Fasten Your Seatbelts, Hold On Tight – Birth Story Part II

Shortly after Louise, my second midwife Pawla arrived. I got the impression Pawla was the senior midwife and Louise the junior but both very capable and very lovely – I like lovely! Looking in my notes, I can confirm it says ST M next to Louise’s name so suggests that she was a student. She was very confident, I just thought she was newly qualified.

Firstly, I was hooked up to the monitors and my BP checked. BP was fine and, apart from the monitor being a pain not picking up enough of the heartbeat unless permanently held and then baby being mischievous kicking or moving away from the monitor, they managed keep track and everything was calm. At one point she suggested I might like to lay on my side – anything to get off my back! One thing I didn’t want was to be on my back, my labour pains were in my back so it was making them hurt more and I knew it was the worst position to be in. So, when she suggested this I jumped (well more of a slow painful shuffle) at the chance but when I went on my side, baby’s heart rate slowed so I had to turn back. Thankfully, it returned to normal when I went back so she just didn’t want to be on that side. I found this strange as that was the position I always found most comfy when laying down or sleeping.

I had originally said, and it was in my notes, that I had wanted to try the pool. I had also mentioned this when I rang the hospital from home but at no point was this mentioned. Admittedly, I didn’t bring it up either but assume it was because baby needed to be monitored and they wouldn’t have been able to do so if I was in the pool. Perhaps I still should have asked.

They examined me at 8.15am. I was 4-4.5cm dilated. I was mildly disappointed to not be further at this stage but pleased I was far enough along that I didn’t have to go for any walks considering I ‘faked’ my panting! Stuart was still recording my contractions at this point and they were now every 2 minutes and lasting over a minute.

From here it all gets a bit blurry. Contractions started to come thick and fast and they kept commenting how I wasn’t getting much break from them. Everytime I moved, it would also trigger another contraction. They kept trying to get me to have some gas & air but as it was I was keeping the sick bowl to hand and the last thing I wanted near me was something that was only going to make me feel more sick and not even for the benefit of taking the pain away.

Then they tried to get me to have pethidine because I was tensing up through each contraction. They said it would help to relax me. Pethidine was the one thing I said on my birth plan that I didn’t want as I was concerned about what got through to baby and baby being sleepy when born. The fact it can have an effect on feeding was also a reason too. I said as such but they said the number of babies that experienced this was so low and not something they had ever seen. Personally, I was worried about feeling out of control. I asked Stuart what he thought as I was having his baby too – he had a say in what drugs I took if they affected his baby. He left it up to me. In the end I gave in. Ouch, did the injection sting – it was in the thigh. It must’ve been ouchy to notice the pain even when in labour! They said it took about 15 minutes to take affect. In the meantime, I remember trying to relax more for each contraction hoping it would help – sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t. I would shake my head from side to side and close my eyes to get through each contraction. I waited and waited for the pethidine to take affect then started to ask, when does the pain go away? “It doesn’t take the pain away” they then said….What? Hang on?  You convinced me to take a drug I didn’t want and it wont even take the pain away!!!! “It relaxes you and takes you away so you can deal with the pain better but the pain doesn’t go away!” Nooooooooooooo! Shortly after, I was begging for an epidural “Please make it stop, please take the pain away, please can I have an epidural”. They agreed I could have an epidural and said they would go and get the card thing for me to look at but they suspected I may even be ready to push and therefore it be too late. They wanted to examine me first. They asked if I felt the urge to push and I had to confess that I was getting it, yes.

Sometime around this point the room filled with doctors. I’ve no idea what they were doing there, I think they may have asked me questions I can’t remember. From my memory, I think there were about 6 extra people in the room but I really can’t be sure. It is all a bit of a blur and I have since asked Stuart and he isn’t sure either. He said they either came in because I wanted an epidural or because they were just doing the rounds.

Anyway, the MWs examined me! It was hell! Every time she felt a particular area, I had a really intense contraction. However, she confirmed, yes, I was fully dilated, it was now time to push and yes, definitely too late for an epidural – I was doing this the painful way, all the way!

I requested to go on all fours, I just needed to get off my back and as on my side wasn’t allowed (as it distressed baby) which was the best position for me with Callum, I asked to try all fours. They agreed and instantly, there was relief in my back. Clearly I was still in a lot of pain but it made the next bit more manageable otherwise I’m not sure I would have got through it (clearly I would’ve but that’s how I felt at the precise time). I felt my body pushing and there was very little I could do about it. According to my notes I started pushing at 9.20am. After a couple of pushes, they told me to pant and pant I did. I think it took a couple of contractions of panting for the head to come out and then another for the body. Again, instant relief. My head cleared, I caught my breath and I felt like a knew woman! Sort of!

I noticed she wasn’t crying instantly but I wasn’t worried. I could hear them talking to the baby in calm voices and welcoming her to the world so felt confident she was ok and pretty soon she let out a wail. My notes confirmed she had a little tactile stimulation before she cried. Apparently, she did have the cord around her neck but looped around the back not the front but it may have been this that was causing her heart rate to dip and perhaps she was compressing it when on my side.

I had requested that she be cleaned before being given to me for skin to skin, which they did and I was presented with my beautiful baby girl, Millie May born at 9.31am on Monday 20 July, weighing (which they did a little later) a perfect 7lb 11oz (or 3.48 kg). And she is absolutely perfect.

We were given some bonding tine for a while when Stuart also had some skin to skin time. We tried to breastfeed and it took a little while and a little help from the midwife but eventually she fed and for a good 20 minutes. During this time they bought me some tea and toast and Stuart and I scoffed jaffa cakes from my little used labouring hospital bag!

I was then allowed to shower and discharged straight from the delivery room a little around 12 so home in time for lunch! As we pulled up outside the house, ready to surprise my mum that we were home already, I joked that it was like we had just popped out to the shops to get a baby! I am sure that is what Callum thought too when we introduced him to his new baby sister!

Congratulations to ChelseaMamma for guessing  the correct date, Kilburina for correct weight and I get closest time!

Locked & Loaded: 40 weeks, 2 days

I had my next MW appointment today for another sweep and to book in my induction.

My BP was really good and no other problems. When she did the sweep, she said the baby was fully engaged, I was 1.5-2 cm dilated, cervix soft & central, waters bulging, braxton hicks occurring! So, seems we are all systems go and are just waiting for the signal!

Because everything is going well, the induction isn’t booked until 29th August in the hope that I’ll go into labour naturally before then. I need to call Poole ante-natal ward on 28th at 7am to confirm all is well and get details of what I need to do etc.

My MW said if I didn’t go into labour before next Tuesday I was to text her so she could get me in again for another sweep and then another on the Thursday if still nothing. Technically, this is one extra sweep than I should have as they normally only do 3 but she wasn’t counting the one at the hospital (as it didn’t do anything) and she wants to give me the best possible chance before the induction.

The sweep itself was a little less uncomfortable than last time and, compared to baby’s movements at the moment which are like someone scratching away at me from the inside with a knitting needle, was a walk in the park!

So still we wait! And bounce! And wait!

I’m very emotional today. Burst into tears this morning because I couldn’t find my knickers! Its a sorry state of affairs when a girl cries over knickers! Then, because I was grumpy and miserable, this affected Callum’s lovely mood and he became emotional too. I felt awful that by the time we got to nursery we were both in tears! I hate it when my moods affect his, especially when he started the morning so well.

Callum is being very sweet at the moment with this morning getting straight up and cleaning his teeth, bringing his clothes to me to get dressed and then making himself his own breakfast. He is so proud of himself. Then yesterday, he went down and made me breakfast in bed of cold dry toast (its the thought that counts!), the day before he cleaned his teeth and got himself dressed in his favourite attire of his England football kit! I hope this keeps up when the baby does arrive but doing all this and being so good then me being all grumpy with him makes me feel so bad and guilty. Rotten Mummy – I need to try and make it up to him tonight!

Finally, I just feel the need to log my weight gain before I have the baby. Amazingly, I’ve still put on less than 2 stone this pregnancy! 1 stone, 10 lb (probably 11 now as weighed a couple of days ago). That feels like an achievable weight to lose after I’ve had the baby!

Happy Due Date

So I have made it to my Due Date – something I’ve been curious about for the past 8.5 months and I must admit its a bit anti-climatic! Everything feels just the same!

I had another hospital appointment today (and one on Monday just gone) and as my BP is thankfully behaving itself, they are happy to leave it to my Community Midwife to do another sweep and book in my induction when I have my next appointment on Friday (17th August).

I was kind of hoping they’d book it in today as it would be nice to know it wasn’t too far away but I know, if baby isn’t ready, the whole induction experience is less likely to be effective anyway so best give baby a chance to come when she is ready.

I used my dowsing crystal the other day to try to predict when baby will arrive. It has predicted 18 August which would make a lot of sense if the MW does another sweep on the 17th and this one works. I’d be happy with that. For one, it is convenient as it is a weekend, he he, but also she would only be 3 days overdue so not too much waiting around (or too big ) and there are still a couple of weeks before Callum’s Birthday. That is my main concern about going too long after today is that baby will be born only a few days before Callum’s birthday. Its going to be hard not doing joint birthdays as it is but I imagine it will be inevitable if they are only a few days apart! Plus it would also be near the bank holiday – there would be both plus and minus points for a bank holiday birthday.

I’ve no more signs that baby’s arrival is imminent, just the usual regular braxton hicks, so for the time being it is just continue to wait and see.

I’m not fed up as such or taking any desperate steps to try to get baby out yet – just the odd bit of bouncing on the ball…and the fact that nearly every dinner is spicy is purely just coincidental (ahem) but I am starting to fantasise what it will be like to bend in the middle again!

Beep Beep and Sweep, 39 Weeks

Thought I’d just do a quick update following today’s hospital appointment further to my last blog post.

I was having more tightenings last night similar in strength to Friday but nothing more than that. Kept me awake some of the night though as every time baby moved it seemed to kick things off.

Todays appointment was booked for 2.30pm. I had Callum’s swimming lesson in the morning, then we went for lunch before heading for my appointment. After being so good on Monday, Callum was being a little monkey today and my patience was very thin. I was worried that that in itself was enough to raise the blood pressure.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait as long as last time despite the worrying signs of it taking me about 5-10 minutes of driving round the car park to get parked and then the antenatal waiting room being really busy.

The blood pressure checks were similar to Monday, the first one being done manually and recording as high and then the other two being done by the automatic machine and being under the highest acceptable level (140/90). She wouldn’t tell me what the first one was, she just said she didn’t want to record it as it was rather high.

I think the other two were 137/88 and 127/86.

After the BP checks, she went to have a word with the consultant about what the ‘plan of action’ was going to be. When she came back she said that they wanted to see if things kicked off on their own so she was going to give me a sweep* to see if that helped. They would also get me in for BP checks twice over the next week and then they’d make a decision whether to induce me on my due date based on how my BP was behaving. Of course, if nothing had kicked off on its own before then.

I wasn’t expecting the sweep and as I had a bad experience of internal examinations when being induced with Callum I was a little nervous about it but it was probably best I didn’t know about it in advanced as I would have just worried about it. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing and was quite uncomfortable/painful but no where near as bad as the internal I had in the delivery suite with Callum. Thankfully, I was curtained off for it too with another lady distracting Callum. Not something I really wanted him to be witness too.

Since then, nothing has really changed or kick started. No increase in tightenings, still just the odd one here and there. My right leg aches like hell and feels like its about to fall off but not really sure I can attribute that to the sweep or being a ‘sign’!

I’m not expecting much to happen. I have my next community MW appointment tomorrow at the doctors and imagine I’ll be having the same false starts over the weekend.

 

* What is a sweep? – A membrane sweep is where a Midwife ‘sweeps’ a finger around your cervix to hopefully separate the membranes around your baby from your cervix. This process releases a hormone which can help to kick-start labour within the following 48 hours.

Weird happenings: 38 weeks, 5 days

Ok, so seems baby may have read my last blog as the afternoon after I wrote it I started feeling weird. I couldn't quite work out why. I guess I was experiencing some tightenings or braxton hicks but it wasn't a strong enough feeling to put my finger on. I had a midwife appointment already booked in so thought I'd see what she said.

When I got to the appointment the mw, as is the norm, asked how I was feeling and I explained I felt weird. She took my blood pressure and said it was a bit high (156/97). It had been behaving so well and last reading was 126/72 so this was quite a jump. She asked if I had any headaches, which I had, but I had also had a head cold and had suspected the cold to be the cause. She listened to baby, checked my wee etc, all the usual things and all was well. She also took some blood then tested again. It was still high but had come down a bit (150/92). She decided to make an appointment for me at the hospital for Monday (today) for another BP/urine check and told me to take it easy & be 'vigilant' for other symptoms over the weekend.

The rest of that afternoon/evening I continued to feel weird & have the tightenings. When they got to a strength I felt I could time they were about 10-12 mins apart but still very mild. I tried to have an early night but it's hard to sleep when you are anticipating 'action'! The tightenings continued until about midnight but then must have eased off as I fell asleep and slept well for the rest of the night.

My parents were booked in to come over for the weekend anyway because my dad was doing some work in the nursery so they decided to stay over Saturday night just in case & brought clothes with them for the Monday too. This meant my mum took good care of me & Callum over the weekend and I spent most if it with my feet up and taking it easy. I felt a little weird but only had the odd tightening here and there.

As there were no affirmative signs of labour, and i was feeling more normal, they went home sunday night.

Today was my hospital appointment and as I thought I'd be in and out in no time at all, I took Callum with me. Unfortunately, there was an emergency that morning (I do hope all was ok), all the appointments had been pushed back so it was over an hour before I was seen. As the appointment was for 12noon, I had taken Callum some lunch with me (but just a pack of crisps for me) which helped pass some time plus I managed to distract him looking at maps and in the play area but, in truth, Callum was a absolute angel!

I was then in the room for a little over an hour going through all the various checks & being hooked up to the baby heart rate monitor and Callum was good again throughout showing a little concern for me worried when I had to lie down on the bed and have the monitor attached. The lady/doctor/midwife (whoever she was) was full of praise for him, I was so proud! The parking ticket said we were in for 2hrs 38 mins in total.

Anyway, BP was high when I first got there with the lower number still over 90 so she checked everything else & hooked me up to the monitor. All came back good. Again she asked about headaches and as the cold had now gone but i was still experiencing mild intermittent headaches, i did mention them to her. They are not enough to need a paracetemol but enough to make me think about it. Once on the monitor, we had to wait a while for baby to move as she was having a sleepy moment. After the cold water didn't work (me drinking it, nothing more bizarre!) I shuffled over to my side & she eventually started to wiggle.

More bloods were taken (I've since heard they were clear) and another appointment was booked in for wednesday. My subsequent BP checks showed an improvement and were good by the end. She was quite unsure what to do with me as I was neither perfectly ok or definitely something wrong, I was (in her words) whooly! So Wednesday's appointment was booked as a precaution and to see the consultant with the aim of preparing a plan of action as she didn't think they should let me go too far overdue!

I strongly believe that I won't develop pre-eclampsia (and she was inclined to agree) but that raised BP is just my bodies way of reacting to labour. As I've been typing I can again feel my BP is high (the weird feeling is back) and I've had a few more tightenings again but still nothing strong. I'm just extremely tired! I've had a few really good night's sleep now so not expecting to feel this tired!

I can see this weird feeling and tightenings coming and going quite regularly over the next few days or until it really does kick off.

I'm in two minds how I feel if they decide to induce me. Part of me will feel safe in that I can relate it to my last labour/birth, it's what I know so I'm happy with that. But also part of me is curious to experience what it is like to naturally go into labour while at home etc.

I guess only time will tell and, as always, what will be will be.

Posted with Blogsy

Floored! 37 weeks (full term)

Who the hell moved the floor so far away from my hands. I swear, either my legs have got longer or my arms have got shorter. And just to add insult to injury some cruel twisted unseen force is having a laugh at me making me drop everything. I just had to pick up about 20 pegs with my toes, and thank god my phone has a protective cover on it as it spends more time on the floor than in my hand! I'll pick one thing up that I just dropped and drop the other thing I was previously still holding!

Then of course there is Callum. As fast as I tidy or pick things up off the floor he is trailing behind me dropping stuff or unloading more toys! I can't keep up & its killing me & my bump attempting too. I give up! As I speak, I'm trying not to twitch looking at the lego car that used to be which is currently still residing on the floor, discarded this morning by the little man himself! I just know that at some point in the not too distant future I'm going to tread on the retched thing and curse that I didn't pick it up but my bump just can't face another squeeze!

In my next superhuman life I'll be sure to pick up the super power of telekenesis!

I could go on with my rant by telling you of the inconvenience of appliances being below waist height, such as the washing machine & dishwasher, but I remember doing that last pregnancy so I won't bore you with the repetition!

Anyway, in other news, I had my last scan today. All was well with the growth of the baby, blood pressure was fine and I've been discharged by the consultant to the care of the midwife. So being as today baby is full term at 37 weeks, I'm technically all set to go. Except my mind hasn't accepted that this baby has to come out yet and I feel like this pregnancy can just keep going...forever...maybe!

Posted with Blogsy

Help, I'm not fat enough! - 33 weeks, 1 day

I had the first of two extra growth scans today which couldn't have come at a better time as, get this, today I was worried I had not put on enough weight!!! Yes, you read that right, not enough weight!! There's no pleasing some people is there!

Basically, I weighed myself at 28 weeks and had put on 1 stone 5 lb since finding out I was pregnant. At this stage I didn't know if this was good or bad but it is normal, from that point as I entered the third trimester, to put on an average of 1 lb a week until the birth. That'd put me at aproximately 2 stone 3 lb if I was to give birth on my due date.

I was then advised at my consultant appointment following that to start taking low dose aspirin once a day. I read somewhere that taking aspirin in your third trimester could lead to the baby not growing properly but as I'd also be having 2 growth scans, I knew if there were any issues they'd be picked up.

Then today I step on the scales again & find I've only put on a lb since 28 weeks! I was expecting 5 lb. so I was worried! My bump has only grown about a centimetre during that time too.

So I was quite nervous as I went in for the scan but quite quickly my fears were proved to be unfounded as the measurements in the scan were all shown to be in the normal range. They checked the fluid around the baby and again all was well. Liver appeared to be fine and the umbilical artery doing what it was supposed to do. More Good news, my bouncing on my exercise ball had paid off as baby was no longer oblique/transverse like she was at my last mw appointment but was nicely head down with her limbs all over to my right. Apparently, she will most likely stay there now although may flip from right to left...I'm pretty sure she has been flipping back and forth for most of the afternoon.

After the scan I went for my clinic appointment with the mw & consultant. The mw checked my blood pressure & the first reading was 142/86 which had jumped up quite a lot since my last appointment of 122/70, but she wasn't concerned & I knew I had been worried about the scan so knew that could be affecting it. Still, she took it again and it was fractionally lower a 136/84. She told me that my urine sample was being sent off as it did show there were a few white blood cells present which indicated the start of a urine infection. This made sense as I had been feeling some sharp pains in my bladder area of late & suspected this was the cause. She said there was also a little bit of glucose but was a low reading so likely just that I'd had something sugary.

The consultant was rather lovely & reminded me of a better looking Hugh Grant a lot more confident than the last one I had seen, was professional, and came across very knowledgeable and understanding. He wasn't concerned about my blood pressure or any of the results. He made sure I was happy without any concerns. He said, because my high bp was quite a late onset last time that there was only a 5% chance of it happening again and, unless there was a clear symptom which indicated a risk or there was a worry at the next growth scan, they will not look to induce me...unless of course I go the other way & am so overdue that they induce me....which you just know is going to happen!!

I asked about what would happen if my waters broke early again. He said if it was before 35 weeks (so in the next couple of weeks...eek!) then it was normal that they would let me go a bit longer..until either I got to 35/36 weeks or labour came on automatically as it was more important that the baby got to near enough term/fully mature but if was after this time they would wait 24-36 hours to see of I progressed naturally before inducing me as then an infection would be a bigger risk. I guess this would still depend on bp and other symptoms.

So...pretty much, all good! Oh....and baby is still looking like a little girl so no sex change that we are aware of!

I can just be happy in the knowledge that I haven't put on as much weight this time so should hopefully lose it quicker after birth too...*shovels another mouthful of chocolate sundae into mouth*


I now have weekly midwife checks and another growth scan and consultant appointment in 4 weeks.

Full Term Baby Here We Come! 24 Weeks, 5 Days

Because of my history of high blood pressure with Callum, the Midwife hadbooked me an extra appointment than is normal for a second pregnancy.

She called the other week to say she could no longer make the appointment and recommended I make the appointment with the Dr instead for BP and Urine check. This I did and the appointment was Wednesday just gone!

It was good news – whoop, whoop! My BP was 124/78 which I think is the best it’s been for ages – years probably! In addition, there were no signs of either protein or sugars in my Urine! I didn’t have evidence of protein last time but I was worried about the sugars – the amount of chocolate and sweet stuff I’ve been eating recently, I was fully expecting this to be high so good stuff!

This really does feel me with confidence that I will go full term with this baby!

There are chances, of course (there are always chances) that this one could come just as early or earlier and, as the Dr reminded me, its not for certain that my high BP led to my waters breaking early – and I really didn’t do myself any favours that day after my hike around London, two meals of spicy food and a short jog (as much as an 8 month pregnant lady can jog) from the car to the Chinese, it really wasn’t surprising – but it could’ve been a factor and anything that points away from this is reassuring to me. The biggest fear, of course, is baby coming even earlier!

All this being said, you bet your life if 15 August arrives without baby making an appearance, I’m booking a trip to London to hike around half the city with a spicy pizza for lunch and a spicy Chinese for dinner (whether I puke it up or not!!!) – although I wouldn’t want a premature baby if I can help it, there were advantages in Callum’s case of only being just shy of the 37 weeks (he was born about 36+4 – which they class as 4 weeks prem), he was a good weight (5lb 15oz) both in terms of delivery for me and healthy for him, apart from a spot of jaundice and low blood sugars, he didn’t have any health risks or need any special care.

So the advantages were:

• His size! It was painful enough squeezing this little one out…I do not want to experience much bigger!! Also, I do believe his size was why I didn’t tear.
• I never got to that stage where I felt bored, frustrated and over with it all in terms of the pregnancy. When I hear others talk about those last few weeks of pregnancy, I’m always relieved I didn’t have to experience it – especially going over due and having the constant phonecalls of “I hadn’t heard from you for 8 hours are you OK, is it happening now?”. In contrast, when people asked me how long to go they’d often pipe up with “ooh, not long now” and I’d be panicked and say I wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t ready (mentally – physically, I’d been ready for weeks with my hospital bag packed, nursery decorated etc!) and didn’t want the last few weeks to go quicker than I was ready for!
• I’m pretty sure the first few weeks were easier for us because all Callum did was sleep all the time. Everyone says the first 6 weeks are the hardest – I wondered what they were all going on about. Then 6 weeks hit. Just as everyone else said things get harder, I was a mess!

So, as soon as I reach term – bring on the pineapple, long walks, spicy curries, sex, acupuncture, reflexology, evening primrose, raspberry leaf tea, nipple stimulation, caster oil – this baby will be coming out!

For anyone who hasn’t already read my birth story and has a few hours to kill, you can find it here.