The birth story (not for the weak-stomached)

I have been meaning to write this for ages so I must just get it done with!
OK! On the 24th june it was a very very hot day, I spent some time sunning myself and also found myself jumping up and down trying to chop down some overgrown vines in the front yard.
My nesting I beleive was the entire week i had been making enough food to feed an army, we had huge portions of macaroni & cheese, a chicken curry and a stew in the fridge but that night bcos it was so hot I whipped out a simple salad that night for supper. I honestly did NOT think baby would come the next day because I had had no signs at all except now that I think about it, my back had been aching and I had bad constipation that wouldnt go away.

I called my friend Nicola in the evening to wish her a belated birthday and also mentioned I felt fine and the baby would probably be a week or so late...Little did I know!

At 23:45 after reading our Bible reading and said a prayer I decided to go for my last pee before bed, so I gathered the energy and rolled out of bed and when i stood up beside the bed I felt like I had wet myself, I was so embarressed that it took me a minute before I told Gerhard that either I had wet myself...or my water had broken..When i started walking downstairs the water kept trickling and I realised hmmm this could be my waters, in the toilet i had a teeny weeny spot of blood which convinced me the baby was on its way.

I thought Id have a 20 hour+ labour and didnt want to call the mw cos it was midnight - in fact I told hubby lets have a glass of wine and watch some TV and get some sleep cos the next few day or 2 might be crazy. Eventually we saw what looked like meconium in the waters so we called the mw. While waiting for the mw my contractions started and they seemed to be 20 mins apart. The mw confirmed it was indeed meconium and i needed to get to the hospital asap - she didnt even check me out.

I was in shock that we needed to get to the hospital so soon but went with it, the contractions seemed to speed up to almost 15 or 10 mins apart and were becoming uncomfy.

At the hospital I was moved to the bed and strapped down with two monitors for babys hb and contractions. I didnt like these as I had imagined a very active labour and even brought my ball! Needless to say i stayed strapped in and on the bed for the labour. We got to the hospital just before 2am.

At 2am I was checked out to be fully effaced and already 2cm dilated! The Clinical mw from the hospital who took over said she could feel the head (this made me feel rather woozy at the thought) That was scary and quite fast. They also had to give me an enema cos I had the back pain/constipation and that was gross. I kept my pride and insisted they wheel me to the toilet at least (they put me on this poo chair in the middle of the room!! - for heavens sake!)

I was still strapped down so my poor birthing ball came with for no reason :P

At 3am I was given pethadine, the pains were getting quite bad and I didnt want to opt for the epidural just yet and hoped the pethadine would take some pain away (those are the only choices here in Holland..pethadien or epidural) The peth made me rather drowsy and vomity in between contractions - but I still felt every one of them and it was painful!
At the this stage I clutched my vomit bag like a safety net and kept it close by at all times.

I must also mention my hubby - who was so brilliant at supporting me and just being there. I think he was really scared and at one stage when the pain was too much he felt so bad for me and so helpless, but he was simply amazing!

It is all a slight blur from there but all I remember is hubby coffee-breathe which i was trying not to gag at or say anything about, the aweful nurse Joan who didnt know ANYTHING (she had a manual for the one machine i was hooked up to at one stage and hubby was helping her read thru the instructions...scarY!)

All of sudden it was around 5-6am and I was 6cm dilated and it sped up to 10cm by 6:30, I felt the pushing urge and realised the pethadine had worn off and it was too late for any other pain relief...This made me scared and not want to push but so much was going on around and I was scared something was wrong with my baby and I realised it HAD to push weather I wanted to ot not.

It took 4 or 5 pushes in 20 minutes and he was out and they lay him on me and I was still so shocked that it had gone so quick, he looked so small and I noticed his cord had already been cut - it had been tangled around his head so tight they had to cut it while I was pushing.

I was torn and a little bruised, but i think he is worth it I healed up within 2 weeks and tomorrow it will be 6 weeks since the big day and I will be allowed to bath at last! Im feeling 100% fine just a bit of a mummy-tummy and some stretchies that are putting up a fight to all my creams & lotions.