Megan’s Birth Story

Birth story

I wanted to share Megan’s birth story with you. Things didn’t go entirely to plan. Having wanted a hospital birth with as little intervention as possible. Megan’s arrival took us down many routes we’d  hoped never to have to consider.

My labour started naturally at home on Tuesday 30th October at about 7am. I laboured at home with the TENS machine going most of the day. Pattern of contractions were becoming more frequent just before lunch so I called my husband Chris home from work as the midwife advice line advised me not to hang about too long if things picked as second babies tend to arrive quicker.

Having had a short 9 hour uncomplicated labour with Quentin I worried that Chris wouldn’t make it back on time. Annoyingly at this point they contractions decided to slow down so I had something to eat and a nice soak in the bath with some aromatherapy oils burning. In the afternoon they varied the midwife was due to visit me and she could tell I was in labour but at that point the intensity wasn’t progressing.

Late evening after a generous takeaway pizza the intensity picked up and around 10pm we took ourselves into labour ward. The contractions were within the required timings and intensity was more consistent. I was in the pregnancy triage for an internal examination and was found to be 5cm dilated and was admitted to the birthing suite. At this point I’d laboured with only a TENS machine for 15hrs.

Internal examination were on a 4 hr schedule and I was happy to be examined to see if I was progressing. However 4 hrs later was still 5cm. And still 5cm on second examination 4 hr later.

At this point I was concerned whether or not I’d cope with such a long labour, I’d been Labouring over 24hrs and starting to get tired. I discussed with Chris the possibility of further pain relief we discussed the lack of progression in my cervix dilating, and considered other pain relief options. I agreed that an epidural would be the only way I would go, It was safe for my placenta to still be encapsulated with an epidural and also if the need arose for a c-section I’d be set to go.

The Midwife changed at 10am Wednesday morning and we discovered that my main waters were still still intact and they were ruptured for me as I was only 6 cm (total of 27hrs of labour so far) I found this violently increased the pain of the contractions.

After that length of time in labour I found the gas and air with the TENS was no longer effective for me. I announced to the midwife that we were happy for an epidural to be administered.

The Midwife arranged the epidural at this point I was heavily burdened with fatigue and the pain was so bad for me at that point each contraction reduced me to tears. So at about 12pm (29hrs) I was put on epidural. After struggling so long it felt nice to have a break. The Midwife was trying to be as respectful of my wishes as much as they could. But the doctors were getting concerned at this point and a drip was also administered to help with my fluids and  to try and progress my dilation.

At 2pm my dilation have reached 7cm and contractions had increased to 3 In 10. The doctors decided to check baby’s blood for signs of tiredness and distress. Two checks are done both were borderline and as progression was no better I agreed to authorise a c-section.

Megan was brought into this world at 3.10pm, weighing 8lbs 4.5ozs. Both my husband and I cried when we were shown Megan as she is the first girl to be born on my husbands side of the family for 3 generations.

The thing I wasn’t prepared for was I lost almost 5 pints of blood, another surgeon had to be called in to theatre to help control the bleeding. The shaking caused by the epidural and the other cocktail of drugs administered during the procedure was actually quiet scary, It took over an hour before I could stop shaking properly to hold and nurse Megan.

One thing I remain grateful for is my midwife ensuring all the cord blood was in Megan before the cord was clamped and the placenta was stored correctly for the doula to collect so my Placenta could be encapsulated.

Nicola

I am Mummy to a little boy called Quentin, currently on maternity leave until July 2010 and Nuts about Cloth Nappies.

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