Hi Ann
Sorry it has taken me so long to send this but it has been a bit busy.
So my story gets a bit hairy but it started when my waters broke at 2.30am 16 days before my due date. I’ll be honest it was only a tiny bit on my way to the loo so i thought i was just incontinent. It kept happening all night and then I full on wet myself on my way home from breakfast on Sunday. We went to arrowe park at 3pm and they confirmed my waters had broken and i was 1cm. They told me to come back at 10pm to be induced as my waters had been broken for over 12 hrs.
I went back at 10pm and they checked me out. They confirmed I did not need the pessary so i would be induced by drip at 10am on the monday. I had 12 hours to get to 4cm. I had a brief sleep then got on my ball at 4am to try and get myself dilated. Unfortunately it didn’t work and i was only 2cm at 7am so i had to be induced.
I went to labour and delivery at 9.30 and was induced at 10am. My breathing and the birthing ball got me through the first and second strengths of the induction drugs. When I got to max strength I have to be honest and say breathing did not cut it. I caved and had an epidural because the pain went from a 4 to a 10 in minutes.
At this point I was about an hour in and i felt like i needed to push. Correction I felt like i had no choice and was pushing. Because my waters had been broken for over 24 hrs they could not check how dilated I was until 4pm (to avoid infection) and they kept saying it wasn’t possible I needed to push and i should relax.
After the epidural my breathing came back to the fore and really did keep me focussed and help me manage the pain. By 1pm (3 hours in) they decided to put a monitor on the babies head because her heart rate kept being lost. When they did they found out I was fully dilated (like i had been telling them!!!) Anyway i had to wait for the midwives to come back fron lunch and when they did they told me i had to wait another hour before I could push. At this point babies heart rate kept dropping with every contraction and there were about 10 people in the room.
They took off the end of the bed and gave me a catheter and told me i had one chance to push or they were taking me to theatre. I pushed for my life and they panicked. They took out the catheter and 2 pushes later she was out. 5lb3 and 2 weeks early effie joan armitage arrived in a room of 12 people with no end on the bed!!!!
Thanks Ann for your class and the friends I made there. The techniques I learnt kept me calm when baby was in trouble and helped me manage the pain. Xxx Sent from my iPhone
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