Here’s my labor and delivery story – Induction pessary given at 11.30 on the Friday- at this point I was 1cm dilated with a soft cervix! Mild practise contractions started in the evening- a lady in a nearby room was having a very noisy labour- so got no sleep. At midnight contractions started coming every two minutes lasting for a minute( I had some paracetamol and codeine for this) by 5am the contractions were very painful – they examined me and broke my waters( 3cm dilated) and moved me to a delivery room- I started using gas and air. Little miss throughout labour had decellerations of heart rate when sitting/ lying on bottom/ back- so whole of labour I had to be on my sides.
At 8am contractions were very intense- they examined again and found I was only 3-4 cm- at this point I requested an epidural( something I was quite anti) best decision I’d made! Had a nice relaxed morning/ afternoon and managed some naps- was regularly getting sting contractions two mins apart still( only felt as mild tightenings due to epidural).
At midday they examined again and only 4cm – so syntocinon drip commenced to help speed up process. 6 pm had gotten to 6-7 cm still comfortable. Spiked a temperature ? Cause- so antibiotics started- told I would need to stay in for at least 24 hrs. Got to fully dilated at about 10pm- Dorothea was having increased heart rate decelerations so was told to be prepared for a c- section unless I could get her out naturally fairly quick( no pressure) they waited an hour for head to move down so started pushing at 11. The joy of the epidural I had was that it was a ‘mobile epidural’ so was actually able to move onto all fours etc to push which really helped. I was told I was doing really well pushing- but little miss dropped her heart rate to 85- so the drs were called in to assist- told we had 3-4 contractions to move her or would have to be a c-section! I was super determined not to go to theatre! Managed to get her out with the Drs assistance with a kiwi( suction cup device) and an episiotomy( also tore a little) – I must say the pushing and birth was no where near as bad as I’d imagined- although the epidural must have helped loads! Took about 1 hour to stitch me up- but tbh at this point I was bf my daughter so really didn’t care. Estimated blood loss was 600mls. Was told afterwards that her cord gas showed her oxygen levels were really dropping- so we got her out just in time. Also my placenta was quite-‘gritty’ according to midwife- so glad I didn’t go too far overdue as this is a first sign of deterioration.
Top tip- don’t be brace- take the epidural- I would never have been able to push her out if it wasn’t for the rest the epidural allowed me to have in the afternoon. Hope this doesn’t put anyone off – just thought useful to have an honest account. Instagram account @ivf.ninja
Mild practise contractions started in the evening- a lady in a nearby room was having a very noisy labour- so got no sleep. At midnight contractions started coming every two minutes lasting for a minute( I had some paracetamol and codeine for this) by 5am the contractions were very painful – they examined me and broke my waters( 3cm dilated) and moved me to a delivery room- I started using gas and air. Little miss throughout labour had decellerations of heart rate when sitting/ lying on bottom/ back- so whole of labour I had to be on my sides.
speed up process. 6 pm had gotten to 6-7 cm still comfortable. Spiked a temperature ? Cause- so antibiotics started- told I would need to stay in for at least 24 hrs. Got to fully dilated at about 10pm- Dorothea was having increased heart rate decelerations so was told to be prepared for a c- section unless I could get her out naturally fairly quick( no pressure) they waited an hour for head to move down so started pushing at 11. The joy of the epidural I had was that it was a ‘mobile epidural’ so was actually able to move onto all fours etc to push which really helped. I was told I was doing really well pushing- but little miss dropped her heart rate to 85- so the drs were called in to assist- told we had 3-4 contractions to move her or would have to be a c-section! I was super determined not to go to theatre! Managed to get her out with the Drs assistance with a kiwi( suction cup device) and an episiotomy( also tore a little) – I must say the pushing and birth was no where near as bad as I’d imagined- although the epidural must have helped loads! Took about 1 hour to stitch me up- but tbh at this point I was bf my daughter so really didn’t care. Estimated blood loss was 600mls. Was told afterwards that her cord gas showed her oxygen levels were really dropping- so we got her out just in time. Also my placenta was quite-‘gritty’ according to midwife- so glad I didn’t go too far overdue as this is a first sign of deterioration.
