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My Birth Story

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Tuesday, 25 September 2012

My Birth Story


I have decided to share my birth story. Firstly, because I valued the stories of others when I was pregnant and secondly, because I don't want the memory to fade...




Seven days over due (and over it) my waters finally started leaking. This lasted for two days before I was instructed to go to hospital. I was excited (there was obviously no pain). We brought my bag thinking I would have to stay. After a long wait we were seen by the doctor who gave my cervix a 'stretch' to get things moving. He gave me an anti-biotic to prevent infection and told us to go home. If there was no change, he told us to come back the following morning to be induced. In the mean time, he said "take it easy, no hanky panky". As if! I felt like a heffalump.

 We arrived home at 4pm and by 7pm I was getting gentle contractions 20 minutes apart. At this stage I was still smiling, excited. Of course, this was my cue to shave my legs. I could still achieve this awesome feet and I was not going to be seen with hairy legs. 

 By 10pm, some of the excitement had worn off. I was vomiting and had the runs (too much information, I know). Ante-natal instructors said if this was happening, try to get some sleep, as a first time mother, things were going to be slow. Sleep my arse! I tried to lie down, it lasted for about 5 minutes before I decided to head for the shower, at which point I had to shove a towel between my legs as the leak had gathered momentum *insert sound of husband laughing here*. 20 minutes in the shower and my contractions were now less than 4 minutes apart and they were fierce, I started to think I would be one of those mothers who dropped her bundle on the bathroom floor. I called out to my husband and told him I wanted to go. At 12pm he called the hospital and they told us to come in.

 We live in a small village about 10 minutes drive from the hospital with a record number of pot holes in between. My husband was instructed to miss every one and he did, admirably. Arriving at emergency, I was offered a wheel chair but chose to walk instead, hoping this would progress things along. 

 We were ushered into a delivery room and from here on it's a bit of a blur. Contractions came thick and fast, there was more leaking and horrible nausea, which we were told was common when things progressed quickly. They gave me Maxillon which worked a treat. On first inspection, I was 7 centre-meters dilated - high five cervix!

 I wanted to be able to get in the bath during labour, but as my waters had been leaking for two days they would not allow it for risk of infection, so instead, I sat on the plastic chair in the ensuite with a plastic shower curtain sticking to my legs #firstworldproblem. It did help with pain relief. I had brought a whole kitty of birthing crap, like my TENS machine, CD's, massage oil, lip balm (because someone said your lips get dry). I didn't use any of it, I didn't even think of it!

 At this point I accepted gas and asked for Pethidine, which apparently they don't give any more, instead I was given Morphine. I can't say it helped much with pain relief, but it did help me to fully relax between contractions. It also made my memory of details blurry and this I do regret. At some stage, they placed the monitors on bub and found that his heart rate was elevated, as a result they wanted to keep the monitors on which meant bed for me.

 At around 3am we called my mum to come up. She was there in what felt like 5 minutes, fully dressed, with a full face of make-up. I'm still impressed and it was all in time for pushing to begin. At this stage, my husband offered to call my sister, she too arrived within 5 minutes, she didn't look as good as mum. I don't think she even brushed her hair. That's love :-)

 With husband on one arm, sister on the other and mother (who is also a qualified nurse and midwife) down the action end, the business of having a baby was on. I loved the pushing stage because finally I felt like I had some control over my body and the outcome. I gave it everything I had, motivated by the fact that the quality of my actions would impact how long this lasted.

 In amongst all this, bubs heart rate continued to escalate at which point they wanted to bring things to an end quickly. They called the doctor to perform an episiotomy and vacuum extraction. My husband gave a concerned look to my mother, who nodded in approval. The doctor said it would be over in a couple of minutes - that's all I heard "over in a couple of minutes" and so it was, and there was our beautiful baby boy.

 Apparently the doctor said: "So do you what to have another one?" and I exclaimed "Yes!", which I understand is not the common response, one minute after having a watermelon hauled out your hoo haa.

 At this point, my husband brought his mother in, who walked straight into the sight of my freshly chopped hoo haa with a placenta sitting not too far away. I couldn't have cared less (which was helped by the fact that she is a GP, a women's specialist no less, who undertakes pap-smears every other day). While my husband and I enjoyed our little boy my mother and mother-in-law watched closely to ensure I was was well stitched! Weird, I know.

 So there is it is, the story of how my little boy came into the world and changed our lives forever. Happy day.


Labels: , , , ,

posted by Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye @ 06:02   29 Comments

29 Comments:

At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Melissa said...

I literally just found your blog about 15 minutes ago. What a wonderful birth story! (Well, except getting stuck on the bed. I had wanted a really active birth. But I'm an insulin dependant diabetic, so unfortunately I was confined to bed with a drip in each arm and a monitor on my baby's head for 18 hours!).

That's quite an accomplished family you have - what wonderful role models your children have. :)

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

Welcome Melissa! Yes I was a bit disappointed about that too, but in the end all we wanted was a healthy baby and we got exactly that :-)

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Francesca @ Francesca Writes Here said...

What a wonderful birth story, and a great family affair! xx

I'll be re-circulating Miss A's when I get to a computer as it's her first birthday tomorrow.

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Pip said...

WOW - love the fact you 'high-fived' your cervix in that story :) I had no idea we would vomit and poop - crazy huh? they forgot to mention that in our birth classes. Here's to you and your gorgeous safe arrival - thanks for sharing - love a good birth story!

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Good Golly Miss Holly! said...

Oh Bree, I love me a good birth story and this is no exception x

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Mandie said...

I cannot get enough of reading birth stories! Thank you for sharing it :)

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Anonymous Kez said...

Thankyou for sharing your story :) I love how every story is different (even if the procedures go the same way) and I think more women need to be able to talk about their experiences and share their stories.
I shared mine on my blog too for the reason that I have so many friends who have NO idea the reality of giving birth (relying on FICTIONAL, dramatised TV shows to teach them) and feel scared about the outcome of a future birth not matching their uninformed ideals. Hearing REAL birth stories before I gave birth was comforting to me when I was pregnant as it reminded me that every experience is different and not everything goes to plan, but the result is the most important part! Mine sure didn't go to plan, but I wouldn't change anything about the memory of it - it just makes me love my Little Mister more after what we went through together.

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Catherine Rodie Blagg (Cup of Tea and a Blog) said...

Oh I do love a birth story! the cervix high five made me chuckle too x

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

I would have given a high five to anything over 2cms!

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

The result is absolutely what it is about and we are so fortunate to have access to some of the best medical care in the world. Can you send me the link to your birth post Kez? I would love to read it. Bree

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

People love stalking weddings and birth stories!

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

Oh thanks Miss Holly, any chance to talk about my hoo haa - kidding!

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

Yes they leave those not so glamorous parts out of the Hollywood version!

 
At Tuesday, 25 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

Oh I would love to read it :-)

 
At Wednesday, 26 September, 2012 , Blogger Camille said...

Aww, amazing birth story! It's great that your mom and mother-in-law were there for support with their medical knowledge. Must have been reassuring. :)

 
At Wednesday, 26 September, 2012 , Blogger Kylez...aka...MrsP said...

Excellent story! I love reading birth stories, thank you for sharing. I had a relatively quick labour too, well, the proper, active bit, I was in pre-labour all day before. Oddly though I hated the pushing stage, purely because I was so exhausted by then and it felt so un-natural and like nothing was happening. It also didn't help that towards the end the OB was trying to manouvre a certain little girls arm away from her head to make things a little easier and reduce damage so I was constantly being told how I should be pushing and to stop while he worked.

 
At Thursday, 27 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

It was good. It is a special moment made all the more special by the people you love. It was nice to have the time with just the two of us also.

 
At Thursday, 27 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

I agree it didn't feel like anything was happening, but when everyone around you tells you 'good - great job' you just keep going thinking you are doing something right!

 
At Friday, 28 September, 2012 , Blogger The Multitasking Mummy said...

Giving birth is the most amazing thing we will ever do and isn't it amazing how quickly we say we will do it again!! I can't wait! Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

 
At Friday, 28 September, 2012 , Blogger Ai Sakura said...

Thanks for sharing your beautiful birth story!
I had a c-section and didn't experience any of these excitement when giving birth.
No signs at all even though she was a few days overdue!

Ai @ Sakura Haruka

 
At Friday, 28 September, 2012 , Blogger Grace said...

Great story, Bree! Now how does one do a cervix high five??? :)

 
At Sunday, 30 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

I'll leave that to your imagination Grace!

 
At Sunday, 30 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

As long as we get happy, healthy babies that is all that matters Ai :-)

 
At Sunday, 30 September, 2012 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

I'm rather looking forward to it too!

 
At Friday, 28 December, 2012 , Anonymous Shambolic Living said...

Giving birth is an incredible feat! The fact you agreed to another child immediately is beyond amazing (perhaps it was the morphine talking?).

 
At Friday, 28 December, 2012 , Blogger Alicia said...

Great birth story! I can well imagine the 'doctor and the midwife' supervising the stitching, funny :) There is nothing more motivating than being told your cervix is of a decent and acceptable number.

 
At Wednesday, 16 January, 2013 , Blogger Mama Stylista said...

It's funny how quickly you forget the pain of giving birth and want another baby. But not that quick! ;) Thanks for sharing, so lovely to hear birth stories. Mine was a bit horrendous but I still loved every minute of it. x

 
At Thursday, 17 January, 2013 , Anonymous Kylie @ Octavia and Vicky said...

Thank you so much for sharing your story, it's beautiful x I can fully relate to bringing a whole load of crap to the maternity ward that I didn't even think of during labour LOL And I did get my legs waxed close to the due date :) If I could I would love to have a birth like this, I ended up with a c-section after being induced 10 days over due :/ We ended up with a healthy, beautiful baby girl, so I can't complain.

 
At Thursday, 17 January, 2013 , Blogger Bree @ Twinkle in the Eye said...

As long as we get healthy little babies that is all that matters. I wish you all the best for the upcoming birth. I hope it goes well for you. Thanks for link up too. Love reading other people's birth stories!

 

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