I've never written my birth stories before so thought I would give it a shot.
Well I have had two very easy pregnancies tbh - minimal sickness with Thomas and nothing with Hannah. Only real symptom I had with both was extreme tiredness in first trimester and a bit of backache as I got huger and huger
However I have suffered with V.high BP in the last 3 weeks with both meaning my low risk PGs have both ended in monitoring and consultant care.
With Thomas I woke up in the early hours of the morning on my due date (13.12.08) with mild period type cramps. I managed to sleep on and off between then for a few hours and they were coming every 12-15 minutes. I eventually got up at 5am and got in the bath. OH was on night and due home at 7 so I rang him and told him but said I was fine. pains were getting stronger and turning into mild contractions so carried on timing them until lunch time when I rang delivery suite to let them know I had started. As he was my first I didn't quite know what to expect so when they asked me if I wanted to go in to be checked I said yeah ok - BIG mistake!!
Got to hospital at around 2pm, cntractions were getting worse but manageable. Expected to be examined and told to go home for a while. As soon as they checked my bp that was it - I was staying in
. Had internal but wasn't dilated at all so was sent to ante natal ward to wait it out. OH and my mum were with me and contractions got stronger and stronger as the day went on. By 8pm they were about 3-4 mins apart and lasting 40 seconds(ish) and I started to lose my plug which to me meant something must be happening. However when I told MW she said oh it could be days yet
you best get some rest and promptly sent my OH and mum home. Well this was my first baby, I was having strong and regular contractions, losing my plug in huge chunks and now I was all alone on a dark side ward being ignored by MWs - i was a little scared tbh
I found that when I lay down my contractions seemed to slow so I tried to keep active and walked up and down the ward what felt like a million times that night. Every time the MWs came to check my bp they refused to check me for dilation and insisted I was still in early labour. I had no experience so took their word for it. By about 4am my contractions were becoming unbareable and I continued to try to keep upright and moving. As soon as MW came to check my bp they made me lie flat on the monitor and my contractions slowed so I swear they thought I was lying about the pain and frequency
still they refused to check me and offered me paracetamol. I carried on walking around the ward (well kinda holbling and crouching down every minute or so) and at 8am I could cope no longer. I felt like I needed to push so I went to the desk and told the MW who said the doctor was doing his rounds and would be with me soon. Stupidly I asked if I could get a quick shower as I felt icky with the ammount of plug I was losing etc but my quick shower turned into a 45 minute ordeal where I thought I would give birth there in the shower all alone. Baring in mind I had already told the MW I felt I needed to push nobody bothered to check on me all that time i was in the shower room and the doctor still hadnt come to see me
. As soon as I stepped out the door a new MW was coming on duty, she took one look at me, ordered me onto the bed, did an internal without even speaking to me and the look on her face was a picture. She shouted for another MW and before I could blink I was in a lift semi naked on my bed being pushed into delivery suite. Turns out I was fully dilated and Thomas was on his way.
Nobody bothered to call OH but luckily for them (very bloody lucky) it was 10am and visiting was just starting and Paul was waiting at the door. It still took them a good ten minutes to tell him that I had been taken down
. By the time he found me I was on the gas and air being told not to push until they had me all hooked up. I was then told I could push when I felt a contraction and that due to my super high bp if i hadn't pushed him out within the next hour they would intervene
. After 45 mins of pushing and getting no where it was decided that my bladder too full and was blocking Thomas coming down. The MW attempted to catheterise me but I was so scared and tense at this point she couldn't do it. It all got a bit panicy then and the consultant was brought in. He was a bit scary looking so when he told me to relax I did as I was told and he managed to empty my bladder. One more push and Thomas' head was born
the MW told me not to push for a minute, she turned round to write something down. Well any of you who have done this insane thing called giving birth will know that when you get that strong urge to push and your baby is half out, wild horses couldn't stop you pushing so anyway next thing I know I lose control, I push and poor little Thomas was born onto the bed and nobody bothered to catch him
baring in mind there were 3 MWs, my OH and my mum in the room - was I expected to do everything myself??
So after all the messing about Thomas John Dunbar was born at 12.33pm on 14th December 2008 weighing a lovely 7lb. He was perfect then and is even better now
to be continued............. (it's late and I need to go to bed, will tell you about Hannah tomorrow
)
xx
