| Charlotte
and baby Matilda
Sunday 10th January, 7 days overdue I had
a show in the morning which took me by surprise as hadn't
had this with my first and started to feel mild pains but
with no pattern to them.
By mid afternoon the snow had started to fall and the contractions
were coming approx every 15 mins but still ok and absolutely
fine in between. I called the midwife to check that they
were still on call due to the weather and she offered to
come round to do an assesment. She arrived at 3.30pm and
confirmed I was in the early stages of labour and 1cm dilated
so she gave me a sweep and then went away leaving me the
contact numbers for the on call midwife for the evening.
Darren, Alex and I went to my parents for Sunday dinner,
by 7pm we were back home and put Alex to bed with Grandma
and Grandpa on standby in case we needed them! By 8pm I
had put the tens machine on and we got the room set up with
the pool half full. By 10pm the contractions were more intense
and the snow was getting heavier outside. I rang the midwife
at 10.45pm and she arrived by 11.15pm. On being examined
I was 5cm and progressing quickly! Hooray - music to my
ears as the tens machine boost button was being put to good
use!
The midwife checked the heartbeat on a regular basis which
was really encouraging to hear and I was bouncing on my
birth ball to try to bring the head down whilst watching
TV!
At midnight she suggested I got in the pool as she didn't
think it would be long before baby arrived - all just from
watching me whilst we had cups of tea!
I got in the pool and the water was a huge help. At this
point the second midwife arrived. Both midwives were really
calm and kept me focused on my breathing as I was only using
the pool for pain relief, I had totally forgotton they had
Entonox with them. The pushing stage started and our baby
was born in the pool at 1.16am Monday 11th January. We saw
it was a girl and were absolutely thrilled! I had a physiological
3rd stage which only took 5 minutes and then Darren cut
the cord and had his first cuddle with our new daughter
Matilda.
I needed a couple of stitches as she had been born so quickly
- a rather surreal experience on the dining room floor with
Take That on in the background, thank goodness for local
anesthetic! After this Matilda was checked and weighed (7lb
6oz) and passed to me to feed.
The midwives completed their paperwork and tidied everything
away, I had a shower and by 3.30am we were all having tea
and biscuits in the lounge! After final checks midwife left
around 4.30am and we were left to go to bed with our new
daughter - only to be woken at 6.30am by our 4 year old
who was absolutely over the moon to find his baby sister
had finally arrived. He slept through the entire birth!
All in all it was an amazing experience and waking up in
our own bed and having all our own things around certainly
made for a day never to forget! We were aware of all of
the situations that could arise with a home birth and approached
the whole process with a positive, realistic attitude which
I think made a huge difference, - certainly family and friends
were a little sceptical but throughout I felt in control,
fully supported and very proud we had the birth we had wanted.
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.
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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.
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.
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