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Curtis Alan Sex: boy Born: 21 June, 1999 Age: 9 years & 38 days Birthday in: 327 days Starsign: Gemini Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -Learning to swim Learning to ride his bike without stabalizers

Birth details

Type of delivery: Vaginal (with pain relief)
Duration of labor: 3 days slow labour 8hrs Est. labour
Weight @ birth: 7LB 2

Curtis' Birth Story

My due date of 11th June came and went and then finally started to have some contractions Wed 16th June that kept stopping and starting. Same thing happened on the Thurs too! Late Thurs Night they picked up a pace and were stronger so Den went to get my mum. Had a few leaks from my waters so thought Yes this is it!!! Got to the hosp about 4.30am and when i was examined i was only 1/2cm dilated. We were absolutely devastated. Because my waters had started to leak they admitted me and i went onto the pre-natal ward. Had strong contractions all day Fri but when examined that evening i had made NO progress. Didn't get any sleep that night either contractions were too painful and continued through the night. Same thing happened all day and night Sat so didn't get much sleep that night either. Started to get very tearful and was very exhausted from no sleep for 3 nights in a row.

Sunday morning went to the loo about 8am and my waters went whilst i was sitting there. Because it was so long since my waters started leaking they took me down to labour and delivery about 10am to induce me. FINALLY!!! Put gel on my cervix was then 1cm dilated. Strong contractions came on but weren't lasting long enough to make me dilate. Gave me more gel 3hrs later. Contractions very strong now but still not dilating. Had pethidine which was a big mistake as it did nothing for me just made me feel drugged. They gave me more which just made things worse. FINALLY!! about 5.30pm i was screaming and crying hysterically in pain so they gave me an epidural (best thing ever) and started me on a drip to bring on better contractions. Managed to get bits of sleep then but so grateful to not be in so much pain anymore. Checked at 8pm was 4 cms which was so great to hear. About 12.30am Mon morning i felt him suddenly drop cos i thought if i moved he'd fall out!! HA! HA! if only i knew!! Checked and was fully dilated. YES!!! They decided to wait an hour to let him come right down cos i was so exhausted. Around 1.30am they started getting me ready to push. His heart rate kept dropping which they didn't like and now wanted him delivered sooner than later. Whilst i was pushing they kept loosing his HB so a man doc came in and put a probe on his head to get a better trace of it. Baby's heartbeat went really low and my mum heard the one midwife say to the other that they'd better get someone to check it. After pushing for about 25-30 mins i suddenly had alot of docs and paeds in the room cos baby really wasn't doing so well and i heard the one doctor say "give her til i prep for surgery and if she hasn't delivered well have to take her for an Emergency C-Section". I remember thinking " they're having a laugh, if u think i've been in labour all this bloody time to now have a section yr off yr trolly" lol. I dont know where the boost of energy came from cos the next contraction i pushed so hard i thought vessels were gonna burst, but i did it cos his head crowned. Once his head was delivered they checked for the cord round his neck as this is why they thought his HB was dropping so low but it wasn't so with that they yanked him out tearing me quite badly but at the time i didn't care.

So at 2.02am Mon 21st June 1999 my precious baby boy Curtis Alan came into the world weighing 7lb 2 and 10 days late. He was so blue and taken away for about an hour for oxygen and stuff so i never got to see him properly till a few hrs later. I was so tired i slept while they stitched me up. HORRIFIC!! Found out his cord was tucked under his arm and was cutting off his oxygen. He was so worth it though and still is. My mum gave him his first feed by tube but he brought it all back up!

Breastfeeding didn't go too well because i was given so much pethidine that Curtis was so sleepy for about 3 days. He did really well on formula though and was a very content baby.

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Sophie Susanne Sex: girl Born: 16 March, 2002 Age: 6 years & 134 days Birthday in: 231 days Starsign: Pisces Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Type of delivery: Vaginal (with pain relief)
Duration of labor: 8hrs 17mins
Weight @ birth: 6lb 9

Sophie's Birth Story

After going so overdue with Curtis, i tried not to pay too much attention to the DD they gave and decided to assume i'd go over again. My original date was 15th March but half way through they changed it to the 20th?? The morning of the 15th i was lying on the settee after breakfast and started having BH that were more uncomfortable but didn't pay too much attention to them. I went down my mum's for the day with Curtis and remember all day i just couldn't get comfy but that goes with being pregnant anyway. So i was later sitting on my mum's sofa and said to her " oh well its 5pm I'd better go up the house and start food" and as i went to get up i felt a gush of water and just froze. My mum was like " oh no you have that look - whats wrong" lol and i was like "I think my waters just leaked". So i went to the bathroom and sure enough my pants were soaked but it wasn't clear. So i sat back down in the living room and the contractions started straight away very mild but regular every 20 mins. My mum rang Den to tell him he'd better come home from work and i started to labour in a bit of shocked at my mums. My sister came home from work and took Curtis up my house. The contractions continued and started getting stronger and closer together. More of my waters leaked and it still wasn't clear so rang the hospital and they were like "oh its prob yr mucus plug, ring us back when you can't handle the pain no more" THANKS!!! Managed to eat abit and then around 8pm they were really strong and 5 mins apart so rang the hospital back and they said to come on in.

Got into the car and had just pulled out the street when i had a big contraction and my waters went. Good job i had a pad on cos it popped 3 times. There's was tons of water. Got to the hospital about 8.45pm soaking wet and was told to get changed. The midwife came back about 15mins later to examine me and as i took the pad off she was like "oh thats not right" (yeah i could of told u that!!!) and rushed off with it. Turns out the baby had its first bowel movement so they quickly hooked me up to a monitor to check her HB but she was happy and remained so throughtout my labour. After the VERY slow progress i made with Curtis we were all praying the MW would say i was atleast 2cms, so when she examined me and said i was 3cms we were all like YES!!! She did look at us strange like you've got a long way to go yet love??? But it was such good news to us.

Started on the gas and air. They asked me if i wanted an epidural and because i was so scared of the pain i was in with Curtis i said yes straight away. It didn't work so well this time though and i had to lie on my right side cos it wasn't so effective and needed the gas and air for when the contraction reached its peak. I was examined again at 12am and was 6-7cms. We were so excited that things were going as it should. About 1am Den said he'd go get coffee for him and my mum and when he walked through the door i was sat in bed chatting and laughing with my mum. All of a sudden out of no where i had a contraction and OMG it hurt. I was like "mum will you get someone quick i think my epidural just wore off". So she went running out the door. MW came in with her and said lets have a look and "oh theres a head". I was complete!!! ........after that my body suddenly took over. The MW started saying that she'd leave me an hr for baby to come down, but half way through i had a contraction and the urge to push was so overwhelming and pushing was the only thing i did that made the pain ease off. So she started rushing around the room, getting her gloves and things for us to deliver. I started crying cos Den wasn't there. MW was shouting at me not to push cos baby was right there and and would've come out and they couldn't find my hubby. It is so not easy to not push when yr body's saying you must!! I was getting angry with Den for leaving when all of a sudden i saw him come through the door still holding 2 cups of coffee and looking shocked lol Men!! As soon as i saw him i pushed and by the time he walked to the bed a few metres away her head was almost out and her body followed just as quick. If he'd been any longer he'd have missed it.

Sophie Susanne Nelder was born at 1.17am Saturday 16th March 2002 weighing 6lb 9. We were so pleased to have our little girl as well as our little boy we were all in tears. Her delivery was so fast. I had just a small tear which they said didn't need stitches and would heal on its own which it did. I recovered so much quicker it was amazing and she was so beautiful and looked alot like Curtis. She was a pro at breast feeding and so content. If i'd known her birth was gonna be so much easier i would deffinately have tried to deliver without the epidural.

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Kian Rhys Sex: boy Born: 07 February, 2008 Age: 0 years & 170 days Birthday in: 195 days Starsign: Aquarius Development: See the 5 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Type of delivery: Vaginal (with pain relief)
Duration of labor: 40hrs! 30hrs slow labour & 10hrs Est. labour!
Weight @ birth: 7LB 6

Kian-Rhys`s birthstory

HE'S HERE! 9 DAYS LATE BUT SO WORTH IT. HE IS SO PERFECT! His birth turned out to be nothing like i'd planned at all but the best delivery i've ever had. My contractions started around 8pm Tues 5th, and stayed regular every 5mins. Around 10.30pm we phoned the hospital and they sent a midwife out called Tracy, but when she examined me i hadn't made any more progress than my sweep that morning. She stayed a while, then said to give her a ring if i felt i needed her to come back, then she left . So i had a hot bath which seemed to bring them stronger and they were coming every 3mins so about 4am we called her back only to discover i still hadn't made any progress. I was still only about 2 cms dilated very posteria and not effaced at all. We were so disappointed, especially as the contractions felt quite strong. So i had another bath and Den tried to get some sleep as there was no point us both being shattered, but around 7am they started to space out and became irregular, so we went up to bed and tried to get some sleep. The contractions continued. They were all over the place but never completely stopped at any point and when i did have one they were quite strong.

The contractions continued all day Wed and around 7pm i spoke to my midwife who said she'd pop out and see what was happening so we knew where we were for the night. I'd had the odd leak from my waters with a few of the contractions so we were hoping it was a good sign. Again i was examined and had made absolutely no progress. I was gutted! She gave me a good sweep and said she could stretch me to a 4 but it didn't mean alot cos i was still very thick and posteria and baby was still very high up. After she left i had another bath and my contractions felt stronger but were still irregular. I tried to eat but felt sick and was getting very tired from not really sleeping since Mon night. Around 10pm i had another bath cos it was the only way to get some relief from the pain. Den kept asking if he should phone the midwife back but i didn't see the point and decided to try to go to bed and get some sleep but got back up again in the end because i was hurting so much. I really didn't know what to do with myself at this point. Nothing i tried helped.

In the end, around 12pm i decided to ring the hospital. Not for them to come out but to see if there was anything at all they could suggest i did to help with the pain. I spoke to a really nice midwife called Jane and had 3 contractions whilst talking to her and she thought it was a good idea to send someone out cos she could tell i was in alot of pain and that they were lasting well over a minute. Eleanor arrived about 1am and she was fantastic. She really listened to me, but said she thought being examined so often was making me worse and she didn't think i would have made that much progress from what i'd told her as the contractions were still all over the place but very strong when i did have them and lasting over a min every time. She said she'd go with whatever i wanted. So... i asked if she would just examine me to confirm i hadn't made any progress and then i'd try another bath to see if they would ease off. So she did. She said i was now 3cms but baby was still very high and i was still not effaced. She did check the baby internally and we discovered the baby was lying facing my spine which is where it should be but had its head tilted up instead of its chin on its chest which was why i wasn't progressing cos there was no pressure on my cervix that way. So Den went to run me a bath and she said she'd just listen in on the baby. When she did we all realised quite quickly that the baby's heartbeat sound alot slower than it normally did which none of us liked. He recovered afterwards and sounded great but she suggested ringing the Heath hospital for advice which i also wanted. They suggested i went in to be monitored and said as i was contracting they wanted me to arrive by ambulance. So things suddenly took a huge turn around. Den emptied the bath and rushed to get my sister to sit with the kids, an ambulance was called and i had enough time to grab a bag, throw a few extra bits in it and put my dressing gown and slippers on.

By 2.40am on Thurs we had arrived at the hospital and taken straight to my room. It was funny cos i'd spent the last 48hrs in slow labour and a 10-15min ride in an ambulance seemed to kick start my contractions and finally they became regular. I was hooked up to a monitor and given gas and air which was such a relief. Den was amazing all the way through and never left my side. He helped me get through each contraction and kept me focused. The baby's heartbeat now sounded great and after a while i was able to come off the monitor and get up off the bed which was good. They decided to wait until about 5am before giving me an internal because i hadn't that long been checked.

5am came and i was examined and was so pleased to hear i was 5-6cms dilated, thinned out and deffinately now in established labour. She asked if i wanted her to break my waters to speed things up but i said no cos i was coping so well with just gas and air. She said we'd have a baby before she finished which was 7am. I continued to labour with Den's support and started to get the urge to push so she told me to go ahead with what my body was telling me, but after a while she asked me to get up onto the bed so she could examine me as baby wasn't coming down and discovered i was still only 8cms and thats where my labour stalled.

After that is a bit of a blur! Apparently, Den tells me the midwife asked me if she could break my waters to which i agreed. I certainly don't remember this and would never have agreed to it if i had been cos i would have known what it would mean and thats exactly what happened - my contractions became overwhelmingly stronger and were coming on top of each other and i wanted so so bad to push. Every contraction Den and the midwives were trying to encourage me not to push but it was so overwhelming and i was in excruciating pain. I remember agreeing to an epidural to try to control the pushing but it took 1hr and a half for the anethestist to arrive by which time i had now made it to 9cms with just gas and air, but baby was still very high up and in no hurry to come down. The epidural wasn't as good this time. It felt like an eternity to start having any effect because i was so far gone. When it did start to work i was numb on one side and in excruiating pain on the other half of my body so he had to come back twice to up the dosage and eventually it started to work. I was in such a state by now. Poor Den looked white as a sheet and shell shock when i eventually opened my eyes for the first time in about 2hrs. I don't know what i would have done without him. He was so amazing and talked to me constantly to try to keep me focused. I can't help thinking though, if they had left me alone and hadn't broken my waters i would have coped alot better. Before that i was coping with the contractions and was ok using just the gas and air and the feeling of wanting to push wasn't overwhelming so i could have just breathed through each contraction instead of pushing.

Once the pain had gone things were alot better but my blood pressure suddenly dropped so i had doctors in trying to correct that, and then baby's heartbeat started dropping again after contractions so they were keeping a very close eye on that too. They examined me about 10am and i was fully dilated but baby was still high so they told me they'd wait an hour before pushing. About 11am they got ready for the birth. I got comfortable, Den got the camera and held my hand. The midwife moved my legs out of the way cos they were numb and at 11.15am i started pushing. The baby was still a little high but when i pushed he came down. It was an amazing delivery and so controlled. There was no rush and i was able to half push half breath him out. His head came out nice and slow. We waited for him to turn and for my next contraction and his body came just as slow and after 12 minutes of pushing KIAN RHYS was born at 11.27am weighing 7lb 6oz (Thurs 7th Feb 08). They put him straight on my skin which was amazing to feel. Den cut the cord and he didn't cry for very long just lay on me amazingly looking for my breast. He fed for 45mins before he was even weighed. He looks the spitting image of Curtis. Big brown eyes, lots of dark hair. He's perfect!! I didn't tear at all so no stitches. I thought i would have been so disappointed not having my home water birth but i wouldn't change anything. He's a natural at breast feeding and his big brother and sister love him to bits.

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