Eleanor's birth story (very very long - sorry)
Sorry if I have repeated myself anywhere, it has taken me a week to write this and I have to confess that I haven't read it through. As most of you know I had been having contractions on and off since Thursday 10th July (3days past my due date) but they kept coming and going and I was getting increasingly frustrated and my mum had even been over ready to look after Kieran. Anyway on Tuesday 15th they seemed to increase in frequency and strength so I rang my mum again and Dh stayed off work. I continued to have quite strong contractions throughout Tuesday at around 10 mins apart and they carriied on throughout the night although I did manage to doze a bit between them. They were painful but not unbearable. At 4am on Wednesday 16th they suddenly started comeing every 4 mins so I decided to have a bath and then we decided to go to the hospital. I was dissappointed to find out that I was barely 2cm dilated and not yet in established labour - 5 days of contractions to get to 2cm. They sent me home telling me to come back when they were much more painful and 3 mins apart. (They had slowed to about 7mins again by this time). So we went home feeling very dejected and I felt really stupid for not knowing that it wasn't the real thing, especially as it is my second baby. I spent the day pacing the floor and walking round the block trying to get things going and was just starting to think that another day was going to pass without a baby when suddenly as I sat down for my tea at nearly 6pm I got the most excruciating pain imaginable in my abdomen. Kieran then made me laugh by saying "baby sister stuck mummy tummy grandma" to my mum. How the hell did he know? but it had me, Dh and my mum in stitches, and then I had another contraction while I was laughing. Managed to eat some of my tea and these pains were coming every 6-7mins but I was reluctant to do anything after the disappointment in the morning. Decided to have a bath and while I was in the bath they suddenly were coming every 3-4 mins and getting increasingly painful. Dh decided to phone the hospital and they insisted on speaking to me which was interesting since I could barely speak. They said to come in as soon as I could so I got dressed as quickly as I could, Dh had to help me cos I was suddenly in that much pain and we set off for the hospital for the second time in that day. There was now no doubt in my mind that I was in true labour, in fact in the car I was nearly in tears and convinced that we weren’t going to make it in time. We arrived at the hospital at 8.15pm and were shown straight to the delivery suit. I was really pleased to be put in the room with the birthing pool without even having to ask. The midwife was obviously convinced that my labour was for real this time because she got me on the gas and air and was already running the water in the pool before she even examined me. When she did examine me I was 5cm and she said with how fast the contractions were coming she didn’t think it would be long. I got in the pool with my nightie on cos I suddenly came over all shy for a while but I soon got uncomfortable and stripped it off. Then it was time for the midwives to change shifts and my new midwife came in, took one look at me and said “oh hello jenny, you don’t mind me treating you do you?” I must have looked at her like she was mad, why would I mind. Anyway, the penny eventually dropped and I realised she was one of my old work friends mum! So I said of course i didn’t mind and we chatted for a bit in between contractions about how my friend was getting on, not seen her for ages cos we have both left the company now. By about 9.30 I was struggling to find a comfy position in the birthing pool and was in a lot of pain. Contractions were coming so fast that I was barely getting a break in between. Gas and air was just making me feel sick so I asked for an epidural. The anaesthetist was busy in theatre so I had to wait. I remember getting quite upset at this point and telling everyone that I couldn’t do it. I also started losing a bit of blood at this point but Cath (the midwife) said not to worry it was just more of a show and possibly my waters breaking although she wasn’t sure. She shone a torch into the water and said from what she could see I would be ready to push very soon. She started to explain to me about delivering the baby into the water and how I would have to scoop her up once she arrived. At this point I panicked and decided I didn’t want to deliver in the water so I decided to get out the pool. Then the anaesthetist arrived but Cath sent her away saying it was now too late! I started getting the urge to push with each contraction and Cath told me to just do what my body was telling me. Somehow I made it out of the pool and over to the bed. Cath and Dh had to help me climb onto the bed and she examined me and confirmed that i was fully dilated but my waters hadn’t broken. She broke my waters and there was meconium in them just like with Kieran. She said there was no time to worry about monitoring and just to push as hard as I could with each contraction. She got the paediatrician in the room just in case. I got up on all fours against the back of the bed and this was the most comfortable position I had found all evening. I was pushing for what seemed like a lifetime while still crying that I couldn’t do it until eventually her head was born. Then all hell broke loose because she realised that her shoulders were stuck. The midwife pressed the emergency button and there were suddenly about 15 midwives in the room who lifted me and turned me round the rammed my knees up against my stomach in order to free her. I have never been so scared in all my life as I was at that moment because there was no time to explain to me what they were doing they just did it. Anyway, fortunately it worked and Eleanor was born at 10.47pm weighing 9lb6.5oz. I have since read that Shoulder Dystocia (the medical term for shoulders getting stuck) is one of midwives worst nightmares because the head has already been born so they only have a few minutes to get the baby out before they risk brain damage, hence why they were so rough with me. And after all that they wrote on my notes that I was only in labour for 4.5 hours! They don’t count the 6 days of contractions before that apparently. I was gutted! I got to cuddle her for a few minutes and had a quick try at breastfeeding her but she wasn’t very interested. Then they had to take me in to theatre to stitch me up because I had a 3rd degree tear and a tear to my cervix which were probably caused by what they had to do to free up her shoulders. I can’t complain though because I would rather that than any harm have come to Eleanor. I was in theatre for 2 hours which were probably the longest 2 hours of my life because all the time I was wondering how Eleanor and Dh were getting on. I didn’t even know what she weighed at this point. When I returned to the delivery suite I found Dh sat there with Eleanor in his arms just gazing up at him. I had to stay in hospital for 24 hours due to having had a spinal and also because of the meconium in the waters they wanted to keep an eye on Eleanor. But we were both fine and I persuaded them to let me out after 21 hours because I was going mad in there. If they hadn’t let me go then I would have had to stay another night which I really didn’t want to do. Anyway, 10 days in and things seem to be healing well for me although I am absolutely knackered. You forget what the sleepless nights are like. Eleanor is starting to settle down. She is much more of an erratic feeder than Kieran was. We are bottle feeding because I really struggled to get her to latch on and I was just too exhausted after my 6day/4.5hour labour. She takes anywhere between 50mls and 120mls every 2-6 hours so as you can see we have not really got any sort of pattern yet. Kieran just used to drain whatever was on offer and ask for more 2hrs later in the daytime but he slept through the night from an early age. I think Eleanor is gonna be much harder work to get into a routine. Thanks for reading if you got this far, it has turned into a bit of an epic I’m afraid. Love Jenny

WOW!!!! Sounds like you went through a hell of a lot hun, But I bet Eleanor is worth every second of the 6 day labour!!!! Congrats again hunny xxx

Wow - Sounds like it was kinda scary and crazy for a while but well worth it. Ouch for them not counting the 6 days of contractions and only recording it at 4.5hrs. Thanks for sharing

Well done you and congratulations again on Eleanor's arrival! What an amazing birth story! I hope the tear isn't too uncomfortable, I found it got much better after a week but mine was only 2nd degree though. My Mum is a retired midwife and my Dad did obstetrics when training to be a doctor and they've both described shoulder dystocia as really frightening, so I can't imagine what it would be like for the mum! I'm glad you are both doing so well. I hope you start to get more sleep soon, Daniel's not really settled into a routine yet... he'll be 2 months next week!! xxx

WOW well done you! Huge congrats hope she gets into a routine soon my second was the same took at bit longer its quite a shock after having a text book #1 isn't it! Take care XXXX

Wow - done you! Congratulations again! xxx

Well done Jenny, what an amazing story. So glad Eleanor is safe and well and hope you are healing nicely. xx

Gosh well done you and huge congrats xxxxxx

Wow Jenny, what an ordeal, so glad that all's well so far. You did very well. Am totally with you on the knackred front esp with a toddler around, Matthew has decided to play up quite a bit though seems to love Jessica. A hoping to get my birth story on in a minute! Jo

What an epic journey! Congratulations again on the safe arrival of your beautiful daughter :) xx

WOW! What a great story! Sounds like it was a bit frightening there for a bit! Congrats again xxxx

:wow: what a story, well done. :congratulations: again. Elaine.

Well done sending my :congratulations: once again xx

A MASSIVE congratulations to you Jenny!!!!!!!!!! Em xxx

What a birth story, well done you, huge :congratulations: Holly & Ethan xx