[#1]

~Aidan Joshua~
~24 February 2008~
~7lb 15.5oz~
~56cm long~
~35cm HC~

Latent Labour - 65 hours 30 min
1st Stage - 6 hours 30 min
2nd Stage - 1 hour 29 min
3rd Stage - 40 min

Total Labour - 8 hours 39 min

Thursday 21st February

Woke up on my due date with contractions around 7am. I lay in bed for a while wondering if they really were contractions, they came every 8 minutes lasting around 30-40 seconds. Thought I was well on the way to having my baby and got quite excited, woke Paul and we got up. I washed my hair, shaved my legs etc in preparation for going into hospital. After a while the contractions weren't coming closer together and I knew things weren't progressing so we went to the shops to buy some Clary Sage oil since I had ran out. The woman initially refused to sell me any claiming I wasn't allowed in pregnancy. I told her it was for use in labour and I was in labour now, she soon sold it to me. Contractions stayed the same so I went to bed around 7pm to try and get some rest and when I woke up 2 hours later the contractions had stopped. Had sex, used breast pump and sniffed the clary sage to get things going again. Contractions re-started 8 minutes apart again, tried to sleep but was in too much pain.

Friday 22nd February

Contractions still continuing 8 minutes apart but had picked up to lasting 50-70 seconds each and more painful than previous day. Had a midwife appointment in the morning who asked 'Are you in labour?' as soon as I walked in (must have been obvious in my face). I was desperate for her to do something, like confirm I was in labour. Was really starting to doubt my body at this stage. She did a sweep - I was 2 cm dilated, partially effaced and favourable but baby was still only 1/5th engaged. Lost mucous plug straight away, that continued to come out for the rest of the day.

Saturday 23rd February

Contractions started coming around 5 minutes apart and lasting 90 seconds but were nowhere near unbearable. I was still able to continue comfortably at home but didn't know how much longer I could go since I was so tired. We decided we would phone the hospital and head in at midnight and pretend the pain was worse than it was just to get checked out and see if things had progressed. At this stage I wanted someone to say, 'ok you have been in labour too long so we will help you along' by breaking my waters or anything. Around 8.30pm the pain picked up a bit and I decided I would like to use the birth pool so phoned the hospital and spoke to a midwife who nearly destroyed me by saying there was no way I was in labour for this long and it was just Braxton Hicks. (There was no way this was BH's and this really dented my confidence). She said it was up to me what I wanted to do, so I said I was coming in to be checked over.

We had a leisurely drive to the hospital, hoping next time we were going anywhere it would be with our baby.

Arrived at the hospital and got hooked up to the monitor and enjoyed watching the contractions on the screen for a half an hour. Paul could tell me when I was about to have a contraction then informed me which ones were the most painful. Midwife said it was still early labour as the contractions were still slightly random and not peaking for long enough but it was definetly labour, the contractions were strong and she was impressed I was coping with just my TENS machine. Got offered the pool at this point but all of a sudden decided as it could still be days yet I didn't want to be in hospital and would rather go home and sleep. Had a bit of a cry as I was thoroughly fed up so we trotted off home for some sleep. The midwife did say she thought she would see us again before her shift ended, I thought 'no way, maybe on your next shift'.

Sunday 24th February

Went to bed around 1am to try and sleep through contractions had a few while in bed then all of a suddent at 12.30am head 'pop', 'pop' through the next contraction. Told Paul I thought my waters had went and ran to the bathroom, sat on the toilet and nothing. Back to bed very confused about what the noise was. Next contraction came 2 minutes later and I started gushing EVERYWHERE, yet another dash to the toilet where I refused to move from.

The contractions started coming every 2 minutes, lasting a minute, it was constant and I was petrified. Think I had a bit of a panic attack as I started hyperventalating and shaking uncontrollably. I was trying to gather my things together to head back into hospital but with every contraction was collapsing on the floor, moaning through it. I vaguely remember Paul making a panicked phone call to the hospital telling them we were coming back in. We had a mad dash for the car and made it to the hospital in 14 minutes (the previous journey was around 35 minutes), cutting a few red lights on the way (bad Paul). I was pushing with every contraction in the car as there was loads of pressure (in hindsight it was because he was back to back - which I wasn't aware of - and makes you feel like you need to push earlier), Paul was convinced I would give birth there and then. Kept telling him to tell the midwives to give me an epidural as soon as I got there as I couldn't cope with the pain.

Arrived at the hospital with towels between my legs and leaking amniotic fluid across the corridors at 1.30am. Kept stopping every few paces along the corridor and moaning with contractions, was very glad it was the middle of the night and not busy! Was allocated the same room and midwife as earlier in the night. The midwife didn't want to do an internal at this point but I told her I wanted to push (I was secretly convinced I would be about 9cm and ready to go) so she did a quick check to see how dilated I was, but to my disappointment I was only 3cm at this point and still only 3/5ths engaged. I moaned 'how am I meant to do another 7cm of this..!' Told her an epidural would be great but she was really good and said 'that would be your birth plan right out the window' and said she thought the diamorphine would really help me at this stage. The gas and air was hooked up at this point but it wasn't touching the pain, made me feel sick, made my face itch and my mouth was completely dry for the rest of the labour. Thankfully the diamorphone injection was given at 1.40am, this was amazing and I managed to relax during the contractions for a while. Paul had a lot of fun at this point as I was talking a lot of nonsense. Got quite paranoid and asked the midwife if they were going to send me home with no baby, also everytime they checked his hearbeat I would moan 'is he still alive'. Cried to Paul that I never knew her name and it was making me really sad, so we found out next time she came in.

I continued to push involuntarily with every contraction and the midwife did another unofficial check to see if I was ready but was 6cm at this point, around 3.30am. The diamorphine started to wear off and I was asking for another injection but had to wait 4 hours between them so spent the rest of my time asking Paul 'how long until I can have more drugs?' and counting down the minutes.

At some point my first midwife disappeared and a new one started coming in randomly to check on baby's heartbeat. After she had been in about 5 times she said the first midwife had went home sick so she was my new midwife. About this time I decided I really wanted to use the pool so sent Paul out to request this, unfortunately I wasn't allowed because I had had the diamorphine.

At 5.45am it was time for my next injection of diamorphine - I was delighted, until they did another internal, the midwife said 'do you want the good news?' I was 9.5cm with a small anterior lip at this point, still only 3/5ths engaged and ready to start pushing (as soon as they had completed their shift change). The bad news meant no more diamorphine for me.

The midwife asked at one point if I was sure my waters hadn't broke yet as I seemed to be leaking a lot? For some reason I told her they hadn't, Paul had to chase her when she left to let her know actually they had broke.

So it was pushing time at around 7am, I knelt over the head of the bed gripping my arms (that was the most painful part of me after) and started to push. A new midwife arrived and I waved at her and said hello then went back to pushing. I could hear the midwives talking about me in the background and my birth plan etc, but just not caring, that was surreal. I remember worrying because Paul was down the business end watching me push, I was scared he would faint or I would do the toilet. Everyone kept saying I was doing so well but I couldn't feel the head move down at all so thought they were lying to me. I knew I was meant to push like I was doing the toilet and actually found that made me not push hard enough, I was holding back a little.

My legs were too weak to support me anymore so I moved onto my left hand side with Paul holding my leg up when I had a contraction about 7.50am. I was nervous about this as I really wanted to be upright and felt lying on my side was practically the same as my back and I wasn't going to do very well. The midwife brought through a mirror for me to see when I was pushing as they kept telling me they could see the head. That was amazing and made me push that bit harder but was distracting so I didn't bother with it once I'd had a glance.

As the head crowned, the contraction stopped so I actually had his head half out at the crowning point while we waited on the next contraction - that was extremely sore but I could only whimper with pain. Next contraction was very welcome and his head was out. Then lifted my nighty and had a towel put there for me to rub him with when he was born and with the next contraction out he came all lovely with one big cry then he just looked around. Had apgars of 9 at 1 min and 9 at 5 mins.

We laid and had skin to skin, as I was having a natural 3rd stage just waited on the placenta. His cord stopped pulsating after 2 minutes but Paul didn't want to cut it. After about 15 minutes I was told the placenta was ready to be delivered and I could push, did a little push and out something came. I said 'yay that was quick', only to be told that was just a clot and not the placenta. Ended up sat on a chair with a bedpan on it to have the assistance of gravity and out it came, exactly 40 minutes after he was born. Paul was desperate to have him weighed but I didn't want anyone to take him so kept everyone waiting for a while. Eventually we got the scales and he was 7lb 15.5oz (nearly 8lbs - wow!), he had his vitamin K injection and was measured - 56 cm long with head circumference of 35cm.

I then was checked for tears, nothing but an internal 'graze' and no stiches - thank goodness. No bursting of piles either which I was petrified about! Had our first feed at 2 hours old and some tea and toast then a little snooze. All in all it was lovely (but a bit too intense!).

Natalie and Aidan

Edited to add/change times since I just got a copy of my birth notes from the hospital.

---

Edited 23/05/2008 14:02 ET by natandpaul

[#2]

~Aidan Joshua~
~24 February 2008~
~7lb 15.5oz~
~56cm long~
~35cm HC~

Latent Labour - 65 hours 30 min
1st Stage - 6 hours 30 min
2nd Stage - 1 hour 29 min
3rd Stage - 40 min

Total Labour - 8 hours 39 min

Thursday 21st February

Woke up on my due date with contractions around 7am. I lay in bed for a while wondering if they really were contractions, they came every 8 minutes lasting around 30-40 seconds. Thought I was well on the way to having my baby and got quite excited, woke Paul and we got up. I washed my hair, shaved my legs etc in preparation for going into hospital. After a while the contractions weren't coming closer together and I knew things weren't progressing so we went to the shops to buy some Clary Sage oil since I had ran out. The woman initially refused to sell me any claiming I wasn't allowed in pregnancy. I told her it was for use in labour and I was in labour now, she soon sold it to me. Contractions stayed the same so I went to bed around 7pm to try and get some rest and when I woke up 2 hours later the contractions had stopped. Had sex, used breast pump and sniffed the clary sage to get things going again. Contractions re-started 8 minutes apart again, tried to sleep but was in too much pain.

Friday 22nd February

Contractions still continuing 8 minutes apart but had picked up to lasting 50-70 seconds each and more painful than previous day. Had a midwife appointment in the morning who asked 'Are you in labour?' as soon as I walked in (must have been obvious in my face). I was desperate for her to do something, like confirm I was in labour. Was really starting to doubt my body at this stage. She did a sweep - I was 2 cm dilated, partially effaced and favourable but baby was still only 1/5th engaged. Lost mucous plug straight away, that continued to come out for the rest of the day.

Saturday 23rd February

Contractions started coming around 5 minutes apart and lasting 90 seconds but were nowhere near unbearable. I was still able to continue comfortably at home but didn't know how much longer I could go since I was so tired. We decided we would phone the hospital and head in at midnight and pretend the pain was worse than it was just to get checked out and see if things had progressed. At this stage I wanted someone to say, 'ok you have been in labour too long so we will help you along' by breaking my waters or anything. Around 8.30pm the pain picked up a bit and I decided I would like to use the birth pool so phoned the hospital and spoke to a midwife who nearly destroyed me by saying there was no way I was in labour for this long and it was just Braxton Hicks. (There was no way this was BH's and this really dented my confidence). She said it was up to me what I wanted to do, so I said I was coming in to be checked over.

We had a leisurely drive to the hospital, hoping next time we were going anywhere it would be with our baby.

Arrived at the hospital and got hooked up to the monitor and enjoyed watching the contractions on the screen for a half an hour. Paul could tell me when I was about to have a contraction then informed me which ones were the most painful. Midwife said it was still early labour as the contractions were still slightly random and not peaking for long enough but it was definetly labour, the contractions were strong and she was impressed I was coping with just my TENS machine. Got offered the pool at this point but all of a sudden decided as it could still be days yet I didn't want to be in hospital and would rather go home and sleep. Had a bit of a cry as I was thoroughly fed up so we trotted off home for some sleep. The midwife did say she thought she would see us again before her shift ended, I thought 'no way, maybe on your next shift'.

Sunday 24th February

Went to bed around 1am to try and sleep through contractions had a few while in bed then all of a suddent at 12.30am head 'pop', 'pop' through the next contraction. Told Paul I thought my waters had went and ran to the bathroom, sat on the toilet and nothing. Back to bed very confused about what the noise was. Next contraction came 2 minutes later and I started gushing EVERYWHERE, yet another dash to the toilet where I refused to move from.

The contractions started coming every 2 minutes, lasting a minute, it was constant and I was petrified. Think I had a bit of a panic attack as I started hyperventalating and shaking uncontrollably. I was trying to gather my things together to head back into hospital but with every contraction was collapsing on the floor, moaning through it. I vaguely remember Paul making a panicked phone call to the hospital telling them we were coming back in. We had a mad dash for the car and made it to the hospital in 14 minutes (the previous journey was around 35 minutes), cutting a few red lights on the way (bad Paul). I was pushing with every contraction in the car as there was loads of pressure (in hindsight it was because he was back to back - which I wasn't aware of - and makes you feel like you need to push earlier), Paul was convinced I would give birth there and then. Kept telling him to tell the midwives to give me an epidural as soon as I got there as I couldn't cope with the pain.

Arrived at the hospital with towels between my legs and leaking amniotic fluid across the corridors at 1.30am. Kept stopping every few paces along the corridor and moaning with contractions, was very glad it was the middle of the night and not busy! Was allocated the same room and midwife as earlier in the night. The midwife didn't want to do an internal at this point but I told her I wanted to push (I was secretly convinced I would be about 9cm and ready to go) so she did a quick check to see how dilated I was, but to my disappointment I was only 3cm at this point and still only 3/5ths engaged. I moaned 'how am I meant to do another 7cm of this..!' Told her an epidural would be great but she was really good and said 'that would be your birth plan right out the window' and said she thought the diamorphine would really help me at this stage. The gas and air was hooked up at this point but it wasn't touching the pain, made me feel sick, made my face itch and my mouth was completely dry for the rest of the labour. Thankfully the diamorphone injection was given at 1.40am, this was amazing and I managed to relax during the contractions for a while. Paul had a lot of fun at this point as I was talking a lot of nonsense. Got quite paranoid and asked the midwife if they were going to send me home with no baby, also everytime they checked his hearbeat I would moan 'is he still alive'. Cried to Paul that I never knew her name and it was making me really sad, so we found out next time she came in.

I continued to push involuntarily with every contraction and the midwife did another unofficial check to see if I was ready but was 6cm at this point, around 3.30am. The diamorphine started to wear off and I was asking for another injection but had to wait 4 hours between them so spent the rest of my time asking Paul 'how long until I can have more drugs?' and counting down the minutes.

At some point my first midwife disappeared and a new one started coming in randomly to check on baby's heartbeat. After she had been in about 5 times she said the first midwife had went home sick so she was my new midwife. About this time I decided I really wanted to use the pool so sent Paul out to request this, unfortunately I wasn't allowed because I had had the diamorphine.

At 5.45am it was time for my next injection of diamorphine - I was delighted, until they did another internal, the midwife said 'do you want the good news?' I was 9.5cm with a small anterior lip at this point, still only 3/5ths engaged and ready to start pushing (as soon as they had completed their shift change). The bad news meant no more diamorphine for me.

The midwife asked at one point if I was sure my waters hadn't broke yet as I seemed to be leaking a lot? For some reason I told her they hadn't, Paul had to chase her when she left to let her know actually they had broke.

So it was pushing time at around 7am, I knelt over the head of the bed gripping my arms (that was the most painful part of me after) and started to push. A new midwife arrived and I waved at her and said hello then went back to pushing. I could hear the midwives talking about me in the background and my birth plan etc, but just not caring, that was surreal. I remember worrying because Paul was down the business end watching me push, I was scared he would faint or I would do the toilet. Everyone kept saying I was doing so well but I couldn't feel the head move down at all so thought they were lying to me. I knew I was meant to push like I was doing the toilet and actually found that made me not push hard enough, I was holding back a little.

My legs were too weak to support me anymore so I moved onto my left hand side with Paul holding my leg up when I had a contraction about 7.50am. I was nervous about this as I really wanted to be upright and felt lying on my side was practically the same as my back and I wasn't going to do very well. The midwife brought through a mirror for me to see when I was pushing as they kept telling me they could see the head. That was amazing and made me push that bit harder but was distracting so I didn't bother with it once I'd had a glance.

As the head crowned, the contraction stopped so I actually had his head half out at the crowning point while we waited on the next contraction - that was extremely sore but I could only whimper with pain. Next contraction was very welcome and his head was out. Then lifted my nighty and had a towel put there for me to rub him with when he was born and with the next contraction out he came all lovely with one big cry then he just looked around. Had apgars of 9 at 1 min and 9 at 5 mins.

We laid and had skin to skin, as I was having a natural 3rd stage just waited on the placenta. His cord stopped pulsating after 2 minutes but Paul didn't want to cut it. After about 15 minutes I was told the placenta was ready to be delivered and I could push, did a little push and out something came. I said 'yay that was quick', only to be told that was just a clot and not the placenta. Ended up sat on a chair with a bedpan on it to have the assistance of gravity and out it came, exactly 40 minutes after he was born. Paul was desperate to have him weighed but I didn't want anyone to take him so kept everyone waiting for a while. Eventually we got the scales and he was 7lb 15.5oz (nearly 8lbs - wow!), he had his vitamin K injection and was measured - 56 cm long with head circumference of 35cm.

I then was checked for tears, nothing but an internal 'graze' and no stiches - thank goodness. No bursting of piles either which I was petrified about! Had our first feed at 2 hours old and some tea and toast then a little snooze. All in all it was lovely (but a bit too intense!).

Natalie and Aidan

Edited to add/change times since I just got a copy of my birth notes from the hospital.

---

Edited 23/05/2008 14:02 ET by natandpaul