Birth Story

During my pregnancy I had written out a birthing plan, all about what I wanted and what I didn't want throughout my labour and birth. My desire was a natural, drug free labour. Sadly this did not happen because my baby did not want to leave his safe and cosy womb! I tried EVERY single wives tale to try and start labour naturally, except drinking castor oil, nothing worked. I ate so much pineapple my tongue was prickly, I walked, walked, walked, I stayed active and kept myself busy and did other things I choose not to mention on this blog!!! I was really sad that I did not go into labour naturally, I really wanted the whole waters breaking in the middle of the night, the mad car ride to the hospital etc. It wasn't to be, this baby was in no hurry to join us. On the 14th of December Jay and I made our way to the hospital for an induction, I was 41 weeks and 5 days. I had heard good stories and bad stories about inductions, I went in feeling very optimistic. I expected to be holding my baby that day. As I learnt, this is one thing in life I cannot control!!! Here is the breakdown of the period from the start of the induction till the birth of my precious boy!

14th December, 2012:
730am - Time to leave home to go into hospital. It was so surreal walking out of the house knowing that when Jay and I returned we would be a family of three. I was feeling scared but also very excited. I had never had a baby before, I really had no idea what was ahead of me. Well I had watched lots of the SBS show "One Born Every Minute" and I have seen my sister in law in labour so I had an idea of what was coming. I now know nothing can prepare you!

9:00am - We had made it to the hospital, settled into our room at the Pregnancy Day Stay Unit (PDSU). I had my first of many examinations and it wasn't really good news, there were no signs of labour. As I was so overdue there was no choice but to go ahead with the induction. At 930 the Prostin Gel was inserted, we were on our way. I remember being so excited!

10:30am - After an hour of monitoring I was allowed to get out of bed. I was so determined to get this labour into full swing and the best way of doing that was walking. Jay and I set off on a walk around the hospital, it was a rainy day but I thought it would still be nice to walk outside a bit. I had planned out a nice little route, it was a circle half inside and half outside. During our first lap, not longer after we were outside I slipped on the wet concrete, broke my thong and fell on my bum!! Jay freaked out, I was incredibly embarrassed but managed to laugh it off (secretly hoping it broke my waters!). We decided we best go back to the PDSU to make sure the baby was ok, so in a walked with one thong on and the other in my hand. It must have looked funny to all those who saw me. We got back to the room and both the baby and I were fine, except for my ego! We decided not to go outside after that so I just walked laps of our little room.

1:00pm - Around this time I started getting little contractions, they weren't incredibly painful, just annoying. They were coming every 2 minutes, I thought this was a good sign! I just kept on walking...

5:00pm - The PDSU was closing up for the day so I was transferred to the birthing suite. The contractions were still every 2 minutes but lasting only 30 seconds each. The pain was getting more intense but it still wasn't too bad, I just kept walking!! They couldn't insert any more Prostin Gel because I was getting so many contractions. I continued walking laps around the room!!

9:00pm - The contractions were still every 2 minutes and lasting around 40 seconds, they weren't lasting long enough to progress the labour. The pain had gotten worse, still not unbearable but had intensified enough that I had to stop walking when I got one. I guess they weren't too bad as I still had my sense of humour!! My brother dropped in to deliver Jay some dinner, while he was in there a new midwife came in to introduce herself to me. She stopped halfway through and looked at Jay and Will and said "I just need to clarify, who is the father", I responded very quickly "I am not sure..."! The look on her face was priceless!

15th December, 2012
12:30am - I was now all gowned up and had a drip inserted. The contractions had increased in pain but not really in their length or frequency. It was time for another examination, somewhere in my brain I was really hoping I progressed a lot but I knew deep down not much had happened. I was only 1-2 cm dilated, so deflating! A decision was made to try and break my waters, it took the midwife a couple of goes but she managed to do it. The water gushed out, it really was very gross!!! They also inserted a clip onto the baby's head to monitor his heart beat. As the midwife was trying to attach the clip Toby was shaking his head back and forth in protest! Cheeky boy, the midwife told us that she had never felt that before! From here the pain intensified some more but I still had the same problem, the contractions were not lasting long enough.

2:00am - After having a discussion with the midwife we decided to start the drip. I was hoping to avoid the drip as I had been told it causes really intense contractions. At this stage I just wanted the baby out! The drip went in and boy did the pain intensify!! Every time a contraction hit I would tense up, hold my breath and try to put myself into another place. It was so so painful, pain I had never felt before.

3:00am - It was still hurting! I was still getting 5 contractions every 10 minutes however they had lengthened slightly. The midwife offered me the gas and air, I took it. It didn't really help with the pain, it just made my head dizzy!! It did help me breathe properly while I was contracting. The midwife told me that I need to stop tensing up through the contraction as it would slow down the progress. How do you not tense up when your body is in so much pain? I tried but I don't think I succeeded. The gas and air made me sick, I vomited a couple of times. It also made me feel drugged, the room was spinning! I don't remember too much during this time. I do remember asking the midwife to marry me!! I was also falling asleep between contractions, the pain always very rudely woke me up from my much needed sleep.

8:00am - 24 hours after the induction began, still no baby. I was getting examined again, we were all hoping that at this examination we would be told it I was fully dilated and it was time to push. Wasn't to be, I was only 3-4 cms dilated. I couldn't believe it, all these hours of pain for a couple of centimetres. It was here I had to make a decision, I was at least another 6 - 8 hours away from being fully dilated (based on 1 cm / hour). I was exhausted after being awake for 24 hours, it was at this point I asked for the epidural. If I hadn't I am pretty sure I would have ended up having a c - section. After I told the midwife that I wanted one she told me it was going to be an hour away. It was at this point that I burst into tears, they were going to make me wait another hour!!!!

9:00am - Epidural time. Getting the needles in my back was not as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was dealing with the contractions and not being able to move while they inserted the needles. Once the epidural was in the relief was AMAZING. It was only a partial epidural, I could still feel some pain on one side but compared to what it was, I was in heaven. This allowed both Jay and I to cat nap and build up the strength to push this baby out. The epidural also allowed the doctors to increase the drip which caused the contractions to intensify so that I would dilate. I was getting a bit down at this point because it was taking so long, the midwives set me straight. I had gone from absolutely no sign of labour to now being in established labour, apparently it was all going well!

3:30pm - As I was induced I was monitored around the clock, I always had a midwife beside me. Every half an hour my blood pressure was taken and I was checked over to make sure all was ok. The baby's heart beat was constantly going in the back ground, it was a reassuring sound. The fourth shift changed had just occurred so I was with my new midwife, Jenny. She was lovely, we had spent around half an hour talking and getting to know each other. We were mid conversation when I looked at her, wide eyed and said "I feel something". At that point I had no idea what I was feeling but I soon found out it was the baby's head, it had moved all the way down ready to enter the world. She hurried off to find the doctor!

4:00pm - The doctor waltzed into the room and we are all on the edge of our seats, well I was on the bed unable to move my legs but you know what I mean!! The doctor wanted to ask a favour of me, I was intrigued! As I had an epidural and couldn't feel a thing he wanted to know if he could teach his resident a few things. So he would examine me, not say a thing and then let the resident examine me. This would let the doctor know if the resident correctly assessing me. I asked him if he would pay me for it, or if I was 10cms dilated he could do it for free!! So the doctor examined me, with a straight face. I was searching his face for any clue as to what happening but he gave nothing away. The resident then examined me, he didn't say anything. The doctor kept asking how many cm's dilated I was, but there was no answer. This felt like it was going on for AGES!! The doctor then looked at me and said, he can't feel anything because you are fully dilated!!! YAY! We all cheered. The doctors then left and let me start the pushing.

5:00pm - I had been pushing for an hour, he still wasn't out. Another midwife came into the room and started discussing an episiotomy, forceps and vacuum delivery's with me. He said the baby is big, I have never done this before so I am probably going to need some help. That is like waving a red flag in front of a bull! I did not want to be cut and I really didn't want forceps. While pushing the midwives and doctors were discussing whether or not the baby had hair, I didn't want a bald baby!! It was hard work! By this stage the epidural had worn off enough so that I could feel the contractions and urge to push, which helped.

6:50pm - Almost three hours of pushing and we were near the end, I was so tired. I look over at Jay and he is on his phone... sending a text! I made it pretty clear he needs to get OFF his phone and concentrate! His reply, "but its John"!!! I told him I didn't really care who it was we were about to have a baby so he needs to get off his phone!! Half of the head was out when the baby started going into distress, they had to get him out. The doctor used the vacuum and just pulled the baby out during the next contraction. He plopped the baby on my tummy and said to me "well, here's your toddler". They then all started speculating his weight. Before he was born I had asked for the cord cutting to be delayed, unless there was something wrong and the baby needed help. As soon as Toby was born they got Jay to cut the cord. As they were doing that I realised there was something wrong. They took Toby off my tummy straight away and took him to a little bed in the room where they were working on him. He wasn't breathing properly, I am so thankful there were two doctors and a paediatrician in the room. Here he is:

All this time all I could do was just watch and kept asking if he was ok. Everyone assured me he was fine but the worry I felt at the moment is like none I had ever felt before.

After around 5 minutes they told me that they needed to take him to the special care nursery. They let me hold him for around 30 seconds before they took him. I hadn't realised Jay captured this moment until around 2 weeks ago. Here it is:

Letting go of Toby was hard, I didn't want him out of my sight. Jay went with him to the special care nursery. It was a this point I started haemorrhaging and other things happened that I won't write in this blog!! The whole time only one thing was on my mind, my son. He was upstairs having a hard time, they had to take his blood but instead of getting the vein they hit his artery. My poor boy! During all this I was just lying in the room, all the doctors left and I was just there. I started getting really emotional, I just wanted my baby. After what seems like forever, Jay and Toby finally returned. I could finally hold my baby. Sadly he was really distressed, he had been through a lot for someone who had only entered the world 50 minutes ago. Eventually he settled down, here he is an hour old:

Toby was 4.554 kg's (10 pound), 55cm's long and had a head circumference of 38cm's. My big boy!

10:00pm - Due to the complications I had after birth I was kept in the birthing suite for a bit longer than normal. It was at this time I was allowed up to shower, it was the best shower I had ever had!! We were finally allowed onto the ward at midnight.

Around 40 hours after the induction commenced I was finally on the ward with my baby. I was exhausted but couldn't sleep. All I could do was stare at my boy in amazement and wonder and thank God that we were both ok.

It was then I decided that I never want to do that ever again. And before you say it, I will never forget the pain!!!