My Labour & Birth Story

Isabella Jayne Nicholls 13.11.2016

I'll start by apologising if this post is very long... I was induced over 3 days so of course lots of things happened over those days. I've missed out small bits that don't really matter, but please bare with me!

For a bit of background, after a few complications throughout my pregnancy and mainly towards the end, I was booked to be induced on my due date (15th November), however the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy was the worst and I was in hospital every single day so they decided to bring my induction forward to Friday 11th November. I had been having stretch and sweeps in the last 2 weeks too, I had a total of 3 sweeps however they didn't affect me. I will just also mention here none of this post will be particularly glam, sorry about that.

I had to call the hospital at 8.30am on Friday 11th November to find out what time they wanted me in for. I gave them a ring, and they said to be in between 10.30-11am. This was perfect as it gave me some time to get everything ready, take the dog to a family member and even manage to get a last minute Costa! I made my way to the hospital for around 11am, I ended up being a bit late although it didn't matter. I was shown to my bed, which happened to be by the window thank god and was told to make myself comfortable. I knew that inductions were known for taking a long time so it was well over an hour before the midwife came back to me. When she did come back, she explained to me how everything would be done, step by step and all the processes they would try. She also explained all the bad bits which did scare me a little, but she was just following procedure of course. 

First of all I had the 24 hour pessary. The midwife examined me internally to check how I was getting on. I was really disappointed to hear that I hadn't made any progress from my sweep, I was still 1cm dilated and my cervix wasn't soft. Damn. The pessary was essentially a small tampon (with a string and everything) which is put up you *I did warn you, not glam* behind your cervix. It was uncomfortable but not unbearable. Once she had done this I was told to go for a walk to the car to get my bags. I got my bags and made myself more 'at home' in my little bed on Bay A. As I suspected, nothing was happening so I told K to go home as I wanted a little rest anyway. We had discussed and decided there wasn't any point in him staying over night with me, he could just stay at his mums which was 1 minute down the road and I'd call him if I needed him so I didn't expect to see him until the Saturday. I had a rest Friday afternoon and had my checks every 4 hours; b o r i n g.

Friday evening my mum, nan and auntie came to visit me for some company. We were sat in the cafe just having a drink when some pains started happening. It took me quite a while to notice they were anything - after all I didn't have a clue what I was really waiting to feel as I hadn't suffered with braxton hicks much. After a while of them happening every few minutes, my nan decided to start timing them. They were very random, lasting anything from 20 seconds to 1 minute and coming between 3 minutes to 10 minutes. Although I knew this was nothing, I had hope that it was the start of something at least! I let K know what was happening so he decided to come back as he felt useless sitting at home, bless him. I also started to time them on my app where they were becoming more frequent, lasting a minute at a time and coming every 4-5 minutes. As I was talking, walking and acting totally normal quite a few of the midwifes told me it was nothing except probably braxton hicks. 

I was monitored at about 11pm and thankfully my contractions were showing on the monitor. I felt like I had to prove they were real and not just braxton hicks, so I was relieved they were showing up well. However, they were too far and not consistent enough to be labour and I was informed this was early labour. That night I didn't sleep. I was offered pethedine which is a relaxant, however I'm so petrified of needles I turned it down. I had a bath at about 2am, which helped massively however it really slowed them down which isn't what I wanted so I got out pretty quickly. K went at about 7am to get some sleep and said he would be back for my examination which was to be done 24 hours since the first, around midday on Saturday. I had mild contractions every 10 or so minutes all morning, until they went to every 20 minutes and eventually fizzled out to pretty much nothing. 

My next examination was a bit better. I had dilated a bit more, only to about 2cm but she did inform me she could break my waters if they needed to. I wasn't 100% what she meant, but yay, it sounded like we were heading in the right direction. I had my next pessary, a 6 hour one inserted and once again was told to walk. My mum came up and we got some lunch, did a bit of walking but there is only so many times you can walk the hospital corridors! The contractions were back but again, a bit random and nothing to get excited about. On our last walk around, I felt like I had a lost a bit of fluid however upon telling the midwife when we got back, she basically told me that it wasn't anything and to 'keep an eye on it'. GREAT!

My third examination was at around 11pm, by which point I was having bad contractions lasting up to 2 minutes every 4 minutes or less. She put me on the monitor and came to do my examination to give me another 6 hour pessary however when she done the examination, I could tell by her face something was wrong. She quietly told me that there had been quite a bit of blood loss, and during the examination babies heart rate was going up to 210 (which is crazy high) so I had to have a doctor come out and check me. Babies heart rate base line was much higher than it should have been, the doctor said it could be down to dehydration so they decided I would need a drip of fluid. I had also gone a bit weird at this point, everything was orange tinted, my eyes were rolling and I was swaying. I could barely talk which again could have been down to dehydration. The doctor decided that I was having pethedine as I was so exhausted my body wasn't coping well at all so I had the injection and managed another hours sleep. It was a stressful few hours to say the least! 

During the night, my contractions were getting stronger and stronger, I had 2 baths that night but each time the bath was slowing them down so the midwife was certain it wasn't labour as the bath shouldn't slow them down. At around 6am, I was laying on my side during a contraction and I decided to try and turn over when I felt a pop. It wasn't loud, like I was expecting but I felt it. Followed by water. Lots and lots of warm water - my waters had gone! I made K go and get the midwife, and he returned to tell me she wanted me to put a pad in and she would check in half an hour... check?! Check what! My waters had gone!! After half an hour she came and checked my pad, but as I hadn't lost any more fluid there was nothing to show and she told me my waters hadn't gone. Oh but yes they had, I got up and showed her my bed which to her shock I was sat in a puddle. Yep, they had gone. 

After my waters went I felt like the contractions had ramped up massively. It was like as soon as they went, it started. I was in massive amounts of pain and felt like I was pushing already. The midwife that didn't believe me finished her shift at 8.30am and it felt like she was holding off checking me for some reason. I'm glad she did though, as I didn't like her! The next midwife to come on shift came straight to me and I explained everything that happened. She told me a doctor was coming straight away to check me, had a feel of my tummy and confirmed I was in labour. The doctor came out pretty quickly and sat down with me to tell me I'd probably need another pessary as I wasn't going to be far enough along to be taken to the labour suite. She examined me, and to her amazement I was actually 5-6cm dilated and this baby was coming soon. I was rushed to the labour suite within about 5 minutes of her examination! K made a panic call to my mum to get her to the hospital, as none of us were expecting it to move this fast! Kayne didn't even get a chance to tell anyone I was in labour it was all so quick.

I was taken to my room, room G and given gas and air. I was being told to breath through my contractions, however these weren't just contractions like before, I felt like I was pushing. I can't even describe the feeling, it was horrendous. The delivery midwife told me I'd probably be monitored for 2 hours then I might need a hormone drip if they werent strong enough, because I was still able to talk they thought I was still all okay. I'm not sure how long I was on gas and air, it wasn't very long at all, but I was laid on my side when they asked if I had any pressure in my back and felt like I needed to push. I had needed to push since my waters went! Little did I know my body was already doing the pushing. Yikes!! 

The doctor had to come in and quickly change the plan, as I was giving birth and she was coming!!! I started pushing near enough straight away. If you know me, I can't even have an injection without having a panic attack, I had planned to 'take all the drugs they offered' (as everyone told me to), I was also desperate for some time in the birthing pool during labour but sadly, I had no choice. I was actually falling asleep during pushing, my mum kept having to wake me up and talk to me to keep my eyes open! It's so strange how your body deals with certain pains. It was a pain like I couldn't even describe, but it really is true when they say something takes over and you just forget it all.

I could write about my story for ages and ages. After everything I went through during my pregnancy, I had the most amazing labour and birth which I am SO thankful for. Well done body! I requested an early discharge and was released home the same day! I was in Tesco the next day doing the food shop... I just can't believe it is all real and my baby girl is now here with us. Isabella was born on her daddy's birthday and is now the 5th generation of ladies on my mums side. She is my whole world.

xxx