<-- Back to the list of birth stories
I went in to the hospital at 9.00am on Saturday 26th March to be induced at 13 days overdue.
The midwife was one of the same ones I had had with Freddie who I had really liked so this pleased me a lot! I was put on the monitor for 30 minutes and all was fine. Then I was examined for the first time (which wasn’t as bad as I had feared!). She said my cervix was soft and I was about 1cm dilated. A dose of Prostin Gel was inserted and I was put back on the monitor for 45mins. Almost immediately I started to get period type pains so was optimistic that the gel had worked first time (as it did with Freddie).
After the 45mins was up I got up and went pacing the corridors to help things along. I was getting contractions about every 5 minutes although they didn’t really hurt yet. I had some lunch then paced about some more.
At 3pm things were starting to get more painful and I was examined again and put on the monitor again for a bit. I was 3-4cm dilated but the contractions seemed to be coming a bit irregularly, as I was having 3 very close together then a break before the next 3. Then the midwife broke my waters. Also the pains were in my back rather than tummy (as they had been with Freddie) and it was suspected that the baby was in a posterior position (just what I didn’t want after Freddie was like this!). As soon as my waters were broken the pains increased a lot.
I went to have a bath to see if this would ease the pain a bit (they were getting quite sore now!). I was in the bath for nearly an hour (it hurt too much to get out!!). It did help the pain a lot.
I then asked for some pain relief but as my midwife had just gone for a break I was offered a tens machine to try till she came back as the other midwife didn’t want to step on my midwives toes and give me drugs! The tens machine was crap! It pissed me off really soon and was turned off quite quickly! When Dawn came back she gave me a shot of Pethedine.
I asked for the gas and air so they said they would move me round to the delivery suite to use it there. I went round in a wheelchair at 7.50. The room was lovely and they had some nice music on in the background. The midwife examined me and I was about 5-6cm dilated. I was put on the monitor and it was noticed that the baby’s heartbeat was dropping quite low with the contractions. The contractions were getting really painful by this point and I even asked for an Epidural at this point (which I didn’t want beforehand so it must have been bad!).
The midwife called for the SHO to come and have a look as she was concerned about the heart rate. The SHO arrived at about 9pm and was also concerned. She started saying something about putting a line in my hand “just in case I need fluids”. I knew straight away what this meant and asked if I was going to have to have a section. They said I probably would (they had called for the doctor). I was starting to get the urge to push so they examined me again but again I was only about 6-7cm.
It was decided I was to have a section which was when it all went a bit crazy with people running round, asking me questions about jewelry & whether I had nail varnish on?!? And having to sign consent forms etc.
It was about 9.20 when I was wheeled into the anaesthetic room and I was transferred onto a different bed. They had taken away the gas and air so the pain was pretty dreadful! I had to sit on the edge of the bed while they did the spinal, all the time having strong pushy contractions. It took them 20 minutes to site the spinal and it has got to have been the worst 20 minutes of my life!! I was in such agony! (Afterwards listening to the 2 anesthetists talking I don’t think it would have been much longer till they would have had to give me a general). The relief as the spinal worked was amazing!!
I was wheeled into theatre and they decided to examine me one last time. They were surprised to discover I was fully dilated!! They decided to have a go at delivering the baby with vontouse and forceps instead of a section. I thought my prayers had been answered and I was so happy for them to try!
My legs were put in the stirrups and they tried the vontouse first. I was pushing with all my might and the doctor was pulling me (nearly off the bed!) but the ventouse slipped (doctor nearly fell over!). Then they tried the forceps as well but he was well and truly stuck! So it was decided to go ahead with the section. I was glad they had tried though.
The section wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I think they needed to use the forceps to get him out that way too.
When he was born he had a big cut on his head where the vontouse had split the skin. It is only like a graze though and looks much worse than it really is. Also he has some marks on his head from the forceps. He also has some temporary paralysis to one side of his face. The doctors are confident though that this will go away. It is improving already.
Tommy was taken to the SCBU for the night to see if they needed to dress his head at all and for them to try and feed him. It was decided to bottle feed him at first due to his poorly head and I could try and breastfeed him later on but after a few days of me not being able to feed him I decided to let him stay on the bottles. I wasn’t planning on breastfeeding him long term anyway so it wasn’t worth the stress to try after a few days.
Tommy has been in SCBU all week since because of his jaundice, caused from the head injuries. They gave him an ultrasound on his head to check everything was ok and it came back fine. Hopefully he will be home soon.