Our Birth Story - Part 1 Labour

Warning - this is not a short story so get comfy if you plan on sticking around.

Friday 22nd September - 39+1 weeks pregnant

5.30am
Lying in bed after just having been to the bathroom for maybe the fourth or fifth time overnight (I was 39 weeks pregnant!) I had this funny feeling like I almost needed to wee again but it wasn't in my bladder. I got up to attempt to go to the bathroom again, even though I had literally been only 10 minutes before and as soon as I stood upright I could feel myself leaking slightly. Luckily the toilet is right next to our bedroom because as soon as I stepped on those tiles there was a gush of pinkish fluid and I knew instantly it was my waters/amniotic fluid. I yelled out to my partner who, surprisingly, woke up very quickly. I told him my waters had just broken and started laughing.

Whilst still sitting on the toilet, naively waiting for my waters to 'finish leaking' I called my sister Sam to tell her whilst wishing my brother-in-law a happy birthday (and half apologising for my child possibly taking his birthday).
My partner and I then had to figure out what to do about a customer's car he had to bring home overnight from work that needed to get back to his workplace. I called the midwives at the hospital and they advised me to present to hospital at some point this morning but as I had experienced no contractions as yet it was not urgent.

My partner drove the car to his work, took care of a few things and rode his bicycle home whilst I did the dishes (!) and straightened my hair (!) and shaved my legs (!). Yes, I seriously did these things because 1) I had time to kill and didn't want to get anxious and 2) I stupidly thought I'd be able to keep myself looking good through labour (straight hair) for any photos that may have been taken. (Don't waste your time with this step unless it keeps you from getting anxious, like me).

9.30am
We finally made it to hospital to be checked over by the midwife. She needed to make sure it was definitely my waters that had broken (I imagine bladder leakage would fool so many women at full term!) and when I pulled out my whopper stopper (sanitary napkin - thanks Carl Barron for the much better name) she was VERY sure it was my waters. I was hooked up to the CGT machine to monitor baby's heart rate and my uterus for contractions. By this stage I had had about 4-5 very mild contractions - they were noticeable but not painful.

After a bit of monitoring we were given instructions to head home, try to relax and to present at 8.30am the next day for an induction if I didn't need to present earlier. On the drive home, during which we picked up some McDonalds hotcakes, I leaked through my maternity whopper stopper, underwear, leggings and 2 towels I was sitting on. I even managed to leak half way up my shirt. The midwife suggested I just lay on several towels for the day so I don't use too many whopper stoppers (I had already gone through 10 in four hours). So I laid in bed watching Futurama, dozing off here and there and recording any contractions I had throughout the day.

I had started experiencing stronger contractions from around lunch time but they fizzled out around 4pm so we went for a walk around the block and then headed to the pharmacy to buy more whopper stoppers and a thermometer. I can't remember what we had for dinner but when I went to bed about 10pm I didn't even set my alarm to get up in time to head to hospital.

11.00pm
This was the first really painful contraction and it woke me up. I had a couple contractions and started recording them (there's an app for that!) from 11.35pm. As I expected the contractions were irregular but gradually getting stronger and stronger. A note on contractions - everything I read and everyone I had spoken to had advised that contractions felt like bad period pain. I know what bad period pain feels like as I am often bed ridden at that time of them month but I didn't think then or now that they felt like period pain at all. To me it felt my uterus was getting a 'chinese burn' - like when you were a little kid and another kid would twist your arm in two different directions - and turning rock hard like concrete at the same time.

Sometimes there would be a break of 15-20 minutes between a contractions and some were as close as 3 minutes apart - most were between 5 and 9 minutes apart. Some of the contractions would last 30 seconds and some would last a minute and a half - I was getting pretty frustrated. I had several hot showers to try to cope with the pain but our hot water ran out about 2.30am. I tried to remember what I had read in Birth Skills (Juju Sundin) about active labour so I tried walking around the house and bouncing on the exercise ball. I also tried waking my partner thinking he could help distract me but he kept falling back asleep so that didn't really work for me.

Saturday 23rd September - 39+2 weeks pregnant
4.00am

I woke up my partner at this time and said I couldn't cope anymore with the pain, there wasn't enough hot water and my contractions were still no where near regular in any sense. Once we both got ready we headed to the hospital. I was extremely emotional - I was bawling my eyes out and definitely not in a pretty state.

5.00am
When we arrived at the hospital we were taken straight up to birth suite as I was due to be induced that morning anyway. I got changed and got into bed ready to be checked and have the Oxytocin given to induce labour. I was checked about 6.30am and was told I was 4cm dilated (thank goodness!) and 100% effaced - this was good news for us. I put my iPod playlist on - purposefully titled "Calm Yo Tits" and made up only of John Mayer and Ed Sheeran songs to try and keep me as relaxed as I could possibly be for what I was expecting to come. The Obstetrician also broke my fore-waters (very uncomfortable) and gave the go ahead to start the induction.

7.30am
I asked for an epidural as soon as I was able to have one - I knew I was only 4cm dilated and had read that it could slow dilation or labour but due to my contractions still being so irregular I felt like I was seriously struggling with coping because I never knew when to expect the next one or how long it would last.

The anaesthesiologist arrived around 7.30am to give me the epidural and OUCH! He had two attempts at just getting the local anaesthetic into my back and that hurt the most as I was sitting on a bed that wasn't flat and he was worried the epidural was going to be one sided if he didn't try again. I had just started to use the gas before he came in which I did find to be helpful. Looking back now I feel like I could have tried the gas a bit longer but I know at the time I couldn't possibly see how I could cope with the irregular contractions on just gas. Once the epidural took effect I could still feel the pressure of contractions and, oddly as I was told, could feel slight pain and stinging in the left side of my vagina.

The Oxytocin was started just after the epidural, catheter inserted and sometime later a peanut ball (a funny shaped exercise ball) was put between my legs when the midwives moved me onto my side. My partner and I slept here and there, ate a bit here and there and tried to occupy ourselves as much as we could. The epidural would make me shiver so much that I would wake up to my teeth chattering or body shaking.

11.00am
The first time I had 4 contractions within 10 minutes so I officially started 'active labour!' I was then told at 3pm I would get my next internal review at 3pm (every four hours) to check progress.

As the CGT doppler wasn't picking up all my contractions the midwives were constantly having to monitor my uterus manually with their hands on me. I got used to this pretty quickly and would easily doze off while they were checking me.

Puffy faced and sleepy!

3.00pm
It was handover for the midwives and I had my internal review. The midwives told me I had dilated a further 1cm to 5cm but I was still having irregular contractions. Even the midwives were noticing how irregular my contractions still were as I had been having Oxytocin for several hours already. During handover they were discussing how I would have contractions on top of each other - I'd have 3-5 contractions with only 'slight softening of the uterus' in between then there might be a break of several minutes and then I might have a singular, 60 second contraction. While I was still having mostly 4 contractions within a 10 minute period (considered active labour at my hospital) there was no predictability to them.

We were set for another internal review at 7.00pm. My sister happened to be in Melbourne for the day so she popped in quickly to see how I was going. She was impressed with birth suite at the hospital compared to where she had given birth and I kept telling her to look at the machine as that would tell me when I was having a contraction. She had all 4 of her babies without epidural and only used some gas so she was pretty interested in how well the epidural was working for me.

4.00pm - 7.00pm
This window of time is a bit more of a blur - I believe I got a bit more sleep in, I remember talking to the midwives quite a bit during this period and my partner ordered some dinner delivered to the hospital. I do remember that about 6pm the Oxytocin was stopped and restarted about 6.30pm with the hope of seeing if my contractions would 'restart' and become a bit more regular.

7.00pm
Time for my next internal review. I was so dearly hoping I would have progressed to at least 7/8cm by this stage as I had been at hospital for 14 hours already, in active labour for 8 hours and it had been 38 hours since my waters had broken at home. I was 6cm. SIX CENTIMETRES. In 10 hours of induced labour, irregular contractions and intense, epidural caused shivering I had managed to dilate only 2 more centimetres. The midwives were also discussing (once again) the lack of fluid in my catheter bag even though I had was on fluids and drinking plenty. They were a bit worried but thought we'd check again at 11.00pm if nothing had happened in the meantime but were going to discuss with the Obstetrician anyway.

Just before the Obstetrician walked in around 7.15pm I suddenly felt like my abdomen was on fire. I felt like I was burning from the inside out and then the nausea hit me. I told the midwives who arranged to get me medication for the nausea and took me temperature - I had very quickly developed a fever of 39C degrees.

The Obstetrician confirmed I was only 6cm dilated but was worried about my sudden fever and slow progression given I had been on Oxytocin for 10 hours and was still having irregular contractions - the restarting of Oxytocin didn't have the desired effect. The Obstetrician and midwife also believed bubs head was swollen and they were also concerned with how little there seemed to be emptying from my bladder. The Obstetrician left the room and I started throwing up and feeling much worse. The epidural was also wearing off and I could feel my contractions again and realised how bad they were and what contractions on top of each other felt like - not great!

The Obstetrician came back only a few minutes later and advised me she felt I needed an emergency caesarean given the slow progression of labour, bubs head feeling swollen, potential bladder issues and sudden fever. There were two women in front of me at that time but we started preparing anyway. A few minutes had passed and the Obstetrician came back in and told me we were going in now as she had demanded I be seen to first given my condition. I can't explain why but I wasn't scared or worried at all, I think I just wanted to meet our little bub already and over feeling so suddenly horrendous that I was a bit relieved.

Part 2 to follow - the birth and recovery!

xx Emily

He's Here!

If I could only use one word to describe the last two weeks it would be overwhelming.

I have been a mum now for 18 days (as I write this) and I feel like I can't remember that much of it other than how quickly it's gone and how overwhelmed I have felt in that time.

The first week was the absolute hardest week I feel like I've had in an extremely long time. After a very eventful birth (I'll be writing up my birth story soon - it's going to take me some time to get that out in coherent sentences) I felt like there was so much I had to remember that the most important part about my new life was being forgotten about - I now have a brand new little baby to care for, to love and to enjoy.

Firstly - we had our baby boy Sebastian on September 23rd at 8.26pm. He was 3.786kg (8lb 5oz) and 49cm long. We didn't know what we were having, although I was pretty certain, and I specifically asked the Obstetrician to let my partner be the first one to find out the gender and to then let me know. I remember saying "told you so!" to him as soon as he said 'its a boy!'.
As I needed an emergency C-section they had pumped me so full of drugs and pain relief that I was extremely groggy for the first 36 hours after his birth. I remember coming-to every now and then but remember little else - it was a very patchy start to my little boy's life.

The overwhelming part was all the stuff I was supposed to remember to do as a new mum. I was trying to figure out breast feeding and, after meeting with 2 lactation consultants, realised I would need to use nipple shields - which I then had to learn how to use properly.
I was also having to remember what time Seb fed and for how long and which breast I put him on and when I changed his nappy last and if it was wet and/or dirty.

I also had to remember to do my pelvic floor exercises (still forgetting to do these) and how to care for my incision and myself post surgery and how long until I could drive again.
I had to remember when to change myself and to eat and how long Seb had slept for and if I was going to supplement with formula how much formula to make and how to sterilise bottles and make formula (I know this stuff already anyway!).

I also had to remember which symptoms to look out for in case of infection and when to see my GP or go back to the emergency department and how much weight Seb had lost when we were discharged home and how to clean his umbilical cord/belly button.

As you can see my mind was all over the place. I had significant trouble breastfeeding, even with the nipple shields and this was put down to having breast implants that interfered with my body knowing how much milk to produce. The lactation consultants advised me that as I was cut around the areola for my surgery that this can interfere with the nerves that send messages to and from my brain which may be why I didn't seem to 'fill' or have a 'let-down'. It was also incredibly painful, even when he latched on correctly - so much so I'd be in tears just feeding him and found myself dreading feeding time.

Every time someone asked me how feeding was going I burst into tears. I felt like I'd been trying so hard but was getting no where and felt immense guilt that I couldn't provide for my baby because I made a silly decision at 22 to get implants!

But I will soldier on and check in again soon and try to enjoy my little boy every minute I can because I know that we will never get these moments ever again.

xx Emily