dustbin
15-06-2010, 09:47pm
Skye Thea born 13th June at 11.24am weighing 7lbs 15oz. I so did not expect to be giving birth on a quiet Sunday morning! I think I believed I would never have a baby and possibly be pregnant forever. She was only 6 days late in the end. I was anxious for the baby to be out really.
Thursday morning I woke to a watery show which continued on for the next few days but not masses really. I was feeling sore but had been for a while so not pinning my hopes on anything. I saw the midwife Thursday late morning and she performed a sweep. She said my cervix was moving down and I was around 1cm dilated, enough to do the sweep. So I went home and hoped it would kick things off. No such luck! My Mum arrived Thursday night to be on hand and my Dad followed Fri eve. They were desperate for a baby before they had to go home Sunday evening but by Saturday night we had all given up hope. So I was so surprised to be woken periodically through the night with pains. I was not sure if it was definitely contractions as I had been quite sore on and off for days. However, I soon became aware they were coming in waves and becoming more regular. By 5am I started timing them. By 6 they were five minutes apart and lasting about a minute. My breathing through them was now enough to wake my husband and we tried out the contraction timer application on his phone (defo recommend this!). Soon they were every 2.5 mins but only 30 seconds long. I got up and had a shower and washed my hair. I could still function but was really struggling by this point. My parents were on their motorhome and we got Finn up and dressed and sent him off to Granny and Grandpa by about 8am and had phoned the hospital by this point to tell them what was happening. We had also hooked up the TENS machine. I said I could still breath through them at this point and some were much more intense than others. I found sometimes I would have a mini one or skip one altogether and then one would come around 5 mins later and was unbearable. So labour ward said to come in when I felt they were more intense of lasting longer. By about 9am I was not coping any more. They were lasting around 40 secs and still every 2.5 mins apart. I could also feel the baby really moving down and I was not coping well, tearful! So we called the ward and they did not hesitate to say come on in. The car journey was unbearable! Only 10-15 mins but really intense. Arrived around 10am. We were ushered through triage as it was pretty quiet. I was so nervous I was going to be told I was still only 1-2cm but thankfully they said I was 5-6cm and took us straight up to the labour ward. Things were moving quickly by this point and the MW said she thought we were going to meet our baby very soon (within the hour) and we didn't believe it. We assumed it was going to that evening at the earliest and I was worried as I felt there was no way I could cope. I managed through some more contractions before hooking up to the gas and air. But before I knew it I was starting to feel the need to push. I was standing holding onto the end of the bed frame, the same way I delivered Finn. The midwife went ahead and popped my waters and there was apparently a lot of meconium so when she explained they would have to call the paed just to give suction when the baby was born. Pushing took a bit longer than anticipated as she wasn't in the best position and got a bit stuck on the way round the bend. I had abandoned the gas and air as I was really just biting on the mouth piece by this point! I think I was maybe pushing for about 40 minutes before she was born at 11.24am. There was a VERY tricky time where I had delivered her head but had to breath through the pain until the next contraction before her shoulder was delivered. And my body chose this time to have a break between contractions so it felt like forever! There was meconium everywhere when she was born! I think they wanted to suction her but she cried before they could and so swallowed meconium. (Because of this they wanted to keep us in for 24 hr monitoring.) Placenta followed. No tearing thankfully, just some grazing. So that was it! She was here. We couldn't believe it when they said GIRL!
I still can't believe how fast it all happened. 5.5 hours from major regular contractions to birth. So much more manageable than Finn's marathon birth experience which went on for days.
I feel so positive about it and just grateful that it all went so well and we were both okay.
We are all delighted with her, especially her big bro! She is feeding really well although I am struggling with the pain at the moment. Will perservere.
Thanks for reading and I hope this is encouraging!
Thursday morning I woke to a watery show which continued on for the next few days but not masses really. I was feeling sore but had been for a while so not pinning my hopes on anything. I saw the midwife Thursday late morning and she performed a sweep. She said my cervix was moving down and I was around 1cm dilated, enough to do the sweep. So I went home and hoped it would kick things off. No such luck! My Mum arrived Thursday night to be on hand and my Dad followed Fri eve. They were desperate for a baby before they had to go home Sunday evening but by Saturday night we had all given up hope. So I was so surprised to be woken periodically through the night with pains. I was not sure if it was definitely contractions as I had been quite sore on and off for days. However, I soon became aware they were coming in waves and becoming more regular. By 5am I started timing them. By 6 they were five minutes apart and lasting about a minute. My breathing through them was now enough to wake my husband and we tried out the contraction timer application on his phone (defo recommend this!). Soon they were every 2.5 mins but only 30 seconds long. I got up and had a shower and washed my hair. I could still function but was really struggling by this point. My parents were on their motorhome and we got Finn up and dressed and sent him off to Granny and Grandpa by about 8am and had phoned the hospital by this point to tell them what was happening. We had also hooked up the TENS machine. I said I could still breath through them at this point and some were much more intense than others. I found sometimes I would have a mini one or skip one altogether and then one would come around 5 mins later and was unbearable. So labour ward said to come in when I felt they were more intense of lasting longer. By about 9am I was not coping any more. They were lasting around 40 secs and still every 2.5 mins apart. I could also feel the baby really moving down and I was not coping well, tearful! So we called the ward and they did not hesitate to say come on in. The car journey was unbearable! Only 10-15 mins but really intense. Arrived around 10am. We were ushered through triage as it was pretty quiet. I was so nervous I was going to be told I was still only 1-2cm but thankfully they said I was 5-6cm and took us straight up to the labour ward. Things were moving quickly by this point and the MW said she thought we were going to meet our baby very soon (within the hour) and we didn't believe it. We assumed it was going to that evening at the earliest and I was worried as I felt there was no way I could cope. I managed through some more contractions before hooking up to the gas and air. But before I knew it I was starting to feel the need to push. I was standing holding onto the end of the bed frame, the same way I delivered Finn. The midwife went ahead and popped my waters and there was apparently a lot of meconium so when she explained they would have to call the paed just to give suction when the baby was born. Pushing took a bit longer than anticipated as she wasn't in the best position and got a bit stuck on the way round the bend. I had abandoned the gas and air as I was really just biting on the mouth piece by this point! I think I was maybe pushing for about 40 minutes before she was born at 11.24am. There was a VERY tricky time where I had delivered her head but had to breath through the pain until the next contraction before her shoulder was delivered. And my body chose this time to have a break between contractions so it felt like forever! There was meconium everywhere when she was born! I think they wanted to suction her but she cried before they could and so swallowed meconium. (Because of this they wanted to keep us in for 24 hr monitoring.) Placenta followed. No tearing thankfully, just some grazing. So that was it! She was here. We couldn't believe it when they said GIRL!
I still can't believe how fast it all happened. 5.5 hours from major regular contractions to birth. So much more manageable than Finn's marathon birth experience which went on for days.
I feel so positive about it and just grateful that it all went so well and we were both okay.
We are all delighted with her, especially her big bro! She is feeding really well although I am struggling with the pain at the moment. Will perservere.
Thanks for reading and I hope this is encouraging!