So, here it is... after a month of no blogging (gave birth...moved house...no Internet...Christmas time) I'm ready to share my second birth story with the world (well technically it's my third I guess as I was born myself once upon a time, but I'll save that doozy for another day). My previous pregnancy with Isaac came to an abrupt and rapid end two weeks early, (you can read about it here) so this time I had my mom on hand to watch Isaac (now 13 months) well in advance... little good it did me though... this time I was two days late! As much as I would like to share with you a long and agonising labour story, striking fear into the hearts of all mums to be, mine was actually quite short and sweet (well, okay, it was short anyway).
So, here we go...
I was woken up at 6am as usual by Isaac chatting away on the baby monitor... after a few minutes I felt what I thought might be a contraction so I woke up my man and told him. He (sensibly) asked if I wanted to get up, to which I (stupidly) replied "naaah I've only just felt one its probably a false alarm and if not I'll need all the rest I can get anyway because who knows how long it might last, it must be ages right?".
I went back to sleep. 7am - I woke up and was sure I was having contractions about 10 minutes apart lasting about a minute. Got up, got dressed, got ready, phoned labour ward (and told them I was on my way whether they liked it or not - no hanging about this time). Left the house at about 8.10am... now if you don't know from reading my previous post the hospital is over an hour away down rural lanes and A roads. I spent much of the second half of that journey helpfully shouting either "Go faster... it's coming!" or "Slow down...it hurts!". By the time we got to the hospital about 9.20am I felt like the baby was falling out at every contraction, although as my waters had yet to break I was sure it must be ages yet right?
I got up to the labour ward and was informed I was 6cm dilated - still far from the magic 10cm... must be ages right? As I'd requested the birthing pool they were starting to fill it, and the lovely midwife said "it'll take a while to fill, so just try and relax OK?" I then began to get the feeling I may not have a while to wait for it. I tried to communicate this to the midwife but she wasn't having any of it. She wanted to put a line into my arm - I'd had low Iron levels during my pregnancy and she wanted to be sure she could top me up during or after the birth. I got the feeling that her doing this task was very important but every time she went to put it in I had a contraction, I got tired of her saying "let me know when ones coming and I'll wait" (eventually she just gave up although I didn't register this at the time). I also tried to request some form of pain relief at this point, but there seemed no hurry for this either - and the general lack of any kind of haste calmed me, as no one was in any rush and of course, my waters still hadn't broken so I must have ages right?
I finally got my first go on the gas and air at 9.50am. This is when my suspicions about the speed of proceedings were really aroused - the gas and air made me dizzy but made little or no difference to the pain...I remembered this from last time and I could recall it happened quite close to the end. BUT Still no sign of waters breaking... no desire to push and birthing pool still filling... so MUST be ages yet right?
WRONG. At 10am I started to push, and once I'd started I couldn't stop, waters or no waters I was gonna get that baby out. And I did. 10 minutes of excruciating pain later baby Oscar McArthur Smith popped out, all pink and wriggley and perfect, weighing in at 8lb 8oz (a whole 2lb heavier than Isaac was!). Daddy cut the cord and Oscar weed on me. The midwife congratulated us and then turned off the taps on the birthing pool... I guess I didn't have ages right?
So, here we go...
I was woken up at 6am as usual by Isaac chatting away on the baby monitor... after a few minutes I felt what I thought might be a contraction so I woke up my man and told him. He (sensibly) asked if I wanted to get up, to which I (stupidly) replied "naaah I've only just felt one its probably a false alarm and if not I'll need all the rest I can get anyway because who knows how long it might last, it must be ages right?".
I went back to sleep. 7am - I woke up and was sure I was having contractions about 10 minutes apart lasting about a minute. Got up, got dressed, got ready, phoned labour ward (and told them I was on my way whether they liked it or not - no hanging about this time). Left the house at about 8.10am... now if you don't know from reading my previous post the hospital is over an hour away down rural lanes and A roads. I spent much of the second half of that journey helpfully shouting either "Go faster... it's coming!" or "Slow down...it hurts!". By the time we got to the hospital about 9.20am I felt like the baby was falling out at every contraction, although as my waters had yet to break I was sure it must be ages yet right?
I got up to the labour ward and was informed I was 6cm dilated - still far from the magic 10cm... must be ages right? As I'd requested the birthing pool they were starting to fill it, and the lovely midwife said "it'll take a while to fill, so just try and relax OK?" I then began to get the feeling I may not have a while to wait for it. I tried to communicate this to the midwife but she wasn't having any of it. She wanted to put a line into my arm - I'd had low Iron levels during my pregnancy and she wanted to be sure she could top me up during or after the birth. I got the feeling that her doing this task was very important but every time she went to put it in I had a contraction, I got tired of her saying "let me know when ones coming and I'll wait" (eventually she just gave up although I didn't register this at the time). I also tried to request some form of pain relief at this point, but there seemed no hurry for this either - and the general lack of any kind of haste calmed me, as no one was in any rush and of course, my waters still hadn't broken so I must have ages right?
I finally got my first go on the gas and air at 9.50am. This is when my suspicions about the speed of proceedings were really aroused - the gas and air made me dizzy but made little or no difference to the pain...I remembered this from last time and I could recall it happened quite close to the end. BUT Still no sign of waters breaking... no desire to push and birthing pool still filling... so MUST be ages yet right?
WRONG. At 10am I started to push, and once I'd started I couldn't stop, waters or no waters I was gonna get that baby out. And I did. 10 minutes of excruciating pain later baby Oscar McArthur Smith popped out, all pink and wriggley and perfect, weighing in at 8lb 8oz (a whole 2lb heavier than Isaac was!). Daddy cut the cord and Oscar weed on me. The midwife congratulated us and then turned off the taps on the birthing pool... I guess I didn't have ages right?
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