Mummy finally updates... (Part 2)

OK as per the previous post, I got called away to duties by my new boss – gosh she is demanding! And I get pretty crap pay too – didn’t read the contract terribly well did I!

Anyway, got to the hospital just after midnight on the 4th May in what I thought was quite a bit of pain, and hoping I was far enough along to get some of the good drugs that the hospital provide to labouring mothers, only to be told that I was only 1cm dilated! How could that be, I had been in labour for hours and only 1cm! I felt so stupid, like I had no pain threshold at all and then I was told that they would have to send me home until I was further along – probably by about 7am she said I may be ready to come back, we then asked how we were to know that it was time to come back and she said I would be in excruciating pain (compared to where I was now)! However she did give me a shot of pethidine and some sleeping pills to take.

So off home we went. Luckily the drugs did take the edge off the pain for a couple of hours but by about 4am I was in agony, but didn’t want to go back to the hospital too early. I was pacing the house every couple of minutes as a contraction would crack through my back and then decided to jump in the shower and use heat as pain relief – was fantastic for half an hour until the water ran cold – the worse thing is that we are on gas and shouldn’t run out of hot water – bloody lying gas company, must ring them and find out what that was all about! Finally rung the midwife at about 7am to say that we needed to come in, luckily we are only a 10 minute drive to the hospital, but still managed at least four long contractions on the way making the whole trip feel like an eternity.

By this stage I was sure I would be a lot further along, but once the midwife did the exam she said I was still only 1cm! 12 hours of active labour and I still wasn’t dilating. Luckily the obstetrician came in and managed to stretch the cervix to a three and ordered up some drug that would make me dilate twice as fast, luckily that meant I could have the epidural as labour was going to be incredibly intense with this drug. So this is where it gets a bit boring, the epidural went in, the other drug went in and I went to sleep as did Brad in the lazy boy – I think by this stage it was about 9am.

"Far out man, these drugs aren't bad..."

By 4pm I was fully dilated and ready to push – but our darling little girl was in the wrong position and didn’t want to come out – so the obstetrician decided to prep me for a caesarian and get the theatre ready where she would try the ventouse to turn Sophie into position and try and get her out, and if that didn’t work then we would be in theatre ready for the C section. Her little heartbeat was slowing down, so it was imperative they got her out quickly.

I must admit it was pretty freaky being wheeled out into theatre with a dozen people I didn’t know hanging around looking at me in all my glory as my feet were put up into stirrups, they were right at ante-natal when they say you leave your dignity at the door!

Brad took some pretty graphic photos of her birth, but needless to say we won’t post them on here! Anyway it only took about half an hour if that for Sophie to come into the big wide world – luckily the ventouse worked and she was out (albeit with a bruised head) in two pushes.

Great result in the end and the staff at the hospital were absolutely fantastic.