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I love reading birth stories so hopefully there are a few of you out there who love them too.
My due date was 9 days off and I headed in to see my Ob. My blood pressure was up as it had been for a few weeks and I was SO over being pregnant and uncomfortable! I'm not the best planner with my pregnancies and have been heavily pregnant in summer for 3 of my 4 pregnancies so the heat wasn't helping things! (Even Tassie heat!) My Ob decided that it was time for her to come so I was booked in to be induced the following morning. I had been induced for all of my pregnancies so this was nothing new to me.
The evening before I had a list of things I wanted to get done but once the bag was packed I lost all motivation to do anything else! I still have 2 half finished fitted cot sheets sitting in my very messy sewing room! I think it was the mixture of fear and excitement that kept me stuck to the couch watching TV later than I should have been! Not the best move when you are going to be giving birth the next day!
Early the next morning (Jan 7th) my dad and is partner came over to look after the girls and after some hugs and kisses and promises that they would meet their baby sister soon we headed off to the hospital, One little hint here...don't tell your kids that they will meet their baby sister the same day! Past labours don't always predict what your next one will be like and then you will have kids who won't be very impressed to have to go to bed when mummy promised that they would meet their sister that afternoon! (Sorry Dad and Bron!)
After a quick trace on the baby my Ob showed up and broke my waters. We were sent off for a walk to try and get things started. I expected that things would start up quickly like they did with Miss Eve but after an hour walking around the city(sipping tea in T2) there was nothing...not one little thing! Another quick trace to check on baby and out we went for another walk. This time around the Hobart water front and Salamanca. On our way to a cafe Josef got a work call and while he took that bub decided to move her head a little and amniotic fluid started running down my legs! I quickly got hubby off the phone and had to waddle through a restaurant to use their toilets to clean myself up! Another hour or so out and about and still nothing so back we went. It was a hot day(for Hobart!) and so with all the walking I was pretty hot and tired and ready to rest for a bit. Another trace and a rest on the bed and I decided some stair climbing was in order! I'm glad the stairs were deserted as walking sideways down the stairs while heavily pregnant is quite a sight! It got to 2:00 and there was still not even one tightening! My 3rd was born by 3pm after a very similar induction so I was starting to feel a little disappointed.
It was discussed and decided that the drip would need to go in to get things started so between 3 and 4 I was all hooked up and started on a low dose of syntocin. I now had to have continual monitoring which I was a little disappointed about. The next couple of hours were spent on the bed watching TV and crocheting. By dinner time I started to feel a few tightenings but nothing too painful. By 7pm I wanted to get up and move a bit as the pain was increasing. I sat on a fit ball and watched Big Bang Theory and by the time that was over I needed the TV turned off as it was starting to annoy me and the pain was increasing. The next hour or so was spent either bouncing on the ball or leaning against the end of the bed with lots of hip swaying. At some stage after 9pm I decided to try the shower. The shower was helping a bit but I started to feel anxious at knowing what was still to come! I think with labour it is sometimes nicer to be naive about the pain! I remember the midwife asking me how I was going and I said that I just didn't want to do it! She was very kind but what else could she say but that I didn't really have a choice! Josef showed me newborn photos of my other girls that I had downloaded onto my phone and they helped me to concentrate on why I was there going through that pain.
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| A little crochet to pass the time |
Just before 10pm I decided to get back on the bed and the midwife set it up so I could kneel with my belly in a beanbag at the head of the bed and also have some gas and air. This is how I birthed both Isla and Eve and seeing it all set up made me feel excited that it was getting closer. While in this position I went through transition. It didn't scare me as much as it had with my previous labours. I think I knew it meant that it was almost time to push and although for me pushing had always been the most painful part it also meant it was almost over! My midwife must have heard me from down the hall too as I heard her come running into the room! I tend to get a bit vocal at this point!
At about 10pm I started to feel the urge to push and my Ob was called. My back was really hurting being on my knees and my knees weren't too happy either so I turned around to a semi reclined position but that was really uncomfortable too. My Ob then suggested I lay on my side and while doing this I managed to knock my IV out. I was much more comfortable on my side(if you can say that you are at all comfortable in labour!) and having the IV out meant that the contractions slowed just a little which meant I could relax between them. I'm not sure how long I had been pushing as time is strange when you are in labour but it was longer than I had pushed with any of my others and she wasn't moving! I was examined and they found a small lip of cervix over her head. It was pushed back with the next contraction and boy did that hurt! Even with that moved though she wasn't coming out very quickly. I started to worry that she was a huge baby and that she was stuck! My last two babies were pushed out within 10-15 minutes and it had already been almost 2 hours of pushing. Finally I could feel her head getting very close and although I was happy that she was finally moving there was a fear of those final pushes and of perhaps tearing...the ring of fire is not fun at all! I think a few of those pushes that that stage i didn't give it everything I had as I simply didn't want to do it! Eventually though I got my head in the right space and pushed her head out! She was posterior! That explained why she took so long to come down. One last contraction and I delivered her body and she was placed on my tummy. She didn't cry straight away and I must admit I worried a little but within 10 seconds she let out a cry and I met my beautiful 4th child and daughter at 12:18 am on Thursday Jan 8th.
Nothing compares to that moment. The labour is over and the pain seems to disappear immediately and you are holding this perfect little human in your arms who looks so familiar to you but yet you have never seen their perfect little face before.
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| Meeting her sisters |
So the birth of Imogen was not what I expected...more than half of my labour was pushing! I am so glad she is here though and I couldn't imagine our family any other way.
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