Hi all
I thought I would share my birth story with all the lovely ladies here as you were all so kind and helped me with my decision to have a vbac.
well at 40wks 6 days I woke at 1am with mild contractions. After realising this was the real thing I decided at 5am to go to hospital. I went in, was hooked upto a fetal monitor and bub and I were monitored for a few hours. As the contractions were not getting stronger they allowed us to go home to get some sleep.
I had a few hours rest, easily coping with the contractions. At 9pm I went to bed with a candle and 2 heat packs, thinking I would cope ok. I did not want to go to hospital too early as I disliked being hooked upto a machine all the time. The contractions increased in length and intensity. The only position I could find comfort in was kneeling with my hands on the bed in front of me, three pillows supporting my belly. The timing was great, Australia was playing japan in the Soccer world cup so I had to wait until it ended before we left for the hospital again. By the time we were driving back to hospital(with me on the backseat in this kneeling position) the pain was great and I was feeling nauseated and breathless as I struggled to cope.
At hospital I had to check in before somehow making it upstairs to the assessment unit where I was put in a room and left alone for 10 minutes (how annoying). I was crying out in pain by now. Finally they came and exmained me and I was 4 cm dilated. They asked me about pain relief and I was told morphene would be given.
I had a resident doctor attempt to put a bung in my arm 3 times (whilst making me lie on my back during 2 contractions) and she still couldnt do it so off we went to the labour ward.
They had to stop the wheelchair a few times for me to stand up through the contractions. I was so ill and couldnt breathe. I got to my room and jumped straight on the bed on my knees to keep coping with the pain. By now i was in agony and kept asking them through a haze to put the bed down as it was upright. Finally they heard me. I ended up screaming the house down and thinking I would die. The morphene jab did nothing so I called for the epidural man. Anything to get out of this pain. he was still 30 mins away!
Somehow I coped, told my dh to stay away(hehe, I didnt want ANYONE to touch me)
He finally got there to put the epidural in and took forever to get it organised. he put it in just as a contraction hit and I wanted to move but I was told I could not move, extremely dangerous, so I had to sit completely stil through it, owwwwww.
After 10 more minutes and him expressing surprise that it wasnt working, they gave me drugs on top of the epidural to try to get my pain down and I finally felt relief. That man is an angel
A few more hours of contractions that I felt but nowhere near as severe I was fully dilated and could push. I pushed but bubs heartrate began to drop so after 20 mins of pushing they said they had to get him out NOW with a vacuum. I did not want to go ahead but what choice did I have if bub was in danger?. So I gave an almightly push and with a little help from the vacuum Xavier was born into this world on the 13th June 2006 at 5.33am.
He was 3.8kg and healthy, as the nurse said " A bonny boy".
I am coping ok with the tiredness and he had a few bad days with wind but its worth it, hes adorable
VBAC success too, thanks again for all your advice, and if you need an epi, have it.
My birth story
Congratulations! On Xavier's birth & on VBAC both! Sorry you had such a hard time getting pain relief though.
