It all started on Wednesday 26 January at 1am. I woke to mild contractions and period pain. Nothing too bad but I couldn't really sleep through them. I woke Dan to let him know and just had a bath and tried to get some sleep, with little success really.
The morning came round and I said to Dan that he shouldn't go to work just in case. The contractions were manageable and quite irregular but I didn't want to be on my own. We were quite worried that I was experiencing the 'false labour contractions' as I had the last Friday so we decided not to tell anyone what was going on and just see what happens. We spent time on the internet seeing whether I was in labour and the signs we had were 'early labour' so we were just expecting things to get worse!
The contractions kept coming and going, some 4 mins apart, others 20 mins apart and there was no pattern to them at all. At times I had 1 hour free of nothing! We took a walk down to Wallington and I picked up a Subway sandwich, I got a couple of contractions whilst in the queue but they weren't painful I just had to find something to lean on and just ride the 60 seconds out.
We got home, watched some Entourage whilst bouncing on the ball and then ever so often running over to the armchair to bend over and lean on the arm to breathe through the contractions. Dan was fab, reminding me to breathe and rubbing a tennis ball onto my lower back. I found all my contraction pain was in my lower back and not in my tummy at all. Through out the day I went to the loo (number 2) about 6 times, I couldn't believe it but I had heard that your bowels empty just before labour begins.
At 6pm, we were ready to make dinner and I went to the toilet and had blood. Nothing huge but a bit of a clot and was bright red. I told Dan and we decided (well I was reluctant at first) to call the hospital just to see what they say. I spoke to them briefly to explain how I was feeling but then had to hand the phone back to Dan as another contraction came. They told us to come in immediately as I was bleeding and they needed to have a look.
We left the house with our hospital bags, giggling down the drive thinking that we would just be sent home because it was just more of the 'show' and I wasn't anywhere near being in labour! I had to go in the back of the car as I still needed to be on all fours. Good job the hospital was only 10 minute drive away, I had to deal with only 2 contractions in that time.
On arrival to the hospital at about 7pm, I was put on the bed and a doctor came in to do an internal. She inserted a tube (similar to a smear test) and said I was bleeding but they didn't know where from. They looked at baby's heart rate and it was averaging at 170 bmp (it should be 140-160). I then was told that I couldn't use the birth pool as baby and I needed to be monitored (I was gutted but glad I was in hospital).
A senior registrar came in about 8pm and checked to see how far dilated I was (Dan I were expecting 1-2cm), I was 5cm!!! I couldn't believe it, I got to 5cm all on my own! He then broke my waters which felt odd and a relief was the water gushed out. It was mixed with more blood and meconium (baby's poo), once this happened they knew the baby was distressed so had to put a heart monitor clip on babies head. All this 'internal work' didn't hurt really, I just had to breath through it all.
The clip was placed on and then the wire stuck to my leg. I had a contraction monitor on my tummy for me.
I was then able to get up and get back into my leaning on the bed position to get through each contractions. Dan was timing and they were every 2 mins and lasted for 1 min each. I was coping fine, just having to breathe through them. I think I shouted at Dan once as he was massaging my back (which early one was fine but at this stage made it more painful). Not to sound too rank but all through this I had blood and remaining waters dripping down my leg onto a towel below me. I really had gone past caring though and dignity was left at the door by this point!
I was left for about 2.5 hours going through this, I was thinking, 'do I want to try gas and air', but it really didn't appeal to me. At about 10.50pm Jenny (our midwife, who was about our age and lovely. She had delivered over 400 babies!) checked to see how far dilated I was. I was 6cm! At this point I just said, 'can I have an epidural please?'. I think Jenny was in a bit of shock as she said I was coping really well but she found the anesthetist who was free to administer it now or I could wait about 1-2 hours after he finished in surgery. I took the now option!! I was just so tired with the lack of sleep the night before, my legs were aching from standing up so much and I really couldn't manage the contractions lying on the bed. I just knew an epidural was the best option as I didn't know how long this would be going on for (so much for being taught at NCT that we should try it all naturally. You just take what you can at the time!). Dan called the parents and text a few friends to let them know that it was 'time' and said we would be in touch once the little bundle had arrived!He came in at 11.10pm to read me the standard procedure 'warnings' spiel at which point another contractions came and I jumped up and sat right in front of him butt naked on the bottom half. It must have been a sight and a half but as I said before, dignity went out the window about 4 hours ago! I was just thinking, do the epidural, I don't care about what you are saying!!
I sat on the bed, leaning forward and he injected some local anaesthetic into my back. It hurt a little. I had to stay so still which was tough as the contractions kept coming. He then inserted the mega long needle and tube for the liquid. This procedure took about 10 mins then the liquid was put in and I lost feeling of the contractions after about a further 10 mins. By 11.30pm, I was able to sit back on the bed, have a cup of tea, eat some snacks and the whole room was just calm, I was even playing on my iphone. The lights were dimmed and we were then told to wait until I was fully dilated and now I could hear the music we had playing on the ipod speakers. In all this time, with no pain at all but still having the use of my legs (I could still move them and could still walk to the toilet at this point), I just couldn't feel the contractions at all. We just watched them on the screen next to me and as I touched my tummy I could feel it tightening up, crazy!
We were told to get some rest and Jenny would check dilation at about 3am. 2.50am came and Jenny did an internal, I was 9cm and baby's head was very low, past the cervix (but I was not able to push until 10cm as could damage my cervix). Jenny could feel hair and said the baby was moving around like crazy which wasn't anything to worry about but it was unusual as babies tend to be very still at this stage of labour (we obviously have an active little one!). She did a sweep to try and speed things up. Luckily with the epidural she could be very thorough and move it around a lot and I couldn't feel it. We got some sleep until 4am (poor Dan on a crappy plastic hospital chair which didn't recline!)
At 4.40am Jenny drained my bladder with a catheter (again, I couldn't feel a thing) and as there was so much urine she decided just to place one in there until baby was here.
She got the head registrar in again and I was 10cm but there was a slight bit of cervix left. My contractors had slowed down a little so they put me on a drip to speed things up again. At 5am we were told that the drip would be in place for 1 hour, then I would have to wait a further 2 hrs before I was allowed to start pushing, which can take about 1 hour. So realistically we weren't going to see baby until at least 8am which was when Jenny's shift would finish. We were gutted as that would mean new midwives would be delivering our baby (not ideal as we had got to know Jenny in this time and felt comfortable with her and the senior registrar). We were told to get some sleep as I needed the energy for pushing.
At 5.20am I woke up as I felt some slight pain in my side. I mentioned it to Jenny who was going to top my epidural up but I said no and I would just lie on my other side. As I lay for 5 mins on my other side Jenny immediately told me to roll back over as the baby's heart rate had shot up to 190bmp. I rolled back and she ran out to get someone. Next thing we know, we have about 6 people in the room, my legs were being put into stirrups and I was told that I had to push her out in 20 mins otherwise she may have to be cut out! At this point Dan woke up and we knew it was action stations!!!
The senior registrar was scrubbed up and everyone was running about getting stuff ready so Dan had to tie him up (so funny!). I then waited for the contractions and they told me to push. I hadn't got a clue where I was pushing, I could feel pressure below so I just pushed with all my might! I could get 3 pushes out of a minute contraction and it was so tiring. They just kept telling me to push harder and I just wanted to take a breath but wasn't allowed to. I was holding on to Dan's hand and squeezing so tightly. They then told me to hold me legs and put all my energy into it.
At this point I had about 3 contractions left and I were ready to go in with the ventouse (suction for baby's head). Another doctor was there ready with the scissors as they thought I would need to be cut. I just remember thinking, tearing is better than being cut, push harder Abby!
With one more contraction to go, which meant 3 more pushes, I could not feel the head crowning and knew exactly where to push. Dan had a good look (which I am proud of as seeing that is a lifetime experience and something you should embrace). The senior registrar was pulling the ventouse so hard and I was pushing so hard and next thing I feel is a release of pressure as baby's head comes out! Dan has a look and they ask if I want to feel, at which point I say, 'Err NO!' hehe!
One more push and the body slips out, this was a relatively easy push compared to the head. Dan said she comes out white and blue, they rub her down vigorously and place her straight onto my chest. It is a GIRL!!!!! A girl, we couldn't believe it!!!! Dan cut the cord. The pushing took 10 contractions in total. They couldn't believe that I didn't tear or need cutting, usually when delievering a baby so quickly a tear or a cut is definately needed. I guess as I was 'with it' as I couldn't feel the pain, when they told me to pant, I was able to pant and when they told me to push or breath I knew what to do. NCT classes really did pay off!
As our little baby girl lay in my arms, Dan and I are in shock. It was so overwhelming, we didn't cry which we expected we would but I think as the last 30 mins were quick and quite stressful, it was just a relief to have a healthy baby with us.
I was given an injection in my leg and 5 mins later I delivered the placenta. I didn't feel this at all but I must have had to push at some point. We had a good look at the placenta, which was massive and looked like a liver (I said brain to begin with, duh!) but not as rank as I thought, it just looked like an organ.
We were left for about 30mins-1 hour together as a family. Jenny came in to do all the measurements and tests. Our baby girl was born at exactly 6am on Thursday 27 January 2011, weighed 6lbs 15 oz, length 52cm and head diameter 32cm. She has very long legs, long fingers and toes. Lovely amount of brown hair (thank god it's not ginger) and is just perfect. She had a really bad bruise on the back of her head from the ventouse (looked like she had a Jewish skull cap on) and a few bruises and marks on her face. She was perfect.
Her little eyes were wide open and her eyes were so active, I was a little worried but Jenny said this was normal. She cried for a while but then settled down.
It was perfect, our little baby was finally here and it was a gorgeous baby girl!! We were so shocked to have a girl (we were adamant we were having a boy!)! We named her Sienna Grace Hawkes (it was that or maybe Eden Grace Hawkes) We even tossed a coin to decide, but Sienna was just perfect for her.
My whole labour experience was not what I anticipated. I didn't actually get to do anything that was on my birth plan so it really does prove that you have to just go with the flow and do what is best for you and the baby. Looking back, I am glad I took the epidural route as I would have been so exhausted without it and I don't think I would have been able to cope with the pain through out the whole time.
Dan was so supportive and I couldn't have done it without him. It really was an experience I will never forget and am so glad I have got to experience what a women is really put on this planet to do! (that was cheesy!).
Jenny, the registrars and doctors at St Helier were amazing and we couldn't have asked for more. I was the only person on the ward in labour (there were a couple others in early labour) but I had so many staff just dedicated to me. Jenny was in our room 24/7 from 10pm-6am and if she had to nip out someone else came in. It was a fantastic service and something I will remember forever.
Welcome to the world, our beautiful baby daughter, Sienna Grace Hawkes! xxxx
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