This is the story of her birth...
The day before my due date, 13th March I woke up at around 8am, dh had already been up and taken the kids to school bless him... now I am not one for a lot of false labour so when I noticed I was having mild contractions I stayed in bed for a little bit thinking maybe something was happening but didn't want to get up yet in case they stopped...well, about 9 dh got back and I went for a walk on the treadmill to see if the exercise would help. Definitely stronger and they were coming around 10 min apart.
Now typically for me I get quite a few hours of early labour so I figured I would just get on with my day and see what happened.
Well, I tried timing the contractions but they were all over the place - some 15 min apart, some 4 min. So I waited until I started to feel them coming a bit stronger, which was early evening about 7pm. Rang my mum who we had planned would be my birth support, Noah (my 7yo) was already sleeping over at hers so we got Seamus (5yo) ready and over there too so that when we headed over to hospital my Dad could stay at home with the boys.
Well, stayed at home and watched some TV but around 9pm I thought the contractions were definitely getting stronger and around 4-5 min apart at about a minute each. So Mum came over, and we headed to the hospital. Planned to deliver at the Dolphin Suite which is a special unit intended for low risk mums to be - rooms have a birthing pool, sofas, gas and air only for pain relief - it is intended to be like a home from home for those that want a "home like" experience but not actually at home.
So when we got there the midwife said I could have a cervical check if I wanted but it was up to me - to let her know, I said I'd wait a little while and see how I felt. She did say they would like to check before I got in the pool as if mums get in before 4 or 5 cm the water can slow labour. So about an hour of me sitting on the birthing ball she checked me.. and I was only at a 2. It was 11pm and I had been in labour all day.. I was tired. So she said I could either stay, but as it was the dolphin suite there are no beds for me to rest in, I could go to the central delivery suite and try and get some rest there but my mum and husband would have to go home as there is nowhere for them to stay over - or go home and come back when I felt my contractions were stronger, she didn't think I was in established labour YET.
After a while I decided to go home. Got home about 1am and attempted sleep but about an hour after getting home and getting into bed my pain started to really ramp up in my back. Dh slept in the boys room and mum stayed in with me and got a hot water bottle for my back. took some paracetamol. Didn't really help. About 2.30 we left again to go back to the hospital. Started to wish at this point I was having a homebirth. But we weren't so that was that. I just wanted to stay at home.
Got back and this time they didn't check my cervix at all, just put me straight in the pool & started using the gas and air. Just as with my last birth, it was not long after getting in the pool that I started feeling pushy and my body started to spontaneously push without my input. But nothing seemed to be happening. Midwife started talking about breaking my water as she felt that the bag of waters was bulging and once they broke the baby would soon follow. But soon after she said that they burst with a POP and the pain became unbearable. They had been monitoring baby's heartbeat with each contraction via the handheld doppler underwater and it had been >140bpm the whole time but at this point something started to go wrong. Heartrate dipped to 80bpm and wasn't recovering. They told me I needed to get out of the water RIGHT NOW and hoisted me out. I was not at all coherent at this stage and was pushing the whole time as I had no control over it. They got me onto a bed and wheeled me fast into the delivery suite. Getting crash cart for baby and everything ready. They took me into a room and there were lots and lots of people. I could hear them talking about using the ventouse but just as it turned out - I didn't need it. Baby was coming all on her own and fast. I pushed so hard to get her out she shot out like a bullet all at once. They took her away as she was not crying and started stitching me up, I was asking about her and they said she was ok but they needed to get some fluids out of her lungs and were having some difficulty.. dh went outside to heck on her. after a few min they brought her in to me, she was wrapped in a white towel and they said to try skin on skin to see if that helped her.. put her on my chest and within a few minutes, she was absolutely fine. Once they had stitched me up I latched her on which she did right away and has barely stopped since :)
I am sad that I did not get the waterbirth that I wanted this time, it was not the peaceful slow birth that I had with Seamus 5 years ago. But she's here and none of that matters to me now. I asked afterwards what happened and the midwife said to me that when my waters broke, her head hit my cervix hard and at a funny angle, this sent her into distress and they think her head may have been malpositioned slightly so then she had to turn a little in order to come out although she did come out facing the right way.
Anyway. Presenting Kara Louise. Born 14/03/12 at 4.50am. 8lbs 4.5oz.
