I was booked in for a caesarean as I was having twins and the leading twin was breech.
On the morning of the 21st of July 04, I turned up at hospital at 8am only to be told that another lady was in labour with twins, so they couldnt give me my caesarean until she had given birth, just in case she needed an emergency caesarean.
I ended up having my caesarean at midday. It took them a long time to give me the spinal due to a slight back problem that I have, and I didnt cope with it that well. The actual caesarean was over very quickly, but I passed out and was very sick, so it wasnt a good experiance.
My babies were 5lb 14oz, and 6lb 8oz and were both very healthy.
My recovery was a little slow and I was in hospital for 6 days.
When I got pregnant in March 2007 I made the decision that the birth of this baby would be very different to the births of my twins.
I decided to try for a VBAC and spent time doing lots of research during my pregnancy, speaking to lots of people who have had VBACS, and speaking to my (very good) midwife.
I came to the decision that I didn't want to be continuously monitored (wanted to be monitored by hand held sonicaid doppler only), I also wanted to be treated like any other woman in labour - ie i didnt want any time limits set just because I was having a vbac, I also said no to an epidurals, and pethadine, and I wrote in my birth plan that I wanted a very active, natural birth.
I got my consultant and my midwife to read and sign my birth paln, so that I was taken seriously when I went into hospital.
On Monday the 26th of November I woke up feeling rather 'odd'. It was my brothers birthday so decided that I was going to take my children over to my mums to celebrate his birthday. As I was driving over there I felt a few twinges, but ignored them, the twinges died down and just turned into a really bad pain on the left side of my back, which over the course of the morning got worse.
So I convinced myself that I had the start of a kidney infection and began knocking back pints of water.... which didnt help, it got worse.
At 5.30 I phoned the doctors in tears saying that I think I had the start of an bad kidney infection. The doctor couldnt see me, but as I was heavily pregnant said that rather then leave it he would prescribe me a course of antibiotics, and see me first thing Tuesday morning.
I then phoned my husband who took me over to the doctors to pick up the tablets as I couldnt drive, as I was in so much pain.
So we picked up the tablets, and started heading back to mums and about 15 mins later my husband looked at me and said that he wanted to pick my hospital bag up from home 'just in case' as he didnt think that it was a kidney infection, I told him that he was worrying for no reason, but let him do what he wanted to do. So we went back home, and picked up the bags before returning to my brothers party.
By this point I was in so much pain in my back and stomach, and couldnt eat, or stay still. The pain was now coming in waves and I kept leaving the living room room to hide in the bathroom until the pain got better again.
Mum and My hubby told me that it didnt seem like a water infection to them, and my husband phoned the hospital and made me go in to get checked out.
I got there at 9pm where to my delight I saw that my midwife and her student was working, and they were going to be caring for me. I was examined and was told that I was 4cm dilated, and that the 'kidney pain' was actually contractions. I was then monitored continously for half hour as its hospital policy to monitor every woman when they first come in. I found that really hard as i couldnt stay still.
By 11pm I actually accepted that I was in labour and then was allowed to have a bath where I stayed until about midnight when I realised that I couldnt cope anymore and I needed pain relief. I then started on the gas and air.
The gas and air helped me get back in control and I was able to concentrate on things again. I was still being very active as I couldnt stay still. I found that the pain was more manageable when I was upright and moving around.
I started pushing at 2.30am and half hour later my little boy was born and was put into my arms.
I had managed to get myself a second degree tear, so had to have stitches, but it was so worth it, and the labour was fantastic.
It was amazing, the lights were kept low, and there was no pressure put on me to do anything that I didnt want. I was monitored by sonicade doppler, and was left to do what I wanted to do.
My little boy was born after a 6 hour labour he was 54cm long, and weighed 8lb 4oz.
I am so pleased that I had a VBAC. It was an amazing experiance and was much better then my caesarean.
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