Showing posts with label Labour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Labour. Show all posts

Thursday, 8 November 2018

An Induction-Nola's Birth Story


Over a year later I am finally writing Nola's birth story, better late than never or so they say!

After giving birth to Eliot, a rather large 9lb 5oz baby in 2013, I'd had concerns through my second pregnancy that baby two was also going to be a whopper! In fact I was convinced that this baby was going to be bigger after hearing second babies are often heavier. My worries increased when a midwife discussed 'shoulders getting stuck' and booked me in to see a consultant.
I had a few appointments with the consultant and on the day before my due date I was given a sweep and booked in for an induction. I'd heard lots of various stories about sweeps and I can honestly say it was the most unpleasant experience! I was hoping the sweep would get things going but there were no signs of labour whatsoever. My due date 2/9/17 came and went then it was time to call the delivery unit on 5/9/17 to check what time I should come in to be induced. I rang after 10am and was told to give them a call back in the afternoon.
We made our way into London and went in to Pret A manger at Euston station for a coffee stop. I called St Thomas' at about 2:30pm as I'd been advised but they still couldn't give me a time to come in as they were 'very busy'. So the rest of the afternoon was spent hanging around coffee shops and worrying that they might not actually get me in.
Then finally about half six after we'd phoned them a few more times, they called back to say come in at 8pm. I was so relieved that the induction was going to go ahead!
We were sent to the antenatal unit where we were until about midnight until we went to the delivery suite and I was put in a bay with four beds, thankfully I was the only one there that night.
A midwife came to see me and get the induction process started by inserting a pessary. She checked my cervix and said it was closed which was surprising as when I had the sweep a few days earlier the doctor said I was about 1cm.
Finally on the labour ward in the most unflattering photo ever...pregnancy reality!
The night was very uneventful, I managed to get some sleep and in the morning I was moved to a room and the midwife looking after me for the day was called Lucy. There was no progression during the day and I spent it chilling in the room with a couple of walks downstairs and outside.
I'd been told that if things hadn't got started by that evening the doctors would make a plan to get things moving quicker.
A couple of doctors came in and checked me over, felt my bump etc. I explained my fear of having a 10lb baby but after having a good check of my bump one of the doctors said he thought I'd deliver an 8lb baby, good to hear but still didn't convince me! The plan was if things hadn't progressed by the early hours I would then have 'propess gel' inserted.
I did have cramps in my lower back that began around 9:30pm but nothing that was too painful. I tried to get some sleep and did on and off.
I think the cramps did up their game a bit but there was still no big changes. I should have had the pessary removed about 1:30am but the midwife had obviously been held up elsewhere. A different midwife came into the room about 3am, I removed the pessary (basically like a tampon) and the gel was inserted.
Shortly after things ramped up quite quickly, I'd had paracetamol, codeine and had gas and air to access but the contractions became so intense, they were much harder to cope with as they were very close together.
Gotta love that gas and air!
This time round I found the attitude towards pain relief much more laid back. When I had Eliot a natural drug free birth was very much encouraged and promoted. I had even included some of the things I experienced with Eliot's labour in my birth plan this time around, such as using lavender and clary sage but I don't think anyone actually looked at my plan! One midwife in particular was very supportive of pain relief and suggested different options and encouraged me to use something more to relieve the pain. Her attitude was very much 'why suffer in pain when you don't have to'.
It got to a point where I was finding the contractions incredibly hard to deal with and I remember being knelt on the floor doubled over in pain leaning on the bed, when a midwife I vividly remember from Eliot's labour came in. I had named her 'scary teacher' because she had been very strict and did in fact look like a teacher. During Eliot's labour she had basically told me I needed to calm down and did not want to give me any pain relief. Now I was basically begging her for diamorphine, this time she seemed much more sympathetic and friendlier, we had a fleeting chat about how we remembered her from our first borns labour and she joked she hoped they were all good memories.
Shortly after another midwife came in to administer the diamorphine. Having that meant I was able to get some more sleep, the contractions still woke me so I was also on the gas and air.
Everything from then was blurry as I was very much out of it from the diamorphine but at some point in the morning after handover they could see things had progressed and moved me to a delivery room. I remember having to stop in the corridor because of the contractions but eventually made it to the same delivery room that Eliot had been born in.
Lucy was my midwife again, she would be delivering my second baby along with a student midwife. I remember being checked and being surprised and disheartened to hear my cervix was only 4cm dilated. There had been so many intense contractions, what on earth had they been doing?! I asked if I could have a pool birth but was not allowed as I was being induced. At some point Lucy asked if she could empty my bladder but I had the joy of that experience after delivering Eliot so my response was a very dramatic no. She did make a deal that if I didn't go for a wee within a certain time period she would need to do it as my bladder could be making harder for the baby to be born.
Within an hour I had dilated to 10cm which seemed crazy as with Eliot it took hours!
It was time to push, at one point my blood pressure sky rocketed and I remember being given two tablets to swallow. My waters had still not broken at this point and Lucy asked if she could break them for me, I agreed and just as I did that I needed to push and my waters went all by themselves. Again this was very different from Eliot's labour and delivery, the waters were the first thing that went with him but with baby two they were the last!
Once the head had been delivered I remember Lucy very firmly telling not to push again just yet. Not long after our second baby was born and we were finally going to find out if it was a girl or boy. I will  never forget Lucy asking the other half 'what is it?' and his face staring, looking very confused for what felt like a lifetime before he said slowly, 'a boy?' Lucy looked at him in disbelief and said 'no it's a girl'. I mean WTF?! How hard is it to decipher an umbilical cord from a penis?!
Lucy said she was still covered in quite a bit of vernix which often means they aren't quite ready to make their arrival.

 I was absolutely over the moon to have a daughter as well as a son. I think I had the injection to help deliver the placenta, thankfully this time it didn't seem as difficult as when I had Eliot and came out quite quickly.
I eagerly awaited to hear how much she weighed, still convinced I'd birthed another 9lb-er. '3.505kg' said Lucy, I asked what that was in lbs and she said between 7lb 11-12oz. However when I converted the weight myself a few months ago, it actually is only 7lb 7oz, so my girl was even dinkier than I first thought and also the wrong birth weight went out on all the thank you notes!
As well as being in the post birth bubble I think I was also still in a diamorphine daze. When Lucy checked me over she said I had a tiny tear but she didn't think it would need stitches. YAAAASSSS! If you've had stitches you know how unpleasant they are but unfortunately after the senior midwife checked she said I would need one. Disappointing but not as many as I needed after having Eliot.
Then the day was spent enjoying my new baby girl in the delivery room whilst waiting for a bed on the postnatal ward. 

Grandparents came to visit and Eliot, who was thrilled and very excited that he had a baby sister.

Once again I felt very lucky that I had a very positive birth experience at St Thomas' and will always speak highly of the care I received when I had my babies. I was disappointed that I didn't get my water birth again but everything else went as well as I could've hoped for.

Here's a video of my experience if you fancy watching...


How were you birth experiences been?

Friday, 1 November 2013

My Labour & Birth Story


Finally I’d reached my due date 24/6/13 but there were no signs of our boy making an appearance. To see if I could give things a kick start, I tried out some more of the old wives tales. I’d already been drinking raspberry leaf tea from 37 weeks and had been eating pineapple and drinking the juice  for few a days.
Off I began on a long walk, stopping for lunch on route and picking up a ‘healthy’ curry meal for dinner. No twinges, no broken waters, nada!
Dinner time came around, curry eaten, pineapple juice drank, had a raspberry leaf tea later but still no sign of bubs.
The rest of the evening consisted of TV watching and general faffings before heading to bed quite late.

It was about 2:15am when I awoke with the urge to pee, nothing unusual there at 40 weeks pregnant! I went to go to the loo but before I started a little water gushed out. Was this it? Was this the start of labour? I wiped and there was some blood which had to be part of the plug coming away. I wasn’t too concerned as every first time mum is informed their labour is likely to be loooong. So back to bed I went. Within a few minutes I had the urge to pee again. Exactly the same thing happened, more water, more plug!  This had to be it! Knowing it was likely to be a long process I went and tucked myself back in bed determined to catch as much shut eye as possible! It wasn’t long after that, cramps started in my lower back started coming and going every few minutes. I tossed and turned for ages without getting comfy. I got out of bed to take some paracetamol and fill a hot water bottle to try and ease the cramps, hoping I could get some much needed sleep. But no luck, it was inevitable, the sleep just wasn’t going to happen and I was awake for the rest of the night.

The cramps weren’t horrendous, I just couldn’t switch off and get back in to a slumber.

 My other half was oblivious and I didn’t disturb him as I needed my birth partner to be fully awake when things progressed.

As soon as it was a reasonable hour in the morning I rang the midwife to say I thought my waters had gone. It was Ailsa who had the phone (read about midwives in my preganancy tabs), after describing what had happened during the night she said she’d be over within the hour.

By this time the other half was up and I guess went in to denial mode, as he got ready and went to work just after Ailsa and a student midwife arrived.

After checking me over they were pretty sure my waters had gone so they made a plan. If I hadn’t delivered within 24 hours of the waters going I would need to have intravenous antibiotics as bubs was now susceptible to infection. So Ailsa called the hospital. If things hadn’t naturally progressed throughout the day I would go in that evening so the antibiotics could be administered.

 In the mean time I had to sit tight and monitor my temperature every few hours. If it became raised I needed to go to hospital straight away as it could’ve meant I had an infection. Ailsa also confirmed the cramps were contractions as my stomach was going hard.

I was given codeine to help with the pain, told to take a bath and try and get the sleep I was yearnng for.

For the rest of the morning I tried to occupy myself, I didn’t get round to the bath or sleeping.
Around lunchtime my friend Charlotte text to see if I still wanted to go for the walk we’d planned (that I’d forgotten about in my early labour). A work colleague had let me borrow their TENs machine and I was keen to get it on. There was no way I was going to be able to position the pads myself. When Charlotte arrived we faffed around looking up instructions for the TENs machine online. Eventually we found some and managed to get the pads on.  I’m not sure how much it helped with the pain but it did give me a sense of control, being able to press the ‘boost’ button when a contraction started. I did have problems with the pads peeling off as I had a top on rubbing them, plus it was a warm-ish day.

We went on our walk just down to the high street, bought a naked juice and a magazine to try and distract me, which I never got round to reading!

I’d been in contact with the other half throughout the day, he was obviously still in denial mode as he asked me if ‘I was sure I was in labour’. Apparently his work colleague was surprised I was off on a walk, so I couldn’t possibly be in labour!

I continued to use the boost button on the TENs to help with the contractions and Charlotte stayed with me as long as she could. Before she left I rang the other half to say I wanted him to come home as I was finding the contractions harder, I think it was because I was so tired.

When he was home he rang the midwife to see if we would be going to hospital and to say I was finding the contractions tough. Ailsa asked to speak with me and kept me talking (the test MW’s do to check if you’re in established labour) Because I was able to chat without any major problems she said I wasn’t ready to go to hospital.

Later that evening the other half rang the labour ward, who were aware we would be calling, to see if there was a delivery suite for us. There was! A taxi was called, we grabbed mine and bubs’ hospital bags. Then a struggle to get my shoes on began as I was VERY swollen. This was it! We were going to hospital to have our son delivered.

When we arrived there was another couple waiting in birth centre reception. The woman looked like she was much further along with her labour than myself which freaked me out. They were taken through to a delivery room and it was just me and the other half in reception. A few minutes later a midwife appeared and led us to a delivery room. I wasn’t keen on this midwife, it was a hospital midwife not one from the team I’d seen in antenatal appointments. The other half explained I hadn’t had any sleep and asked if there was anything they could do. She offered codeine and some lavender to sniff to see if I could drift off. I gladly accepted but it didn’t do much and I was unable to sleep.

For the rest of the night we were visited now again by a couple of hospital midwives to see how things were but we were mainly left to our own devices. So we chatted, people watched and I bounced on a birth ball (best thing ever!).

The time ticked by and it got to 2:30am, it had been over 24 hours since my waters had started to go. I should’ve been administered the IV antibiotics. Eventually the midwife I wasn’t keen on came in and said they had phoned the midwife on call from the team and she was on her way. I would be given the antibiotics once she had taken over my care.

So there was more waiting until she got there. When she arrived she arranged for the anaesthetist to come down to put a line in for the antibiotics. I started to feel the familiar dread of not being able to find a vein (read about my needle dislike). It turned out he found a vein in the back of my my wrist pretty quickly and was able to get the line in. My first lot of antibiotics began to drip in, I would need a dose every four hours until our baby was born.

Next was the internal examination to see how dilated I was, I hadn’t had one earlier due to the risk of infection.  For anyone who is dreading these it really wasn’t that bad and I wondered why I’d been so worried! Well that was until later… for now lets just say it depends on who is examining you!  I was 5cm, result! That meant I could get the gas and air I wanted and I was in established labour.

About 7am a student midwife called Julia came in to help.  My contractions were still quite far apart and irregular so the midwife gave me some clary sage to smell to help make them stronger. Boy did it do the trick to begin with! As soon as I took my first sniff I experienced a much stronger contraction and was thankful I had the gas and air to help me through.

At 8am the midwives swapped over. I was so happy when I saw it was Johanna, a midwife I’d met a couple of times before. Julia decided to stay and help out too.

I had a bit of breakfast and for most of the morning bounced on the birthing ball, this was where I was most comfy!

It must have been around 10:30am Johanna decided to do another internal examination. She asked if it I was happy to let Julia check first, which I had no problems with as the earlier one hadn’t been uncomfortable. Again, no discomfort and I was 8cm dilated. To be certain Johanna checked and was not as gentle! I felt so much discomfort I got on the gas and air. Johanna confirmed I was 8cm but was surprised as she said I didn’t look like someone who was 8cm dilated. Even though my contractions were quite far apart and didn’t appear that strong they were doing their job!

Bubs’ heartbeat had to be checked every 15mins and he continued to be happy which was a relief. One thing I dreaded was his heartbeat dropping and a horrible scenario occurring, like you would see on ‘One Born Every Minute’.

Johanna and Julia were both very supportive, Julia in particular chatted away to us both and showed the other half how to rub my back when I got a contraction.

Around lunchtime they decided to do another internal, I was happy for Julia to check first again and made sure I’d started on the gas and air before Johanna checked! Nothing much had changed so Johanna decided it would be best for me to be given the drugs to make the contractions come quicker and stronger.

They did their Job and I got to a point where I was finding it hard. I remember saying,  ‘I don’t want to do this anymore!’. Julia said that meant I was getting close to the end.

I  was shattered after being awake for over 32 hours but not long after I was ready to push.

I’d been adamant that I wasn’t going to be on my back during labour as it slows everything down, not letting gravity do its work. I also did not want to deliver on my back!

After pushing for a while on my knees, Johanna advised me to try on my back, sat up with knees up as she thought it would be better for me. I was totally in ‘a zone’ but remember a couple of doctors coming in and checking how I was getting on during pushing.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of pushing our boy was delivered at 3.54pm weighing a whopping 9.5lbs.



My placenta needed quite a bit of help to follow and for me was pretty much like giving birth again. I also needed stitches as I had a little tear but was extremely thankful our boy had been delivered safely and no emergency had taken place. Johanna even commented that I’d had a good labour with my ‘lazy contractions’.

I can honestly say it was the most bizarre but natural thing I’ve ever experienced and not as bad as I expected! How you feel with the people delivering your baby makes such a difference too. I felt utterly at ease and comfortable with Johanna and Julia and  had every confidence in them.

I think the toughest thing was being in labour for over 37 hours with very little sleep!

The only thing that didn’t go to ‘birth plan’ was delivering in a birthing pool because I had the drip in. Although I think if I’d asked I may have been able to get in if it was free!


How was your labour and delivery?

Thank you so much for stopping by! I appreciate comments and read all of them!