My first child was due on 28 February 2000, and after a very straightforward pregnancy I was told at my antenatal visit at 38 weeks that the baby was now breech. I was told that I could go for a vaginal delivery regardless. However, on 21 February I awoke feeling very unwell, dizzy and sick. By the afternoon I could not walk in a straight line and became very concerned so called the hospital who advised I should go straight in which I duly did. When I was examined at 6pm I was not in labour but had very high bp, protein in urine, and tenderness below my ribs which was obviously diagnosed as pre-eclampsia. I was monitored for a hour or so as I was having mild contractions, however the baby's heartbeat began to suffer and considering he was breech the consultant advised that I opt for a c-section immediately. It was my worst nightmare but I had to think about the baby so I said yes.
The next hour was a blur, I was obviously quite unwell and the shock of what was happening made me feel even worse. My partner was staggered he was not expecting to become a dad for another week. At 8.38pm our son was born safely weighing 6lb 15oz. He was taken away for over 20 mins before we saw him and then my partner got to hold him while I was being attended to. Nearly an hour later when I was on the ward my partner told the midwife I had still not held my baby, so she let me hold him for a few minutes, he was then put in his cot and I was told to rest. My partner was asked to leave at 10pm and I was left in a room which my bp being taken every 15 mins so got no rest at all. I was then kept in hospital for 4 days which was horrible as the care was very poor. Needless to say when I got home everything was much better and our son who we named Harvey was fine and has grown into a lovely little boy. However, my experience of childbirth left a lot to be desired!
My due date for my second baby was 19 November and I foolishly attempted to do some Christmas shopping in the afternoon, by the evening I was having a lot of braxton hicks and the baby did a huge amount of squirming, I went to bed at around 10pm feeling very uncomfortable. I had only been asleep an hour or so when I felt a strange "pop" down below, upon inspection I seemed to be losing a small amount of fluid and it definitely was not urine. I tried to get back to sleep but to no avail as I was having pains in the top of my legs, over the next hour I lost count how many times I went to the loo, there was more and more fluid leaking and I realised that my waters had probably gone, I was expecting it to be a gush not a steady flow. At 2am I started having regular contractions every 5 minutes and also had terrible diarrhoea so I spent the next hour walking up and down the stairs between the loo and the lounge where I leant over the birthing ball and practiced deep breathing.
At 3.30 I called my Dad in Manchester and asked him to get the first flight to Gatwick so he could be with my son while I went to hospital with my partner. At 4am I woke my partner up to strap the tens machine onto my back, he went back to bed and I went to have a cup of camomile tea. I continued to wander around the house or lean over the ball for the next 2 hours as it was very painful to sit down, but at 6am the contractions got more painful so I woke my partner and tried to get everything together to go to hospital. We were ready to leave at 7am so we said goodbye to our 3 year old and set off. Sitting in the car was terrible and I had some very strong contractions on the way to the labour ward so it took a while to get there, we checked in the hospital at 7.30am.
I was examined at 8.15 and was fully effaced and 3cm dilated. I continued to use the breathing and tens machine and knelt over the bed but by 9am the midwife suggested I use gas and air as the contractions were now every 2/3 mins and more intense. By 10am my legs were very tired so I reclined on the bed for a while, it made the pain worse and at 10.35 I had a heavy show, when I was examined again at 10.45 I was fully dilated. The contractions slowed down and I felt very nauseous and retched a few times, when the contractions started again they were further apart but lasted much longer and all of a sudden I could not stop myself from pushing down which panicked me, the midwife said it was ok to push and explained how to do it.
I found pushing whilst reclined on the bed very difficult so the midwife suggested I turn onto all fours and hold onto the back of the bed and after 5 enormous pushes the midwife instructed me to do short pushes which was very difficult and the pain was excruciating, however within a few minutes the head was delivered which my partner saw, then I gave one more push and the baby was delivered at 11.41am. The midwife suggested my partner have a look and we discovered we had a daughter. We named her Angelina and she weighed 7lbs 11oz. She was then wrapped up and handed to my partner as I turned and sat down and waited for the placenta to be delivered which I watched with great interest, I could not believe how large it was!
Once the baby was checked over the three of us were left alone for an hour or so, I just lay on the bed stunned at how quick it all was. I was expecting intervention and possibly another cs but the birth could not have been better. When the midwife came back she suggested I try to breastfeed. it was in my birthplan but I had forgotten, so I did and the baby suckled for a little while which was lovely. The midwife then bathed the baby before she turned her attention to me. My partner went to call our family and friends with the good news and the midwife set about stitching my internal tears, courtesy of our daughter's hand coming out at the same time as her head I was later told!
The stitching up was absolutely excruciating. far worse than any aspect of the birth but after an hour or so it was over and I went and had a lovely shower. We were transferred to the maternity ward at 4pm where I was just left to my own devices. The care was pretty poor compared to the labour suite and I just wanted to come home, however they did not discharge me until 2pm the following afternoon and I then had to wait until 9pm to see a paediatrician to discharge my daughter. I was adamant I wanted to leave that night and eventually got home after 9.30pm where my Dad had made a lovely supper. It was bliss to get back into my own bed even though I was in and out of it all night feeding my daughter! So, I got a vbac and it was wonderful - it can be done!
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