Just over a year ago Miss K was born and I wanted to share the story of her birth.
Leading up to my due date, there were concerns that the baby’s growth had slowed down and the amniotic fluid surrounding it was low. This meant that that the baby was potentially not receiving enough blood and nutrients. So as I approached full-term, the decision was made to induce me at 37.5 weeks.
I always imagined that my waters would break in the middle of the night and I would be rushed to hospital Hollywood style but I suppose it wasn’t meant to be!
The day before I was due to be induced, I was admitted into hospital. After settling in, I went into the delivery room where a Foley balloon was inserted to soften my cervix and encourage dilation. When the balloon was inflated inside me, the pressure felt much like bad period cramps but it went away after a while. I had to leave the balloon inside me overnight, which wasn’t painful but quite uncomfortable.
My husband stayed with me as long as visiting hours permitted. After he left, I tried to get an early night’s rest but it was difficult with the balloon inside me and knowing what was happening tomorrow! In the end I asked for a sleeping pill and was able to get some shut eye before the big day ahead.
The next morning was a flurry of activity as I showered and got ready to be induced. We were told that I would be induced early morning around 8am, so when my husband hadn’t arrived yet I was feeling a bit stressed! By 8.30am he still hadn’t arrived yet, so I texted him and went into the delivery room first.
Inside the delivery room, I had the balloon removed and got hooked up to 2 different machines. The first machine was a cardiotocography (CGT) machine used to monitor the baby’s heart rate and the second machine to administer the drug Pitocin to stimulate contractions.
By the time I was hooked up to both machines, I was relieved to see that my husband had arrived – turned out that he was busy getting all the camera gear and last few bits and pieces organised!
Around 9am the obgyn came in to check up on me and manually break my waters. It was an unpleasant feeling but I figured it was nothing compared to what was coming up! After my waters broke, I could feel the liquid seep out of me. It was an odd feeling lying there waiting for my contractions to begin.
Active labour started around 11am and that’s when I experienced my first contractions. They were relatively mild at first and similar to the pain level of bad period cramps. I was able to breathe through them lying down but soon enough I needed some pain relief.
I wasn’t opposed to having an epidural but I didn’t want to have it unless I really needed it, so I opted to have some gas. The gas was a welcome distraction but it did little to take the pain away. I decided to walk around and found that leaning over the bed during contractions helped.
During this time the obgyn was popping in and out to check on my progress but stated that I still had a while to go. One of the last things that I remember clearly is him asking me whether I needed any more pain relief and me saying no. Shortly after he left the contractions hit me hard and things became hazy.
I like to think that I have a relatively high pain tolerance but the intensity and seemingly never ending rolling waves of pain were nothing I’d ever felt before. After I experienced another excruciating contraction I asked the nurse for an epidural, which had to be approved by my obgyn. It was approved over the phone but unfortunately the anesthesiologist was running behind on schedule.
I’m not sure how long I waited because I can’t really remember anything beyond the pain. All I remember is suddenly being in a sitting position on the bed with my head in the arms of a nurse and gripping my husband’s hand. I could hear the anesthesiologist telling me what he was going to do and me just thinking hurry up and just do it!
The anesthesiologist and nurse were having a good old chat about his cows and I almost screamed at them to shut up as I had another contraction. Finally, the epidural was in place and not long after the pain subsided. I was finally able to relax!
As the epidural made the lower half of my body numb, I was able to lay back down with my legs propped up. My obgyn came in to check on me and told me that I’d be able to deliver soon! Even after all that I’d gone through, that still took me by surprise!
After a short while, I started to feel the pressure to push and was encouraged to start pushing. Similar to the contractions, the urge to push came in waves but it didn’t hurt. I could vaguely feel the baby at the entrance and was using all my strength to push. Finally, the obgyn asked my husband if he wanted to grab the baby and I could feel our baby coming out!
Around 4pm our beautiful daughter Miss K was born. As the nurse laid her tiny, naked body on my chest I felt such a rush of love, joy and protectiveness. Everything I’d gone through hours before was forgotten except for the beautiful little girl I had in my arms.
Marie xo