It's time to get the story of Harris's Birth down on paper/not paper before it takes on a not so clear image in my mind - not that I think that is actually possible - but you never know!
I would say that as far as Birth stories go - mine is a pretty good one - it all pretty much went by the book!
Earlier in the week I had been to the Ob/Gyn for my scheduled weekly check up. My blood pressure was up at this appointment and he sent me off for blood tests in a big hurry. He also arranged for me to have a CTG scan the next morning - and to bring my bags for the hospital just in case. It was all a little scary!
I pretty much stayed on the couch for the rest of that day - my blodd pressure was still up compared to normal and I thought it was better to be safe than sorry. On Wednesday I stayed on the couch again because I was feeling pretty ordinary, my bloood pressure was still going up so I called the birth suite at around 3:30 to let them know and they had me come in for another CTG. The scan showed that I was having very mild contractions every 5 or so minutes. The doctor came in and said that he was concerned about the rising blood pressure and that he wanted to do another scan on Friday morning but regardless of what that showed - he was going to have me come in and be induced on Sunday the 15th feb anyway.
That night Mark and I went out to dinner at the local Thai - I was still having what I thought were mild contractions but they were totally bearable. That night the intensity of these increased alot. By 10pm I was having what I thought were strongish contractions every 5 - 7 minutes. I called the birth suite at 2:00am thinking I was in Labour. I was coping quite well at this point so I took a couple of panadeine to take the edge off - and within half an hour it had all stopped. I felt relaxed and a little bewildered - I had been going through that for the last 5 hours for nothing! It probably did do something but I was just grateful to be able to sleep!
I spent the whole of Thursday on the couch dozing and resting - I was still getting mild contractions but they were every 15 - 20 minutes now. Not getting any faster. At around 8 that night Mark, the cat and I were on the couch and I asked Mark to squeeze my toes during a contraction to see if the distraction helped the pain at all. During the next contraction he did this and made me laugh, then the cat dug her claws into my leg and I laughed hard - but it hurt because of the contraction - next thing I felt a pop and my waters broke. After that I felt a bit excited and nervous at the same time because I knew that it was time and my baby would be here sometime in the next day. The contractions sped up to around 6 - 9 minutes apart but they were much stronger. I couldn't sit or lie down during them - I had to kneel or stand - so I was a little nervous about getting in the car to go to the hospital. I went to get in the shower for some relief but we had run out of hot water. I decided to call the hospital at this point because I felt like I needed the support of people who knew what to expect.
We arrived and were shown into a room with a very lovely midwife called Tammy. I kept going in there where I was in and out of the shower for pain relief. The worst thing was the shower head was broken and I couldn't direct it without holding it in my hand - this was ok for a while but once the contractions were more intense it pretty much made the shower useless. the midwife did and internal at 3am and I was 5 -6 cm dilated - I thought great - we are doing well and i am coping! We went on like this until 6am when the doctor came in to see how i was going. He did another internal and I was still only 5 - 6cm - this news at this time left me feeling devastated. I was starving, my lower back and feet were killing me and I was almost out of energy. The doctor suggested that I have some pethedine to give me a rest and also to put a syntocynin drip and some saline with glucose infusion up to speed things along and give me some energy. This was the best thing I could have done at that point. The pethedine slowed the contractions enough to give me a small nap in between them - even though the syntocynin has made the contractions much stronger.
Another midwife (Liz) took over from Tammy at 7am and suggested that I try the gas to take the edge off - this was great once I got the hang of breathing it in properly.
To be honest - after this point I don't really remember very much - except that the intensity of the contractions was extreme ! It felt like it took forever to get to the pushing part - I remember I kept asking the nurse if it was time to push yet. When it was time to push it was so different to the contractions. I felt much more able to cope with the pushing part. It was very hard work though - Mark was awesome - he was surviving on no sleep for 30 hours and yet he was still encouraging me and doing everything he could. The pushing stage lasted for 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Towards the end the doctor came in to do an internal (I do recall that being extremely uncomfortable!) and he said to me that he didn't think the baby was turning properly and wasn't likely to come out on his own - and that we would need to prep for going to theatre, that I would need a spinal block and he would have to do a forceps delivery - possibly a c-section. He walked out to get that organised and then on the next ontraction I felt the baby move down further and the midwife said She thought this baby had other ideas. By the time the doctor had come back, the baby was well on it's way - and the doctors was very surprised -
i was very relieved! About half an hour later I had my healthy little man on my tummy and I was in awe and in love with the tiny being Mark and i had created.
I'm not in a hurry to race back and do it all again in a hurry - but Harris was worth every ounce of pain - we love him!
