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I was due on Wed 23 Oct but expected that I would go to induction as my mum was induced for two of us and my sister was late. I saw my consultant on Tues 22nd and he booked me in for induction on Wed 30 Oct, so only a week later, which surprised me as the normal policy at my hospital is 10 days, but he’s the consultant so I didn’t question him, plus there were concerns that the baby was measuring small for dates at 35 weeks and I had had low iron and platelet levels and I’m quite petite so thought that’s probably why induction at only 7/8 days overdue rather than 10.
We called the hospital at 5pm on Wed 30 Oct to see if they had a bed free for me and they did, so went on in, getting there for about 6.45ish. The midwife came and booked me in and questioned why I was being induced now rather than at 10 days overdue, so I just said that’s what the consultant said and explained my theories why! I was put on the monitor for 40 mins whilst they decided what to do with me. After being monitored for nearly an hour the midwife came back and said that they wouldn’t do anything until the registrar had seen me as they were concerned about inducing me early and the risk of failed induction – cue long wait for the registrar to appear. She finally turned up about 9.30 - 10ish and went through my notes and had a think about things – she went through all the risks of early induction and the possibility of failure and an emergency c section but also said that it wasn’t like it was a really early induction, it was only a couple of days earlier than normal and said it was up to me – I could stay in and be induced now or come back in two days time. My husband and I had a few minutes to think about things and we decided that I would stay in and be induced, as we had already been there over 3 hours. To be quite honest I just wanted to get on with things and had been working my way up to this for the last week, the thought of going home and waiting for another two days didn’t really appeal.
So at about 11.30 the midwife examined me (I was only just starting to dilate, only a finger tip, not even 1cm) gave me a bit of a stretch and sweep and inserted the first gel and put me back on the monitor. My husband left about 5 minutes after this as it was well past visiting hours, expecting to come in the next morning when I had the next gel inserted. However…the midwife came back at about midnight to see how the monitoring was going and said, hmm contractions already and I replied yes I thought it felt like it! So they left me on the monitor for about another hour. At this point the contractions were uncomfortable, verging on the slightly painful. I think I came off the monitor at about 1am and tried to get some sleep, but it was too painful, so I ended up walking up and down the corridor in the ward. The midwife saw me and suggested a hot bath to ease the pain a bit. I guess I was in the bath for 20 to 30 minutes but it didn’t seem to do much, in fact the contractions seemed stronger after it. I think I was then re-examined (2cm dilated I think) and put back on the monitor. I was getting 6 contractions every 10 minutes and they like it to stay at 5 or below so the registrar was called down. He was going to give me ventolin (? the asthma drug) to slow down the contractions, but after consultation with another registrar decided that 6 was ok as long as they didn’t go higher, so I was to stay on the monitor. They also thought pain relief would be a good idea as I was in quite a bit of pain. I was offered gas and air or pethidine and said I wanted gas and air as I didn’t want the baby to be sleepy when it was born, however the registrar convinced me to go for pethidine as things would be a long while yet and it would let me get some sleep (little did they know…. So I had the pethidine jab in my bum plus an antisickness jab as well.
I got some sleep I think and remember feeling all floaty, which was nice! At about 4 or 4.30ish I woke up as I felt my waters go. I think I was re-examined and was slightly more dilated. The contractions were getting stronger and then I started to bleed quite a bit so they decided that I should be transferred up to the delivery suite as things were looking imminent and a midwife went off to summon my husband. So I was transferred up to the delivery suite at 6am and this was the official start of established labour. My husband arrived at 6.30ish but I was pretty much out of it on what was left of my pethidine and was also on the gas and air. It was all pretty painful at this point and I was concentrating on breathing (I think!). (Husbands note: no she wasn’t, she was half asleep with pethidine and just woke up every 90 seconds for each contraction… until the drugs wore off by 7:30 ish. Also she must have been examined – I was told she was 4-5 cms dilated when taken up to the delivery suite at 6 am).
At about 7.30 I decided that I needed to do a poo (!) so was taken down to the loo (3 contractions on the way there and the same of the way back) but didn’t manage to do one. Soon after this I asked for an epidural, which I was convinced was on its way, right up until the moment my baby was born! After asking for the epidural I was examined again and was 7-8 cms dilated so the registrar was called in to examine me, by which time I was 9cms and ok to push – so it was epidural or the baby. I started pushing at 8.20 and the head started to appear at 8.40 and I had a quick feel of it, which was cool. All this time I was being monitored and a 2nd midwife was actually holding the heart beat monitor pad on my bump as they kept on losing the heart beat. The registrar was starting to get a little concerned about the baby being in distress and started muttering about using the ventose and started to get it all ready, but the midwife and my husband persuaded him to let me keep on pushing for a little while longer (Husband’s note: we didn’t persuade, we flat out told him no. The midwife was an active birth practitioner too. Honestly – if she hadn’t been on the monitor the registrar would never even have considered it)
Just before 9am the registrar made a lurch at my bits, I thought he was giving me an injection so that he could do an episiotomy and asked the midwife if he had and she said, he has cut you – it all happened very quickly and the midwife and my husband didn’t get a chance to stop him – he didn’t even tell anyone that was what he was going to do – it would have been nice to know, but doesn’t really matter as with the next contraction the head was out and with the one after that the rest of the baby was out and I had my baby – official time of birth 9am, weight 7lb 3oz – so much for being small for dates – not a bad size baby for someone who is only 5ft 1!
As she was passed to me the midwife said to my husband tell your wife what you have got – I had mentioned that I wanted him to tell me the sex in my birth plan but had also said that the midwife had to make sure he got it correct – so sure enough he passed the baby to me and said, it’s a boy (which I could see it wasn’t), no, it’s a girl! I had to laugh at that.(Husband’s note: in my defence it’s quite hard to see through tears…
The baby was given to me for a quick cuddle and then taken to the respirator trolley thing for a clean and her apgar test (8 and 9). I had the injection to deliver the placenta, which came out at 9.05 and we all had a good look at it and took some photos – absolutely fascinating! The baby was then given back to my husband as I was stitched up. I went back on the gas and air for the stitches and it really seemed to work – it felt fab – I don’t think I was using it right during labour.
Once I was all stitched up the midwife went off to get us tea and toast and I have to say that it was the best tea and toast I have ever had, we had really earned it! I think I must have stayed in the delivery room for about 3 hours whilst they found a bed for me on the post natal ward and whilst I had a shower, but at about 12ish they got me in a wheel chair and started to take me down stairs – Natalie from the forum was in the room next to mine recovering from her section and she was wheeled out just in front of me so we said a quick hello and congratulations to each other and admired each others babies before being taken off to our respective beds.
So, all in all it was a very positive experience – I had an established labour of 3 hours and a 3rd stage of 5 minutes. Lucy (who wasn’t named until a couple of days later) was quite sleepy for the first day and didn’t seem that interested in feeding (effects of the pethidine I think) but she soon got the hang of it.
One week later, she is the most gorgeous thing ever and her dad and I are totally besotted. I wouldn’t change anything about my labour, although perhaps I would have rather have not had the episiotomy as I am still quite sore now and get tired quite quickly when I try to do too much, but would have rather the episiotomy than torn badly. Being a mum is hard work, but is so rewarding, the pain of labour is a distant memory and I definitely haven’t been put off having more babies!!!