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Labour and Birth
 

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Do not listen to others

Date written 18/08/2011 00:02:23

Hi,
I just wanted to say to all the expecting Mum's out there, please do not listen to other people's stories about their labour or such.
No one should tell any expecting mum's horror stories as we are all different, not one birth is the same as the next. Just relax as best you can, breath deep, be safe and cry happy tears.
Laraine

posted in Labour and Birth  |  0 Comments

Ava's Unexpected Breech Homebirth

Date written 10/03/2011 07:26:34

Sorry about the length, there was more to it than i thought.

12th Feb 2008 - It was the 20yr anniversary of my brothers death, he had passed of SIDS when i was 4yrs old, something felt different, i had been telling the girls at work i couldn't remember if my period was before or after my friends wedding and i thought i was late.
I generally had a regular cycle but had been off the pill for over a yr due to medical advice.
I had done a PT a couple of days before but had seen nothing, i told my DP that i needed to do another one i felt that something wasn't right.
We shared our house with a friend so i quickly did the test and went and hid in our room, i had to yell out to DP to come in, as soon as he saw me start to wimper he knew i was pregnant so we rushed off to the after hours without our friend having any idea what was going on.
The doctor confirmed the test was right and put me down as being around 6-7weeks, we called our parents and siblings and gave them the unexpected news.

On the friday before my birthday (21.02) i was at work and had a bleed, a friend and i went straight to the Mercy to get everything checked, we sat there for about 4hrs waiting for bloods etc and then i had to come back on the Monday to have an IU.
We cancelled the dinner i had planned for that night and i spent the entire weekend feeling sick and not being able to eat properly.
Monday came and we saw the heartbeat of our beautiful little girl, it was the most amazing thing ever!

Over the course of my pregnancy i had another 2 bleeds, the Dr's advised it may have been due to pressure during intercourse and nothing wrong with the baby.

I was due around the 17th of October, we slowly started buying all the furniture and things we wanted, we found out we were having a girl and even though attempted to purchase neutral clothes it didn't work.

We decided to take up an offer from a relative to move to a property of theirs about 30min away from where we were living at the time and decided on moving about 2 weeks before i was due.
I finished work and started slowly packing up the house, my cousins wife was due a couple of weeks before i was and she came for a visit to see how i was going.
We were joking about if she went over and i went early we could have bubs on the same day... be careful what you wish for, we weren't far off.

On Friday the 3rd October my cousin and his wife welcomed their gorgeous little boy Zac into the world, a i had my OBS appt that day i got to pop in while she was in labour and see first hand what it was like... i could only wish i had of seen that hospital room first hand.

On Sunday the 5th of October we had everything packed in the truck and headed to the new place to get everything sorted out, we had plenty of boys to help and i was under strict instruction not to LIFT any boxes or anything, kicking them along the ground seemed to work well for me anyway.
I had dropped a bit by now and started getting a bit of back pain but i had over a week and a bit left so didn't think much of it at the time.
On Monday i started to unpack the kitchen stuff but found i had to stop in between boxes as i was getting quite tired and my back was annoying me no end.
My DP got home from work ran me a nice big bath and i disappeared to relax for a while.
Bubs was moving heaps so i thought there was def no chance she was on her way as everyone told me they slow down before birth, so i relaxed for the rest of the night and went to bed as normal.

TUESDAY 7th OCTOBER 2008: D DAY
1am: i woke up with sharp pains between my back and stomach, what i assume preiod pain would feel like, i kept trying to get back to sleep but kept getting woken by this awkward feeling, i nudged DP to tell him i think i was having contractions, at this stage they were roughly 15min apart but didn't really seem regular.
We just tried to roll over and get some rest, nothing seemed urgent at this stage

4am: The contractions were regularly 15mins apart at this stage and i was finding i wasn't getting much rest, we decided to call the hospital and see what they say as i had the strep bacteria and lived 45min from the hospital, i let DP sleep as i wandered off to the lounge to find my mobile charger so i could ring the hospital.
I was told this was my first baby, i hadn't had a show and that these contractions could last for days, so i toddled back to bed and attempted to get some sleep.

6am: DP had to work that day and said we should call the hospital again and see what they think as my contractions were down to about 12mins apart, if they thought anything would happen soon he would call one of the boys to come and get the keys for the job and he would stay home.
Again i was told just to try and rest and i could be like this for quite some time.
DP was working an hour away but we both agreed he should go to work (contractor, don't work don't get paid) and i would call him as soon as i thought i needed him to come home.
He got me a hot water bottle and drove to the corner shop to buy me some panadol as ours was still packed away somewhere and then headed off to work.
I tried getting back to sleep on and off but pretty much just layed and stared at the roof.

8:30am: I decided i needed to try and relieve some of this pain so i jumped in the shower, my contractions would roughly have been 10min apart by now but my phone was still on charge and no clocks were unpacked so i wasn't sure, i sat in the shower for about an hour i think until the water went cold.

around 9:15am: I got dried and dressed and went to call DP, i was not quite as comfortable now and my contractions were getting closer to 5min apart, he told me to call the hospital and then call him back, he was going to leave straight away.
I had only just had a show but my water still had not broken so i called the hospital, they timed my contractions and the length but still advised i should stay home for now.
I called DP back and he said he would leave as soon he could, i decided i might as well call mum and joke that it MIGHT be happening today.
I had planned to have my mum, stepmum and MIL present at the hospital so thought might aswell warn mum.
We spoke for a while, well in between me breathing through contractions (not sure i realized i was doing it) when she asked if i was timing them, i said no as i was speaking to her off the only thing with a clock, she sounded worried as she told me i was now down to about 3min apart.

9:50am - My water broke right as my SIL called to see if everything was ok as my DP had called her asking how long he had (hehe) i told her i wanted to go back to talking to mum and that i was OK.
I told mum my water broke so she called DP off her other phone and asked him to call my cousin who lived around the corner to come sit with me atleast until he could make it home.
As she did this i decided i needed to go and get underwear on as there was NO CHANCE my cousin was seeing me like this, i walked to the other end of the house (against mums advice).
Just as i picked up a pad and some undies i told mum i needed the toilet so i headed to the bathroom to sit down, as i did i told her i felt like i needed to push (again against her advice), i thought i could feel something so i put my hand down only to realise it didn't feel like a head.
I looked down and saw TWO BLUE feet staring back at me, as soon as i told mum she called 000.
They asked mum to hang up, they called my mobile and then conferenced mum into the call to try and help keep me calm.

I had the most amazing operator his name was Paul and his voice will stay with me for the rest of my life, he asked what was happening and i explained i had two feet sticking out of me while sitting on the toilet, he asked me to lower myself carefully onto the floor.
I told him i had towels but i'm not sure why as all i had was the towel i had not long used for my shower and one i had used on my hair, we also have a very pretty but very uncomfortable slate bathroom floor.

To be honest b/w now and Ava's actual birth i don't remember much, not the pain, nothing, i have a copy of the 000 phone call so i know what happened but i honestly believe my body just TOOK over as it had no choice.

Paul told me if i needed to push to pull my legs up to my chest and do is i felt i needed to, he was great, constantly reassuring me the ambos were on their way and asking how i was going.
In between pushing and contractions i had enough gall to tell Paul his wife was LUCKY as she had made it to hospital for her baby a week before, we all had a bit of a laugh.
I remember feeling her knees come out, then her bum (i think the hardest part for me) and then her head, I think roughly 8-10 pushes and my beautiful baby girl was out.
Just after she slowly landed on the floor rolling off my big fat bum my cousins wife (baby 4 days before) come flying up the hallway looking at me strangely as to why i was on the bathroom floor.
As she got in she yelled to my cousin that the baby was on the floor, right at that stage we heard her first cry and gasp for breath and she was wrapt in a towel and placed on my chest, none of us could believe what had just happened and my cousins wife was wondering why the baby had its head to close to me and not the other way around... haha

My cousin called DP only to be hung up on thinking it was a joke, he was quickly called back and advised no you have a little girl.
The ambulance arrived about 5min after she was born and DP arrived about 5min after them, we were both checked, i delivered the placenta and then we were taken off to the hospital.

I was EXTREMELY lucky that nothing happend to DD or myself and that she just wanted to hop out and meet us, i had some internal tearing but nothing major.
The nurses explained there had been 23 births that morning and thats why i kept getting put off and its not NORMAL for someone with their first labour to go so quick.

Sorry i couldn't go into much details but as i said i didn't get to find out my stages of labour or how far dialated etc.. i wish i knew but she was in a hurry to meet us and save me a C/S so i am truly blessed with my H&H little girl.

if i can get through that it proves child brith is the most natural thing in the world and your body really does know what it needs.. hope you enjoyed Ava's birth story as much as our family does.

posted in Labour and Birth  |  0 Comments

Zara Grace - Quick, Drug Free, Natural 2nd Birth Story

Date written 10/03/2011 07:24:22

12.05.09 - I had had a very strange feeling for a couple of days that i was pregnant, i was late and i just had that odd sense something wasn't right so as soon as DP got home from work we did a test and sure enough.. i cried and cried and cried.
DD was only 7mths old and a baby was NOT part of our plan for atleast another year or so, i was so worried about telling people but in the end everyone was VERY supportive and we grew to like the idea of Ava having a little brother or sister.

My PG went quite well this time round, no bleeds, no high BP i had morning sickness but couldn't physically be sick which i think makes you feel even worse.
I was a completely different shape to Ava and felt so much different i was convinced we were having a boy (wishful thinking maybe).
We went to the 18-20wk scan and found out IT'S ANOTHER GIRL!
We were a little disappointed but were both happy to know she was healthy and thats all that mattered.

I was enjoying my appts at the PANCH clinic instead of hr long waits @ the Mercy and the midwives were GREAT and very reassuring, they went right over everything that happened with Ava's birth and what i should or shouldn't expect this time round.
I had to see an OB at the Mercy who told me theres a chance she would want to induce me @ 39wks to avoid me NOT being in hospital again... i wasn't impressed and discussed this with my midwife who advised me not to worry she would send me to a different OB @ 36wks to make sure bubs wasn't breach and to assure me i would be allow to try everything as naturally as i would allow.

I got to 36wks and was starting to have sore back etc and thought this bubs really can't be too far off, the OB sent me for fetal monitoring as he thought she was a little small and didn't understand how someone of my stature only has 3kg babies.
He assured me she was HEAD DOWN and very low and i could basically go any day, i was getting very excited as x-mas was just around the corner aswell.

I had guessed the 27th of December but my date came and went so did new years and i was getting antzy my back was getting sore, it was hard to chase DD around and keep on top of everything in the house.
I had house guests who by the end of it all were getting on my nerves something shocking and if bubs didn't come they were staying another week!

05.01.10 - i had been getting braxton hicks, nothing regular but enough to annoy me while i was sleeping, i told DP i hoped it meant something was going to happen soon.
Spent the day chasing DD and entertaining our guests and everything had stopped, i figured maybe this kid is going to wait until her due date or after.

06.01.10 - had been getting niggles on and off during the night, nothing regular and nothing strong and nowhere near as intense as with DD1, figured it was braxton hicks again.
In the morning i cleaned the lounge, moved the couch to vac, dusted shelves etc all the while getting these little niggles, after Ava's sleep we went outside to draw on the ground with chalk and play in the sandpit, the pains were now probably every half an hour or so but still didn't feel strong enough to worry about.
DP got home around 4:30 - 5ish and the pains were now 10-12min apart but i was determined to wait and see as they didn't feel bad enough.
Plus mum had made lasagna and i wasn't missing out so we sat down and ate tea (mum timing contractions while i ate ), i didn't have a sense or urgency and everyone else was getting a little worried.
We finished tea, DP went and had a shower while i got changed, put my bag in the car and changed DD into her PJ's, it was now about 8:00pm and my contractions were about 6min apart if walking around and 8min if sitting down.

I was positive we were going to get to the hospital and they would send me home.

8:30pm - arrived at hosp and was advised they would monitor me for 30min and decide what to do.

9:00pm - told to stay,, go for a walk around the hosp etc, contractions were classed as 'mild' and were 5-8min apart, they checked me probably every 30min but left me to my own devices.
We did a lap of downstairs and outside and i was stopping and rocking through contractions, we came back in to be checked again when the shifts changed and then i just walked around the room while DP read his paper.

10:30 - decided to have a shower, was getting late and tired and sore and figured it might wake me up and take some pressure off my back, DP sat in the room and read his paper still and came in and checked me a couple of times.
I got out and had a couple of contractions a little STRONGER and closer together, i couldn't get my leggings back on so decided too bad my dress will have to do.
Went back into the room and rocked through contractions again, now 5min apart and slightly stronger.

10:55 - MW came in and checked me, contractions now regularly 5min apart and a little stronger but not good enough... she said we want them closer together and stronger still, have a rest for a bit and then maybe go for another walk around the hosp.
She left the room and i went to get off the bed and had a REALLY good one.. OUCH, told DP that wasn't 5min, went to move again and another... thought hmmm when i move they KILL.

11:00 - Could feel another one coming so got up on the bed on my knees and leant against the top of the bed (raised) when my waters broke.
DP who was still reading his paper (think he had 2 dif ones) asked if he should get the MW and i said yes she needs to check my waters... oh and i need to push!
So the MW came in and said don't push i think your still a bit off, let me just check.
NOPE she ran out of the room and another 3 MW came in (2 to get the lamps and everything on and 1 to check me), the 2nd MW casked me to turn around so they can check whats happening and she said "the heads RIGHT THERE".
told them i need to push and they said just go with what your body says and we will only stop you if we think you need to slow to stop tearing etc.
They asked if i wanted to change position but i was focused and no matter what i was pushing and this baby was coming... don't distract me... lol
DP was rubbing my head and getting me water when i asked, he was fantastic.
They told me to slow down the pushes only about twice but let me do my own thing, i remember screaming once and constantly telling them i couldn't feel my hands!

11:08pm - ZARA GRACE enters the world, 8min of pushing after my waters broke, no drugs AT ALL, no stitches and only a small graze!
She was gorgeous, they put her straight on my chest and i couldn't believe it, she was finally here!

They took her for a minute to check her and give her a little oxygen as she had been so quick etc but she was back on my chest ASAP and it felt amazing, i never got that gooey chest to chest experience with Ava as she was wrapped and given to me while we waited for the ambulance.

DP started taking some photos and you can tell this time round he was there, looks like he has glo sticks in his cheeks!

ZARA GRACE - 11:08pm on 06.01.10, 3050g and 49cm

Our little girl is now 14mths old, walking talking and just as much a giant ball of energy as her sister, we love our girls and feel so blessed to have had them.

Hope my story is of some help to someone, my biggest advice is to trust in your body.

posted in Labour and Birth  |  0 Comments

Horror Birth.... Beautiful Baby

Date written 20/07/2010 07:25:37

Sunday night, 8 days after my due date contractions start. They are only mild but we decide to go to the hospital as its 35min away and they are getting closer together.

Two days later and my waters are broken and its time to push!! I'm already exhuasted and after 4 HOURS OF PUSHING doctors and midwives explain that babys head is turned to the side and caught in my pelvis just shy of crowning and will not come threw. So Im prepped for an emergency caesarian. After being told that the c section would only take about 20min but after over 40 min I question the nurse and she says that due to baby being so low its difficult to get her out.

She is finally out and is a happy and healthy 9lb baby. My partner and I cry tears of relief as she is handed to us, but before long hubby and baby are off to the ward and I am left to be put back together. This process took another hour and a half due to complications. I Heamoraged and lost over two litres of blood!
ultrasounds are used to find veins as they are so small due to the blood loss. I have two blood transfusions and two plasma but after all is said and done I have a beautiful baby girl who I will treasure forever and I would do it all over again tomorow!!

posted in Labour and Birth  |  1 Comments

My birth story

Date written 28/05/2010 11:49:01

I wrote this story on my boy's 3rd birthday (he is now 6) but i think it is still relevant as it tells the story of his birth:

Every birthday that your child celebrates is as much of a milestone for you as it is for them, especially in the early years.
Today marks three years since my boy entered the world and I find my mind keeps drifting back to that cold and windy day in August 2003 when he came into the world.
He was due on August 7. That day came and went. It was clear he was very comfortable where he was and had no intention of vacating of his own volition.
However, his heartbeat was normal, as regular ultrasounds showed, so we simply waited.
After a week or so my gynaecologist booked me in for an induction on the Saturday (August 16). I had hoped that I would go into labour naturally before then but that didn’t happen.
So full of expectation my husband and I headed off to the hospital on the Saturday afternoon – only to be sent back home that night due to an influx of ‘urgent cases’! We had to phone everyone, not with our big news, but with the fact that we were back home again. They hoped to be able to admit me the following day but they weren’t sure. To say that we were in limbo was an understatement. With nothing else to do but wait by the phone for a call to go in, my husband decided to wash the windows!
Eventually we got a call at about 3pm the following day (Sunday) to say we could come back to the hospital. Hooray! Finally there was room at the inn.
First they applied gel to my cervix, which is the gentlest way to edge labour along. But my son wasn’t going to fall for that old trick. It did little.
A second application of gel didn’t do much either than make me feel a bit bloated.
The following morning (Monday), after a very uncomfortable night for my husband on the lounge of the birthing suite, the midwives inserted a drip in my arm, containing labour-inducing hormones. This finally had some effect and I was a whole 1cm dilated!!!!
At some stage – perhaps before the drip, or perhaps after, I can’t recall – my gyno popped in and broke my waters with a very sinister looking hook (I still have it for use in case of home invasion etc).
I had been told that having my waters broken manually was very painful but I didn’t feel anything. Mind you it was more difficult to do that I thought. Everything (amniotic sac and baby included) seemed to be around towards my back rather than my pelvis at the front so the doctor seemed to have to use some interesting arm manoeuvre to reach it (enough said…).
With the drip it was just a matter of time before I went into full-blown labour.
The funny (not funny ha ha) thing about labour – and I have discussed this with many first-time Mums since – is that you don’t really know you’re in it.
There’s this strange pain, that can seem quite minor at first, somewhat akin to period pain. It can often take a midwife to tell you you’re actually in labour.
The pain began to get worse and I had this idea that you should try to get through without drugs. Why is that? It’s not like I refuse the needle at the dentists or reject Panadol if I have a headache.
I knew I definitely didn’t want Pethidine but I was more open to an epidural. The fact that you are basically bed-ridden after you have the epidural was putting me off. I suppose I thought that leaping around the room might help!
So I soldiered on for a few more hours using my own form of hydrotherapy as relief. Every time I got a contraction I used a water jet in the bath on my stomach as a kind of distraction from the pain.
Eventually I came to the question: why am I enduring this in pain, when I don’t have to? So the midwife was dispatched to get the anaesthetist to administer the epidural through my spine (eeeww…)
The rest of that day was passed in relative comfort. There are photos of me propped up in bed, laughing at the jokes made by my husband and my Mum, who by this time had turned up to lend her support.
Finally (there are a lot of finallys and eventuallys in this tale) in the early evening the midwives declared I was fully dilated and ready to push. How long will it take, I asked. No more than an hour, they promised (fibbers!!)
At this point they reduced the amount of drugs going in via the epidural so that some feeling would return to my lower body and I would be able to feel the contractions, which would help me know when to push.
If ever a midwife tells you this is what he/she is going to do, say no!!!!!!!!!!
Several other mothers with epidurals have told me that at this point they could barely feel contractions and had only a little pain (though a lot of exhaustion) in pushing the baby out.
What followed for me was a very different story. As soon as they ‘fiddled’ with the epidural I began to experience the most horrendous pain and every push (they made me do three in between every contraction) was like trying to pick up the back end of a car. I had horrible nausea as well, constantly feeling like I was about to throw up but never actually doing it (it probably would have been better if I had).
I think I started pushing at about 8.40pm and I was totally fixated on the clock that was directly in front of me on the wall. 9.40pm came and went.
By this stage my husband was flagging too and I have more vivid memories of my mother who was sponging my face (I had already ripped off all my clothes due to feeling like I was in the middle of the Sahara – try doing that when you’ve got a drip in your spine and one in your arm – the image is funny in retrospect – everything gets tangled around everything) and holding a bowl for me in case of puking.
My son finally entered the world at approximately 10.30pm, assisted by forceps and an episiotomy. (When I asked the doctor later how many stitches later he said he didn’t really count them!)
They plopped him on my chest and the first thing I remember thinking was “he looks like a rugby player”, whatever that means. He was bright red and blotchy and he looked like he’d had a really hard day but he also looked healthy and feisty. Almost immediately they put him onto the breast, there beginning weeks of another kind of pain but that is another story.
I thought all the difficult stuff was over but unfortunately it was just beginning. We found out that my placenta had ‘abnormally adhered’ to my uterus, which meant that instead of coming out in a nice big liver-like piece it had to be physically removed piecemeal (sorry to gross you out) resulting in the loss of horrendous amounts of blood. (My husband still likes to tell people that the plush, apricot-coloured birth suite looked like Slaughterhouse-Five).
After what I had been through I desperately wanted anyone and anything away from that whole area of my anatomy (for about a year) but the prodding continued for some time.
It was a surreal experience. In the background I remember hearing them weigh my son on the scales outside. He was 4.44 kg or 9 pounds, 14 ounces in the old scale.
“Thank God for that,” I thought. “If he had been a small one I might have had to kill myself.”
After some time the doctor gave up on his placenta fishing expedition and said I would have to be monitored in case placenta remained (it took day-surgery six weeks later to get rid of the last little sucker. As an aside, they believe this problem was due to an earlier miscarriage followed by a curette followed by pregnancy possibly too soon after).
The midwives came in to clean me up – poor women. It must be akin to being ‘the cleaner’ when the cops have finished with a crime scene. They should have just got several buckets of soapy water and thrown them at me.
Sometime around midnight I was taken up to the labour ward and my husband saw my son off into the nursery.
So there I was in the middle of the night, after this traumatic and amazing experience, totally alone in this pitch black room, and I was supposed to sleep.
My mind was racing and then I proceeded to faint. I buzzed the midwife and she came in and gave me oxygen, which seemed to stabilise me. (Ultimately the only thing that would fix me up was a four-unit blood transfusion a few days later as my haemoglobin level continued to drop.)
So that is my birth story. Recounted exactly three years later, off the top of my head. While some details are fuzzy you can see I remember so much.
For the first 12-18 months I had a wonderfully placid baby who did most things by the book.
Now I have a three-year-old who argues about every single thing with me – even the fact that he is turning 3 today (he claims he is 4 or 6, depending on his mood).
And although my husband and I could do without the arguments, the tantrums and the throwing every time he doesn’t get his way, we wouldn’t change any of it.
Happy birthday my boy.

posted in Labour and Birth  |  0 Comments


 
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