My Birth Story

On the Tuesday I went shopping at Bluewater with my Mum and sister. At about 12pm I started to get pain, which was nothing unusual for me. This time the pain didn’t pass and during Holby City that evening I took some paracetamol as the pain was getting worse. I went to bed but after 1hr ½ of being in pain I thought Id phone the delivery suite. They told me to go into hospital to be checked over and if all was well they would send me home with more pain killers.

I arrived at hospital and was put on a CTG monitor which was showing that although my contractions were close together and strong they were not regular. At around 1am I was examined. I was completely shocked when I was told I was in labour and 3cm dilated! Was told to go for a walk and as I hadn’t been admitted Ex took me to Tescos where I bought a few bits that I hadn’t been able to pack (mainly cos I didn’t think he’d arrive that early). I had visions of my waters breaking whilst walking around and was laughing so hard at a ‘clean up on aisle 11’ that had popped into my head!

Once back at hospital they admitted me. I spent the night wandering the hospital doing my best to get things going.

Weds morning at 9am I was examined again. This time I was told I was 4cm, again the CTG picked up the contractions but they were still irregular. I was told that I could possibly go home as I wasn’t progressing fast enough. Then the MW measured my uterus and said I was quite small for 36 weeks. This really threw me as my community MW had been measuring my as the right size for the amount of weeks I was. She went away saying she was going to get the obstetrics registrar to look at me. He came and told me that I was only 28 ½ cm (weeks in size). They were very concerned that he was a lot smaller than expected. They told me it was likely he would be approx 4lb and that he would need to go straight to the Special Care Baby unit (SCBU). Obviously this scared the hell out of me. I asked them to phone down to main theatres and ask for my Mum to come up (She’s a theatre nurse). They then did an emergency scan but were unable to get a good idea of how big/small he was. At this point I was moved to a delivery room. At 1pm I was examined again. I was still only 4cm. The registrar was called straight away and he told me that he didn’t want the labour to continue as slow as it was because baby would become distressed. He made the decision there and then to break my waters.

By this time my contractions were becoming quite strong. He broke my waters and I didn’t feel a thing whilst he was doing it. Once my waters had gone he left. The MW said my contractions should become more intense and they did! I asked for gas and air. The first lot I took completely spaced my out! My whole face tingled and my head was all fluffy lol! Then a made a comment about my voice dropping and me sounding like Barry White. This really tickled me and I sat in the bed laughing and laughing!! I managed about 7-8 contractions on the gas and air and then I could no longer hold the mouth piece. My MW was horrible and I felt that it was a potential weapon and it was best I didn’t take it!! Lol. Also when I’m in pain I can bare people touching me or talking to me, I can’t concentrate and become really frustrated by this. Holding the mouth piece was too much. Sounds weird I know. Id already been told off at this point for not concentrating on what was happening as after every contraction I was passing the mouth piece to mum and saying thank you and sorry when I was almost throwing it at her. I was told not to be so polite!

As I wasn’t taking the gas and air I asked for pethadine. I had this and was told it would take 20 minutes to work (GREAT!! I thought). The MW then attached a cannula (needle) in my hand and told me she needed to put a drip up to ensure the labour progressed quickly. As soon as she went to get the fluids I needed to push. Ex ran after her then after about 6 good pushes Baby was here! It wasn’t until AFTER I had him that the pethadine actually worked - I was so spaced out. The relief when he was born is indescribable!! He was placed straight into my arms but didn’t really make a lot of noise. When he did he began to grunt. The paed doctor came and had a look at him and said they would review him an hour later. When they came back he hadn’t improved and the SCBU team were called down. They arrived with a huge incubator which scared the life out of me. I was told to wait 30 mins whilst they got him settled and then I could see him. During this time I had a shower. By the time I saw him he had settled by himself and without the aid of oxygen. However he had to stay until Friday afternoon as he had tired himself out and was also receiving antibiotics. They believe it was receiving the pethadine so late which cause Tobeys breathing problems.

The Sunday evening we went home and thats when the real fun began!


Tai xx