Happy Ending

Well, I just realised that my story and therefore this blog have really come to an end.

On Tuesday, 25th January 2011 my waters broke. It was just a light trickle, but it kept happening during the day so by evening I was convinced it was my waters, not just a weak bladder which is quite normal towards the end of pregnancy. When my husband came home I called the hospital. They wanted to know the colour of the water (just before I called they had become slightly pink) and if it was liquid or like mucus. Earlier the day my mucus plug had come off so I knew the difference. Based on that they asked us to come in.

We put the labour and hospital bag in the car and went to hospital. We left everything in the car though. We had to wait for a while until someone was available and in the meantime my contractions started slightly - it was after 8 pm so there was reduced staff - and then they checked that my baby was okay. 20 minutes on a machine and we had the go ahead for the examination. The heartbeat was regular and I had recorded sufficient movement (by pressing a little button everytime I felt her. My contractions had been picked up by the machine as well.

The internal examination then showed that my waters had indeed broken. I was sent home to come back when my contractions where about 4 minutes apart and given an appointment for induction on Thursday 4pm if nothing happened until then. But as I already had quite regular contractions they expected me to come back during the night or next morning anyway.

We went home and my contractions became much stronger. They were now every 10 minutes apart during the whole night. At some point in the morning (Wednesday) they were 6-7 minutes apart. My husband worked from home because we expected things to kick off soon now. But my contractions stayed on 6 minutes rhythm. All day. All evening. In the night they became much more painful but didn't get any closer apart. We called the hospital and they advised to have a warm bath and take 2 paracetamols and hang in there. It helped a little and I managed a couple of hours of sleep. I had another bath in the morning and then we waited desperately for 3pm to arrive so we could set off to the hospital.

Once arrived we had to wait until the bed in the induction room was ready then we had to wait for the doctor. They put a belt on me to check babies heartbeat as well as my blood pressure but everything was fine. Then they brought dinner through. I didn't feel like eating having had contractions for over 48 hours but my husband convinced me to have some - he had looked after me all day as it was so important that I kept my strenghts up.

The doctor then said that the cervix was very thin and I was 2 cm dilated and he could feel babies head. Only part of my waters had broken so he broken the rest manually. It was a sharp but short pain and the waters soaked me completely through.

They said they'd expect the contractions to get quicker and stronger on their own now without an induction, so I went to clean myself up in the bathroom and was shown my labour room. Then we planned to go for a walk to the coffee shop. They told me to be back in an hour. But on the short walk to the room my contractions became really strong and were only 4 minutes apart. I sent my husband to get his coffee and stayed behind. A couple of hours later contractions were really strong and I was nearly 5 cm dilated. An hour later though no further change had happened. They decided to put me on a catheder and do an induction after all.

Because my waters had broken well before birth I was also given antibiotics to protect the baby and I was on machines to check baby's heartbeat. This meant I couldn't walk about freely which I really wanted. But at least my husband arranged for a labour ball which I found much easier than lying on the bed.

The induction worked and pain became very strong and frequent now. I was on gas and air and at some point opted for pethidine injections as well. They didn't take the pain away but worked within 10 minutes and took the early and late pain of each contraction away so I could focus on the worst pain in the middle which I managed with breathing, my hypnosis cues and gas and air as well as my husband massaging me.

Talking about my husband - he was ever so good. He hadn't wanted to be there, but he was so supportive and lovely. It meant so much to me to have him there by my side. He kept giving me sips of fruit juice as well.

Everybody said I did ever so well, would be amazingly calm. I really thing the hypnosis preparation had worked. They kept losing babies heartbeat though during heavy contractions and put some sensors on babies head to ensure it's just me moving and not the baby in trouble. Luckily it was just me moving. At some point early morning I really thought I'd had a bowel movement on the bed. I know this happens a lot and I was terrified of it happening to me. I was desperate to go to the loo but after they finally took me off the machines to enable me to go I couldn't. I lost the sensors though. By this point they agreed though that the baby was about to come and didn't put them back on. It was probably the baby when I thought I was about to disgrace myself...

Anyway, about 3pm the midwife told me to start pushing through contractions. She said it'd burn like hell, and she wasn't joking! Finally the head was through and she told me to puff with the next contractions.

3:26 AM on the 28th January my beautiful baby girl was born.

I held her immediately and it was the most amazing feeling ever (even though she shit all over me, I didn't care). Then baby was cleaned up and passed to Daddy as I had two little tears to be stitched up. That was agony as she had to start 5 times because of blood vessels bursting. Finally she got someone else in to do it.

Baby was weighed (3550g) and checked (AGPAR score of 9) and I gave her the first feed. Then I was helped to have a shower and afterwards brought up to the maternity ward. A single room was only available later in the day so we started off in an open room.

And that was that. I am Mummy to the most beautiful girl you can imagine. My story might end here but hers is just beginning. I am so proud of her for making this journey with me and even though early motherhood is hard and tiring, there is nothing that could ever make me stop loving this little precious bundle.

For anyone out there going through the same struggles as me - I can't promise a happy ending. But I hope my story gives you hope, something to cling to. If you suceed with your treatment, it will most certainly be worth every tear, every injection, every painful examination. Just keep your eyes on the goal - a beautiful baby of your own.