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I was due on the following Wednesday, but Saturday morning I woke up with a show. I told DH who was not impressed as he wanted to go to the beer festival in London!! I didn't have any pain though, so he arranged with his Mum to come and stay with me until he got back, and promised to phone every few hours - which, to be fair, he did!!
At 2am, Sunday morning, I woke up with quite bad stomach cramps, and finally woke DH at 3am when they were coming quite close together. He SHOT out of bed, ran me a bath and then started rushing around the house re-packing all the bags, and then scrubbing the kitchen sink!??!
(Not so cool, considering he's supposed to be a Consultant Anaesthetist!!
)
Anyway, when the contractions reached 3 mins he rang the hospital, who said to stay put as long as I was coping with the pain
Hmmm. So DH made me eat a 5am breakfast, and suggested we go back to bed and "see how we go" By 6.30am it had all stopped, and DH said maybe I'd been dreaming!! ![:-\](https://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/s3/fertilityfriends.co.uk/data/static/Smiley/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
All stayed quiet on Sunday, so on Monday DH went to work as normal, and suggested I try and get a TENS machine. I looked everywhere nearby and couldn't find one, so finally I drove to Babies R Us in Cambridge (Half an hour away) all by myself!! Luckily I got away with it!!
Tuesday, DH had the day off, and was desperate to go fishing, but I'd started getting cramps again, and was anxious about being left alone. So he put me in the car and took me shopping with him. By late morning the pains were quite bad, but I was determined not to have another false alarm, and I had a routine midwife appointment at 1pm, so I put the TENS on and, grumpily, DH agreed to take me around and said he'd wait in the car. Within 5 seconds of me stepping into the doctors surgery I realised he was with me, and 10 seconds later, the midwife was asking why we were here as I was clearly in labour!! She rang labour ward and said we were coming in for a check, as I was bleeding again, so off we went.
The midwife met us on labour ward, took us to a room and said she'd get the doctor to come as she wasn't happy with the bleeding. (DH was doing quite well at this stage until they sent in a junior doctor (SHO) to do the V.E. and swab and he lost it when she went to put in a large drip without any local anaesthetic, and insisted on doing it himself.
)
We sat tight for a while, and DH said he'd pop home for some food. By 5.30pm I was sitting doing my needlework, with only mild period pains, and they wanted to move me up to the antenatal ward... BUT!! DH came back and was having none of it! He insisted we be self discharged and go home again. Reluctantly they let me go, and I just couldn't stop crying! TWO false alarms!
We got home and DH got the mower out and suggested I cut the lawn while he made dinner, as the walking might get things going again
So off I went - up and down the garden, stamping my feet with every step! I still had the TENS running as this time it hadn't totally gone away. By 9.30pm I was falling asleep, so I said I'd go to bed, and at Midnight I woke up with a start! The pains were MUCH worse. DH was still up watching TV, so I went down and started pacing, while suggesting he get to bed PDQ if he wanted any sleep!
At 3am we were sitting on the garden bench drinking tea and marvelling at how quite the world is and how beatiful the stars were!! But by 3.30 I couldn't stand the pain any more, so back we went to the hospital.
We were met on labour ward by a lovely midwife, who examined me and said I was 3-4cm. AT LAST!!! I thought NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE!! At 7.30 the midwives changed shift and at the next midwife VE, I was STILL only 4cm. By 11am my forewaters went and I was well into the gas and air with TENS running as high as I could stand, but was STILL only 4-5cm. The midwife decided to rupture the remaining hind waters, but all that did was to drop us back to 4cm. The pain was BAD now with contractions 2-3 mins apart, and I was exhausted and crying with the pain. DH kept saying about the epidural, but I wanted to see if I could do it alone. However, at the 1pm VE and with no progress on the dilation, I gave in.
The consultant anaesthetist was called (who was one of DH's colleagues!) and the effect was like blue sky after a heavy storm, and almost instantaneous. Then up went the cyntosinon drip, and on then the monitors and I fell asleep! DH said at 2pm, he pop home for a while as he'd had no sleep either, and it was clearly going to be a long haul, but by 3.30pm I became aware that something was not right. The baby's heart rate kept dropping and they had already called the Doctor and DH to come asap. The epidural had sadly (??) meant I couldn't feel the contractions, so I didn't know when to push, and the decelerations were worrying everyone. The head was actually very low already, so they finally decided to go for the venteuse. I had terrible shakes, and was vomitting everywhere (TMI
) and FINALLY and 18.01 and weighing a healthy 8lb 2oz, Beatrice Lilian was born.
The surgeon spent AGES stitching me up, and when he finally finished, DH opened a bottle of Louis Roederoer (?sp) Champagne which was our honeymoon champagne! I had about 2 sips, and my mum arrived, just in time to see me collapse! One minute I was awake, and the next, DH was apologising to the midwives for shouting at them, while holding an oxygen mask to my face. Also my consultant obstetrician himself was in the room, with about 4 midwives.
Anyway, all's well that ends well as they say. It seems I lost a little more blood than expected, and was a bit dehydrated and shocked. Beatrice is now 1 week old today, and I adore her more than I could ever have believed. Just thinking about her little face with her huge eyes makes me well up, and when the community midwife did the heel prick test yesterday, I cried nearly as much as she did! I feel like our lives are finally complete, and DH is totally over the moon, as he always wanted a little daughter. He is being model Daddy! He wants to be involved in every aspect of her care, right down to helping her latch onto the breast, and would cuddle her continuously, given the chance! He even wants to change the scarey nappies!
LOL Caroline, Andy and Beatrice xxx
At 2am, Sunday morning, I woke up with quite bad stomach cramps, and finally woke DH at 3am when they were coming quite close together. He SHOT out of bed, ran me a bath and then started rushing around the house re-packing all the bags, and then scrubbing the kitchen sink!??!
(Not so cool, considering he's supposed to be a Consultant Anaesthetist!!
) Anyway, when the contractions reached 3 mins he rang the hospital, who said to stay put as long as I was coping with the pain
Hmmm. So DH made me eat a 5am breakfast, and suggested we go back to bed and "see how we go" By 6.30am it had all stopped, and DH said maybe I'd been dreaming!! All stayed quiet on Sunday, so on Monday DH went to work as normal, and suggested I try and get a TENS machine. I looked everywhere nearby and couldn't find one, so finally I drove to Babies R Us in Cambridge (Half an hour away) all by myself!!
Luckily I got away with it!!Tuesday, DH had the day off, and was desperate to go fishing, but I'd started getting cramps again, and was anxious about being left alone. So he put me in the car and took me shopping with him. By late morning the pains were quite bad, but I was determined not to have another false alarm, and I had a routine midwife appointment at 1pm, so I put the TENS on and, grumpily, DH agreed to take me around and said he'd wait in the car. Within 5 seconds of me stepping into the doctors surgery I realised he was with me, and 10 seconds later, the midwife was asking why we were here as I was clearly in labour!! She rang labour ward and said we were coming in for a check, as I was bleeding again, so off we went.
The midwife met us on labour ward, took us to a room and said she'd get the doctor to come as she wasn't happy with the bleeding. (DH was doing quite well at this stage until they sent in a junior doctor (SHO) to do the V.E. and swab and he lost it when she went to put in a large drip without any local anaesthetic, and insisted on doing it himself.
) We sat tight for a while, and DH said he'd pop home for some food. By 5.30pm I was sitting doing my needlework, with only mild period pains, and they wanted to move me up to the antenatal ward... BUT!! DH came back and was having none of it! He insisted we be self discharged and go home again. Reluctantly they let me go, and I just couldn't stop crying! TWO false alarms!
We got home and DH got the mower out and suggested I cut the lawn while he made dinner, as the walking might get things going again
So off I went - up and down the garden, stamping my feet with every step! I still had the TENS running as this time it hadn't totally gone away. By 9.30pm I was falling asleep, so I said I'd go to bed, and at Midnight I woke up with a start! The pains were MUCH worse. DH was still up watching TV, so I went down and started pacing, while suggesting he get to bed PDQ if he wanted any sleep!At 3am we were sitting on the garden bench drinking tea and marvelling at how quite the world is and how beatiful the stars were!! But by 3.30 I couldn't stand the pain any more, so back we went to the hospital.
We were met on labour ward by a lovely midwife, who examined me and said I was 3-4cm. AT LAST!!! I thought NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE!! At 7.30 the midwives changed shift and at the next midwife VE, I was STILL only 4cm. By 11am my forewaters went and I was well into the gas and air with TENS running as high as I could stand, but was STILL only 4-5cm. The midwife decided to rupture the remaining hind waters, but all that did was to drop us back to 4cm. The pain was BAD now with contractions 2-3 mins apart, and I was exhausted and crying with the pain. DH kept saying about the epidural, but I wanted to see if I could do it alone. However, at the 1pm VE and with no progress on the dilation, I gave in.
The consultant anaesthetist was called (who was one of DH's colleagues!) and the effect was like blue sky after a heavy storm, and almost instantaneous. Then up went the cyntosinon drip, and on then the monitors and I fell asleep! DH said at 2pm, he pop home for a while as he'd had no sleep either, and it was clearly going to be a long haul, but by 3.30pm I became aware that something was not right. The baby's heart rate kept dropping and they had already called the Doctor and DH to come asap. The epidural had sadly (??) meant I couldn't feel the contractions, so I didn't know when to push, and the decelerations were worrying everyone. The head was actually very low already, so they finally decided to go for the venteuse. I had terrible shakes, and was vomitting everywhere (TMI
) and FINALLY and 18.01 and weighing a healthy 8lb 2oz, Beatrice Lilian was born. The surgeon spent AGES stitching me up, and when he finally finished, DH opened a bottle of Louis Roederoer (?sp) Champagne which was our honeymoon champagne! I had about 2 sips, and my mum arrived, just in time to see me collapse! One minute I was awake, and the next, DH was apologising to the midwives for shouting at them, while holding an oxygen mask to my face. Also my consultant obstetrician himself was in the room, with about 4 midwives.
Anyway, all's well that ends well as they say. It seems I lost a little more blood than expected, and was a bit dehydrated and shocked. Beatrice is now 1 week old today, and I adore her more than I could ever have believed. Just thinking about her little face with her huge eyes makes me well up, and when the community midwife did the heel prick test yesterday, I cried nearly as much as she did! I feel like our lives are finally complete, and DH is totally over the moon, as he always wanted a little daughter. He is being model Daddy! He wants to be involved in every aspect of her care, right down to helping her latch onto the breast, and would cuddle her continuously, given the chance! He even wants to change the scarey nappies!
LOL Caroline, Andy and Beatrice xxx
