http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/ Would you like to share a birth story? Post your account of birth, no matter if you were mum, dad or grandparent! en Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:49:07 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/images/bellybelly2/misc/rss.jpg http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/ http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/117443-short-labour-long-sorry.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:32:36 GMT After my first pregnancy I knew that the next time round I wanted to spend as little time in hospital as possible, and if possible I would have preferred a home birth. But this year we spent the first half of the year staying with my in'laws whilst we tried to find a house. When we couldn't find a house we decided to find work and a house elsewhere. This ultimately meant that we didn't have the time we needed to track down a midwife and plan a homebirth. (But maybe next time, if there is one!)
So we moved into our new home with just under 3 months before I was due.
My change in hospitals was really uninspiring at the time. We went from being in a wonderful hospital with the most lovely midwive, to a hospital where the midwife clinic was full so we had to see the obs instead. The receptionist was always rude, and rarely answered the phone. The obs were fairly nice except out of the four different ones we saw over our appointments, only one spoke english well enough for us to understand. As a result I spent most of my time after the apointments freaking out because I had not understood a single thing they said to me; thankfully DH seemed to understand and did his best to decipher for me afterwards. Needless to say I want that confident about going to the hospital this time round!
So in the weeks leading up to my due date, DH and I had had many comversations about when would be a 'good time' to go into labour (like I had the choice!). So school holidays were out because he was busy (he's a chef, so holidays are always busy!), then halloween and Melbourne cup (both because of the influx of drunks, fools and what not at the hospital, and the increase of police on the roads).

So my due date comes and goes (which I found to be a little liberating) along with school holidays and halloween.
Melbourne cup day I have my 41 week appointment. At the appoinment everything seems to be rather normal, bub was happy and all that. And the ob decides to book me in to be induced on the friday (6th). I freaked out. I really didnt want to be induced.
Afterwards we came home and spent the afternoon in the cool.
That night in bed DH and I chatted about DTD to help things along. Our consensus was not tonight, but if I hadnt gone by the next night then we would.
We went to bed at 11pm. I was woken at 1:30 with pains. I shrugged them off. 5mins later I had more pains, like the first these pains went when I moved. 5 mins later I was up pacing around the house. I figured it was time, so tried to wake DH. Once he was up I went to have a shower whilst he called the hospital, who said come in now.
During this DD1 woke up, so DH got her a milo whilst I got dressed. When I came into the lounge room, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed my belly.
We gathered everything together, and got in the car, it was 2:40am by then. It is normally a half hour drive to the hospital on skinny bendy country roads. When we left my contractions were 2 mins apart!!
DH drove like a mad man, I spent the whole time looking out for animals and police. Thankfully we saw neither. DD1 chatted the whole way, blowing me kisses.
When we finallly hit a main road and were about 8kms from the hospital I asked DH where my phone was, when he asked why I told him I thought we should call 000. he simply drove faster. We passed a fire truck and I thought, hmm I've seen them deliver babies on tv, surely they can do it in real life?
Finally we get to the hospital, DH lets me out at the front door, he and DD1 go and find somewhere to park. I wander in and am followed by a random who keeps telling me they wont let me in as the hospital is closed. All I think is they are going to let me in regardless.
They let me in. I go straight to the birthing suite, where once through the doors, I am greeted by the most lovely midwife.
All I say is my name is Justine, my contractions are a min apart lasting for at least a min, and I need to push.
Its 3am.
We go straight into a room, I get up on the bed, suddenly there are two others in the room with me. The ob gives me an internal, she says go on and push when I need to.
Next thing DH and DD1 come in, more kisses from both of them, my waters finally break. Immediately bub crowns, and next thing you know DD2 is out on my tummy, crying.
Its 3:07am.

In total labour last for 1 1/2 hrs.

Harper Annabelle Scarlett born 4th November 2009 was 8 pound 3 (3.7kgs), 50cms long, Head circ 35cms.

DD1 watched the whole event. The entire time she blew me kisses and told me she loved me. She fell in love with her sister instantly giving her cuddles whilst we were still in the delivery room. Both DH and I aare so happy she was there to witness her sisters birth!

All 4 of us were home by lunchtime after having a very quick and beautiful birth.

PS: Afterwards, the midwife who meet me when i came in said to me that she had to laugh about me coming in. She said I rambled off everything with a smile on my face, she thought there was no way I was ready to push if I could say all that and smile!

And all my worries were for nothing the hospital was fantastic, the staff were beautiful and it was so positive overall!

If you have got this far than thank you for reading and thank you to everyone that has posted their stories; I find each one to be very empowering.

Justine ]]> Birth Stories beansbeans! http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/117443-short-labour-long-sorry.html http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/117169-poppy-mais-arrival-very-long.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:05:38 GMT In the early hours of Monday (November 3) I woke up for my usual middle-of-the-night pee feeling a bit wet down there. “Oh no, I’m too tired to have the baby today,” was my very first thought as I struggled out of sleep.

I trudged down the hall to the toilet and decided that I just hadn’t woken up in time, that it was just pee. I staggered back to bed, put in a panty liner and got back into bed. But then there was another gush. The panty liner was completely wet. “Oh crap,” I thought and lumbered back down the hall to have a shower. More gushes that were definitely not pee. But I was so tired. I put a big pad on and went back to bed to wait for some contractions.

At about 8am I woke up again. No contractions and I didn’t feel quite so tired. I called the hospital and a midwife told me to come in for a check. He (yes, a male middie) said they’d monitor the baby for half an hour or so and if everything was ok they’d send me home to wait for something to happen. I told him I was booked in for an ultrasound at 10.30 that day because the baby was small and the fluid level was low and the doctors wanted to make sure she was still growing. I asked if I should cancel the appointment. He said we should just wait and see.

So I asked my Dad if he’d drive us to the hospital. (DP doesn’t have an Australian license). Dad said yes, after he’d been to the bank, thinking I just wanted a lift to the ultrasound appointment. But I said we needed to go straight away. Still no contractions, although I was expecting them to start at any moment.

I wandered up to the birth suite, where I was hooked up to a stomach monitor. It showed everything was fine with the baby, but no contractions. Dad sat in the corner and did some Sudoku puzzles while DP and I read books. The midwife kept wanting to check my pad (so gross). She said the contractions may not start for more than 24 hours, although at a certain point they’d want to bring things on with the synthetic hormone. I was worried about my Dad running me back and forth to the hospital all day, so I asked if I could stay a few hours, just in case, and then go home. Yep, everything was fine.

They took me over to the maternity ward and I ate the free sandwiches, then we wandered across the road for some fish and chips. We walked to the local nature reserve, up and down a few hills. Still no contractions. We went back to the ward and rested for a little bit. Then I announced I was ready to go home and wait. Suddenly that wasn’t ok. An obstetrician came to see me and said that because the baby was small, she could go into distress quite quickly if something went wrong. He said that I should stay in the hospital so the medical staff could react quickly if anything happened. I was really upset because it was so noisy in the ward and I just wanted to sleep. I asked if DP could stay because my parent’s house is about 40 minutes from the hospital (and Dad would have to drive him) and I didn’t want to go into labour or have the baby without him. They said yes he could stay.

So we settled in, tried to sleep. We shared the free dinner then went for another walk, up another big hill (still nothing). Then we shared a second dinner at the café across the road from the hospital. We watched a few hundred rosellas settle into a tree for the night and then went back to the ward. We were just getting comfortable when a nurse came in and said DP couldn’t stay. She told some relatives of the patient opposite us they couldn’t stay either. I asked the midwife what was going on. She winked and told me to wait a few moments. She came back and whispered to me that many DPs and DHs stay, even though hospital policy was that they couldn’t. She said that it all depended on who was on that night. She winked again and said the head nurse went home at 9.30pm. So we decided to wait her out. However, the head nurse that came on at 9.30pm also said DP couldn’t stay! By now he had no way of getting home, bar a $60 cab fare. The last bus was long gone, my Mum can’t drive at night and my Dad had had a few celebratory ports. So DP decided to hide out in the birth suite lounge for a few hours. He snuck back to the chair beside my bed at about midnight but we both woke up every time someone came in the ward, expecting him to be tossed into the street. We were also regularly woken up by the young Indian girl in the bed opposite, who was crying and pacing the ward, having contractions.

During the night I started getting cramping feelings. “Yipee, these must be contractions,” I thought. I breathed through them. “These aren’t too bad,” I thought. “That Indian girl must be a bit of a sook.” I was feeling pretty confident, remembering all I’d read about contractions being good pains and “opening up to the experience”. My Mum had told me how all the women in our family had easy labours. My cousin had told me that her babies just dropped out! I was thinking I’d have the baby before lunch.

After the sun came up, a midwife came in and said I needed to have a canula inserted in my arm because my waters had broken. I tried my best to avoid it because it means you can’t use that arm very well. It took her three goes to get it in, leaving my left hand very very sore.

DP shared the free breakfast, still treating the place like a hotel. I told him I was getting some cramps that I thought were contractions. He was so pleased. Then after breakfast I got a real contraction. Holy cow it hurt! There was nothing good about that pain. A midwife came and watched. I’m sure she was thinking I was being a big sook. She told DP to time them. She brought some heat packs and showed DP where to heat them up. I think within an hour the contractions were four minutes apart and so painful. I couldn’t believe how much they hurt. Breathing through them did nothing to relieve the pain. The heat packs didn’t do much but they were more bearable with them than without them. By 9.30 I was over in the birth suite, still thinking it’d be all over before lunch. But then, somehow, the contractions got stronger. I tried sitting on a fitball, leaning forward. Still unbearable. I chucked my togs on and took the fitball to the shower. Still unbearable. By now I was yelling out “no, no, no, no” and “I can’t do this”. I tried some gas but it didn’t seem to do anything. After the fourth contraction with gas, I felt like I was going to faint and/or throw up. I’m allergic to morphine, so pethidine wasn’t an option. Between contractions, when I was rational, I thought “oh, things must be close if I feel like I can’t cope”. The midwife offered to check how far dilated I was. 2cm. She said it would take several hours, maybe even another day, before the baby would arrive. I asked for an epidural. I just could not cope with the pain. The middie said that having an epi at only 2cms increased the risk that I would end up with a caesarean. I said I didn’t care.

The anesthetist arrived pretty quickly and started prepping for the epi. I told her I’d had back surgery a few years ago and she said there could be scar tissue in my spine and that the epidural might not work. OMG. I decided to wait and see what happened but also decided if the epi didn’t work I was going to ask for a general anaesthetic. The pain was just too much to bear. I’d never really considered myself a sook before but I’d never had to deal with so much pain.

Thankfully the epi worked. I calmed right down again. The middie told me to get some rest. DP dragged a mattress out of the cupboard and wrapped himself up like a giant banana and caught up on some sleep. I napped for a bit, so grateful for the invention of the epidural. The middie checked the monitor printout and told me that I was only having two contractions every ten minutes. She said I needed to have four every ten minutes for the cervix to thin and dilate properly. She said I would probably need to have some syntocin to speed things up a bit. I kept saying “as long as the epi keeps working I don’t care what happens”.

Some experts came in to check things. There was a pregnant young obstetrician with an English accent and a nice senior midwife. Some sandwiches were brought in but the middie told me I could throw up if I ate anything. I had a few sips of juice and tried to rest. I started feeling faint again and I started shaking. The middie wasn’t too worried, said it was normal. She said I should roll onto my side. But every time I rolled onto my side, the monitor lost the baby’s heartbeat. When I rolled back onto my back, the heartbeat came back but I started feeling faint. More experts came in and they recommended a scalp monitor for the baby. I thought “what the heck”. So much for my natural birth!

The obstetrician had decided to start me on some syntocin because the contractions were not coming fast enough. The middie said she’d check how dilated I was before putting on the scalp monitor. But she couldn’t work it out, so she called the senior midwife, who said I was seven centimeters. They both looked a bit shocked and said the contractions must be strong to be so effective. I felt a little relieved, telling myself I had been having double-strength contractions and that’s why I couldn’t cope with the pain. That’s what I choose to believe, anyway. So no syntocin was required.

At about 4pm I started feeling a strange bulgy feeling. The middie said this could be it! She said often it was difficult to push with an epi so she’d turn it down a bit. I asked her not to. So we started trying to push. The middie had her finger on where I was supposed to be pushing towards. By this stage I didn’t really care who saw or poked what anymore. I think about an hour passed. Thing things started getting a bit hairy. The baby’s heartbeat slowed. An alarm started going. People rushed into the room. The pregnant young obstetrician sounded like she was trying to sound calm. But she pressed the emergency button, bringing more people into the room. I stopped pushing. The alarm stopped. And someone asked the obstetrician why she’d pushed the emergency button. She said it had been an emergency but things had gone back to normal.

Then the big guns came in. The tall Romanian obstetrician, who I think was in charge, appeared. There was a conference in the corner. He had a look and a feel and then told me the baby needed to come out. I said “ok”. (What else was I supposed to say?) He ordered the epi to be turned down. I resumed pushing. But every time I had a contraction, the baby’s heartbeat dropped and the alarm sounded. The doctor said the scalp monitor wasn’t attached properly. He put a new one on. The low heartbeat alarm kept sounding during each contraction. He told me he needed to use a vacuum cup to get the baby out. I said “ok”.

The obstetrician tried to check the position of the baby’s head with an ultrasound machine but he couldn’t interpret what he was seeing. He said he had to call in a sonographer to check things. He thought the baby’s forehead was up. They kept telling me to push during contractions and one midwife (not the nice one who’d been with me all day, a new one) told me to “visualize” the baby tucking its chin in. That made me a bit cranky and I wasted a few moments thinking about how stupid that instruction was. I also didn’t think it was a good idea to push if the baby was in a bad position. They told me the sonographer would take 10 minutes to arrive. Meanwhile, a sour-face older midwife decided I needed to lift my head up to push. She leant right over me, grabbed the back of my neck and lifted my head up, shouting “push push” into my face. You can imagine this didn’t improve my mood. I told her to stop touching me, as politely as I could.

By now, the epidural had worn off a bit and I was getting excruciating pain in my back and on one side of my bump. Many people were telling me to push. DP was gripping my hand in an awkward position, making the canula hurt. And the baby monitoring machine alarm kept going off. I was pushing and screaming and the sour-faced midwife started yelling in my face to stop making noises and push.

After what seemed like hours, someone said “Hi Barbara. I’m Andrew, the sonographer”. I opened my eyes to see a young guy standing next to me. I said “ok” while I thought “well, who are all those people behind you?” There were at least three blokes standing behind him and in the corner there was a small dark Indian guy. The chief obstetrician was there and the young pregnant one, in the region between my legs, and there were three or four more people standing behind them. DP and one midwife were on the other side and the sour-face midwife was hanging around too. I shut my eyes again. I really didn’t want to be there anymore.

I heard the obstetrician and the sonographer discuss what they were seeing. “Is that an eye or a mouth?” “It’s an eye.” “Are you sure.” “Yes, definitely an eye.”

Then the obstetrician was beside me again. He told me we needed to get the baby out because she was in distress. He said I needed to push three or four more times and he would use the suction cup and then it would be all over. Sour-face butted in with “so push, don’t yell”.

He put the suction cup on the baby’s head, which was not so comfortable. And when the next contraction hit he started pulling. The suction cup broke or something, so they fiddled around down there taking that one off and putting a new one on. I really really wanted it all to be over. I didn’t even care about seeing the baby by now. I just wanted the pain to stop and I wanted everyone to rack off and leave me alone.

Two more contractions hit, very painfully, then I felt a pop. “Oh, that must be the head,” I thought with immense relief. I remembered the book said it took another two contractions to push the shoulders and body out. I was preparing for the last two, with my eyes tight shut. I don’t know how many times they said “the baby is on your stomach” before I understood what they were saying and opened my eyes.

I asked if it was still a girl. Someone said yes. I looked at DP’s face and he was in shock too. Well, half in shock, half in love. The baby was on her side, with her bum towards me. She looked a bit grey but she was crying. She seemed to have a lot of hair. DP cut the cord, looking faintly disgusted. It took about four chops before he got through it. The midwife told me the cord had been wrapped tightly several times around the baby's neck and body, which was probably why her heartbeat kept dropping. Then they whisked the baby away and the small dark Indian guy, who turned out to be a pediatrician, checked her.

I asked DP if Poppy Mai, the name we selected months and months earlier, suited her. He said yes. So when they gave her back to me we both said hello to Poppy Mai. She had quite a lot of black hair and very dark eyes. She stopped crying and we all just stared at each other, so glad it was all over, bar the stitches.

Poppy was born on Melbourne Cup day, November 3, weighing 3005 grams and measuring 50cms with a head circumference of 33.5cms. After all the alarms and all the fuss, she scored an APGAR of 9 at two minutes and five minutes. According to the final report, the first stage of labour lasted 7 hours, 40 minutes and the second stage 1 hour 25 minutes. However, to me it seemed like the scary last bit lasted 7 hours. ]]> Birth Stories GoingtobebiginAsia http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/117169-poppy-mais-arrival-very-long.html http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/117109-once-upon-time-long.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:22:28 GMT Like all good fairy tales, our story from start to finish has had it all; happiness, sadness, incredible highs and some terrible lows but like all good fairy tales we did finally get our "happily ever after". Here's how it happened.

The day was relatively uneventful. It had been so hot so I spent the day in my usual vegetative state, sitting working on a cross stitch pattern in front of the tv. My boss had rung and we joked about the ways to get labour started "chocolate bullets and a car ride on a bump country road" was the suggestion as that had been what he and his DW did the day things started for them. I had only just decided at that point that I really should put all the stuff I had out on a spare bed into bags to take into hospital :redface: (good thing I at least had things partially ready)

I went to bed at the normal time of 9pm not expecting that in less than 6 hrs time I would be holding my long awaited little girl. I woke up to some outside noise and reached for my phone 23:53 pm and crawled out of bed to go to the bathroom, I had a small amount of bottom pressure but nothing came so I went back to bed.

My tummy was feeling a bit sore and I just assumed bub had positioned herself onto a nerve so I tired to move into a different position but the pain didn't go away. I honestly didn't think much of it other than it was annoying me so I decided to get up. The pain intensified almost as soon as I was standing and hung around for a little while so I woke Dh and told him I was having some tummy pains and that I was going to sit up for a while. My first painful contraction hit as soon as I started walking down the hall.

I got to the living room and all of a sudden the pain ramped up and I grizzled through the pain. Not sure how long it was before the next one hit and I called out for DH twice. He didn't respond and me thinking he didn't hear me (he did he was just getting dressed) I pounded really hard on the wall. He came into the living room and asked what I wanted to do "Ring the Fn Hospital, this is really hurting" I snapped as another contraction hit.

I still felt pressure back there so I went and sat on the toilet but again nothing happened and I got frustrated because I was in pain and couldn't get comfortable. I remember thinking that this could go on for hours so I was trying to stay as calm as I could. Maureen (MW) was on the phone and wanted to talk to me. She asked how long I had been having contractions and I said not long but they really hurt. She very kindly reassured me that she knew they hurt and suggested I take some panadol and go back to bed to rest and asked if I was ok with that. Another contraction hit while I was on the phone to her and through the contraction I said something about not taking panadol but by the time it was over she suggested I went straight into the hospital to be checked as she saw I was VBAC'er.

The car ride over was hell. I had 5 contractions on the way there and they seemed to hit at their peak right when the road was bumpiest, or windiest or where there was a bridge. At one point I was saying stop stop stop and DH thought I was talking to him so slowed down to pull over :doh: I just shouted at him (poor boy) to keep driving.

We get to the hospital and another hit as I was getting out of the car. There was a lady sitting outside having a fag and she wished me luck - I gritted a "thanks" back as the pain peaked and we got to emergency. In triage there was a young guy on and he asked if I wanted a chair. I said no initially then almost in the same breath I said yes as yet another hit. I remember a pretty young blonde woman bringing a chair and asking me how long I had been labouring "30 min" I said :o you should have seen the look on her face.

Maureen greeted us at the birth suite and from here my memory gets a tad hazy, from here on in my story is filled in partly by DH's memory and my hazy memory :lol:. She told me that my KYM MW was Janet and that she wanted to see how I went before she called her. I was asked to get onto the bed for some reason which I got a bit annoyed about and the contractions were ramping up in intensity but I still had a little breathing time in between them. I said I had to go to the toilet and I had a small bit of a show. I kept telling Maureen that I needed to poo but nothing was coming out :lol: She suggested I get off the toilet and come back over to the bed and they had the CTG machine ready and waiting. I demanded the gas by this stage and they talked me through using it. I almost got the hang of it too and was consciously trying to start breathing just as soon as I felt something coming on but I forgot a few times. I was leaning over the bed and I wanted to push but I remember thinking "NO, its too early to push, if I push now and I am not ready I will make things harder" so I squeezed my legs tight. Maureen saw what I was doing and decided it was time to call Janet in and said that I wasn't going to be able to push the baby out with my legs shut :rofl: and to just trust my body.

As soon as she said that I said I needed to push and I wanted to get into the shower. So we made our way across the room and I knelt on the mats and DH held a hose on my back. It wasn't as blissful as I was hoping but it was pretty damn good. I don't recall at what point Janet joined us but I remember this uncontrollable urge to bear down. I was pushing hard and I remember Janet saying she was going to feel to see where the baby's head was. At this point I felt a pop and I told them that but no waters came out that we saw. Janet said the head was "just there" and asked if I wanted to feel. I shook my head but curiosity got the better of me and I put my hand down during the next break, it was so soft that I couldn't help remark how soft it was. I also asked for them to turn the gas up because it wasn't working and they laughed and said that I wasn't using the gas I was just biting on the end of the mouth piece :redface:

I was told to put one knee up to give the baby more room as the head was crowning, I vaguely remember saying it stung but was able to relax somewhat in between the contractions. Her head was born and before the next contraction hit I was told to pant through it and not to push, I did as I was told and didn't question it. I was given the all clear and with the next contraction the rest of her came out. I remember her being passed through my legs so I could see her, and I saw the cord was around her neck 3 times. They quickly got it off clamped and DH cut the cord and they took Shae over to the trolley for resuscitation but she screamed like a banshee so they gave her a quick once over and brought her straight back to me as by this stage I was on the bed.

I ended up having second degree tearing which happened as her second shoulder was born as she tried to turn or wiggled or something. I was given a shot and Janet pushed on my sore tummy and "plop" out popped the placenta. I laughed and said "that feels better" and I was given my baby to snuggle. The stitching took ages and after an hour or so of fiddling I was growing quite inpatient. The Dr was lovely and didn't bother putting the last one in because she could see how annoyed I was getting :redface:

Shae's stats were

Length 51cm
Head 34cm
Weight 8lb 1oz
Time of Birth 2.19am
Total labour (inc 3rd stage) 2.28 min
Apgar - 7 and 9

Everything happened soo fast I didn't get an overwhelming feeling of anything, or cry or smile I was just stunned. DH was totally in love with Shae and I rememebr him telling me I did good and that he loved me. I will never forget the look on his face when he got to hold his little girl for the first time - THAT brings tears to my eyes.

Its hard to believe Shae has been here for almost a week already, I cannot stop looking at her and kissing her soft skin. I love her smell, its soo sweet. She is every bit her father I swear there is no mistaking who her daddy is she literally is a spitting image of him. I love the way she gets a sleepy smile on her face after a belly full of milk and the way she taps my boobs as she is feeding. I cannot help but giggle when she screams for booboob when its right there in front of her or when she is being taken out of a dirty nappy.

Really I could keep writing but for such a short labour my birth story has been long (sorry ) I am soo in love with her, its been quite a journey but worth every single moment.

Thank you so much for reading my story and for following my journey.

Much Love
Nae x x x ]]> Birth Stories NaeNae http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/117109-once-upon-time-long.html http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/116352-birth-light-my-life-alissa.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:53:36 GMT 10/11/09

My birth Story.

Wednesday 14th Oct '09~
So this is really where it all begins, it was the day before Jon goes back to work for a week, so we did what we usually do, rush around trying to get all the little things done that we neglected to get done during the week, we went to the ligth
shop, and i was busting to go to the loo, so i made jon take me over to bunnings to use their toilets as there was no freakin way i was going to make it home, when i went to the toilet i noticed some pink blood on my liner, i immdeiatly broke out
in a massive grin, meeting jon at the toilet door, i warned him not to get too excited but this might be it. My edd was the 28th of october, so this would make me 2 weeks early but thats still classed full term, i was so ready to meet this
baby, id been ready for awhile lol.
We debated whether Jon should go to work this week, but decided that we couldnt risk it, what if it was a false alarm, that night id called my hospital and the mw told me that bleeding like that was pretty normal, unless i bleed red blood or
my waters break i dont really need to worry just yet. id spotted pink blood on and off all day, but i wasnt too worried.

Thursday 15th Oct '09~
Getting up at 3am with Jon to see him off to work, i had a feeling that something was going to happen very soon, Jon decided to drive the 5 hours to work instead of fly like usual incase i do have her during the week, he can just hop in his car
and come straight home, even as he was getting into the car we were still debating whether or not he should even go, again we decided he had to, he couldnt just not show up to work on the basis that his wife "might" go into labour.
I still didnt feel right, but i couldnt sleep, so i stayed up til about 8am then fell asleep on the couch for an hour. i was still so tired but couldnt seem to sleep much more than that. i did some washing and cleaning, to make the day go faster, i
had a mw app at 2pm and was so desperate to see them, i wanted to know what was going on, as again id been spotting pink, and **TMI warning** id lost a small few clots of blood. My MIL called me at 1pm asking if i wanted a lift to the mw
app i told her id be fine, she then insisted on her driving me; "what if you go into labour?" "what if someone crashes into you?" so i accepted her ride knowing it would make her feel alot better if she could drive me, i really didnt feel like driving
anyway.
My mw app went well, i walked away a little disappointed, she hooked me up to a monitor to measure tightnings, babies movement (id mentioned that baby hadnt been as active that day and the day before) and babies heartrate, she asked
me if id been experiencing braxton hicks, i told her not that i was aware of, she reached over and touched my belly and it was rock hard, she informed me that that was braxton hicks, i laughed telling her it does that all the time. i told her about
my bleeding and she told me it was my "bloody show" and that doesnt indicate labour, it could still be a week or 2 away. and that because this was my first baby i would most likely make it to at least my EDD.
I went to the In laws place for a cuppa after the app, as i sat down i felt a small gush between my legs, i jumped up and went to the loo and my pad was soaked, about this time i started getting niggly period type pains but ignored them, again
when i went to sit down i felt another gush and decided it was time for me to go home, FIL dropped me home about 4.20pm, it was around this time my SIL text me asking me how i was doing and how the app went, i told her all was good,
and not to worry about me. i put on another fresh pad and wrote down the time, and decided that when it was soaked id call the hospital. within 5 mins (enough time for me to jump on BellyBelly forum and ask all the ladies) it was soaked again
so i called the hospital. they told me i should def come in. as of about 4.45pm my period pains had become intense to the point where i had to stop, sit, squat whatever made it feel better, i called my SIL and asked her to come and get me, then i
text jon telling him i thought my waters had broken and that i was headed to the hospital but i wasnt sure what was going on yet so dont head home just yet. I jumped in the shower and breathed between the contractions, by about this time
i knew this was it, i was in labour and i was SCARED.
SIL came in record time, we stopped in at her place to pick up BIL he hopped in the car all geed up "Right, Lets go have a baby!!!" were his exact words, i apprecited his enthusiasm, but told him he wouldnt be all smiles if he were me lol. we
got to the hospital and they put me in a room right away, i asked the mw if my waters had broken, i needed to know so i could get jon on his way, she told me that i probably wasnt going to have my baby in the next 5 hours, id probably be at
least 12 hours, thats if they didnt send me home.
By this time my contractions were pretty bad, eventually they got me on a gym ball with some hot packs, i made it clear i didnt want anything except gas if i had to take anything at all. she hooked me up to a monitor and recored the contractions,
they started off only going to about 30, stupid me asked what bad conrtactions were and she said up over 100, BIL then pointed out i was screwd if i thought what i was going through now was bad, i almost burst into tears, i kept telling my mw
i couldnt do this anymore, she then pointed out that i was doing it and i was doing a great job, i was facing the clock which was a bad idea, i kept looking at it saying, i cant do this for another 12 hours, lol. my contractions were measuring 4 every
10 mins, by about 6.30 - 7 BIL called jon and told him to head home, and it was around then that i was in tears again telling her i cant do it once again, she got the gas and told me that i had no choice, i wasnt copeing very well and the gas would
make me feel better. i remember having to go to the toilet and not being able to stand, my contractions were so thick and fast i didnt wana go to the loo coz i knew i wouldnt make it in and out without having to have a contraction on the toilet.
so she let me take the gas with me, i remember telling her the gas wasnt doing much, so she turned it up, i was sucking so hard but it still didnt do much at all.. just as i suspected, useless gas, haha.
i rememeber asking the mw if this was normal, "arent contractions supposed to build up over time, and start out at like 20 mins apart? not be totally terrible right away?" from as soon as i started feeling contractions at home i rekon there was
no more that 5 mins between, at the hospital BIL timed them they were like 2 and a half mins from early on.
I hopped up on the bed, god knows how, SIL rubbed my back, then she left to get me some music and BIL took over rubbing my back. I hope they realise how grateful i am to them for them being there. They were truelly awesome. i actually feel
closer to them from that experience.
Anyway lying on my side on the bed sucking down the gas like a crazy woman, another mw came in and told me to suck harder, i told her i was sucking as hard as i could, "Oh, no wonder its not turned on..." she then switched it on and all of a
sudden it was much easier to suck on the gas, and i actually felt it.. id spent the past hour and a half sucking down air.. it was the biggest relief id felt all day lol. lying on my side with the gas in one hand, i breathed through every contraction
and almost fell asleep between contractions, i was so exhausted, i wasnt getting much of a break between them and it was really hard. "How am i going to find the effort to push if im almost falling asleep now?" i remember asking my mw,
she laughed at me and told me id find the energy, and that i had nothing to worry about.
All of a sudden i remember feeling the most overwelming urge to push, my mw told me not to but my body was just doing it, i told her i was trying not to, so it was then she decided to check how far dilated i was, with her hand up my hoo
haa "erm, im just going to get everything ready, you babies ready to come out." all of a sudden i was up on my knees, the head of the bed was raised so i was leaning over it, SIL was still rubbing my back and BIL stayed up my end, holding my
hand, soon i had both my hands clamped down on his arm, afterwards he told me he couldnt believe how strong i was, he said he had to brace himself on the bed to stop me from ripping his arm off lol.
I dont really remember too much, just pushing with each contraction, i remember asking if she had hair but they said they couldnt tell yet and i remember my SIL telling me she could see her forhead "IS THAT ALL??" id screamed feeling
like the whole head should surely be out by now...
she then informed me that when she said so id have to resist the urge to push and just pant, i objected telling her there was no freaking way id be able to not push... but i didnt, i panted, but was then told to slow it down or id hyperventilate
lol. I dont really rememeber feeling any burning, the whole experience was pretty painful over all lol.
All of a sudden, or so it felt, she slid out and i heard her screaming, the passed her up between my legs, so i could turn over and sit down, and they put her on my chest, meanwhile BIL was calling Jon, all i remember was jon saying "Oh man,
i missed it." he was only about half an hour away.
I didnt cry like i thought i would, i just couldnt believe id created AND given birth to a perfect gorgeous baby girl, she was all of a sudden the only reason i lived for.
Jon came in and he was the proudest Daddy id ever seen, he was high on life, i am disappointed that he couldnt be there for the birth but i had the most perfect labour and birth with Chris and Suzy, i wouldnt change a thing that happened.

So, at 10:15pm on the 15/10/09 Alissa Williams was born.
weighing 7pd 8oz and 50cm long, with a head cer' 35.5cm
I only required 2 stitches.

I love this little girl with all of my heart, i never thought it was possible to love someone soo much.

**************************************
Sorry it was so long guys, but thanls for reading :) ]]> Birth Stories Stevie W http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/116352-birth-light-my-life-alissa.html http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/116309-my-rollercoaster-birth-3-a.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:28:40 GMT I had 31 hours to go....I was booked for an induction first thing Thursday morning. I was 40+6. And I officially gave up on Tuesday night with those 31 hours to go - I had tried every natural induction method I could think of since 36 weeks and was buggered - I said to DH when we went to bed 'my body has failed me....I just have to live with the fact that I'll probably never go into labour naturally and get over it - at least I can have a relaxing day tomorrow (Wed 28th Oct) and go for the induction Thursday'. (yes, I was feeling hormonal and melodramatic by that stage :lol:) It seems I should have just given up long ago and let my body do its thing. My last two bubs were induced at 40+10 & 40+13 and were painful experiences with complications and I had been desperate to go naturally this time and be more in control.

I woke up at 6:30am after having 3.5 hours sleep. I was really uncomfortable and having steady contractions 7 mins apart. Now, this didn't phase me at all....for the 3 weeks prior I had been up and down to the hospital at all different times, because I was having strong labour contractions - anywhere down to 5 mins apart - and then they'd stop. And my blood pressure was going up from like 110/60 to 150/100 and then down again in a matter of hours. I was on daily monitoring and had a few false alarms. So when they were coming at 7 mins I just breathed through them as usual and went about nesting. Then they went to 5 mins...again, not that unusual. More resting. Had a bath, read half a book. Got to 11:30am and I said to DH "Take me to the darn hospital...again. I'm sure we'll be home again in an hour, but I need them to check me over in case my blood pressure is up". So we trooped up to the hospital, taking our time and stopping at the shops on the way....got there about 2pm. They put me on a monitor, checked my obs...then did an examination and found I was 8cm dilated. :dance: So it seems my body had finally figured out what to do...

Anyway, by about 4pm the midwife said the baby would be here by 6 or no later than 7. (I had asked if they thought I'd be done by midnight, cause I was exhausted and wanted to sleep LOL) I was amazed at the massive difference between natural labour and induced labour...I told Michael that this was the easiest thing I'd ever done, painful but NOTHING compared to my last two experiences and definitely do-able. Well little miss smarty pants that I am should not have spoken too soon....they checked me at 6pm to see how far dialated I was and found I was the same and not only that, but he had turned around somehow and was now posterior. His heart rate was dropping dangerously low with each contraction and he had pooed an awful lot in there...they started to get worried. He wasn't progressing any further down and had gotten stuck. They told me that they would have to give me an epidural with a view to have a fairly quick c-section straight after, but that if by some miracle things changed and he could be delivered posterior with no further risk to his life, that they would at least let me try. I was feeling pretty defeated....it was completely against everything I'd hoped for. Suddenly I was in excruciating pain with my back because of the posterior position (I had a major car accident 2.5 years ago and my back is already pretty sore down there), contractions were less than a minute apart, his heart monitor was going off and I had to get Michael to physically restrain me because I couldn't stay absolutely still by myself while they put the needle in my back and kept involuntarily moving. They finally got it in and had started off with a tiny dose just to relax my body while they went off to get the drugs to numb me for the c-section. I could still use/feel my legs, pain was just as bad etc, but I had more sensation on one side than the other - they said before they put in the big dose I should try and equal it out by lying on my side.

I was pretty calm through all this, still not making any noise or talking if I could get away with no response. I had made myself quickly come to terms with the fact I would be having a c-section and that I would have to have company when doing my Christmas shopping cause I wouldn't be able to drive myself. :rolleyes: Things you think about, huh. So I laid on my side...after all this I was exhausted after only 3.5 hours sleep, and I drifted off for like 30 seconds, only to get woken up with a contraction. This contraction felt different. It happened twice more before I opened my eyes and said to DH "I NEED TO DO A POO" which shocked him cause I hadn't said much for ages and he knew that feeling like pooing = baby's head...or a big mess with unwanted poo. Either way he wasn't taking any chances and ran out of the room to get the midwife.

Next minute there are a few midwives are running in, along with an obstetrician and a resuscitation cart and paediatrician. She is telling me to slow down, which of course is practically impossible. So I rolled back on my back and she takes a look...his head is right there. She checks and it turns out that me lying on my side, combined with the relaxing effect the drugs had on my body, allowed him to flip back over again and he's no longer posterior. So she tells me to go for it and a few pushes later he slides out on the table. That was at 9:44pm, so all that took a little while.

He was a little blue and not as responsive as they obviously like, initially, but they put him on the resus-cart and he was good as new again in a few mins. I had a few minor tears - only 2nd stage tears, so really not too bad and I had a really good ob stitch me up with very little pain, so that was all fine. I only lost about 400mL of blood max which really was my biggest fear the whole pregnancy after losing nearly 2L last time and nearly losing my life in the process. And I have had no swelling on my hoo-har, no major on-going bleeding and very little pain in comparison to the other two births. Bonus! :clap:

Jediah John was 9lb 9.5oz (4350g), 56cm long with a 36cm head circ. A big boy!! By day 4 he had lost 250g (still below that 10% mark), but then started steadily gaining - by day 6 he had gained 120g and by day 8 he was sitting back on his birth weight. We are so happy that he's thriving! And I am thrilled that in the end, although there were a few hiccups along the way, I got the birth experience I so badly wanted.

One thing they did note, tho, after bub was out, is that he is a miracle baby....not only was the cord around his neck and around his body twice as well, but it had a major figure-8 knot in it...which can often lead to stillbirth in bubs. So we are feeling relieved and very blessed to have such a perfect, albeit BIG, bubba! ]]> Birth Stories Becs_bubs http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/116309-my-rollercoaster-birth-3-a.html http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/116254-wow-did-he-really-come-quick.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:27:44 GMT First off I want to thank everyone who has ever written a birth story here, you inspired me in ways I could never imagine, thank you for sharing such personal part of your journey with us.
My last birth was traumatic and long and this is the first time i have written a birth story so hope its OK.


Fylnn Douglas arrival-

Monday 2nd November...both my boys (Dh and DS are alsep) woohoo I can finally colour my hair I am so grey and don't want to have baby looking like a an old lady lol. So Hair is done have caught up on all the important things BB of course so I head to bed.

I had some pain earlier in the afternoon but brushed it off as muscle pain from all the housework I did that day.

Around midnight I woke with a yucky feeling like cramps and took myself off to the toilet. Dh is still sleeping and wont leave for work till half 12. So I go back to bed but cant sleep through the pain, Dh goes to work and I sit up waiting to feel if its contraction pain.

I ring DH at work and let him know I think I am in labour, he tells me to keep him posted and that he is really busy with all the orders for Melbourne cup ( he is a baker for our bakery business )

I give my mum a call to come over and stay so ds will be happy in the morning if I have to go in. Also I give my gorgeous doula a call too and she stays on the phone with me while I go through contractions.

My mum arrives and by now the contractions are pretty regular and strong. I decide to ring DH back and tell it will probably be tonight...he asks for 3 hours to finish his work...its 2:30 at this stage and I tell him that wont be happening we need to go now :)

Dh arrives at home at about 3 i think and we get in the car and head to the hospital. I am in the back seat as i was wanting to be on all fours and this made the contractions not as intense but ended up hanging on for dear life to the handle things lol! There were so many cops on the road...where are they when you need them lol. So DH wasn't speeding just in case.

I felt I was controlling the pain quiet well but really had an urge to push and then I remember thinking I am so asking for drugs when i get there ...this was not in the birth plan and I really didn't want any. So I thinking i had started transition.

We arrive at the hospital at roughly 4 am... my doula is waiting for me and gives a big hug...I am relieved we are here.

We head on down to the assessment unit and the midwife asks if she can give me an internal...I agree as i am curious as to how far dialted i am...i was thinking maybe 4cms...the internal was painful...she tells me i am about 7 cms and she can feel the sac bulging...no wonder i felt like pushing. I am feeling pretty proud of myself.

I head back out to the waiting area and they then send us into a birth suite, which was number 8 my fav number, this must be a sign i tell myself...all I wanted was to get in the bath so my doula starts to fill it! As she does i feel so relaxed that we made it that i let go as the contraction starts and feel so embarrassed:redface: as i had wet myself...didn't matter though as just as the redface was getting hot my waters broke...wow so this is what it feels like to let my body do its thing.

At this point I am hanging onto a steel trolley which is moving ever so slightly with each contraction..unfortunately my waters were meconium stained so I wasn't able to use the bath..bummer. The poor midwife was frantically looking for the Doppler ...i had a hold of it in the trolley lol. Babies heart rate is good thank goodness!

I get this insane feeling to push...wow what a feeling....It felt like i was popping open with each contraction then closing it was pretty intense...poor dh was rubbing my back and i turned into the devil woman and yelled at him to stop haha.

So at this point the midwife tells me i cant give birth hanging onto a trolley and i should move to the bed..I told her i wont be on my back thanks and she agrees so Im on all fours ready for the pushing. about 20 mins had passed since my waters had broken and i began to push...I was so prepared for the burning feeling as everything streched over babies head but i couldnt feel a thing. I think i had 3 contractions and babies head had crowned...they asked me if wanted to feel the head but i was so in the zone i just wanted to meet my little person. Unfortunately my gorgeous OB was not here again as she was on holidays so i had someone else ...never saw her face till later lol.

One more push and my babies head was out...omg i did it ..i did it by myself and without any drugs....one more push and out came baby...plus a huge water fall of hind waters my doula told me, she said it was quiet spectacular. As baby was coming down it pooed again so they had to whisk it away and sucker it out to make sure no meconium was swallowed...I kept asking why baby hadn't cried yet but my doula reassured me the pead was doing a great job..in what felt like 5 mins but was actually more like 30secs i heard that beautiful cry...then my dh came over to tell me we had another son...so wihtin 2 hours we went from being a family of 3 to a family of 4!

I had to be stitched as tore my old episiotomy scar from my forceps delivery last time. the Ob was great and let me continue 3rd stage naturally for a bit but i needed the synto which was fine by me. I actually got to see the placenta this time...pretty amazing.

Flynn was placed on my chest and we cuddled for a long time before he wanted to feed, we didnt have him weighed straight away which was nice to just be us. It would have been an hour later that we weighed him...the midwife, my doula and DH all were over at the scales...they weighed him 3 times as the couldnt believe his size...9lb 5oz! WOW I was shocked, Myles was 8lb 2oz...Flynn was 54.5 cms long too...I was so amazed at how i was able to do this all by myself.

He had his first feed which was magical once again and then i had a shower. By 7 am we were off to the ward...I still couldnt believe that last night i had been pregnant and now in such a short time I had my son in my arms. And it was Melbourne cup day...didn't pick a winner though and didn't call him shocking either lol, but was really looking forward to going to my uncles house for cup lunch..oh well next year!


So a 2 hour drug free labour...I did it:dance:! And we have 2 beautiful sons :loveshower:

If you got this far your a champ! thanks for reading...my boobs are being called for! ]]> Birth Stories boomba http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/116254-wow-did-he-really-come-quick.html http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/115902-william-baydens-entry-into-world.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:17:04 GMT Friday october 30th....woke up with period cramps at 3am, was a little anxious and was hoping it was bub, but was pretty sure it was all a false alarm as i was only 39 weeks, 3 days, and this being my first bubbie, i had been told i would prob go over my EDD.

I got up and went to the loo, and tried to go back to sleep, sure enough, by 5am they were getting worse. So i decided to start timing them, and went to call my midwife. She explained it was prob early stages of labour and i still had ages to go, she reccomended a shower and panadol and plenty of rest.

I tried this, but it wasnt really possible, i had surges of pain coming, and the panadol didnt seem to do anything.

By 8 am I had called my mum (who lives 5 hours away and told her i was pretty sure today was the day. She wanted to come out for the birth, and had to jump on the next available coach from her country town. The next bus was at 2pm in the arvo, so she booked the ticket, and hoped she would make it here before bub arrived.)

I then rang my friend, and asked her to come over. I was home alone, as I had told my fiance to go to work that monring as i was pretty sure it was all going to be a false alarm lol
My friend turned up and i asked her to take me into the delivery suite so they could check me over. I was worried they may have been braxton hicks, as i hadnt yet experienced them, and wasnt sure if this bad period like pain may have been them.
when i got to the hospital, the midwife did an internal and told me i was 3 cms dialated... unfortunately i needed to be 4cms before the would move me into the actual delivery room.

I then called my fiance and informed him as to what was happening, he came to the hospital, and for the next 5 hours we hung round, walking the hospital and trying to speed up the dialation...

At 2.30pm, the midwife did another internal, and informed me i was 4 cms, and that i could now move to the delivery room, where there was a bath, shower and gas available...

at this point, i was in agony, lol. i was rocking from side to side, and begging for other drugs as the gas wasnt working, and was making me feel like i was high rather than taking away the pain.
I was begging for morphene, but the midwife kept reccommending i put it off, and go for a warm bath instead. I tried the bath, and sat in it for about and hour and a half... but was still in agony, and begging for pain relief...

By this stage she finally agreed to give me a morphene shot (which i got in my bum..?? what the?) And it felt like it did nothing....twenty minutes later she did a check of my cervix and told me it was only 5-6 cms dialated (I nearly died) I was starting to really stress by then, because i was in so much pain with contractions, and i knew i still had ages to go, mand that they would only get worse :(
With every contraction, i was holding my breath (which i know i shouldnt do, lol...but at the time it felt like it helped)...I was squeezing my friends hand and my fiances hand, and groaning in pain...I was really worried i wasnt going to be able to do it, and i started feeling so exhausted....

I then heard a 'pop', and felt a gush between my legs (sure enough, my waters had broken...and from here on, my contractions got so intense, they were coming one after the other, on top of each other....I was curling my toes up and screaming saying 'i cant do this, i cant do this...'
Thankfully, my friend and fiance kept giving me encoragement saying 'yes you can, you will be fine...your doing well'...

It was only about twenty minutes after that, that i decided i wanted the epidural, i begged the midwife for it, and she said she would try and round up the anethiologist....
She returned minutes later to tell me that the anethiologist was caught up in a c-section, and would be about ten minutes.... My heart stopped....I was almost intears lol...I was begging the midwife to go get her or do it herself lol.

Minutes later I felt the urge to push, but it was the weirdest feeling ever...it felt like i needed a massive poo, and i was too scared to say anything in case it was....but i had no choice, my entire body started pushing, and i yelled out...'i need to push!!'
The midwife then told me it was too late for an epi, and that i was going to have to deliver there and then...

I was stressing, but the feeling of pushing was actually a relief, it felt a little less painful to push, so with 3 big pushes, she told me the head was out (i was sooooo thankful, i thought it may have only been crowning, but it was already out to the shoulders...she then told me to push again, and as i did, she turned the shoulders, and my little bubbie slid out.....

It was all hazy from here on, i remember being absoultely exhausted, but absolutely overwhelmed at the same time...they placed him on my stomach, and i took my first look at him, he was all gunky and blue... but still, he was the most beautiful thing in the world....
My fiance cut the cord, and i had time to snuggle with him.....the midwife then took him to be weighed and cleaned... they then handed him back to me, and i gave him his first feed...
Mind you, i didnt know what i was doing, but my boobies were that hard and full of milk, they practically fed him themselves lol

I then asked about whether i had tore at all, and she said unfortunately yes. I has second degree tearing internally, aswell as on my labia.

I then had to have 10 injections of a local anasthetic up there :( and they sewed me back up. this was very awkward and the initial need;le was a little painful, but nothing compared to the experience i had just had...:P

My mum turned up at 8pm off her long bus trip out, unfortunately she missed the birth by and hour and forty five minutes, but it was so great to have her there to have a hold of her twelth granchild.... :)

Once i had my stitches done, i got up, had a shower, and cleaned up a little. A whole lot of family poured in with big smiles, cards and gifts. It was so amazing to see everyone so happy over my little miracle.

After the shower, i couldnt believe how much i bled, its crazy.
Its now a week later, and im still bleeding, and still have so much pain down below from the stitches :( But thats just all part of the healing process i guess.

My little miracle was born friday october 30th at 6.15 pm
he weighed 3.125 kilo (approx 6.6 pound) and was 49 cms long
His head cercumfrence was 35 cms.

We named him William bayden.

It was the most painful thing to go through...but the most rewarding experience of my life, and at the time, I was screaming saying i would never do it again...but here I am a week later, and I would definately do it all again.....:)

thanks for listening :) ]]> Birth Stories first_time_mummy http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/birth-stories/115902-william-baydens-entry-into-world.html