usuk2004
I'm ONE!
Member since 5/05 5150 total posts
Name:
Farah
|
Another 7-30 LIF baby!
Just thought I'd add my story for anyone who is interested.
First off I should say that even though I'm from Long Island, we currently live in London (my husband is British). The systems are quite a bit different, but in general I had a really good experience.
My due date was July 24. On Monday July 27 I got up to go to the bathroom after DH left for work and had a little bit of bloody mucus. I called my DH to let him know, but told him it still could be a few days, but that I had been feeling pretty crampy and I thought things were imminent. My parents were flying in that day and arriving Tuesday morning, so I was excited, but kind of hoping things would hold out. I actually felt really good on the Monday and had a burst of energy and got a lot of my errands done. By Monday evening I was feeling pretty sharp cramps and by the time I went to bed, around 11 or so, I was having contractions every 10-15 minutes. They weren't too painful, but I wasn't able to sleep through them and by the time DH came to bed, I moved to the couch because I didn't want to keep him up all night. Next morning and I'm still contracting - needless to say I didn't get a wink of sleep. My parents got to my house and I told them - they were so excited they made it! We were basically sitting around most of the day on Tuesday waiting for something to happen - although I did lose lots and lots of mucus plug! - and by about 2pm or so, they seemed to be about 4 minutes apart. DH decided it was time to go to the hospital, so I took a shower. Well, that slowed everything right down and even though the contractions continued, they were mild and irregular. So I thought that was that.
But again a little while after going to bed, the contractions were 10-15 minutes apart. At about 2am I went to the bathroom and I had a little bit of blood. I wasn't sure if it was normal to just be bleeding, so I called the labor ward to see what I should do. They told us we should come in, so we headed to the hospital at 3am on Wednesday. I was examined when I got there and told I was about 3.5cm dialated. They asked me about the contractions and hooked me up to monitor. I told them they were only 10-12 minutes apart or so, but that I was told to come in anyway. The midwife shook her head and told me I was actually contracting every 5 minutes, but I wasn't feeling them. They told me they wanted me to labor for a little bit, until I got to 4-5 cm which is considered established labor, so they sent me down to the antenatal ward to wait it out a bit, but said that someone would examine me again at 8:15am to see how far I'd progressed. DH went home to get some rest and also because the plumber was supposed to come at 8am!
Unfortunately, the story was a bit different on the antenatal ward. They were really reluctant to examine me at 8:15 because they were busy and then kept putting me off every time I went to ask questions. Finally I managed to get someone to see me just after 9, but to my absolute dismay, I hadn't progressed at all  The midwife said I was still 3.5 or so and that she could stretch me to 4cm. Even worse, the baby was back to back with me. She said that was why my labor was stopping and starting, and that I was in for a long day. She prodded things and said she'd be back to check on me later. DH came back and we just tried to get some rest.
when the midwife came back around 2pm again there was still no progress, but I told her I had felt a little gush and wasn't sure if it was the start of my water breaking. She said she could definitely smell the amniotic fluid (WT--!) and she again gave me a sweep and told me to walk up and down the stairs and when I came back she'd get me into a room. So by about 5pm or so, we finally got back into a room on the labor ward. I was examined there again and was told that they could break my water if I wanted. DH and I talked it over and since I was not progressing at all, and we were told it would move things along, we said okay. After that was done the contractions started coming fast and hard. I was offered gas and air (laughing gas like you might get at the dentist) but I really didn't like it - it didn't do much for the contractions, it just made me feel light headed. I used the bath for a while and that made me feel a little better, but after about 2 hours when I was examined again and told I was only at 5cm, I decided enough was enough. I was exhausted having not slept for 2+days and I couldn't get any relief/rest in between the contractions, they were just relentless. It was right around when the midwives were switching shifts when I asked for some pain releif. The first midwife was really very nice, but very into natural childbirth. She offered me the equivalents of aspirin or demarol. I said demerol. But when the second midwife came in and they were discussing my case, I heard her say give her an epidural! It was in my notes taht I didn't really want to have an epidural unless I had to, so the first midwife said She wants the demerol - but the second one said it will wear off by the time she's ready to push and we won't be able to give her any more because it will affect the baby. So I said I wanted the epidural! That was all the convincing it took.
By the time the epidural was administered, it was just after 8pm. I was worried about it slowing things down even further and DH was worried about further intervention being needed if things didn't progress - but luckily we had a really good experience and just the opposite happened. I had been able to sleep and by 11pm had gone straight to fully dialated. I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, although no pain, and I didn't feel the need to top myself up at all.
We were told it was time to push at 12am. All was going really well - the midwife said I was a champion pusher  - but I began to notice that the baby's heartbeat on the monitor kept dropping a little. DH didn't tell me until later, but he was watching the monitor and it was going from 140 to 40 whenever I pushed. The midwife very calmly called the doctor. When she came in, she said the problem was the baby's postition - that he would've been out long ago if he wasn't back to back. She didn't want to put him in any danger, so she said we'd need to use some intervention - suction and forceps. I was slightly nervous, but much preferred that to a c-section, so we agreed. A few more pushes and he was OUT! 
Tristan James was born at 1:07am on Thursday July 30 weighing just under 7lbs. Forceps weren't needed in the end, only suction, and he was slighly coneheaded for a few days because of it. The midwife and doctor were slightly concerned about both of us though because my blood pressure was very very low with the epidural, and I was running a fever during delivery and also because my amniotic fluid smelled a little funny which led them to believe that my water had actually been leaking for a while but I didn't know about it. They took a blood culture from Tristan and put us both on a course of antibiotics, so we had to stay in the hospital on Saturday when we got the all clear. Also, I had an episiotomy and apparently lost quite a lot of blood.
I was slightly disappointed in myself for choosing to have an epidural at first, but I'm now realizing that not only was it better for me, but it was better for T too. Trying to persevere through a labor that wasn't progressing wasn't doing either of us any good and actually could've caused him more distress in the end.
It's only day 4, so I'm still loving everything about being a Mommy - even getting up in the middle of the night just to see his little face!
Image Attachment(s):
Message edited 8/4/2009 10:00:44 AM.
|
