So after a rollercoaster pregnancy, it was decided that I would be induced at 39 weeks given my risk of pre eclampsia. My consultant was brilliant and comforted me with all my anxieties (lots of them!).
After all that adrenaline (and pain!) there was nothing. How much longer was this going to last?! I’d hoped that my regular contractions meant that my baby was going to be here soon. I decided to make the most of whatever time I had at the hospital – with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it isn’t often you get time to just sit back and do nothing (apart from contract :z). I was fortunate enough to be given my own room for the duration of my stay and was also allowed to have one visitor during non visiting hours which helped my time pass. I was allowed to have someone stay over at night but the midwives did such a great job at ensuring I was as comfortable as I could be in riding through the contractions that on a couple of the nights I told my husband to go home to get some rest to prepare for life after labour!
68 hours later, still having regular (painful but bearable!) contractions (my TENS machine helped lots), a pessary, two lots of gel and six internal examinations (ouch!) and 0cm dilation later it was decided that I would be taken down to labour ward where they would administer an epidural and force my waters open using a hook type thing (I really should know the technical term!). They were unsure whether they would be able to break my waters as my cervix was far back and they were unsure if it would be possible. Four epidural attempts (can you tell my life is full of drama?!) later, they successfully managed to break my waters. I was absolutely ecstatic! Woohoo! I was going to be able to deliver my precious little baby naturally!
Once I was comfortable (if that’s what you want to call it – I couldn’t move my legs myself!), they administered “the drip” to artificially bring on established labour. I’d heard this part would be easy – that I’d be able to sleep till I was fully dilated as it’d be pain free. Pain free it was. However the next 16 hours were spent with my midwife asking me to move positions every 15/20 minutes as my baby’s heart rate kept dropping. It was like torture. I was exhausted from the past four days and I was so worried that something was wrong. At least for part of the time The Real Housewives of Atlanta was on to keep me distracted – one of my favourite shows!
16 hours later I felt the urge to push. I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted by this point but I gave it my best shot with my sister and husband egging me on. Unfortunately after two hours of pushing there was no sign of baby. At this point the consultant came in and informed that the baby’s head was too far back and that I wouldn’t be able to deliver naturally. I was then rushed to theatre for an emergency c section and after about 60 seconds of pulling and tugging our perfect little baby was born at 5.30am on Thursday 26th June weighing 7 lbs and 8 ounces.
Arjun – four hours old x |
It was all a big blur and a few seconds after Arjun was born, I passed out. It was almost like my body gave way as soon as it knew our little prince was born ok. All my hopes of skin to skin, saying a little prayer as soon as he was born and trying to feed him myself quickly became just a dream. Instead my blood pressure and heart rate dropped, I was unresponsive, Arjun’s body temperature dropped – instead of the calm we were hoping for on the arrival of our little prince, Preetam was instead faced with a room full of doctors frantically rushing around standing there helpless whilst his son (just a few minutes old) was rushed to an incubator and his wife lay unresponsive surrounded by medics.
I remember the emotional roller coaster I went through the next few weeks being immobile and trying to deal with a newborn. I decided to try mixed feeding as I really wanted to give breast feeding a go. Plus they put an enormous amount of pressure on you at the hospital.
Remember, every birthing story is different as is every pregnancy!
Hi Harps, my name is Habiba and I am an old school friend of your husband! The link to your blog came up in my Facebook feed so I got reading and could not resist commenting on this post. Your birth story is pretty much identical to mine. As I was reading it, I couldn’t believe how similar your experience was to what I went through too, from being induced early, to contracting straight away and 0cm dilation, etc. I guess that’s why its so good to write one and publish it, as you might end up reaching out to someone without even realising! I really wanted to write a birth story too, but ended up writing about csections and what noone tells you about them instead. The link to that is in this post on my blog: https://cookingprojects.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/chicken-and-tortilla-lasagna/
Anyway WELL DONE on hosting such an amazing Christmas after only six months of going through all of the above! xxx
Hey Habiba! Firstly thank you for browsing my blog – glad you like x
Secondly – great post! I can relate to every one of those points. I’m still in pain (I thought it was all meant to be ok after 3 months!) and I’m still chanting the same mantra lol. Still I’m so grateful that we were able to deliver healthy babies! 🙂
Thank you! We had a great Christmas but I’m definitely feeling the aftermath of going all out – my body feels battered and my scar is extra sensitive.
Hope you have a lovely new year xx
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