Sarah & baby
George
I was 15 days overdue and due to be induced on the 14th
of May in at Leicester Royal Infirmary. They were extremely
busy on the 14th and so I didn’t actually go in until
the Friday (the 15th).
By then I was really quite anxious and just wanted to get
the birth out of the way (there’s only so much cleaning
and preparing you can do when you have a large bump!).
I rang in early on the 15th and the midwife said to come
straight in. Once we arrived we were shown to small ward
of 6 beds – all 6 of us were due to be induced that
day. The process started around 10am and we were told that
it could take 24 hours to actually start so we were prepared
for a long wait. After a couple of hours I started to get
minor contractions (or at least that’s what I thought
they were but the midwife didn’t seem too bothered
at that stage). At around 5pm (just after the second pessary)
my waters broke and we were shown into a delivery room.
I was told that I could get in the bath (something that
was in my birth plan but I didn’t think it would be
possible as I thought I’d have to be constantly monitored).
The bath really helped the contractions. I put the TENS
machine back on when I got out -I couldn’t see how
it could work but it really did. That and gas and air got
me through the next couple of hours. I remember looking
at the clock at 11pm thinking well this baby isn’t
going to be delivered today – I must have hours to
go and I thought the midwifes were just saying what I wanted
to hear when they said – ‘not long to go now,
you’re doing really well’. I gave birth standing
up just as I planned to and George was born at 11.36pm.
I had a midwife and student midwife and would recommend
having a student there as this meant we weren’t left
on our own which gave me some reassurance. I had to have
quite a lot of stitches (about 25) so I had to stay in for
a couple of nights.
I really didn’t want to be induced as I’d heard
that you were more likely to have to have a c section and/or
epidural and be constantly monitored – none of which
were in my birth plan! But, as it happened it was fine,
the labour was really quite short and I managed to just
use gas and air and the TENS machine and everyone at the
LRI was really lovely and I’d personally recommend
them to anyone.. It was only 8 months ago but it all seems
like a blur now.
We found that the first 6 weeks were the hardest, then once
you start to get some interaction in the form of smiles
it gets a bit easier and then it gets easier again at around
3 months (once we started to get into a routine). I don’t
think anyway can prepare you for the first few weeks - you
just have to experience it and get through it. Like everyone
says – it’s worth it in the end.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Sharon Fanthorpe & Baby Lucas
I was 10 days past my due date when I woke at 4am with
niggling pains. I’d had these pains before over the
past few weeks so I thought nothing of it and tried to get
back to sleep. After about 45 minutes I realised that the
pains were worse than I’d had before and that they
were going away and coming back in intervals. The penny
dropped and feeling a mixture of excitement and terror I
got out of bed and went to the bathroom to see if there
were signs that baby was on it’s way. There was nothing
to see so I got back into bed and lay watching my husband,
Marshall sleeping, willing him to wake so that I could tell
him. I don’t know why I didn’t wake him, I guess
I knew we were in for a long day so I thought I’d
let him get some more rest. I just lay there, mind racing,
trying to block out the pain when it came. At half six the
alarm went off for Marshall to go to work and as he stirred
I told him ‘we’re on’! By this time I
couldn’t lie there any longer so I got up, made a
cup of tea and watched TV for a bit. At 7.45 I rang my parents
and spoke to my mum and dad, my mum asked if she could come
round and within 15 minutes she was knocking on the door!
We sat in the lounge for about an hour, mum was talking
away, as she does, but during the bouts of pain I couldn’t
concentrate on what she was saying, I had to focus all my
energy on getting through each wave. After mum had gone
my ‘women possessed’ nesting obsession took
hold once again and I decided to mop the kitchen and hall
floors! Marshall told me to sit down but I felt I just had
to get the house completely spic and span for baby to come
home to, and besides I was trying to keep mobile and keep
busy. I remember standing in the hall stopped in my tracks
by a contraction gripping onto the mop, and then when it
passed off I went again!
Now that the house was as it should be I decided to try
and get myself up to scratch too! I went and ran myself
a nice bubble bath; de fuzzed, scrubbed and then washed,
dried and straightened my hair. By the time Lucas was eventually
born my hair literally looked like I’d been dragged
through a hedge backwards but at the time it seemed worth
making the effort! I got dressed and went and sat in the
lounge, Marsh made me a sandwich and I called a few friends
while I still felt I could hold a conversation.
At about 1 ish we decided to crack open the TENS machine
and start timing contractions. It had 15 levels and after
putting it onto level 1 I actually thought the prickling
hurt and I couldn’t see myself ever getting up to
a very high level. By the time Lucas was only a couple of
hours from arrival I had it cranked right up and was yelling
at Marshall that it wasn’t working, as I couldn’t
feel it!!! If I sat still my contractions were coming about
every 7 or 8 minutes but as I had it in my head that I had
to keep moving they were coming about every 5. By 3 o’clock
although I felt happy at home Marshall was getting edgy
and asked me to phone the hospital and put the finishing
touches to my birth bag, which had been packed forever!
I called the hospital and spoke to the midwife who asked
me a few questions and said that as I seemed fine at home
there was no need to come in and to call again when the
contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart. I spent
the next 5 hours just moving between rooms, sitting on the
bed for a bit, wandering around, sitting in the lounge on
my birthing ball for a bit, back upstairs, all the time
calling out my contractions to Marsh who would then tell
me how long and how far apart. The good thing at this stage
was that even though the pain was gripping; I really had
to put everything into getting through each one, and slowly
the TENS level was creeping up; I was getting a decent break
in between which made it bearable. I think the boost button
on the TENS did help focus my mind a bit and I basically
just kept taking each hour at a time.
Even though I wasn’t the slightest bit hungry at 8
o’clock Marsh made me some tomato soup and crusty
bread and we sat at the kitchen table having our ‘last
supper’. Our next-door neighbour popped round to borrow
a whisk and I just sat with my head bowed trying not to
hold my breath as another contraction took hold. I rang
the hospital again and asked if I could come in, contractions
were 5 minutes apart and the midwife said ‘of course
you can my darling’ which I thought was nice.
We arrived at the hospital, Marshall registered us at the
reception bit and I just stood clinging onto the desk. We
took the lift up to the 4th floor and I remember as the
lift doors opened a contraction took hold and I couldn’t
move so I stood there with the lift doors opening and closing
until my legs would move again. They’d obviously been
really busy before we arrived because there wasn’t
a room ready for me so we had to sit in the hall for about
half an hour while they cleaned and got one ready. Again
I just sat with my head bowed during each contraction concentrating
on my TENS machine. Finally the midwife said the room was
ready, we went in and she introduced herself and the student
midwife that was accompanying her. I remember thinking the
room was awful, not at all home from home I thought and
I was glad that I hadn’t done the hospital tour previously.
I was here now and when she dimmed the light it became our
cosy little haven for the night despite the fact that the
TV aerial wasn’t working, much to Marshall’s
annoyance. He even tried to fix it with a paperclip that
the student brought for him but it didn’t work! Marsh
asked if he should go and get the bag but the midwife said
‘no’, and told me that I didn’t look like
someone in established labour to which I thought ‘oh
great’! She told me that if she examined me and I
wasn’t far along enough she would send me home. It
was up to me but as they weren’t very busy now she’d
give me an hour before doing so, which I was grateful for
because I really didn’t want to be going home now
I was here. She took my blood pressure, temperature and
asked me to do a urine sample. My temp was up a bit and
my wee had Ketones in it. This meant that my body was breaking
down fat for energy (instead of carbohydrates) so I needed
to eat and drink something. As I’d eaten she told
me I must be dehydrated so I drank a few glasses of water
while Marsh went to move the car.
A little bit later she came back and said that it was time
that she examined me. To my enormous relief she said ‘well
you’re not going home, you’re 3 cms’ –
phew!! When Marshall went to the car to get the bag the
midwife came back in to talk to me about my birth plan.
Now I’d very carefully written my birth plan and copied
it out all neatly having researched my choices on the Internet
and in books. The midwife spoke to me about the Syntometrine
injection that I’d opted to have and for some reason
talked me out of it. To be honest she was talking away and
I was in that much pain I just couldn’t take in what
she was saying so I just agreed with her to shut her up
and make her go away. Looking back now I should have just
stuck to the plan I’d made when I was compus mentas
and Marshall was really annoyed when he found out afterwards
that she’d spoken to me when he wasn’t around
to stick up for me.
For the next couple of hours I just moved around the room,
trying all different ways of sitting and standing and just
basically taking each contraction at a time. The midwife
and student came in every 15 minutes to take my blood pressure,
temperature and listen to the baby’s heartbeat. Obviously
it was great to have such undivided attention and the best
care for my baby but I have to say I did find a little annoying
at times because as soon as they’d done one set and
stayed for a little chat it was time for the next lot and
I just wanted to be left in peace. I can’t exactly
remember when, but at some point the midwife came in with
the gas & air. I hadn’t asked for it, being my
first baby I obviously didn’t know to what level the
pain was going to get so I was trying to get through as
much as possible without it so I knew I still had the Entonox
to turn to. At first I took really short shallow breaths
as I didn’t fancy feeling sick, which thankfully I
never did, by the end I couldn’t breathe deep enough
to get enough in, I was sucking it into my lungs for as
long and hard as I possibly could! Anyway good stuff, it
helped.
During the 15-minute checks the baby’s heart started
to develop an irregular beat so when it didn’t normalise
after a few checks they decided to hook me up to a machine
to monitor it. This involved lying on the bed with the monitor
belts strapped around me, from my ‘labour day’
class I knew that this could slow things down and lead to
further interventions, which I was keen to avoid. I was
assured that it only needed to be on for an hour. My midwife
and student were going on their break so a ‘specialist’
came to install the machine and said she’d be back
in half an hour. The machine monitored 2 things; the baby’s
heartbeat and my contractions. I could see what I’ll
refer to as the ‘contraction counter’ (not sure
of the technical term) so I just sat and watched as it went
up and up while the contraction gripped me and focused on
it willing it to start falling so I’d get relief from
the pain. It was really hard to sit still when in that much
pain, all I wanted to do was get off the bed and get into
a different position but I was stuck there. When the ‘specialist’
came back she realised that she hadn’t set the machine
to print a record of what it had been monitoring so nothing
had been captured, she put this right and said I’d
need to be on it for another hour, I was a little miffed
to say the least. When my midwife came back from her break
and took a look at the printout she said that the machine
hadn’t been set up correctly and the scales were all
wrong, so we were basically back to square one and I’d
have to be on it for another hour, I couldn’t believe
it. Sure enough everything slowed down and my contractions
became a bit strange. Instead of having the rise of a contraction
and then the fall off, I was getting the rise, then it would
start to fall and I’d be thinking ‘thank god’,
but then it’d fall a little way and then start to
go back up again which was awful. The midwife said this
was no good and that I needed good contractions with one
rise and one fall to progress the labour, I remember thinking
‘it’s not my fault, I’m doing my best’!
All in all I ended up being stuck on the bed on the fetal
monitor for about 2 ½ hours.
With that part over and all ok with baby I changed into
my nightie and the midwife examined me again and said I
was 6cms. The relief that I was at least progressing was
huge, I couldn’t bear the thought of being told I
was still 3 cms! As my waters hadn’t broke we were
told the next thing was to discuss breaking them. We decided
to go ahead as I was keen for things to keep going and I
felt that waiting was just delaying the inevitable. I was
shocked at how much fluid there was; it was like Niagara
Falls down there!! I think it was about 4 am ish now and
everything kicked up a notch. With the waters gone the contractions
were extremely intense, were lasting longer and there was
no respite. I clung to my Gas & Air for dear life! At
one point I got really bad shakes, which was a bit scary.
Going for a wee took everything I’d got, it was such
a major effort. I waited for the next contraction to pass
and then went as quickly as humanly possible in my state
to the toilet with Marsh and the gas canister in tow –
I certainly wasn’t going anywhere without that. Because
the contractions were very close now by the time I got there
another one would come so I’d stand gripping on to
the sink. Quick wee, contraction, wipe, wash hands, contraction
- quick go!
About 6.30 ish I turned to the midwife and said ‘I
don’t know how much more of this I can take’
she smiled and said ‘I know you can’t be far
off now as that’s the first negative thing you’ve
said since you got here’. Sure enough about 7am I
started to get the most powerful ‘bearing down sensation,
it’s the strangest thing, like your body just takes
over. The midwife said well I think it’d be a good
idea if you removed your under things and I got onto the
bed, kneeling, resting against the back support and with
every contraction started pushing. At 7.30 there was a shift
change and my new midwife came in, I’ve since found
out that midwife no.1 informed midwife no. 2 that I wanted
a natural 3rd stage, which of course I didn’t. My
contractions then started to become less intense; my body
was running out of steam so I had some Lucozade to give
me energy. All I can say about the pushing stage is it’s
like being between a rock and a hard place. You’re
being told to push, and you know you’ve got to but
you really don’t want to because you know it’s
going to hurt! The midwife kept monitoring baby, she said
they only normally let you push for an hour before they
start to intervene but as the heartbeat was fine she’d
let me continue. She was praising me the whole way, which
really helped. She told me she could see the head, and then
Marsh told me baby had got lots of hair and the midwife
asked if I wanted a mirror to look but I said ‘nooooo’.
At 8.52 with a pop and a slide, my gorgeous little, well
big, boy came into the world – then the fun really
started!
Although the kneeling position is good to give birth in,
gives you the aid of gravity and all that, it’s not
so good for afterwards as I was now to be stuck in this
position for ages, my legs were like jelly and I couldn’t
hold my baby! Marshall cut the cord, which was a real shock
as he categorically said he wouldn’t beforehand because
he’s a bit squeamish. Obviously baby needs skin-to-skin
contact straight away and due to the fact that I was stuck
the midwife told Marsh to put Lucas up his t-shirt and there
he stayed for the next hour. Then I was asked to push again
to get the placenta out. Well I pushed and pushed and nothing
was happening. The midwife was pulling on the cord when
I pushed, still nothing. Then a more senior lady came in
and suggested I try and do a wee as a full bladder may be
preventing the placenta from coming out. Obviously I couldn’t
hop off the bed and nip to the loo so they put a cardboard
dish underneath me but I just couldn’t go so they
had to put in a catheter and drain my bladder that way.
More pushing and tugging but still nothing. The senior lady
came back and as over an hour had passed there were some
loaded looks and talk of me being taken to theatre, which
I really really didn’t want. I don’t know why
I didn’t just shout ‘give me the injection,
that’s what I wanted in the first place’, but
I think I was in shock and clearly not thinking straight.
Anyway someone had the bright idea and within seconds of
the Syntometrine going in out came the placenta, relief
I’d escaped theatre!
I lost quite a lot of blood so I was told that someone
would be along to take a sample from my hand because I’d
probably need iron. While I was waiting for this they at
least managed to turn me round, baby emerged from under
Marshall’s t-shirt and I lay holding him for the first
time – it was amazing. I asked the midwife if I’d
need stitches, she said she didn’t know but that the
consultant would be along shortly to check me out. She then
turned her attention to our little boy and popped him on
the scales, he weighed 9lb 5 oz. She struggled to dress
him because the clothes I’d bought were newborn size
and nearly not big enough!
The consultant arrived to examine me, the best way I can
describe this is it was like he was blotting me down there
with a big wadge of lint. It was agony even though the midwife
had told me to take a big suck on the gas and air before
he did it; I was climbing he walls! He informed that I’d
suffered a third degree tear and that I’d need to
be given a spinal anesthetic and be taken to theatre. When
he’d gone to get the consent form I burst into tears.
I just couldn’t believe that I’d got through
the whole thing with limited pain relief and now they were
going to stick a needle in my spine anyway, it was all too
much. He came back with the form, explained the procedure
and went through the effects – everything from flatulence
to death basically! As he was asking me to agree to these
I asked him what the alternative was of not having it done
and he said ‘oh you’ve got to have it, there’s
no choice’! The nurse came to put the canula into
my hand for a drip and I just managed to breast feed Lucas
a little before they wheeled me off to theatre to be put
back together with an hours worth of stitching!
I spent 3 days in hospital and as I was desperate to get
home I forced my release. I was at home for one terrible
night and then ended up being re-admitted the following
day for reasons I won’t go into!
The moral of my story: -
1.) It’s your birth plan, you reserve the right to
change it, don’t let anyone change it for you.
2.) Don’t rush your release from hospital if they
want you to stay, you’re in the best place to be looked
after if any complications arise.
Oh well, I’ll know for next time – he he!
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Lucy and Raef born 02/08/08 (7lb
4oz)
Due to deliver my fourth child on August 17th I never thought
for one moment he would arrive early. Prepared I wasn't.
All three of my other children were born on time or a few
days late. The date is Friday 1st August 2008 and my husband
was taking the day off work so we could start to prepare
a few things for the new arrival. We spent the entire day
cleaning and moving furniture etc.. (Nesting!).
That evening while watching tv I was getting many braxton
hicks as usual, didn't think anything of it and went off
to bed. At around 3am I was awoken by a small wet patch
in the bed, this was alien to me as my waters had never
broken naturally before. I cleaned myself up and tried to
return to some sleep. However by 5.30am the contractions
(not braxton hicks!) were too annoying to stay in bed. We
got up, hung out some washing and began preparing/inflating
the birth pool. By 8am all the children were up and wondering
what was going on. Having to care for them and prepare breakfast
etc kept my mind busy. I also put on my TENS machine. We
went into town for a short time to keep busy but things
were becoming uncomfortable. The midwife came to visit at
about 12 noon and confirmed that my waters and broken and
I was 4 cm dilated. My husband filled the pool as we weren't
sure how quickly things would develop although I have a
history of slow moving labours. I plodded on with the TENs
machine. By 4pm I was finding the contractions harder to
cope with so my sister took our children to her house so
we could concentrate on the proceedings.
 |
 |
The pool had now been full for a few hours so we let out
some water and topped it up again. The midwife returned
and confirmed that all the sitting on the birth ball had
done wonders and I was now 5/6 cm dilated. I removed the
TENS machine and I entered the pool at around 7pm. It was
glorious - warm, relaxing, wonderful! The contractions continued
and before long I was using the gas and air. I found the
freedom of movement provided by the pool amazing. I was
able to adopt positions that would have been impossible
on land. By 9pm the second midwife had arrived and I was
in alot of pain. After another hour of intense continuous
contractions the midwife asked to check my dilation as they
thought I would have delivered by now. Upon examination
it was found that I had a rather large anterior lip (a section
of the cervix that had not dilated). I was devastated and
at the end of my tether. The midwife explained that with
the next push she would try to move the anterior lip out
of the way but it was going to hurt!! :-0 As I was already
in pain it was a means to an end and with a couple of big
pushes I managed to deliver the head. However the drama
was not over yet, the umbilical cord was exiting on top
of baby's head therefore the rest of the delivery was fast.
Before I knew it baby Raef was delivered into my arms (10.27pm)
- what a magical moment, I really find it difficult to explain
how I felt. He was covered in white vernix, screaming and
gorgeous. I was ecstatic and overwhelmed. My husband cut
the cord and I delivered the placenta in the pool with no
problems. Once out the water baby Raef was weighed, (7lb
4oz) dressed and breastfeeding perfectly. I then nipped
upstairs and had a nice warm bath while my husband and the
midwives cleaned up and began emptying the pool. By midnight,
believe it or not we were all tucking into a chinese takeaway!
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
A
dads home waterbirth experience
So, I’m sat here 9 days after the birth
of my gorgeous daughter Peta and I can’t honestly
remember life without her! As a new Dad who has just gone
through a very successful home birth, I thought I would
share with you future fathers a few pointers that worked
very well for mine and Hayley’s home birth and maybe
a few of you will perhaps consider a home birth for yourselves.
It really is a beautiful experience.
I have to admit it, Hayley once brought up
the idea of a future home birth when she was 20+ weeks pregnant
for any future pregnancy’s and I totally dismissed
the idea! It was mostly me being a stubborn male that made
me dismiss the idea. But, things change and you hear new
information that could change you mind (it did mine!!).
Where to start……. I suppose the
first I thought of a home birth was when myself and Hayley
went to Antenatal classes through Baby-Dolly. We met some
great people who we still see regularly and share our experiences/advice.
Throughout the course we regularly touched on the subject
and it became apparent that a home birth was never offered
to us by the NHS (I never knew that this was even an option
for a first birth!) but after discussions we realised that
(as with everything in life) there are many pro’s
and con’s for embarking on a home birth. For clarification
I will list them.
Pro’s
1. This may seem obvious, but you are at home!!!
You have your own things around you and your own home comforts,
your own food and drink and as many changes of clothes as
you own! This is absolute gold and shouldn’t be underestimated.
2. No hospital journey! You are staying at
home! There is no doubt as to when to go to hospital, which
can be quite nerve racking, creating adrenaline which can
slow down labour! The midwives will stay in touch all day
and arrive when you need them to.
3. Two to one midwife care. One for your good
lady, and the other for the baby, that is how it is! Simple
as that. Until the baby is delivered both midwives will
care for your partner and unborn child.
4. Water birth. If you are planning on having
a water birth then be warned that most hospitals have only
one birth pool! If someone else is in it you can’t
use it! If someone has just been in it, then it has to be
cleaned and there is not always time! And some hospitals
just don’t want you to use them at all!! The only
way to guarantee a water birth is to hire one for use at
home. (I will give more tips on this later).
5. Less likelihood of medical intervention.
Providing everything has gone without complication and you
have not had to abandon the home birth and go in to hospital,
then there is little, if any, medical intervention.
6. Less anxiety for your partner. Less anxiety
= quicker more comfortable labour! Fact!!
7. No separation. You are all at home! There
is no coming home empty handed from the hospital leaving
your partner and newborn child. You all get to sleep in
your own bed, together!! It is a great feeling and close
family don’t have to wait for visiting times to come
and see you.
8. Quality time. This point for me was nearly the most important,
after the birth Hayley had 40 mins quality skin-to-skin
time with the Peta, after I cut the cord, the midwives attention
was turned to Hayley and the 3rd stage of labour. I got
3.5 hours quality time with my daughter whilst the midwives
were assisting Hayley and I couldn’t of imagined how
good that would feel.
Now for the down points….
1. Limited pain relief!!! This is the biggest
down point and not to be taken lightly. Entanox (gas n air)
is the only pain relief the midwives will bring, and this
is a limited supply that will only last a couple of hours
at best (we were lucky and were able to send for more but
this is not always possible) you can use alternative methods
of pain relief via TENS machine and a birth pool. Remember
your partner will be in quite a lot of pain (its called
labour for a reason) and its up to you to help her get through
it as a team! Lots of encouragement and quite literally
anything she demands!! But it can be stressful and upsetting
at times to see the lady in your life in pain but stay calm
and strong for her and although it won’t help the
pain it won’t add to her own stress seeing you stressed!
2. Limited medical assistance. You do not
have the comfort blanket of the hospital, but, this is countered
by the fact you have 2 midwives constantly checking your
partner and would identify problems probably before they
would be noticed in hospital!! If any problems arise then
the midwives will arrange a transfer to hospital for you.
I believe these are the only down sides to
a home birth.
Preparing the Home
If you are considering a home birth, chances
are, you have already assessed the size of your home and
thought about whether it is ‘possible’. Take
a quick look around the room that you intend to give birth
and ask yourself the following questions:
Is there any unnecessary furniture which can
be moved to another room temporarily? The midwives bring
quite a lot of equipment that they will need easy access
to.
Can people see through your windows? Yes?
Get curtains!!
Is there someone to look after your pets during
labour? Last thing you want is pooch sniffing around your
partner whilst she is in labour. It can also be quite stressful
for the animal.
Do you have plenty of supplies? I.e. tea,
coffee, milk & toast!
Birth Pool
Lets move on to Birth pools!! I have one word
for them… AMAZING!!! The pain relief that Hayley received
from being in a birth pool is quite astonishing! But they
do require some forward planning and a proactive attitude
to make it work for you. First of all the money. The cost
to hire a pool is probably cheaper than the money it would
cost to park the car in hospital car parks and vending machine
sandwiches!! So its well worth it. Most fathers to be (myself
included) worry about the mess, trust me, after the birth
of your child there will be nothing further from you mind
than mess. And everything can be cleaned if things get wet.
I bought half a dozen cheap shower curtains from a well
known supermarket at 25p each. Use them under the pool and
to line the carpets/sofas. Buy a cheap duvet and put an
old cover over it for the sofa and beg everyone you know
for old towels! You will need them.
The pool will need to be kept at a temperature
between 36-38 degrees and then no more than 37 degrees for
the delivery! Make sure the hot water is on and if you have
an immersion heater, stick that on too!! Test the pool before
in the weeks before the birth. The pool will take about
3-4 bathfulls of water so be prepared to let the water heat
back up! Mine is a modern hot water system and took 2x 20
min fills with a 30 min break to allow the hot water to
re heat! Time everything from pumping it up to it being
ready for use as this will be valuable information come
birth-day. Buy new hosepipes and allocate one for filling
and one for draining, I had one hose siphoning water out
to allow me to ‘top-up’ with hot water throughout
labour without Hayley noticing. The siphoning will be a
lot slower than the filling so after the birth when everything
has settled down use the filling hose to siphon as well
(obvious as it is this will half the time it takes to empty).
My house was back to normal within hours of the birth with
absolutely no damage to furniture or fittings .
One final tip: Be thorough and involved in
your birth plan! This is the birth of your child and your
partner may not be in the right frame of mind to recite
the birth plan to the midwives so get involved and print
copies for the midwives and yourself. We did a double sided
birth plan (one side for home birth the other for the event
of hospital transfer) be open and honest with your partner
if there are things you don’t agree with or are unsure
with as regards the birth!
So, all in all I couldn’t recommend
a home birth more and when people say to me “you must
have been mad to have a baby at home” I reply with
“you’d be mad not to!!” I have nothing
against hospitals but a home birth is a beautiful thing
and, with planning very enjoyable with minimal stress to
either you or your partner.
One last thing, wherever you decide to have
your birth, Good luck!
Ian Morley, Proud Father.
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Liz's Birth Story
In some ways it feels like my labour began
when I was 31 weeks pregnant. I spent the whole day at work
having contractions that felt very strong and painful and
very different to Braxton Hicks. I went to hospital that
night to be told that, thankfully, nothing was happening
at the time, however I still had 2 steroid injections and
was kept in hospital overnight, to be on the safe side.
I ended up staying in hospital for a week, in which my baby
made 3 attempts at an early break out! Luckily he didn’t
succeed and I eventually left hospital. However, as a consequence
of these break out attempts I spent the next eleven weeks
‘sign watching’ expecting my baby to arrive
at any moment! It was exhausting. After being in hospital
so early on, I never expected to have to be induced at 42
weeks.
Having watched ever episode of both series
of ‘One Born Every Minute’ the thought of being
induced terrified me, as they only seemed to show inductions
that lasted 4 days and then ended up with an emergency caesarean
section.
When I arrived at the hospital the morning
of my induction I was examined and the midwife told me I
was 2-3cm dilated already so I wouldn’t have to have
the pesary, she would only need to break my waters. This
meant the whole thing would probably not take as long, which
was a relief! So the midwife went away and came back with
the ‘tools for the job’ (a couple of pads to
cover the bed and a crochet hook type implement!) Unfortunately
despite a few attempts the crochet hook didn’t do
the job so she used a tube which, when twisted in a certain
way, revealed a tiny metal spike to pierce the waters. All
of this sounds awful, but actually it was only like having
a smear test. The worst bit was the fact that I had awful
SPD so having my legs apart for any time at all was agony.
My waters were broken at 12:30pm and I spent the next 2
hours ‘contracting’, during which my baby pooed.
Unfortunately when they examined me I was still only 2-3cm
dilated so it was decided that I would have to have a drip
to speed things up. At 3:30pm I was put on the hormone drip.
My community midwife had warned me: “If you have the
drip you will have to have an epidural because it is too
painful to manage without one” because of this I was
really disappointed that I needed a drip. After it had been
inserted the contractions became a lot more intense and
it didn’t feel like there was much of a break between
them. I needed some pain relief at that point, so started
on gas and air! I don’t think I really spoke to my
husband for most of the time, as I was sky high on the gas
and air; I have ordered some for when my baby is going through
the adolescent years! At about 6pm the doctor came and said
that I was contracting too frequently and so wasn’t
having enough of a break, so they turned the drip down.
I must say, even though I only met him once for about 2
minutes, I love that man!!! It got a bit easier from that
point onwards. I just remember scenes from the book I had
been reading and the voices of the ladies chatting in the
cubicle next to me (how the labouring lady was able to chat,
I don’t know) going round and round in my head during
each contraction!
At 7:30pm another doctor came to tell me “you’re
clearly not coping with the pain so you need to have an
epidural”; despite being determined not to have one
I think I agreed, however at that moment she could have
told me that they needed to remove both my arms and legs
and I would have agreed with her! So she examined me to
see how much furthered I had progressed and the next thing
I remember is being told “well done” and “congratulations”
by all of the midwives. I just remember thinking “why,
what’ve I done?”
It turned out that “I wasn’t
coping” because I was fully dilated and ready to push!!!
I was transferred to a delivery suite, where
I was put into stirrups as it was possible that they would
need to use forceps or a ventuose to get my baby out quickly.
I was pushing for an hour and 7 minutes and after every
push they told me that on the next one my baby would be
here, I did feel a bit cheated by this as he or she clearly
wasn’t!!! However at 9:07pm my baby arrived into the
world, looking somewhat battered and bruised but totally
perfect. I felt so proud that despite what I had been told
I hadn’t needed an epidural, managing only on gas
and air and a TENS machine. I was also thrilled that I had
had managed to be induced in less than 7 hours, not the
predicted 96 hour long inductions like on ‘One Born
Every Minute’! Although I would have loved to have
gone into labour naturally, being induced wasn’t the
agonising and exhausting process I had imagined it to be.
And after all the most important thing is that my beautiful
baby boy arrived safely into the world.
Sam's
Story
Throughout my entire pregnancy with my daughter
Polly, she was pretty much always feet down into my bladder
and consequently pretty much in the wrong position for each
scan that I went for, and I had a few for differing reasons.
In the latter stages of my pregnancy, it was clear that
Polly had not moved, and the exercises which I had been
given were clearly not working. We went to speak to a specialist
at the George Eliot who spoke to us about turning Polly
around - of which we agreed. However, we did not feel entirely
comfortable with the decision and I later called the hospital
to book in for a c-section. A scary decision at the time
but one which I now do not regret.
The day came - exactly 39 weeks. We were told to turn up
at the George Eliot for 8am and I was booked in for 9am
although if there is an emergency I may be pushed back until
the afternoon, so I had 4pm in my brain. At 6am I needed
to have an anti-sickness tablet which the hospital had given
me (one the night before also), so I was up and made an
enourmous amount of sandwiches for my partner and sister
for the day, think it was nerves as I don't know how much
I was expecting them to eat!!! My face apparently turned
slightly green when someone arrived to insert a catheter
as it was actually going to happen on time! Panic set in
when the midwife asked for a nappy and various baby clothes
- this is it, we were actually going to have a baby!! Realisation
finally set in as I don't think it had throughout the rest
of the 39 weeks of pregnancy....
I then needed to say goodbye to my partner and sister who
had come for moral support as Dave hates needles and was
worried about fainting! What a sight - I walked down the
corridor wearing a hospital gown, white surgical stockings
and carrying my 'bag of wee'!!! The most nervous bit of
all was seeing the operating theatre. Everyone introduced
themselves and were really friendly but I wasn't really
listening, and then someone spoke to me and held me still
whilst they gave me my spinal block - this took seconds
but that was it, the worst bit was over! Not bad really
when you hear of all the birth stories which lasted for
days on end.
They then lay me down on a bed/operating table and put a
sheet up so I couldn't see anything and my sister arrived
- My sister loved looking around the sheet to see what was
happening next and everyone was chatting away which helped
to take my mind off the fact I was having a 'severe operation'!
Inside I could feel movement and a lot of pulling but it
didn't hurt and it felt like no time at all until they told
me I had a beautiful little girl who had all her fingers
and toes, oh and hair! That was the happiest moment in my
life, and my sister was holding her so I could see her and
then she went to be weighed. It took a while for them to
put me back together again and we went into a recovery room
where my partner joined us - magical! All of that lasted
about an hour. At lunchtime food arrived for me, Jacket
Potato and Beans with Apple Pie and Custard which the midwife
from the operating theatre had arranged, I never did see
her again to thank her. I struggled to eat it as was lying
down and couldn't move but managed with help from Dave (he
had his eye on it as was much more appetising than sandwiches!).
Around this time my Mum had come to visit and wasn't allowed
in - I wish I had known as the staff who were looking after
me had said it was fine, it must have been a long day for
her waiting until visiting time that evening.
Around 1pm I was moved to the ward which I shared with two
other ladies who had both had twins. The lady opposite lived
around the corner from me and so I still see her now - making
friends with her helped us both tremendously, just getting
out of the house and having someone to go with to different
groups which were a life line for a while.
Visiting time started at 7pm, I still could not move my
feet and so could not get out of bed to pick up Polly or
change her nappy but the staff at the hospital were amazing
and there was always someone to help. I was really concerned
about the food but I have never eaten so well, it was lovely
and because I had had a c-section someone came and took
my order and brought it to my bed.
The following morning someone arrived to take out my catheter
and later took me to the toilet - very embarrassing as I
didn't realise that the first wee needed to be in a bowl!
The staff also encouraged me to have a shower and to remove
the dressing on my new wound, bit scary as in the shower,
with the help of gravity I lost a lot of blood which I was
later told is completely normal but again, something else
I wish I had known before as I panicked.
All in all, I feel that having a c-section, although initially
scary, it was so easy and my recovery was not too bad either
- I would recommend it to anyone else who was in the same
position to me.
Birth Story of Cerys
15/08/2009 08:46AM 8lb, 15oz.
On Friday 14th August 2009 I was 40 weeks pregnant and
4 days overdue. I was starting to get impatient waiting
for our baby to arrive; who was going to be a surprise,
as we had chose not to find out the sex at our scans. I
was obviously very big at this stage but I can honestly
say I never felt desperately uncomfortable and had enough
energy to keep on top of the housework (nesting!). On this
day, I decided I was going to take our very big and energetic
dog, Alfie, for a walk to the park; this was usually a joint
venture between me and my husband, Lee, as Alfie is very
strong and tends to pull a lot on the lead! Anyway, on the
way home from the park, I slipped off the curb as Alfie
had pulled a little to hard on the lead and being the size
I was, I lost my balance a little. I fell onto one knee
and outstretched hands, I quickly got up and apart from
a little graze on my knee and feeling very embarrassed!,
I was fine and was not worried about the baby as my “bump”
had not come into contact with the ground.
The rest of the day plodded on as usual and I felt normal
and no different what so ever. We decided to go to the supermarket
for a few bits then on to visit Lee’s mum and my parents
that night. We ended up getting home about 11pm, and soon
settled into bed with an arrowword puzzle (which had become
a bit of a habit of late to keep my brain active!) lee was
reading his book but then decided to “help”
me with my puzzle which usually means leaning over my shoulder
and telling me the answers before I have had chance to look
at the clues! I can remember feeling particularly irritable
towards him for doing that this one night and at about 10
minutes to midnight I started getting achey in my womb area,
but dismissed it as probably wind!! When I rolled over to
my other side at 2 minutes to midnight my waters broke!
I turned to Lee and said “ooh my waters have just
broke” really calmly, then hopped quick smart to the
bathroom whilst trying not to drip everywhere! The reality
in my mind, was my waters breaking at the beginning of labour
was the worst order that things could happen as I was booked
for a home birth, and now I felt like I was watching a stopwatch
counting down before I would have to go into hospital and
have medical interventions, which I really didn’t
want!
In preparation for my labour I had lots of plans, a gentle
massage by my lovely husband, watch some DVD’s whilst
sitting on my birthing ball, even maybe catching some sleep
in-between contractions, let’s just say that went
out the window! After my waters breaking, my contractions
came every 5 minutes, each time with a gush of waters! I
went through 3 pairs of trousers in about 10 minutes and
felt sorry for Lee running up and down the stairs fetching
me clean ones! I then just decided it would be easier to
just have a towel in-between my legs like a giant nappy!
It’s fair to say, I went through a few towels too!
We called the midwife at about 00:30 as I was having regular,
painful contractions every 5 minutes. I found them too uncomfortable
to stay still for, and found it easier to stay standing
and sway from side to side. Whilst we were waiting for her
to come I jumped in the shower to de-fuzz and wash my hair
which made me feel better and more relaxed. The midwife
who was on call was called Leona and we hadn’t met
her before but she was very nice and reassuring. She examined
me and I was 2cm dilated! I found the examination very painful
as it seemed to bring on a stronger contraction that lasted
longer. She advised me to take some Paracetomol and have
a warm bath and to call her when the pain became worse.
Lee ran me a warm bath and about 3am I got in. it was lovely
being able to move around easier and the warm water really
soothed the pain. Whilst I lay in the bath, lee was catnapping
sitting on the toilet with his head on the sink as he had
been work all day on the Friday and was really tired! After
not long I found that the bath was not really helping and
I couldn’t find a comfortable position to be in, even
lying on my side didn’t help. I can remember lying
there thinking I need some gas and air now, but was worried
I was being a wimp and that the pain was only going to get
worse. If I was struggling now would I be able to cope towards
the end of the labour? After beating myself up about being
a wimp I asked Lee to ring the midwife and ask her to come
out and examine me again. She said on the phone that she
thought it would be unlikely I would have progressed much
but she would come out and check anyway.
Somewhere between 3 and 4am, Leona came out to examine
me again. In the mean time I had managed to get out the
bath and somehow make my way back downstairs. When she walked
into the house, I was leaning on all fours over the arm
chair with my bare bottom in the air-what a sight to be
greeted with! She asked the usual questions, how often was
I having contractions, how long were they lasting etc. I
think at this point the longest time between was 5 minutes,
but they were also coming as fast as every 3 minutes, it
varied so much. Also, I found that sometimes I wasn’t
just having one contraction, every few contractions I had,
some were back to back which was obviously very painful.
I was examined and was found to be 5cm dilated so that was
Leona’s cue to stay and crack out the gas and air!
I was relieved at the thought of having some pain relief
by now and as I was given the gas and air I started to suck
on the mouthpiece. I didn’t need guidance on how to
do this because as an emergency nurse-it’s my job
to give patients guidance on how to use it! Also because
of this, I know the effects it will have on a person and
the “sound” the canister makes as you inhale.
It sounds a bit like “Darth Vadour”! As I was
using it I thought I don’t feel any different, the
pain is just as bad, and the canister is not making “the
sound”! I said to Leona something along the lines
of “it’s not working, its not making the right
noise, and I know, as you know I work in A+E and I know
what noise it’s supposed to make”!! Hehe! She
was adamant that it was working and told me to keep using
it and that I would feel better soon! Anyway, I think I
got her wondering whether I was right or not, and somewhere
along the line Lee got involved at looking at the canister
too! After about ½ hour, all of a sudden there was
a massive gust of gas blown right in my face-then Lee and
Leona exclaimed that the gas and air canister was “now
turned on”!! This was great news for me, as now I
was getting some relief from the pain. However, Leona soon
discovered that she had turned the valve on too much and
I finished the canister within 5 minutes! I thought it seemed
strong!
For the next few hours my labour progressed at a steady
rate. I was using gas and air with every contraction and
spent all my time on all fours, leaning over the armchair
or the settee. The gas and air does take the edge off the
pain but you still feel it. Its biggest advantage is that
it just makes you feel like you “don’t care”,
a bit like “I’m in agony, oh well…what
a shame”! It also makes you lose perspective on time,
so as and when things happened are a little hazy in my mind!
So “roughly” about 5am, I was told that I was
having “a show” which I found odd as I was expecting
this much earlier, especially as my waters had broken right
at the beginning of my labour. If my hazy memory serves
me right, I was asked by Leona if I was going to use this
birthing pool that Lee had set up! It was about 6am and
I remember feeling stupid as I had completely forgot about
the pool!
With some difficulty I made my way over to the pool and
got in. It was such a lovely feeling getting into the warm
water and feeling weightless! I stayed on all fours leaning
over the edge of the pool with my gas and air in hand. That
position worked really well for me-it was by far the most
comfortable position I found, couldn’t bare to be
on my back, and also the best position for me to be in to
help the baby move down-which I think the midwives were
happy about! My contraction pain was always in the same
place, low down in my womb, like terrible period pains,
I never felt any pain in my back. At some point in the pool
I was told the baby’s heart rate was dipping during
contractions. I was inhaling gas and air at the time and
remember asking was it because the cord was round the baby’s
neck. I can remember feeling really matter of fact about
it, even though it was clearly a worry. Leona monitored
it for a while and she said that although the heart rate
was dipping, the baby was recovering quickly which was a
good sign. After a short while of listening to the baby’s
heart rate, all seemed to return to normal and we carried
on as before. I was so glad, as if the decreased heart rate
had persisted I would have had to go to hospital in an ambulance
to deliver the baby.
As time progressed, my contractions obviously got closer
together and more and more intense. I think by the end of
my labour I had used 4 gas and air cylinders! For home deliveries
a second midwife has to be present for the last stage of
labour (the pushing part) so at some point Leona has phoned
for the second midwife, who came from Hinckley and was called
Alison. I can remember being very anxious for her to come
as Leona had run out of gas and air and had asked Alison
to bring some more. So there was a period of time for at
least ½ hour when I had no pain relief at all and
had to just breathe through the contractions-it seemed like
an eternity! When she arrived, Lee said “Sarah, this
is Alison the second midwife, say hello” whilst I
was in the middle of a huge contraction! She just laughed
and said “don’t worry Sarah I can see you are
busy”!! I think around this time, I can remember the
midwives asking Lee about the fish tank we have got in the
living room. We had recently just brought some “ghost
shrimp” to go in it, but could never see them due
to their colouring and size. I have got a really vivid memory
of Lee and the midwives talking about shrimp through my
gas and air haze-it seemed so surreal as when I was inhaling
all their voices seemed to echo! I was in the throws of
labour listening to a conversation about shrimp!
Later on, I was told that I was definitely going to have
the baby by lunch time. I found this reassuring and can
remember thinking that this labour isn’t going to
be as long as your “textbook first labour of twelve
hours”! At this point Alison was on the phone arranging
for other midwives to take on her patients for the morning
as she was obviously tied up with me! Now for several hours,
my body had been doing involuntary pushes, I had no control
over them what so ever. Every time I had a contraction my
body bared down and I could feel the baby moving down and
feeling pressure in my bottom! I felt like I needed to “poo”
and indeed that’s exactly what I did to my embarrassment!
It was dealt with swiftly and discretely by the midwives!
Anyway, as Alison was on the phone, I remember her saying
“got to go, there is a baby on the way” and
hanging up the phone! I was being told to push, and I can
remember asking if it was ok to as they hadn’t checked
to see if I was fully dilated, Leona just told me to listen
to my body and if I feel the urge to push to do it! I had
felt like this for ages so I went for it! Although it stung
a lot as the baby’s head passed, I remember it feeling
like a relief to be doing something productive with the
pain by pushing! Within minutes I was told to turn round
and “take my baby”! The midwives recorded the
pushing stage as 6 minutes long!
As I sat in the pool holding my baby, I asked Lee “what
we had”. We had previously agreed that he would announce
the sex. He replied quickly with “I don’t know
your hand is in the way”!! My hand was covering all
the bits! Once I moved my hand we both discovered we had
a baby girl! Cerys Isabelle was born at 08:46 on Saturday
15th August 2009, weighing a hefty 8lb,15oz!! She was born
with a massive cone head-the result of being head down in
my pelvis for so long! I didn’t feel particularly
shocked by this as I knew it could happen and that the swelling
would go down soon-which it promptly did within a couple
of hours! I sat in the pool for about 15 minutes whilst
we waited for the cord to stop pulsating, then Cerys was
taken to be weighed and checked whilst I got out the pool
to deliver the placenta on the settee with a bucket between
my legs!
I delivered the placenta naturally, and it took a long
time, 45 minutes in total and it was huge! Even the midwives
said it was a big one! I did lose quite a bit of blood after
the delivery which left me very week, but luckily I didn’t
have to go into hospital to have intravenous fluids. I just
had a couple of grazes which for such a big baby was really
good and the midwives said I had done “brilliantly”!
I was stuck on the settee all day though, but was waited
on by family bringing me food, drink and the baby! I also
had to have help to walk to the toilet as I was too shaky
to go by myself; luckily we have a downstairs toilet!
Having a baby is incredibly painful, but it’s true
what they say, as soon as the baby arrives you forget the
pain and would do it all again! I can honestly say that
despite the pain, I loved every bit of my labour, I was
very lucky that it all went to plan and I had wonderful
support which made all the difference. It was my “perfect
birth”! I love Cerys more than she will ever know
and will do anything for her, even if it cost me my own
life… and I love Lee even more than before for giving
and sharing with me our beautiful daughter! I am very blessed
and thankful everyday for my wonderful family.
This is the birth story of Cerys Isabelle…..who is
perfect in every way! ?
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