I have never written up my birth story from when I had DS. Its been almost 3 years and I find myself thinking back to it often, more so now I find myself pregnant again.
Watching ‘One Born Every Minute’ last week has got me seriously thinking about my plans for my next birth (planning a waterbirth). The poor young girl in the show (the one with the twat of a boyfriend) had a very similar experience to me, and watching her baby struggling to breathe really bought it all back.
If you are squeamish or think a traumatic birth story may trigger you please stop reading here.
I was 2 days past my EDD and I was fed up of being pregnant. I’d been to see my midwife that morning and had begged her to get the baby out. I’d told her how I had tried everything to induce labour, even having sex the previous night to start things off.
She told me that she would book me in for a cervical sweep in 5 days time if I still hadn’t delivered.
I walked from the surgery to the local shops to pick up some lunch (5 mins there & 5 mins home again) and it took me an hour and a half as i had so much pressure and needed to sit down after every few steps.
When I got home and used the bathroom I noticed I’d lost my mucus plug. I was very excited and called my partner, mum and basically everyone to tell them.
A couple of hours later (around 2pm) my contractions started. They were very mild. Like period cramps and were around 15 minutes apart. I called my other half to let him know. He asked if I needed him to come home. I told him that the contractions weren’t painful and to stay at work.
Around 4pm I walked around the corner to my mums for dinner. By this point the contractions were pretty uncomfortable and every 12 minutes. I knew that it was important to eat something to build my strength up for what was looking like a long evening. So inbetween painful contractions I ate a massive plate of spaghetti.
At 6pm my mum walked me home, OH was home from work and was surprised to see me in obvious discomfort. I called the hospital and was told to have a bath and take a paracetomol and come in when the contractions were less than 5 minutes apart and/or my waters broke.
OH ran me a bath and it really helped with the pain. I stayed in the tub till the water went cold, I got out and I was in some serious pain. We attached the TENS machine but made no difference (since learnt I attached it too late).
My contractions were 6 minutes apart so I called the hospital again and the midwife on the phone could obviously tell I was in extreme pain so said I can come in whenever I want.
The 30 minute drive to the hospital took forever. Once we arrived (8.30pm), we were shown into a delivery room and introduced to the midwife and her student who would be looking after me.
The midwife examined me and I was surprised to learn I was already 4cm dilated and in established labour. They explained all the pain relief options should I decide I want any but told me that for now I should use gas and air (entonox) and try to move about into various positions to help. I just asked for a bath as the water was really soothing. I refused the gas and air as I was certain it’d make me puke.
I stayed in the bath till about 11pm, after which I was told by the midwives to come out as they can’t maintain the temperature of the water. Once I got out the pain I felt was incredible. The examined me again and I was told I was 6cm dilated.
At this point I begged, with various sobs and swearing involved for an epidural. The midwives had me sign the waiver and called the anesthetist. Thankfully he was with us very quickly and the epidural was placed. It took about 20 minutes for it to work.
I was put on a drip and a catheter was inserted.
I was then told to try and sleep and that they’d check me in a few hours.
I dozed on and off, whist OH tried to get some sleep on a large beanbag. At around 5am I was checked again and was told I was 9 and a half cm dilated and it was almost time to start pushing.
At this point for some inexplicable reason my epidural was topped up.
45 minutes later I started pushing. I couldn’t feel a thing. I was being told when I was contracting and I pushed hard. They told me they could see his head but it was stuck at a certain point. I kept trying and trying until I just had no more energy.
At 7am the midwives shift changed and I got two new ones. Soon after they arrived I was told my baby was in distress and they were calling up the OBGYN to assist.
At 7.34am my son was pulled from my vagina using a ventouse machine. He didn’t cry. He was whisked straight into the care of the Doctors who seemed to be working on him forever. I was screaming, asking what was wrong. They ignored me. OH was in tears. The OB was telling me to try and push my placenta out, I was ignoring her as I was too distraught with worry about my baby. I was also told at this point I’d suffered a third degree tear and that I’d need surgery.
Finally my baby cried, he was wrapped in a towel and passed to me for our first cuddle. I held him for 5 minutes then had to pass him to my OH as I needed to vomit.
Then they began topping up my epidural yet again and prepping me for surgery. I was wheeled away into theatre where the doctors manually removed my placenta and stitched me up. I have no idea how long I was in there for, only remember the doctor finishing and telling me that my “rear end was as good as new” like I was some old car he’d banged a few dents out of, rather than a young woman who had just been through a traumatic birth.
The events of that day and the 3 days I remained in hospital whilst my baby was jaundiced were the most upsetting and scary days of my life and I beleive contributed to the reasons why I developed severe post natal depression.
Life & Motherhood 