hair to help ease the pains and help me sleep. I think I managed about an hour, and when I woke up John was back at my bedside.
Was due to be monitored at 6pm, and re-examined at 6:30pm I was absolutely dreading it. 4th examination and I was still so sore down there. The trace showed I was having regular contractions so the MW had already made the decision not to give me a 2nd dose of gel as I didn't need it...so I was really just waiting for when my waters could be broken. I asked if I could be examined in a side-room, rather than on the ward as these examinations were starting to make me cry and although the curtains were obviously drawn, I felt so exposed being in pain around other people, and very uncomfortable. I also asked for some gas and air to see if it helped. It did help massively, I could still feel the pains but it just didn't really matter...that's probably the best way to describe it. It was pretty awesome actually. 2cms dilated and OMG the relief. It obviously wasn't huge progress despite lots of contractions, but it meant they could break my waters! Yay!! MW said she was going to call delivery suite and sort it out, and I was to get my things sorted, and that it would probably be after the hand over at 7:30pm. So, went back to John and mum and they kindly packed up all my bits and pieces and we got ready to be taken over. 7:30pm came and went, and so John went out to ask what was going on. Another MW came over a little while later and said that the delivery suite was very busy and they can't fit me in tonight. I cried... a lot! All she could do was offer me some more co-dydramol, a hot bath to ease the pain, or pethidine to help me get some rest as she knew I hadn't had any sleep. At this point, I was in so much pain with the contractions, I felt lost. I wasn't sure I wanted pethidine because it was early on, and I knew it could make the baby sleepy - plus the MW would have to re-examine me in a few hours before having it and I wasn't sure I could handle a 5th examination), Co-dydramol didn't do anything for me at all, and how was I going to get in a hot bath when I could barely walk? I had lost any sort of calm state and was just so upset and disappointed. I was so close, and now I had to spend another night in that ward, in pain, tired and unable to sleep. I did calm down though, and took some co-dydramol and John came and sat with me while I had a hot bath.
Mum and John then kindly took it in turns to stroke my back, and my hair so I could try and get some sleep. They really were very good to me over the 3 days. I decided later on that I would take the pethidine - I needed to get some sleep if I was going to have any chance at labour. Re-examined (no 5) at 10:30pm, lots of gas and air, still 2cms so was ok to go ahead with the pethidine. Injected into my thigh along with an anti-sickness medicine, and mum and John quickly said goodbye before I was totally out of it! Worked in minutes and the next thing I know I was "drunk" and sleeping. Woke up by strong, painful contractions at 1:30am - followed by lots of sickness. MW examined me (no 6) and I was 3cm...slow progress, but at least it was progress. Despite the sickness, I was offered another shot of pethidine at 2:30am and I was more than happy to take it (but with a different anti-sickness medicine this time)..I just had to pace the antenatal ward for an hour contracting away (ouch!). 2:30am came, MW came back with pethidine and again within 10 minutes I was as high as a kite and falling back to sleep. I thought I'd have another few hours of sleep, but I instead woke up 2 hours later (at 4:30am) with very intense contractions (cue animal noises out loud in the ward!) and MW coming running in! She insisted on another examination (no 7) as she believed something was definitely happening. More gas and air, and...4cms!!!
Whilst she called the delivery suite, I called John and told him to get to the hospital as I was finally in established labour. The contractions were coming thick and fast now, and the pain was almost unbearable (I later found out baby was in an awkward position making them that much more intense). I was straight on the gas and air once I got into my delivery room (Room C) and these contractions, as well as being in pain for 2 days now started making me seriously think about an epidural. MW came in and explained that the birthing pool is free, and she's happy to go and fill it up for me. Now, I think most of you know this was what I really wanted throughout my pregnancy...water birth, bit of gas and air etc. What I planned for, and what was reality were two completely different things though! I said I'd see how I got on for half an hour and then make a decision. Two or three contractions later and I was asking for that epidural. I got the impression that the MW was a little disappointed in me for making that decision...as if I was just taking the "easy" option. It wasn't an easy decision, but I couldn't cope the pain any longer. Everything was getting so intense, and I could feel my body was just screaming out for a rest.
Anaesthetist came pretty quickly, explained it all and began sorting it all out. Fortunately the gas and air sent me to some dreamy, awesome place as I had a contraction just before he was about to put the epidural in lol. The second he put it in my waters went (very peculiar feeling) and before I knew it, things were beginning to become numb and I was able to rest. The effects of the pethidine were still there and I was very drowsy so kept falling in and out of consciousness! From here onwards, time seemed to move either really quick or really slowly. There was lots of monitoring as baby needed to be watched 24/7, and I needed to keep having checks done also. My next examination was 6cm.
Throughout labour baby’s heart rate kept going high with a baseline of over 160bpm and we could see the midwives and doctors increasingly becoming concerned as it wouldn’t go down. I also had a raised temperature which indicated an infection, so along with my saline drip, epidural, hormone drip, and catheter, I had some antibiotics and some paracetamol pumped into me as well. After several more checks with lots of doctors coming in and out, they decided they weren’t happy with baby’s heart rate so wanted to take some blood from baby’s head. Also by this point, the epidural had worn off on the right hand side of my body, and with baby lying in an awkward position the contractions were very intense and painful again and I was getting in a bit of a state. So whilst I had my legs in stirrups surrounded by doctors attempting (and failing at first – making John having to leave the room as he was so angry) to get blood from our baby’s head, I was having contractions thick and fast so back on the gas and air to try and drift away for a bit. (They had to do the blood-taking - can’t remember the official name for it now - twice because they didn’t do it properly the first time, so my poor baby girl has several scratches on her head now). Fortunately, the results showed that baby was absolutely fine which was great news and I was also 8-9cms at this point. After the blood-taking, they upped my epidural in order to re-numb the right hand side. I was also vomiting quite a bit again throughout all of this but I can’t remember when exactly it was.
Examined again a bit later and was a good 9cm. I was examined an hour later as despite the epidural, I could feel a lot of pressure down below and I was fully dilated! They were originally going to keep me waiting another 2 hours for the baby’s head to come down naturally so I didn’t have to push that much but I only had to wait an hour. 9:30pm and it was time for things to happen. MW warned me that pushing with an epidural can be difficult as I wouldn’t be able to feel what I was doing, and it may take a few pushes to get the hang of it. Not sure how I did it, but from the first push I got it spot on and it was all very positive. With each contraction I gave three or four good pushes – this was actually my favourite part of the whole thing – the pushing. It was tough, I’ve never worked my body so hard before in my life until that moment – extremely tiring but all you can think about is getting your baby down that birth canal safely so you fight like hell to get her there! Obviously the risk of intervention is much higher with an epidural, and I really wanted this one part of my labour to go smoothly and for it to be under control. The pushing part lasted an hour and a half, and I had an episiotomy but I did it! I pushed her head out, my mum holding my left leg, MW holding my right and John by my right shoulder stroking my back. I couldn’t see but her little body turned round so that everyone could see her face and apparently she looked all scrunched up lol. Another couple of pushes and I felt her little (big) body come out and lots of warm fluid. She was here!!! Amelia Rose Gorvett was born at 23:03! The atmosphere was lovely (dimmed lights, chill-out music and I’d just given birth!
) and there were lots of kisses flying around until we realised that she hadn’t yet made a sound and was still a purple-y colour. It then went very quiet and tense as the MWs tried to stimulate our baby girl with towels etc. It seemed like forever before she made a couple of quiet sounds, but it was still clear that something wasn’t right. Her breathing was very squeaky and sounded strained. The MWs called for the pediatricians and they then told me that Amelia would have to go to the special care baby unit for a bit of assistance with her breathing. They reassured me that she was ok, but just needed a little bit of help as there was lots of meconium in the fluid that came out as I delivered her. I was in tears, and I could tell John and my mum were scared although they didn’t want to show it. I had a very brief look at her, and we all got to give her a kiss before she was taken away. I was now in a mess – tears, pain, the shakes, a lot of blood coming out of me and then came lots more vomiting – whilst having my legs in stirrups being stitched up. Half an hour later, in came Amelia looking lovely and pink and alert. The relief I felt then... was so glad my baby girl was ok. Apparently she suddenly turned right round herself as soon as they arrived at SCBU and didn’t need any assistance at all. John and mum gave her cuddles while I was being stitched (and still vomiting) and then finally I was able to hold my beautiful baby girl.
Was quite a rollercoaster, and I get very emotional talking about the seconds and minutes after she was born. That traumatised me to be honest. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the terror I felt.
Sorry this went on for so long!! I just wanted to be thorough. It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t help having been in slow labour for a couple of days before hand – I think I’d have coped with established labour a lot better had I not been sleep deprived and zapped of all my energy. I’d like to finish it on a high though – we are both absolutely fine. She has been perfect ever since in terms of her health, and we both love her just so much. Everyone does. We came home the next day, and I love being at home with my husband and Amelia. Eventually labour will be a distant memory, it’s just a bit raw at the moment! But we are all good, and happy, and doing really well. John is being an amazing daddy and our families have been so supportive and understanding.
Hope you enjoyed my story xxx
Again, thank you for all of your support,
Jess xxx
