Right, here we go, the one you’ve
all been waiting for, my birth story
I
am going to tell you now that if you are due shortly or scare easy, don’t continue to read until after the event! I am so glad that I didn’t read any in depth stories or much on birth at all
actually because all it would have done it worked me up, scared the shit out of me or made me over think every possible scenario that potentially could have happened. As women we massively over
think everything any way and giving birth is surely one of the biggest things we go through in our lives so of course, its going to be one of the main things we over think about, so seriously,
just don’t do it to yourself, stop reading now!
For those of you who have had your
children or just want to read because you’re a bit twisted, read on, but I will warn you, I like to think I am pretty strong, have a high pain threshold and can get through pretty much anything,
but labour is a motherfucker, and it really truly is as bad as everyone says it is! Enjoy the read...
I guess I will explain the build up to
labour first, so 9 days before my due date I had to go into hospital for reduced movements, this is something they talk about a lot when you get into the third trimester because your baby should be
in a bit of a routine by that point, now, my baby never did, or if they did, I didn’t notice! I worked right up to 39 weeks and was delivering (from an operational point of view) the biggest project
we had ever done as a department so I was really busy, I think maybe I just didn’t notice the movements as much! But this one day, I did really notice baby was quiet, I had a consultant appointment
in the morning and advised I had tried orange juice etc to try and wake baby up but still wasn’t feeling much so they sent me up to Heartlands to get monitored. Luckily everything was okay with the
baby but because I had reduced movements once before, they advised I could either be induced that day or have a sweep and hope things progress naturally.
I had heard some pretty horrendous
things about being induced and I also wanted a water birth which would go out of the window with an induction so I opted for a sweep. Now, for those of you who don’t know, a sweep is where the
midwife puts her fingers around your cervix in an attempt to separate the membranes that attach your amniotic sac to your cervix, this releases a hormone which can help kick start your labour. I’m
not going to lie, its no picnic but its pretty bearable, I mean, it is what it is, some random person you’ve never met putting their fingers far enough inside you that they can tickle your cervix, it
ain’t pretty! Although the midwife said I must have a high pain threshold as some women roll about screaming when having one done and I handled it like a boss – I thought, this is great, I was
confident I could get through labour as I wanted to, a water birth with gas and air! Not to mention I have a few close friends who had water births and had the best experiences so I was confident it
was going to be fine, I genuinely was not scared at all. As you get close to your due date, a lot of people, and I mean A LOT ask you how scared you are about labour, which is really not the nicest
of question to get asked because it makes you think about it but actually, I felt quite excited about experiencing it all, and it meant bubba was on their way! I felt really calm about the whole
thing, I knew what I wanted but I was also open minded about the fact that if I didn’t go to plan, I would handle it and that if I needed the additional pain killers, I would have them! I wasn’t
going to be bloody minded about the situation and refuse just to save face, you don’t get a prize for pushing them out without pain relief, fair play if you can but if you need some help, take
it!
So, they said if the sweep was going to
work, it would work within 2 days so basically just carry on as normal. The following evening I had a little bit of a show, nothing much but a bit so I was going to bed thinking it was as easy as
that and it was going to happen in the night. Nothing. The next night, bang on 39 weeks, I had a big show, like the night before was tiny game, not even in the same league! So, yet again, I go to bed
thinking that it would happen in the night. Nothing. By this point, I was trying everything, I went on a long walk Saturday, Sunday and Monday and then had a bad back and hips because I had over done
it! What a tool. I also went for a curry, was taking raspberry leaf tea capsules, rubbing some oil on my tummy I was told to do, bouncing on the birthing ball for hours at a time in the evening,
bathing in citronella – which I poured WAY too much in and burnt my back to shit – not fun! I read somewhere about eating pineapple, but it turns out that the hormone in the pineapple needs to come
into direct contact with your cervix, hhmmm… I wanted to push a baby out not shove a pineapple in so decided against that one.. but I swear I tried everything… much to my disappointment, I went to
bed every night hoping it would be the night (not sure why but I was convinced it would happen in the night lol) and I would wake up every morning disappointed. Also, I had finished work by this
point to so I was bored and just wanted the baby to come!!
So, the day before my due date
arrived and I had a growth scan, for those of you who don’t know, I had been having growth scans throughout as they were worried the baby was small, she was always small, like on the lower
centile but always growing consistently. Until then. They did the scan and she had dropped off the chart, it almost looked like she hadn’t grown at all for 4 weeks (since my last scan) so I got
seen by the consultant straight away who said I needed to go straight to Heartlands to be induced. At this point, I hadn’t even thought about what that would mean, that it would mean forcing my
body to do something it wasn’t ready to do, that I wouldn’t be able to have a water birth, that I would likely need an epidural to manage the pain, that there was increased risks, including
being more likely to need a c-section which was something that really freaked me out and something I worried about being able to deal with after, especially the not being able to drive
or lift stuff etc because I was doing this alone and I live alone, so it would be tough! None of this crossed my mind until after, the only thing I wanted to do was go home and shave my legs.. I
mean seriously, why this was so important at the time, I have no idea but it was. So off we went home, Mom made us some quick lunch while I had a bath and shaved my legs! Hilarious. And we
grabbed my hospital bags and off we went up to Heartlands. The weirdest trip ever, knowing that when I left, my life would be changed forever, I would be bringing home a baby.
FUCK!!
