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So as you guys know I went in for induction at 9am on the Sunday morning 10th March. Was checked and found to be just 1cm. So I went ahead and had the propess pessary inserted. Nothing exciting happened most of the day, they bought me a lovely lunch of jacket potato, beans and cheese and we generally just chilled out and settled in all day.
The midwives weren’t much help though on the ward. They kept putting me on the monitor which they knew I hated, said it would only be for 20 mins then just neglected to return to me. It got to 50 minutes the one time and my partner was getting really cross. They kept changing shifts too so we had 4 different midwives over about a 12 hr period. So each one I had to explain to what I did/didn’t want and I don’t think any of them read my birth plan.
Each time we asked if we could speak to someone or had a question they said they would be right over and just never came or took so long that we gave up. I had wanted to know what the pessary felt like if it slipped down as it felt like the string was getting longer and longer but no-one could seem to answer me, just that I would know if it fell out. One mw said I could just push it back up if it got lower (as the hormones need to be by the cervix) and another said just leave it completely alone.
Anyhow at about 7pm I thought I felt a trickle of waters. When I told a mw she brushed it off saying maybe it was just discharge. But that if I felt they had gone I could show them my pad to have a look at – however she was just finishing her shift. She made me doubt myself so I didn’t bother showing her the pad. My partner had to leave around 9pm (policy they leave at 10pm anyway) to get a lift home. Not long after he left I felt another small gush this time and was almost sure it was my waters. So I took the pad to a mw this time who said ‘Are you sure you didn’t just pee a bit? ‘ I’m thinking no I didn’t! She really didn’t seem to believe me it was quite frustrating! She did say though if it was my waters I should go back on the monitor. This was around 10pm. Reluctantly I agreed then as I sat down on the bed for her to put it on I felt a really big gush which I told her. She felt for babys position and pushed a load of water out, I felt it soak through my pad and trousers to the bed! I said ‘whooa I felt another big gush then’ and said to her that the bed must be soaked. She didn’t seem to be fussed and just said I could clean up after the monitor was off. I asked could I at least have a bed pad to put under my bum. She said ‘of course’ but never returned with one..it was about 40 minutes later she came back and I had to remind her again to get me a pad. She looked at the printout and said just another 10 mins on the monitor as he was moving so much the heart rate was up and down from that. Sigh. So I sat another 10 mins in wet trousers.. When I finally got up I was soaked through and couldn’t get the pants and pads I wanted from my suitcase without my partner as I couldn’t lift it up to open it. Fortunately I had my after birth bag to hand with some disposable pants and some other pads. I couldn’t get the comfy stuff I had wanted though and never got to change into the birth outfit I had put in (long dress with low cut front for skin to skin and feeding etc). Anyway I gave her the pad and she finally believed my waters had gone since it was just a heavy fully saturated pad. But then starts questioning the colour.. She wanted 3 pads worth. I took her the next one but the third did have a part I thought she might call green and I was fed up of her by this point so I didn’t take her that one!! Also the pessary had come out with the waters and was in the toilet bowl. I did tell her this but admittedly not too loudly as I was ready for bed and I knew she would want to put a new one in which I didn’t want especially if I didn’t need it to progress.
So back to bed I went. About 1am I start feeling some twinges and just can’t get comfy. I go to ask for paracetamol from the desk, however they said ‘ooh you aren’t prescribed it... Let us call doctor and someone will come over to you in 5 mins..’ I said forget it then I want to sleep I’ve got some of my own to have anyway.. Cos I knew no-one would come back to me. I literally took just one paracetamol. Couldn’t get to sleep anyway and started to realise that actually these were contractions, and getting more regular. I must have had the foresight at some point to finally move the buzzer to where I could reach it, as I had been left with no way of reaching it from the bed whilst on the monitor and no-one had thought to give it to me. So I finally buzzed and over she came. I told her I was having contractions and thought I should be checked for dilation. But oh no her solution was ‘let’s put you on the monitor’ arrghhh. I nearly lost it with her and actually said ‘Cos that’s just your solution to everything?!’
She didn’t want to do a cervical check as my waters had gone and kept downplaying what I was feeling... So back on the monitor I went but typically I didn’t even have a single proper contraction whilst on it – perhaps from the stress or being on my back I’m not sure. So of course when she came back to look it just seemed like I was being overly dramatic. She said that inductions were lengthy and that if I was at home I would be still pottering around doing normal jobs at this point. I insisted that I actually wouldn’t as I was feeling quite a lot of pain. She offered me codeine but a quick Google told me that codeine shouldn’t be taken near the end of labour if breastfeeding as it can affect baby’s breathing. So I didnt want to take it not knowing how close I was. She was very much against doing a cervical check until I reminded her that my pessary had fallen out with my waters. She said ‘oh well that changes things – now I have to check you and put in a new one’... I said well I don’t want/need a new one putting in if I’m already contracting! Plus it fell out hours ago! I knew she hadn’t heard me when I told her previously... She said well the next step would be to use another one and she would get it ready anyway as she did my check!! Well as she was opening it she dropped it to the floor, I said ‘I don’t want it anyway’ and she finally said OK and went ahead and checked me.
I was 3cm but fully effaced and she said she was sending me straight to labour and delivery! This was about 6.30am. I had thought I would need to be 4cm to get there but whatever she felt she was quick to say I was headed there! So in a mild panic I phoned my oh and told him to get back to the hospital. I asked the midwife how long it would take for me to be transferred to labour and delivery and she said 10 minutes!! So I hurriedly packed all my belongings up while pausing for contractions, but it actually took 40 minutes for them to come for me, by which point I had probably frightened the couple staying opposite me on the ward half to death with the noises I was making and had crawled onto all fours on the bed! The midwife finally took me to labour and delivery and I got there just as my oh did!! So perfect timing on his part really! They had just put the gas and air in my hand when he showed up.
Things from here progressed fast and I have to say I’m not sure I even remember it all. I think I was coherent between contractions for maybe 20 mins after my partner arrived and then I was just in constant pain. Thankfully the midwives on delivery were brilliant and had read my birth plan – and actually did their best to follow it! At some point they got me on the bed to check babys heart but got my oh to hold the monitor on instead of having to be strapped into it. I’m unsure when but I started to feel a bit pushy and when I was checked I was 8cm!! I wish I knew what time this was but hours felt like minutes to me.. My partner did so well bless him and tried his best to help me despite me shouting at him for everything!
A nurse came in around now and said they needed to put a cannula in incase I had a haemorrhage again. I barely questioned it because I was literally far too busy having a baby to care – but when she tried to put it in the pain was worse than the contractions!! I literally screamed at her to get the f*** off me! Apparently I found out later she ‘blew a valve’?? – but she gave up anyway and left again. I really think they should have put the cannula in before I was in active labour especially as it was an induction!! She tied a tourniquet around my hand really tight to stop the bleeding and there, was a huge lump on there which rose up every time they did my blood pressure later...
I don’t know how long I pushed for or even if I was ever checked again or just assumed to be 10cm – it’s all very hazy but I just used the gas and air and did a lot of screaming – the head midwife arrived at some point and decided to do an episiotomy which I agreed to as I had a thick patch of scar tissue from previous stitches which she thought wouldn’t stretch. After she made the cut he was out with the next contraction! She brought him straight up onto my chest and we had skin to skin for about an hour (according to my notes – I had no sense of the time..) and he fed on and off while I was stitched up by 2 fabulous midwives who did an amazing job. He was born at 9.56am 9lbs 7oz the exact same weight as my previous baby! So in about 3 and a half hours I went from 3cm to holding my baby! It felt like half an hour it went so fast to me. I actually really enjoyed the childbirth experience this time and it went just perfectly, couldn’t have asked for more or better care from the delivery midwives. I even said to oh while they were stitching me up, ‘so gone from a third degree tear, to a second, to a cut with just a graze.... Be nothing at all next time!!’ Haha... He would take some convincing but I would so do it again...
So there you have it. And he’s already 4 weeks and getting huge, 10lbs 14 at 3 weeks 3 days so I bet he’s over 11lbs by now...
Sorry it turned into an essay when really it was a quick and easy birth once it got established. So that’s our story!
The midwives weren’t much help though on the ward. They kept putting me on the monitor which they knew I hated, said it would only be for 20 mins then just neglected to return to me. It got to 50 minutes the one time and my partner was getting really cross. They kept changing shifts too so we had 4 different midwives over about a 12 hr period. So each one I had to explain to what I did/didn’t want and I don’t think any of them read my birth plan.
Each time we asked if we could speak to someone or had a question they said they would be right over and just never came or took so long that we gave up. I had wanted to know what the pessary felt like if it slipped down as it felt like the string was getting longer and longer but no-one could seem to answer me, just that I would know if it fell out. One mw said I could just push it back up if it got lower (as the hormones need to be by the cervix) and another said just leave it completely alone.
Anyhow at about 7pm I thought I felt a trickle of waters. When I told a mw she brushed it off saying maybe it was just discharge. But that if I felt they had gone I could show them my pad to have a look at – however she was just finishing her shift. She made me doubt myself so I didn’t bother showing her the pad. My partner had to leave around 9pm (policy they leave at 10pm anyway) to get a lift home. Not long after he left I felt another small gush this time and was almost sure it was my waters. So I took the pad to a mw this time who said ‘Are you sure you didn’t just pee a bit? ‘ I’m thinking no I didn’t! She really didn’t seem to believe me it was quite frustrating! She did say though if it was my waters I should go back on the monitor. This was around 10pm. Reluctantly I agreed then as I sat down on the bed for her to put it on I felt a really big gush which I told her. She felt for babys position and pushed a load of water out, I felt it soak through my pad and trousers to the bed! I said ‘whooa I felt another big gush then’ and said to her that the bed must be soaked. She didn’t seem to be fussed and just said I could clean up after the monitor was off. I asked could I at least have a bed pad to put under my bum. She said ‘of course’ but never returned with one..it was about 40 minutes later she came back and I had to remind her again to get me a pad. She looked at the printout and said just another 10 mins on the monitor as he was moving so much the heart rate was up and down from that. Sigh. So I sat another 10 mins in wet trousers.. When I finally got up I was soaked through and couldn’t get the pants and pads I wanted from my suitcase without my partner as I couldn’t lift it up to open it. Fortunately I had my after birth bag to hand with some disposable pants and some other pads. I couldn’t get the comfy stuff I had wanted though and never got to change into the birth outfit I had put in (long dress with low cut front for skin to skin and feeding etc). Anyway I gave her the pad and she finally believed my waters had gone since it was just a heavy fully saturated pad. But then starts questioning the colour.. She wanted 3 pads worth. I took her the next one but the third did have a part I thought she might call green and I was fed up of her by this point so I didn’t take her that one!! Also the pessary had come out with the waters and was in the toilet bowl. I did tell her this but admittedly not too loudly as I was ready for bed and I knew she would want to put a new one in which I didn’t want especially if I didn’t need it to progress.
So back to bed I went. About 1am I start feeling some twinges and just can’t get comfy. I go to ask for paracetamol from the desk, however they said ‘ooh you aren’t prescribed it... Let us call doctor and someone will come over to you in 5 mins..’ I said forget it then I want to sleep I’ve got some of my own to have anyway.. Cos I knew no-one would come back to me. I literally took just one paracetamol. Couldn’t get to sleep anyway and started to realise that actually these were contractions, and getting more regular. I must have had the foresight at some point to finally move the buzzer to where I could reach it, as I had been left with no way of reaching it from the bed whilst on the monitor and no-one had thought to give it to me. So I finally buzzed and over she came. I told her I was having contractions and thought I should be checked for dilation. But oh no her solution was ‘let’s put you on the monitor’ arrghhh. I nearly lost it with her and actually said ‘Cos that’s just your solution to everything?!’
She didn’t want to do a cervical check as my waters had gone and kept downplaying what I was feeling... So back on the monitor I went but typically I didn’t even have a single proper contraction whilst on it – perhaps from the stress or being on my back I’m not sure. So of course when she came back to look it just seemed like I was being overly dramatic. She said that inductions were lengthy and that if I was at home I would be still pottering around doing normal jobs at this point. I insisted that I actually wouldn’t as I was feeling quite a lot of pain. She offered me codeine but a quick Google told me that codeine shouldn’t be taken near the end of labour if breastfeeding as it can affect baby’s breathing. So I didnt want to take it not knowing how close I was. She was very much against doing a cervical check until I reminded her that my pessary had fallen out with my waters. She said ‘oh well that changes things – now I have to check you and put in a new one’... I said well I don’t want/need a new one putting in if I’m already contracting! Plus it fell out hours ago! I knew she hadn’t heard me when I told her previously... She said well the next step would be to use another one and she would get it ready anyway as she did my check!! Well as she was opening it she dropped it to the floor, I said ‘I don’t want it anyway’ and she finally said OK and went ahead and checked me.
I was 3cm but fully effaced and she said she was sending me straight to labour and delivery! This was about 6.30am. I had thought I would need to be 4cm to get there but whatever she felt she was quick to say I was headed there! So in a mild panic I phoned my oh and told him to get back to the hospital. I asked the midwife how long it would take for me to be transferred to labour and delivery and she said 10 minutes!! So I hurriedly packed all my belongings up while pausing for contractions, but it actually took 40 minutes for them to come for me, by which point I had probably frightened the couple staying opposite me on the ward half to death with the noises I was making and had crawled onto all fours on the bed! The midwife finally took me to labour and delivery and I got there just as my oh did!! So perfect timing on his part really! They had just put the gas and air in my hand when he showed up.
Things from here progressed fast and I have to say I’m not sure I even remember it all. I think I was coherent between contractions for maybe 20 mins after my partner arrived and then I was just in constant pain. Thankfully the midwives on delivery were brilliant and had read my birth plan – and actually did their best to follow it! At some point they got me on the bed to check babys heart but got my oh to hold the monitor on instead of having to be strapped into it. I’m unsure when but I started to feel a bit pushy and when I was checked I was 8cm!! I wish I knew what time this was but hours felt like minutes to me.. My partner did so well bless him and tried his best to help me despite me shouting at him for everything!
A nurse came in around now and said they needed to put a cannula in incase I had a haemorrhage again. I barely questioned it because I was literally far too busy having a baby to care – but when she tried to put it in the pain was worse than the contractions!! I literally screamed at her to get the f*** off me! Apparently I found out later she ‘blew a valve’?? – but she gave up anyway and left again. I really think they should have put the cannula in before I was in active labour especially as it was an induction!! She tied a tourniquet around my hand really tight to stop the bleeding and there, was a huge lump on there which rose up every time they did my blood pressure later...
I don’t know how long I pushed for or even if I was ever checked again or just assumed to be 10cm – it’s all very hazy but I just used the gas and air and did a lot of screaming – the head midwife arrived at some point and decided to do an episiotomy which I agreed to as I had a thick patch of scar tissue from previous stitches which she thought wouldn’t stretch. After she made the cut he was out with the next contraction! She brought him straight up onto my chest and we had skin to skin for about an hour (according to my notes – I had no sense of the time..) and he fed on and off while I was stitched up by 2 fabulous midwives who did an amazing job. He was born at 9.56am 9lbs 7oz the exact same weight as my previous baby! So in about 3 and a half hours I went from 3cm to holding my baby! It felt like half an hour it went so fast to me. I actually really enjoyed the childbirth experience this time and it went just perfectly, couldn’t have asked for more or better care from the delivery midwives. I even said to oh while they were stitching me up, ‘so gone from a third degree tear, to a second, to a cut with just a graze.... Be nothing at all next time!!’ Haha... He would take some convincing but I would so do it again...
So there you have it. And he’s already 4 weeks and getting huge, 10lbs 14 at 3 weeks 3 days so I bet he’s over 11lbs by now...
Sorry it turned into an essay when really it was a quick and easy birth once it got established. So that’s our story!
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He's perfect!!! Lots of love to you all!!!
