We recently welcomed our second baby, a gorgeous baby boy, into the world! We are thrilled that he is here and that he is happy, healthy and thriving.
While I was pregnant I loved reading birth stories (I did with my first baby too), I found them to be so inspiring - so I thought I would share mine with you.
Stop reading now if you are squeamish. Also a warning - long blog post ahead!
I was induced just shy of 39 weeks due to a pregnancy condition called cholestasis of pregnancy/ICP. Obstetric cholestasis is a liver condition occurring in pregnancy, that may cause harm to the baby and increase the risk of complications. I had been diagnosed with this condition in both pregnancies, suffering from severe symptoms with my first baby, but symptoms were no where near as severe with this baby (enough to scare me though). I was so pleased to be induced both times to ensure the safe arrival of my babies.
At The Hospital
We knew slightly in advance that I would be induced, and after a rough pregnancy (including a ptl scare) the day couldn’t come soon enough - we were so excited to meet our baby boy. I arrived for our pre booked hospital appointment a little after 7am and was shown the room I was going to give birth in - I was beyond happy when it just happened to be birth suite number 4, the same birth suite I had my daughter in!
While waiting for a midwife to arrive I watched tv and had my breakfast delivered, which I gladly enjoyed. They were quite busy at the time I was admitted so the midwife arrived a fair bit later, around 8am. She reviewed my notes with me and hooked me up to the ctg machine to start some monitoring whilst we waited for my obstetrician, who was going to "start the ball rolling" so to speak. All of this was easy, as I knew exactly what to expect given I’d been through the same process with my daughter.
My husband arrived just after 8am too, after dropping off my daughter. We were excited to meet our little guy soon.
Induction Begins
My obstetrician entered at about 9am and started me on the artificial prostaglandins and also hooked me up to the juice (pitocin) via a drip - no messing about here, straight onto the big guns!
I watched a bit more TV and chatted away with my husband in between strolling the room and being monitored via ctg. At this stage contractions were very minor and not a problem at all. Before we knew it, it was lunchtime, so we ate and I had a quick nap.
After my nap the obstetrician reviewed things and the pitocin was increased. At this point I wasn't feeling much but decided to put my TENS machine on and chill out on the birthing ball, which was a nice distraction. The ctg monitoring showed contractions, but not consistent so it was decided to up the pitocin dose again.
At this point I asked for the gas and air machine to be switched on as I knew that given the dose being administered things will be starting very quickly thereafter. The midwife showed my husband where it was and he got it all set up for me, so that it reached me both on the bed and also near the side of the bed where the birthing ball was set up.
On His Way
Before long my contractions still weren't that bad, but I all of a sudden (TMI warning here) I needed to go to the ladies room. I realized quite quickly that the baby had descended and that it was time to push. Game on!
The midwife and my obstetrician came back into the room and saw that I was on the side of the bed swaying and now using the gas and air - they knew it was time as I had said to them at the start of the day that I hadn’t used gas and air with my daughter until I was 7cm or so dilated. I sat back on the bed, my husband sitting next to me, and now I could feel the contractions (which was actually a great thing because I did not feel them with my daughter so it made it very difficult to know when to push, and this is also what made me not want any epidural this time).
I felt my first big contraction, let my midwife/obstetrician know and then pushed. Seriously - this stage of labor is like running a marathon: you really use all your strength and it is a primal strength you never knew you had in you.
The obstetrician saw that baby was posterior (as was my daughter) and needed some help, so I had an episiotomy and she used forceps to assist (honestly, the forceps was the most painful part of it all as I was only on gas and air, but was over so quickly). A few more big pushes and baby's head was delivered, and then in one small final push he was here!!!
He’s Here!
He was born in the late afternoon that same day, just after 5.30pm. He let out a cry and it was just the most beautiful sound! The obstetrician placed him on my chest and baby boy and I said hello for the first time.
We had lots of cuddles while his daddy and I both chatted to him. He was very alert and had perfect Apgar scores, just like his sister did. While I was pushing I had heard another midwife in the room put a call out for my blood type, in case of transfusion, as I had lost a lot of blood during the birth and was close to hemorrhaging - which was a little scary, but I didn't let that get to me as I was too busy enjoying all that newborn goodness.
The midwife let us cuddle for a while before weighing him. He weighed 8 pounds at birth. He was much bigger than what we thought he would be, even the obstetrician was a little surprised! Straight after he was weighed the midwife brought him back over to me for more skin to skin and so that I could feed him.
We cuddled and fed for quite some time (I think it was maybe an hour, but I honestly lost track of time there) before the midwife popped back, got him dressed and he then had cuddles with daddy while I had a nice shower - honestly one of the best showers of my life! We then made our way to a private room for the night and I travelled in a wheelchair just in case - I guess because of the blood loss. We got settled into our room, baby boy sound asleep in his bassinet.
All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better birth experience.
