Click to read Part One and Part Two.
I prelude this section, by saying the following.
One of good friends told me that in labour two things will happen; it will hurt A LOT and you will think you’re going to die but you’re not. That kind of helped me to prep my mind, a little.
And secondly… I love this quote by Stephanie from A Blue Eyed Boy meets a Brown Eyed Girl where she says…
NEXT TIME I WILL KNOW THAT LABOR HURTS MUCH WORSE THAN I HAD EVER EXPECTED IT TO… and if next time it is as manageable as it was feeling at home, we are NOT very far along yet! =)
This was so true.
*******
Part Two ended with me having contractions throughout the rest of the night, which then stopped at around 4:30am. I was finally able to sleep for like 2 hours or so, before having to get up to go to hospital for our scheduled induction.
When I woke up I was in high spirits. I knew that no matter what happened today, I wouldn’t be sent home and by God’s grace, we would meet our baby girl.
Having been to the hospital on many occasions over the last 72 hours, I was able to repack my hospital and labour bags to contain only the things that were necessary {I still ended up having things that I didn’t use e.g. I packed my kindle, I definitely wasn’t in the reading mood during labour lol}.
We checked in {sounds like I was at a hotel!} around 9:30am and met our midwife, who explained what would happen. Essentially they wanted to monitor me, before deciding the next course of action, to get the labour moving. I would then have the option of a gel or drip. {The Prostaglandin gel ‘rippens' the cervix but I would then need to walk around the ward for another 6 hours. I didn’t want this option. The drip, Syntocinon encourages the body to have contractions, which will encourage the cervix to dilate.}
My contractions at this point were very irregular and I was still only 2cm dilated. Fortunately the Consultant made the decision to start me straight on the drip.
Here are the timeline of events as I remembered them…
12:30pm – started on Syntocinon drip. Feeling okay and not ‘feeling’ anything. Every half an hour the dosage was increased.
2:30pm – dosage continues to be increased. Starting to feel contractions but nothing unbearable from a pain perspective, breathing through them, still able to have conversations,
3:00pm – dosage continues to be increased and now starting to feel ‘real’ pain. Advised to start on the gas and air, which made me laugh hysterically for the first 5 mins.
Now I can’t remember the timings of the rest but…
The pain is getting too much and they offer to do an examination to see how far I have gone.
The first midwife does an examination and I am told that I have reached 6cm. I am ecstatic and so happy to have made it this far on gas and air only. However a second midwife comes and checks me and confirms that unfortunately the first midwife got it wrong and I am actually only 3cm!!! What!
At this stage this second midwife suggests that I may wish to consider other forms of pain relief as this may be ‘a long one’. I want to punch the first midwife. The contractions are coming regularly and with an intensity that is making me cry. I can barely think through the pain.
I agree to an epidural.
[I had been so against an epidural, because I was so afraid of something going wrong with the whole needle in spine thing, however with my waters breaking and labour not progressing, my whole birth plan did a 180.]
Fortunately for me, the anaesthetist was available to come right away and my job was now to sit really still while he did the procedure, which was hard with the regular contractions.
Epidural done…relief. I take a little nap, I can even converse like a normal person.
About 45 mins later I’m starting to feel pain again. There is something not right with the dosage.
The anaesthetist comes back and increases the dosage. Baby’s heart rate falls. Panic mode. I’m getting prepped for a C-section. Consultant comes into the room and monitors the baby, then decides that all is okay. No c-section needed. Relief.
Pain is starting to increase. What is this? Why can I feel my legs. This epidural is not working.
Pain continues. Not good. They page the anaesthetist, they want him to re-site the epidural. He is no where to be found.
Contractions are increasing, full and fast. The pain is intense. I can remember crying a lot and asking where was the ‘epidural guy’. Epidurals usually work I’m told, but in my case it didn’t. My midwives felt really bad, especially as they had encouraged me to have it.
6pm – Checked and I am 4cm dilated. Only! I am feeling every contraction and the pain is getting worse. It is a body turning, intense, tightening pain, which was no longer every so many minutes, but rolled into one big fat pain.
This continues for the next 3 hours.
Time passes very quickly when your in the throws of labour, at least it did for me. The next thing I remember the midwife asking, ‘do you feel like you’re ready to push?’. How should I know!
She asks to examine me again, I can barely speak but just usher her to get on with it.
We have finally reached the magic number (10cm) and are fully dilated. It is time to push.
Pushing for me was weird. I was so tired but so close to the end and my husband and midwife were encouraging me to keep going. I just wanted it to be over. I was barely surviving on the gas and air.
“Push!” she told me, “you can do it”.
“We can see the head” he told me, “You’re doing so well”.
I just had to go into myself to do it and pushed with the little strength I had left.
At 9:45pm after 4 long pushes our beautiful daughter was born.
They laid her on my chest, hubby cut the cord and I soaked her all in.
I couldn’t quite believe it.
She was here at last. A real baby. I was now a mother.
Thank you God.
Next up: life with a newborn + post partum struggles.
