Alexander's birth story... it's a long one!! :D
My Birth Story. You might want a coffee or cup of tea, because this is a loooonnngggg story!! After weeks of wondering when I’d go into labour, and fretting that I wouldn’t know the difference between a Braxton Hick and a real contraction; it was with great relief that my first real contractions started. It was 11:45pm on Thursday 23rd October. Everyone had told me that I would ‘just know’ the difference between Braxton hicks and contractions, and they were absolutely right. The best way I’d describe it is to say that the tightening sensation stops being across the top of the bump, and starts feeling as though it’s coming from the sides or back and spreading across the whole bump. They also stop much more obviously than Braxton hicks. Over the course of the night the contractions stayed pretty irregular. At first they were half an hour apart, but then jumped to 15 minutes apart, and then settling in at about 7 minutes apart. I used the contraction master website (www.contractionmaster.com) to time the contractions, and by 5:30am, I was getting antsy. I knew my mum had a three-four hour car journey ahead of her, and if I left it too long then she wouldn’t get here on time. However, I didn’t want to call her during the night, for it to turn out to be a false alarm, so I waited until I was sure it was the real thing – I also took a bath, as had been told that if they were Braxton hicks, they’d stop. Luckily for me, they didn’t stop and I was in early labour. My mum arrived at my place by 9:30am, and we sat around chatting and waiting for the contractions to be coming every 4-5 minutes apart, as the delivery suite had said to stay at home until then. At 1:30 we decided to go in. We were shown to a room in the delivery suite, and a very brusque midwife came and examined me. Sadly she told me I was only 2cm dilated, so she gave me a 3rd sweep (which I would have had that morning with the community midwife), and sent me home. We decided to get some lunch at Frankie and Benny’s and I think I scared the waitress somewhat when she asked me how long I had left to go, and I told her I was in labour! Lol The afternoon seemed to drag by. I tried to get a couple of hours sleep, but it was difficult to when I was wracked by painful contractions every 5 minutes. Eventually I gave up, had another bath and logged onto the baby-banter forum. The girls in the chat room gave me lots of support and managed to distract me for ages. My mum and Patrick were both really impressed. I decided to have a shower as my back was starting to get really sore, and thought the hot water would do me good. I had to call Patrick to come and help me get out though as I was in so much pain, and that’s pretty much when I cracked. I got upset, and Patrick and my mum decided it was time to head back into hospital – it was now 10:30pm on Friday 24th October. Back in the delivery suite, I was shown to a new room and met another, much more sympathetic and pleasant midwife. She examined me, and told me I was in active labour, and was now 4cm dilated. She said she’d monitor my blood pressure and the baby’s heart rate every half an hour, and do another internal examination four hours later. By then, I should be 8cm dilated. She also showed me how to use the entonox (gas and air), which was an absolute life-saver. The only draw-back was that the tube didn’t stretch as far as the bathroom. I spent the majority of the four hours sitting on a birthing ball, as that was the best position for my feet and back. My legs and feet had swollen to the size of tree-trunks, and hurt a great deal. 3:30am rolled round and when I was examined again, I was only 6cm dilated. Unhappy with how slowly my labour was developing, the midwife decided to induce me by breaking my waters and putting up a drip. Breaking my waters hurt quite a bit, and I was told afterwards that the midwife suspects I’d been having a slow leak for a few days, as there was not very much amniotic fluid. Being induced in this manner led to my contractions increasing in both consistency and frequency. I decided after about 20 minutes of excruciating painful contractions that I wanted more pain relief, and was given diamorphine (after they’d managed to find a machine that actually worked that is!) The first issue arose shortly after my waters had been broken, in that the midwife could not find the baby’s heart rate with the Doppler machine thing. Instead, she wanted to attach a probe to the baby’s head. Once that was done, the midwife was unhappy with the baby’s heart rate being only 60 bpm, and she hit the alarm button. People rushed into the room and a doctor examined me to make sure the cord was not wrapped around the baby’s neck. This part of my labour became pretty blurry and has been recollected by Patrick. I do remember that examination hurting a great deal. In order to be examined, I had to get up onto the bed, and this settled the baby’s heart rate to a steady and normal rate. I was also now fully dilated except for a small lip, so the doctor said she’d examine me again in an hour’s time. One hour later, and I was fully dilated and ready to push. However, at this stage, it was discovered that my baby was lying in an anterior position, and the size of his head meant that it was not dropping down into the birth canal as it should. The doctor had the theatre staff on stand-by, following the previous caesarean section, and attempted a forceps delivery. Despite the pulling and pushing going on, the baby’s head was well and truly stuck, and worse still, the baby’s heart rate dropped with every contraction and was not recovering between pushes. The decision was made to rush me in for an emergency c-section. I remember being wheeled from the delivery room into the theatre… mostly I think, because the gas and air didn’t come with me, so my consciousness was mostly returned. I was given oxygen through a mask, and then given a general anaesthetic that knocked me out. At 7:37am, Alexander Nickolas Dawson was born by emergency c-section, weighing in at 8lbs 10.5oz, and measuring 54.5cm long. My first question on waking up from the anaesthetic was ‘Is he okay?’ to which I was shown and allowed to hold him. Soon after that, Patrick came to visit and then my mum was allowed in after he’d gone. I was only allowed 1 visitor at a time on the high dependency unit. My mum burst into tears on seeing Alexander. It was cute! The nurse’s gave me a bed-bath, and showed me how to use the morphine drip. I had a little button I could press to ‘top-up’ my pain relief, but it made me pretty queasy, and I threw up both meals I tried eating that day (14 years of not throwing up ruined!!) After a few hours in the HDU, I was taken back into my delivery suite room, where I’d have to stay for the next 3 days. The bed in there was more suited to delivering on than recovering on, and I didn’t get much sleep or rest for those days. I had a catheter in for the first day, which was a blessing, as it meant I didn’t have to try to jump off the bed. It was super annoying having to wait about 30seconds everytime I wanted to sit up or lie down, as I had to use the button on the side of the bed to help me, and I couldn’t even lean over to lift Alexander out of his crib when he was crying. On day 2, I had the morphine drip and catheter removed, and made a point of getting up and sitting in the chair for a while. On day 3 I was told I could go home, and the midwife started going through my discharge papers, and found that I had heightened blood pressure, which they weren’t happy about, as I hadn’t had high blood pressure the entire pregnancy or labour. I still maintain that if they hadn’t been using the wrong cuff, and taken the reading right when I was trying to breastfeed Alexander through hysterics (he got quite agitated at feeding times for the first week or so), then my blood pressure would have been normal. As it was high, they told me that I’d be kept in for monitoring, and they were moving me into the post-natal ward. It was still a private room, but much smaller, with a more comfortable bed. There wasn’t space for the crib right next to the bed either, which meant I was up and down out of bed throughout the nights I was there. They monitored me for 2 days, and tried every type of different cuff and monitor they had in the ward. Eventually, they concluded that my blood pressure wasn’t high enough to be put on medication for, and they couldn’t keep me in indefinitely, so I was allowed home, where the community midwives would monitor me daily. Typically, as soon as I got home my blood pressure returned to normal. Alexander is now 2 weeks old, and is blossoming. He’s really alert when he’s awake, and he rarely cries, even when he’s hungry. I had a few hairy moments of waking up after a full-night’s sleep to realise he hadn’t woken me up to feed during the night. He also lost a lot of weight in the first week, and the midwives were talking about having to take him back into the neonatal unit, so I buckled down and made sure he fed regularly and until he was full. Half of the problem was that Alexander really likes sucking his fists, so ended up getting a lot of wind. He still does, but at least I’m learning how to recognise when he’s got wind and when he’s actually full. Patrick goes back to work tomorrow, which will start the first day of being on my own with Alexander by myself. I’m a little daunted by the fact, but also looking forward to being able to sleep whenever Alexander is napping without being disturbed by anything!! Thank you again for all the wonderful messages, and sorry it’s taken so long to get this written. Lizzi xx

What an experience Lizzi! Where you at Sunderland hospital? Glad you're both well and healthy! x

Wow what a birth story Lizzi you certainley went through it. Glad all is well now though. Enjoy your day tomorrow xx

OOH YAY! Been waiting for this birth story!!! HUGE congrats hon, sorry it was a bit of a rollercoaster at the end! Good luck with your first days at home on your own, it gets way easier and as you say, its nice to be able to sleep when lil man is!! xxxx

:congratulations: Lizzi. :wow: what a story. Elaine.

Congrats Lizzi....sounds so familiar!! Great to hear that you're doing well and that Alexander is thriving xx

My goodness, what a journey! So glad everything has settled down - enjoy your baby boy, before you know it he'll be fast approaching his 2nd birthday like Ben!! xxx

Yay Lizzi - amazing birth story, well done you!

WOW that made me cry! i love reading these stories....i'm glad that even after a full labour and an eventual emergency C-section your little man arrived safe and sound, and life is setttling down again Congratulations

Aww lovely birth story well doen you and huge congrats again. Enjoy your little man. Mel xxx

Wow what a story. So impressed about you chatting online in early labour! Glad it's all settled down and hope you enjoy getting yourselves settled into your own pattern now Daddy back at work. Enjoy your little man! x

Yay, congratulations Lizzi! You did a great job!! Carlsberg x

Eeeeek fab :o) Massive congrats again!!!! We need to plan a get together so I can have a cuddle xx Can't believe I wasn't actually named though ;o) lol xxxx

Congratulations!!!! Can't believe we've done it after all our waiting!!! x

:congratulations: :cheerleader: :congratulations: :cheerleader: :congratulations: :congratulations: