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After all my fretting and worrying about the horrors of being induced, it really wasn't at all bad. In fact out of all 3 labours...this was the most rewarding and the calmest.
We were booked in to be induced on Sunday 30th June 02, due to being overdue by 10 days and still showing no signs of going into spontaneous labour, infact her head still had not engaged even at this late stage in the game.
On arrival at the hospital we had hours and hours of waiting around...there had been a sudden flurry of deliveries that morning. We had packed some rolls and lots of magazines and whiled away the hours eating, reading and listening to the noises of the other babies arriving into the world, in the rooms around us.
One lot of prostin gel got the contractions going...but they wern't getting me anywhere....not dilating..I could tell because they were intense but short and very close together. All we needed was for my cervix to open enough for the midwife to break my waters and really and truely start things off. 6 hours went by...I had spent the time walking round and round the delivery ward...counting and breathing through the contractions...reading and eating some more.
I had a second lot of prostin and the contractions got stronger, they came crashing down one on top of the other, with hardly time to catch my breath in between....I started on the gas and air and visualised waves in my head...coming closer and closer to the beach...and then my blowing them away...Gord laughed his head off...not very supportive eh! But it worked..it sort of took me away from the pain...imagining I was sitting on the beach, blowing the waves away. i also found counting a big help....as the contration started , I began to count and I knew that by the time I got to 15, the pain would begin to decrease. It gave me something to concentrate on and kept me focused.
Even though the contractions were coming thick and fast, the midwife said that she still wasn't going to record my labour as 'commenced', because i was not dilating. Typical of prostin apparantly, puts you in pain but dosnt *do* anything to open cervix alot of the time.
It was now coming up to midnight and I'd been contracting for 10 hours and still only dilated 3 cm....but 3 cm was all we needed for the midwife to be able to break my waters. So they took me down to the other end of the suite and I asked for a mobile epidural.
This helped enormously...it wasnt a total epidural, just took enough of the pain away to enable me to keep a grip, I wasn't making any sort of noise really, just big hissy breaths on the gas and air. But I was starting to trip out on the pain, slurr a bit and feel a bit out of control. I hate being out of control and the epidural helpped me get myself back in the driving seat.
I could still feel the contractions but could go back to "breathing" them away as opposed to fighting them a bit. She broke my waters at midnight...half hour after the epidural and this is where they recorded my labour as "commencing".
I dilated very quickly, from 3cm to 10 in under 2 hours and felt very pushy all of a sudden, it was odd being able to feel her moving down my birth canal, I had complete control of how far to "let" her out with each contraction so as to avoid stiches. I listened to the midwives instructions, pushed a little, breathed a little, squeesed Gord's hand, reached down and touched her wet head, then pushed hard but slowly still, and then she just slithered out onto the bed and was placed straight onto my tummy.
She smelt amazing, she was all white and waxy and very hairy. We cried and laughed all at the same time, could not believe we had a daughter...we were so sure we were having a boy. It was a wonderfull suprise.
What "made" this labour for me was remaining in absolute control, the mobile epidural made this possible and Im certain that without it I would have had a more frantic, stressfull delivery. Her calm delivery has made an impression on Molly herself too, she's the most placid baby I have ever had, no screaming nor crying as yet, she feeds beautifully and then just looks around at us all. The children have al held her and she hasnt batted an eyelid at the noises in the house...you know, the kids yelling and playing , the hooverm the dog, the phone. She is amazing,,,our little Miss Molly. Named after my late Grandmother xxx