27-10-2008 - Lucas' Birth Story

My mood while writing this blog: Reminiscent

One of the nurses in the maternity ward told me to write down my son's birth story before I began to forget things. 9 months on I've decided I should bite the bullet, and sit down and write it ...

I was due on a Sunday, although like all my other pregnant girlfriends, I didn't expect to give birth that day. Every day the week before, I woke thinking that today was going to be the day. My waters would break, DH would take me to hospital, and the long and painful labour would begin. Each day passed without incident. On the Saturday, my girlfriend, who was around 6 months pregnant, was having her baby shower, and as I'd told her I would go if I wasn't in hospital, I drove the half hour to her house with a couple of towels in back, just in case! As you'd expect, everyone was asking how I felt, if I'd be okay driving home, had I had any Braxton Hicks etc etc. But nothing, not a single sign, and, thankfully, the party passed without incident, and I got home with no trouble at all.

DH and I had a quiet night, not for any particular reason other than I was huge, and exhausted. I had not been able to sleep through the night for weeks, so it was no surprise when I woke up at 1:30 in the morning. The contraction wasn't all that strong or painful, it went for around 30 seconds and then quickly subsided. I thought maybe I should watch the clock for a while, see if I got another one. At first they came about every 10 minutes and at 2am I decided DH should wake up and help me time them. Once we established that they were fairly regular DH called the hospital to check when we should come in.

The nurse said we should stay at home for as long as I was comfortable and once we decided to head in, just give her a call so that she knew to expect us. She said that as it was my first pregnancy, we could expect the labour to be between 12 and 16 hours long, so there was no hurry. By 3am my contractions were around 5 minutes apart and lasting for about 1 minute. It wasn't severely painful, more like my usual period pain, but I got up to have a shower and make sure I had everything I needed in my bags.

At 4:00 DH decided we should head in to the hospital (he was scared we'd wait too long and he'd have to deliver the baby!). We were expecting a fairly long wait, so I told him to go by the bank so he could get some money out of the ATM, just in case he needed to buy food or coffee. As we were heading from there to the hospital, my husband got distracted and drove through a stop sign, and wouldn't you know it - there was a police car right behind us ... at FOUR IN THE MORNING!! lol. I couldn't believe it. DH pulled over, and just as the officer got to the window of the car, another contraction hit. Obviously no explaining neccessary, but he offered to escort us to the hospital just to make sure I wasn't making it up.

Both officers were waiting for us at the emergency entrance as I was getting out of the car, when another contraction hit. DH was obviously more worried about being in trouble because he was trying to hurry me up - I promptly put him back in his place. No guy was hurring me when I was in labour with a baby that had dropped so low I could hardly walk! They were fine though, and had a bit of a joke with us before we headed inside.

Once we got up to the maternity ward I was put into a spare room, my blood pressure and bub's heart beat were checked, and then we were left to our own devices. I had expected to have an internal exam to check my progress - but nothing. On and off the nurse would come in to do a quick check up, but that was it, and at 5:00 DH fell asleep on my bed, so I sat on a chair leaning against it and tried to concentrate on my breathing. By 6 I woke him up and kicked him out of bed - it was getting harder. The contractions were so close together I barely had time to recoup myself. I had spent the last half hour swaying from side to side in front of the bed, and each time a contraction hit, I'd bend over and just breathe really heavily. With DH up, I'd give him a bear hug around the waist and have him massaging my back until the contraction passed.

On her last rounds and about to clock off at 7, the nurse checked my contractions once more and decided that perhaps it was time for the midwives to check me over. By this time I'd been in labour for 5 and 1/2 hours, and I was coping - just. At 7:30am they got me into the delivery room and tried to get me comfortable. From this time it was a bit of a blur. I tried walking around, but I couldn't get comfortable, it was too painful to sit on the delivery bed, so I ended up leaning on DH and squatting through each contraction.

I was finally given a pelvic exam or internal exam or whatever you call it, at about 8:30 - I was 9 cm dilated! Half way through transition. I couldn't believe I'd gotten so far without any pain relief, and by now, it was too late to ask for anything substantial. The midwife told me that she could break my water for me, which would mean I'd dilate fully rather quickly, or we could wait for it to happen naturally. Not up for discussion - do it! lol. Once my waters broke, it didn't take long for things to progress. I told the midwives I wanted to push, they said it was okay, because I was 100% effaced, but I should wait until I couldn't hold on anymore.

Once I started pushing I felt so much better. I was becoming exhausted but in between pushes I felt I could get through it. Each time they kept telling me, not much further, almost there - I think they said that for about an hour!! I told DH I couldn't do it, but when he said he could see the head I thought okay, maybe I can. The so called 'ring of fire' was noticeable, but not as painful as I'd expected it to be, and once bub's head was out, I felt I was able to relax a little, and get my breath back. With one more push his shoulders were out, and the midwife was able to pull him out the rest of the way. It was 10:00 am on the day I was due and I'd been in labour for 8 and 1/2 hours.

I was shaking uncontrollably and was absolutely covered in blood - don't ask me how - I just was. I didn't notice DH cut the umbilical cord, and I barely heard him when he told me we had a baby boy (we'd decided to leave it a surprise). He was exactly 7 pounds, 52 cm long and just sooo beautiful, and sooo worth it. His apgar scores were both good, I think 7 and 9 or 8 and 9 - something like that. I was soo soo tired. I know that I briefly held our son before I birthed the placenta and they helped me to the shower to get cleaned up. It took two hours for me to get back to my room (they had moved me to a private room - so lucky), when I could finally lay down and relax - but I was still shaking a little, and was so exhausted I could barely talk.

Then of course all of our family were waiting to hear what was going on, so we had to call them and our immediate family wanted to come visit straight away. DH's came in the early afternoon, and mine a little bit later, but it tired me out so much having them there. We decided it would be best to let our friends know that night, so they could come the next day, after I'd had a chance to sleep and spend some time with my new family.

I couldn't believe how proud I was just to have gone through it all without any pain relief. I had hoped I would be able to, but had really not held any high expectations on actually doing it. DH was so supportive, and I know I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. Here's hoping the next one is just that little bit easier!