Particularly for Smit and babysaurus - sorry it's so long! C's now 2y 7m old, so it's a little while ago.
My pregnancy was always likely to be quite highly medicalised ? however, the whole experience was positive. I had scans at the usual 12 and 20 weeks and then growth scans at 28 and 34 weeks, and weekly monitoring of baby's amniotic fluid and placenta from there onwards.
From 20 weeks we began to discuss delivery. The team were quick to tell me that there was a high chance that an induction would end in c-section, and that around 70% of inductions at 38 weeks in mums with type one diabetes, at my hospital, did so. However, we made the decision to try induction, knowing that we'd never know if it would have worked without trying! This was booked for 38+1.
Growth scans showed baby was big. At 34 weeks the estimated weight was already 7lb 3oz.
From 37weeks I started hand expressing colostrum. The plan was that pre-expressed colostrum could be used if I couldn't feed baby immediately for some reason, or we had any breastfeeding problems.
So, the day dawned. We called the delivery suite at 8.30 to check they had space for me. They said yes, and to come in for 9am. H and I left the house with our mountain of luggage, thinking how weird it was that we'd be home next with the baby!
We arrived at hospital and were taken into the 4 bedded bay that we knew they used for inductions. Three of the bays were occupied but we never actually saw anybody else the whole time we were there! The first midwife arrived, introduced herself and started all the usual checks ? blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and tagged my wrist. She then checked we knew the process (by asking us to tell her what would happen!) and once she was happy, put me on a monitor to check baby was all ok. This was fine, and about half an hour later I had my first internal. She said straightaway that she couldn't break my waters (no great surprise there...) but that I was 1cm dilated (maybe the hand expressing did do something...) and she'd give me a prostin pessary to see what that did. This was about 11am, and it was ok ? uncomfortable but not painful, so I was quite relieved! It was then back onto the monitor for half an hour to check baby was ok with the rummaging.
We were then left to our own devices. It was agreed that we'd be around on the hour each hour for monitoring, but that as soon as they were happy, I could come off and we could do as we pleased. Plus of course, I was doing hourly blood glucose monitoring to keep an eye on things.
H and I spent a lot of time wandering the hospital grounds, doing sudoku, reading, chatting and just generally passing the time. As the afternoon progressed, the monitor was showing definite contractions, and by about 4pm I was starting to feel uncomfy. At 4.30pm I was re-examined, and hurrah! 3cm. The midwife then said she'd break my waters and transfer us into a delivery room in the main labour ward.
This was weird. I never expected there to be quite so much liquid when she broke my waters! It went everywhere and continued to do so for several hours. I actually found the smell of the waters really gross too ? they made me feel really sick!
We settled into our room, and H helped me put on the TENS. Even tho we'd had a trial run, it was still a job! But, it definitely helped, both straightaway and throughout my labour. Dinner was being served to the mums being induced, and as I was about to go on an insulin/glucose drip and be nil by mouth, the midwife found me dinner first! She was absolutely brilliant throughout my early labour, really keen to normalise things and make sure we got the best possible chance of a vaginal birth. She also took great care of H, bringing him cups of tea!
I sent H off about now to get something to eat, knowing that he couldn't be sent home (as he would have been if I'd not been in established labour by 8pm) and was likely to be in for a long night. While he was gone, a doctor arrived and put the thing in my left arm for my insulin/glucose drip, which they started soon after. I was still having hourly monitoring, so spending about half of each hour on the bed, and the rest of the time walking to and from the loo, bouncing on a ball and trying to remember all the things we'd learnt from our NCT classes!
The 7pm exam showed I'd got to 5cm, so on we plodded, me feeling quite pleased that things were going in the right direction. By about 9pm I was feeling the pain more, despite the TENS ? which wasn't yet on the top setting! - and our new shift midwife, Mandy, gently reminded me that I could have gas and air. I'm still not sure if I'd forgotten or was holding out in case I'd got another 50hours to go, but I agreed and blimey it was great stuff!
10pm's exam brought less good news. Altho the monitor and I agreed that I was having increasingly painful contractions, they weren't doing much. By this time I'd been violently sick, without warning, which Mandy got very excited about. I agreed to having a syntocinon drip to try and make my contractions more effective, so this went in my right arm. I now felt ridiculous. Drip in each arm, TENS in one hand and gas and air in the other. Going to the loo was hilarious!
By 11pm I was struggling with the pain, and asked for something more. Mandy suggested I tried pethidine rather than jumping straight to an epidural, which I agreed with ? beforehand, I'd been very open-minded about pain relief, which I think helped at this point. She gave me the job, and I have to say, it did wonders for the pain. But it did leave me quite drunk and sleepy feeling. H says I was really concentrating on breathing out on alternate sides of the gas and air nozzle, a la Darth Vader...
The next few hours passed in a bit of a daze, and I became increasingly unable to get off the bed between monitoring. Altho I knew this wouldn't help me later in labour, it just got harder and harder! Mandy re-examined me around 4am, with great news ? fully dilated and ready to push! I suddenly realised this was it.
I hated pushing. Gradually Mandy removed the TENS and G&A to get me to focus, but it didn't really feel like the pushes were doing much. A was a star, really encouraging me and taking advice from Mandy on how to help. After 2hours (I had no idea how long it had been...) she told us that a consultant would need to assess the situation, as I'd been pushing for almost the maximum they allow. She came through shortly after, and gave us the verdict. It was unlikely the baby would arrive without some assistance, so she was recommending that we went to theatre, I had a spinal, she'd re-examine me without causing me any more pain, then hopefully try forceps or if not, go straight to a section. I agreed, and it was action stations. The anaesthetist and some other bloke (I never did work out who he was...) came in and started asking me questions, and H was whisked off to change.
It was only at this point that the pain was utterly utterly unmanageable. I think because I knew we were going to theatre, I stopped pushing, and that made the contractions more painful. Mandy luckily gave me back the gas and air, and before long we were off down the corridor, with a whole team of people pushing my various drip stands. That was comical, in hindsight....
Going to theatre was strange. It felt a bit like going into a store cupboard, then a giant kitchen. I was still making quite a lot of noise, but they quickly moved me onto a different table, and got on with administering the spinal. Trying to bend over was an interesting experience, but thankfully it worked. I couldn't believe how quickly it took effect, and suddenly was able to have conversations with people around me. The doctor soon examined me, and confirmed what I think I already knew ? that the baby was stuck, and was going to be delivered by c-section.
Things seemed pretty relaxed, altho I was getting concerned about where H was and kept asking the midwife to make sure he didn't miss anything! Added to the comical pillow ? they'd put a pillow under my head, but the combination of the plastic cover and my hair meant that every few minutes it slid out and was caught by the anaesthetist ? it was really rather surreal.
H re-appeared a few minutes later, very upset and shaky. He was essentially very scared and upset that I'd gone thro hours of pain to end up in this situation. He was soon occupied by holding my hand and the troublesome pillow in place, and it was role reversal ? I was encouraging him that we'd be ok and everything was sorted!
I was aware of rummaging in my stomach (like someone washing up!) then there was an 'Oh my goodness, that's a big baby!' from the surgeon and we heard a little cry. They asked straightaway if we wanted to know what we'd had, and H went over to see. He came back with a little tear in his eye and announced it was a boy ? exactly as we'd both suspected! He was wrapped in a towel and brought over for us to see briefly before they weighed him ? 10lb 11oz! Even we were shocked, and we'd been expecting a big baby.
Mandy asked if we'd got a name and we said yes, Christopher. She brought him back over, and said to H, 'Would you like to hold him?' Poor bloke said, 'no, it's ok thanks' ? to which I had to giggle and remind him that it wasn't really a choice now! He did say afterwards that he was a bit scared of dropping C, as he was still holding my hand and the pillow. It felt like we were there ages as they stitched me up and gave me the biggest IV dose of penicillin I've ever seen, then we were thro to recovery, where H spotted that C was already chewing his sleeve, and a lovely mw helped C have his first bf.
Despite being an emergency section, it was a very calm and collected experience and we honestly couldn't have asked for better care from the whole labour ward team.
My pregnancy was always likely to be quite highly medicalised ? however, the whole experience was positive. I had scans at the usual 12 and 20 weeks and then growth scans at 28 and 34 weeks, and weekly monitoring of baby's amniotic fluid and placenta from there onwards.
From 20 weeks we began to discuss delivery. The team were quick to tell me that there was a high chance that an induction would end in c-section, and that around 70% of inductions at 38 weeks in mums with type one diabetes, at my hospital, did so. However, we made the decision to try induction, knowing that we'd never know if it would have worked without trying! This was booked for 38+1.
Growth scans showed baby was big. At 34 weeks the estimated weight was already 7lb 3oz.
From 37weeks I started hand expressing colostrum. The plan was that pre-expressed colostrum could be used if I couldn't feed baby immediately for some reason, or we had any breastfeeding problems.
So, the day dawned. We called the delivery suite at 8.30 to check they had space for me. They said yes, and to come in for 9am. H and I left the house with our mountain of luggage, thinking how weird it was that we'd be home next with the baby!
We arrived at hospital and were taken into the 4 bedded bay that we knew they used for inductions. Three of the bays were occupied but we never actually saw anybody else the whole time we were there! The first midwife arrived, introduced herself and started all the usual checks ? blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and tagged my wrist. She then checked we knew the process (by asking us to tell her what would happen!) and once she was happy, put me on a monitor to check baby was all ok. This was fine, and about half an hour later I had my first internal. She said straightaway that she couldn't break my waters (no great surprise there...) but that I was 1cm dilated (maybe the hand expressing did do something...) and she'd give me a prostin pessary to see what that did. This was about 11am, and it was ok ? uncomfortable but not painful, so I was quite relieved! It was then back onto the monitor for half an hour to check baby was ok with the rummaging.
We were then left to our own devices. It was agreed that we'd be around on the hour each hour for monitoring, but that as soon as they were happy, I could come off and we could do as we pleased. Plus of course, I was doing hourly blood glucose monitoring to keep an eye on things.
H and I spent a lot of time wandering the hospital grounds, doing sudoku, reading, chatting and just generally passing the time. As the afternoon progressed, the monitor was showing definite contractions, and by about 4pm I was starting to feel uncomfy. At 4.30pm I was re-examined, and hurrah! 3cm. The midwife then said she'd break my waters and transfer us into a delivery room in the main labour ward.
This was weird. I never expected there to be quite so much liquid when she broke my waters! It went everywhere and continued to do so for several hours. I actually found the smell of the waters really gross too ? they made me feel really sick!
We settled into our room, and H helped me put on the TENS. Even tho we'd had a trial run, it was still a job! But, it definitely helped, both straightaway and throughout my labour. Dinner was being served to the mums being induced, and as I was about to go on an insulin/glucose drip and be nil by mouth, the midwife found me dinner first! She was absolutely brilliant throughout my early labour, really keen to normalise things and make sure we got the best possible chance of a vaginal birth. She also took great care of H, bringing him cups of tea!
I sent H off about now to get something to eat, knowing that he couldn't be sent home (as he would have been if I'd not been in established labour by 8pm) and was likely to be in for a long night. While he was gone, a doctor arrived and put the thing in my left arm for my insulin/glucose drip, which they started soon after. I was still having hourly monitoring, so spending about half of each hour on the bed, and the rest of the time walking to and from the loo, bouncing on a ball and trying to remember all the things we'd learnt from our NCT classes!
The 7pm exam showed I'd got to 5cm, so on we plodded, me feeling quite pleased that things were going in the right direction. By about 9pm I was feeling the pain more, despite the TENS ? which wasn't yet on the top setting! - and our new shift midwife, Mandy, gently reminded me that I could have gas and air. I'm still not sure if I'd forgotten or was holding out in case I'd got another 50hours to go, but I agreed and blimey it was great stuff!
10pm's exam brought less good news. Altho the monitor and I agreed that I was having increasingly painful contractions, they weren't doing much. By this time I'd been violently sick, without warning, which Mandy got very excited about. I agreed to having a syntocinon drip to try and make my contractions more effective, so this went in my right arm. I now felt ridiculous. Drip in each arm, TENS in one hand and gas and air in the other. Going to the loo was hilarious!
By 11pm I was struggling with the pain, and asked for something more. Mandy suggested I tried pethidine rather than jumping straight to an epidural, which I agreed with ? beforehand, I'd been very open-minded about pain relief, which I think helped at this point. She gave me the job, and I have to say, it did wonders for the pain. But it did leave me quite drunk and sleepy feeling. H says I was really concentrating on breathing out on alternate sides of the gas and air nozzle, a la Darth Vader...
The next few hours passed in a bit of a daze, and I became increasingly unable to get off the bed between monitoring. Altho I knew this wouldn't help me later in labour, it just got harder and harder! Mandy re-examined me around 4am, with great news ? fully dilated and ready to push! I suddenly realised this was it.
I hated pushing. Gradually Mandy removed the TENS and G&A to get me to focus, but it didn't really feel like the pushes were doing much. A was a star, really encouraging me and taking advice from Mandy on how to help. After 2hours (I had no idea how long it had been...) she told us that a consultant would need to assess the situation, as I'd been pushing for almost the maximum they allow. She came through shortly after, and gave us the verdict. It was unlikely the baby would arrive without some assistance, so she was recommending that we went to theatre, I had a spinal, she'd re-examine me without causing me any more pain, then hopefully try forceps or if not, go straight to a section. I agreed, and it was action stations. The anaesthetist and some other bloke (I never did work out who he was...) came in and started asking me questions, and H was whisked off to change.
It was only at this point that the pain was utterly utterly unmanageable. I think because I knew we were going to theatre, I stopped pushing, and that made the contractions more painful. Mandy luckily gave me back the gas and air, and before long we were off down the corridor, with a whole team of people pushing my various drip stands. That was comical, in hindsight....
Going to theatre was strange. It felt a bit like going into a store cupboard, then a giant kitchen. I was still making quite a lot of noise, but they quickly moved me onto a different table, and got on with administering the spinal. Trying to bend over was an interesting experience, but thankfully it worked. I couldn't believe how quickly it took effect, and suddenly was able to have conversations with people around me. The doctor soon examined me, and confirmed what I think I already knew ? that the baby was stuck, and was going to be delivered by c-section.
Things seemed pretty relaxed, altho I was getting concerned about where H was and kept asking the midwife to make sure he didn't miss anything! Added to the comical pillow ? they'd put a pillow under my head, but the combination of the plastic cover and my hair meant that every few minutes it slid out and was caught by the anaesthetist ? it was really rather surreal.
H re-appeared a few minutes later, very upset and shaky. He was essentially very scared and upset that I'd gone thro hours of pain to end up in this situation. He was soon occupied by holding my hand and the troublesome pillow in place, and it was role reversal ? I was encouraging him that we'd be ok and everything was sorted!
I was aware of rummaging in my stomach (like someone washing up!) then there was an 'Oh my goodness, that's a big baby!' from the surgeon and we heard a little cry. They asked straightaway if we wanted to know what we'd had, and H went over to see. He came back with a little tear in his eye and announced it was a boy ? exactly as we'd both suspected! He was wrapped in a towel and brought over for us to see briefly before they weighed him ? 10lb 11oz! Even we were shocked, and we'd been expecting a big baby.
Mandy asked if we'd got a name and we said yes, Christopher. She brought him back over, and said to H, 'Would you like to hold him?' Poor bloke said, 'no, it's ok thanks' ? to which I had to giggle and remind him that it wasn't really a choice now! He did say afterwards that he was a bit scared of dropping C, as he was still holding my hand and the pillow. It felt like we were there ages as they stitched me up and gave me the biggest IV dose of penicillin I've ever seen, then we were thro to recovery, where H spotted that C was already chewing his sleeve, and a lovely mw helped C have his first bf.
Despite being an emergency section, it was a very calm and collected experience and we honestly couldn't have asked for better care from the whole labour ward team.
