Labour Stories

The other day, I was talking to some friends about labour - something that is occasionally on my mind at the moment. I realised I have always loved hearing people's labour stories. There is something so interesting about hearing what people experienced - every story is so very different..... from the beginning to the end.

I really did have a pretty good experience with my first labour, but I am not expecting things to go the same. Actually I am not expecting things to be different either, although I am looking forward to it!

While cleaning out our study a couple of weeks ago I found a diary I wrote during my pregancy, and early baby days with Lachlan. It was so funny to read - the preparation, check ups, those first few days. I was (an still am!) SO IN LOVE!!!!!!!!!!! I wrote about his sleep, about outings, about how life changed so much. It was nice to also read about my labour as I had forgotten a few of the things that had happened. So, here is my labour story (minus too many details!) as written a few days later. We'll see in about 15 weeks how different or similar things are a second time ;)

8th June 2007

~ 7 days old ~

This past week has been the most amazing experience Jonathan and I have ever had!

Last Friday - 1st June, we had our appointmens with Dr G (as Dr Y was away). Before we went in I had a CTG where a midwife put a strap around my belly and a machine monitored our baby's heart, movements and any contractions. All was well. When we went in to Dr G's room, we had a chat and she did an ultrasound. It showed that there was only 1 cm of fluid around the baby - there is meant to be at least 7 cm altogether. It also showed that the placenta was calcifying, and therefore deteriorating. She said that I would have to have our baby before the scheduled induction date (the following Tuesday). She did an internal and said I was 3 cm dialated, and then did a 'sweep' - very uncomfortable! When I got up we noticed that my waters had broken - the whole '1 cm' worth! The doctor told us we would have our baby today!

We drove straight home, picked up my bags and went to the delivery ward. It was all so quick, and such a weird feeling. After waiting so long it didn't feel like I was ready! We had imagined this drive to the hospital with me in full on labour and Jonathan speeding through traffic - it was not at all what we imagined. We drove slowly, and almost in silence as we were both really unsure of what we were getting ourselves into :)

At the delivery ward we met our midwives and filled in some paperwork. It was about 12:00pm. I changed into a gown and we sat down on the lounges. By about 1pm I started getting some back pain. This gradually got worse so I had a shower then got a heatpack and laid down on the bed by about 3pm. Although I expected that I would be up and walking around I would end up staying on this bed until about 12:00 am!

The pain had moved around to my stomach and was almost constant. I just kept focussed and squeezed Jonathan's hand!

At about 4pm the midwife asked if I wanted some pain relief. I said no. It wasn't as though I didn't want any, but more that I didn't want to fuss with any machine. I just wanted to get on with it all.

The pain continued and at around 5:30pm I started to feel more pressure. The midwife told me I would soon be having our baby. I asked how soon and she said around 2 hours - not soon enough for me at that stage!

When the midwife next checked, I was 9 1/2 cm dialated, so she told me to push a little with the following contractions to make it to 10cm. At about 7pm Dr G dropped in and said everything was looking good and went home! I think this worried me a bit because I thought this meant the labour would go on for ages.

The midwife called the Dr back at about 8pm and she just made it as I pushed the head out. At 8:25pm Lachlan was born. They cleaned him and gave him straight to me. Jonathan cried and all I could do was look at our beautiful son.

Apparently I bled quite a lot (1 litre), had 2nd degree tears and then had to have a cathetar. I remember them pushing on my stomach after the birth - that hurt SO much!

After all that, we spent about an hour with Lachlan. At around 10pm our parents and Ruth came in to meet Lachlan. This is when I cried! Ruth brought in glasses and sparkling apple juice to celebrate :)

They all stayed for around an hour and when they left I fed Lachlan. I am so glad he knew what he was doing!

After this I had a shower went down to my room. We were by ourselves and we cried (again) and just watched our baby. At about 1am Jonathan left and they took Lachlan down to the nursery as he was bringing up a lot of mucus and they wanted to me to get some rest.

When I woke up on Saturday Lachlan wasn't next to me and it was the weirdest feeling. I had this silly cathetar, so couldn't just get up. They brought Lachlan back to me at about 8am. I was literally overwhelmed, it was like a dream. He was beautiful and he was mine! After so, so long. After so many tears this day had finally arrived. I am the most blessed person on the earth!

Lachlan had a great morning and slept a lot. By the afternoon he was a little unsettled through that night. He had a haemotoma on his head because he was engaged for so long. Apparently this was hurting him quite a bit. He spent most of Saturday night in the nursery again. The midwives brought him back for feeds during the night. He was a hungry little boy!

On Sunday Lachlan was much better and fed and slept well. The midwives were all so lovely and helpful. They showed us some settling techniques and helped me feel more confident with feeding.

On Monday I was a little emotional and really wanted Jonathan with me constantly. I think I was just really tired and Lachlan became unsettled again - my milk hadn't come in yet.

Tuesday morning came and we were going home. Lachlan had lost more weight than he should have but they were still happy for us to go, as he weighed so much anyway. This morning Lachlan was much more settled as my milk had come in that morning. We dressed him and walked out of the hospital. We were taking our perfect baby home.

Lachlan - 3 hours old!

Jonathan and Lachlan just before we left the hospital - see the tears in Jonathan's eyes!

He's a huge softie!!!!