A Very Belated Birth Story Of Matthew.
22 August 2008 1:30 p.m.
I had a slightly bizarre dream last night.
I was due to have my baby and sitting up in a hospital bed. I was in a room upstairs not in a birthing room. Bf and my mum were sitting talking to me while my dad was carrying flat packs of furniture up the stairs and then proceded to build some wardrobes in the room. Then, a doctor came in and asked what we were all doing there as I obviously was not in labour. Even I didn't know why I was there as I felt fine and it had been my family's doing of me being in there in the first place.
Good old dreams.
It did make me smile though as it was sort of like when I had Matthew.
I didn't really write a real birth story on that so here we go.
On the Saturday night before Matthew was born, I could not settle at all. I stayed up on the computer which was in my bedroom at the time until gone 3am. I did eventually go to bed and still could not fall asleep. I was still awake early and gave up on trying to sleep. I went downstairs to unlock the back gate for hubby to get his bike in before deciding I should go back to bed for a lay down.
As soon as I sat on the bed my waters broke.
My initial reaction was excitement and awe. It was that "Oh my God" feeling but in a "my baby's gonna be here very soon" sort of way. I smiled and still hadn't taken in the fact that labour was quite close.
I never had a fear of labour or birth, maybe I was in denial.
Hubby got home from work and I told him what had happened. He was like a headless chicken and told me to phone the hospital and to get there as soon as possible. I hadn't even thought of that as I had had no contractions at all. I called the hospital and then my mum. She rushed home from work to get me to the hospital but I said I wasn't going anywhere before I had a cup of coffee, some toast and a shower. When I phoned the maternity unit and they told me to go in but not to hurry if I wasn't in pain so I suspected that I had a while to go. I thought it could be a very long time bearing in mind that I hadn't even felt a twinge.
On arriving, it still felt surreal as I was put on a ward above the maternity unit to be monitored around 11.20am. I was settled in. An initial check showed I was 2cm dilated and no contractions were read on the monitor as I had this strange band thing attached round my middle. When asked if I was ok I just said "I'm fine but I've got quite a headache." Within seconds I was given 2 paracetamol and told to relax for a while.
At 12 my mum and bf had to leave the ward as visiting time was over as it was lunchtime, they were told they could wait in or go to the canteen but if they wanted to go home they could as it could still be quite some time.
As the lunch trolley came round I wasn't hungry but thought I would take a cheese sandwich and some mini cheddars in case I felt like it later on.
My brother came up to the hospital too and hubby met him downstairs whilst my mum came up to keep me company. She'd been up for a couple of minutes when I did have a contraction. I hadn't been having them long but they still didn't seem too bad and I hadn't been timing them as I had no watch nor was there a clock in the room. When I had another, my mum noticed and asked how long I'd been having them. It was probably less than half an hour but she'd noted that there was only 4 minutes between the 2 contractions I'd had while she was there.
A nurse came over to check a short while later and looked at the readings on the machine I was having rather strong contractions. At around 1.40pm I had a really contraction and actually gasped with it. I was checked fully and found to be fully dilated. The readings found I'd only been having contractions for an hour but they were building up fast.
The nurses on the ward phoned down to see if a birthing room was available. At that time there wasn't and when I said I wanted to push there was excitement as they rarely had births on the observation ward. However, a room did become available as someone was sent home and I struggled into a wheelchair and was taken downstairs.
Once in the room around 2pm, my contractions continued but felt less aggressive. I tried alot of positions and just after 3pm they were back to their strongest. Hubby and my mum were in the room with me but hubby didn't want to be there for the actual birth. Unlike my mum who stayed with me the whole time. He was supportive but being a muslim it wasn't in his religion to actually be there so he left the room as things got really intense around 4.15pm.
At 4.30pm the midwife said I was having enough contractions and strong enough contractions but they weren't lasting quite long enough so she suggested I have the IV drip inserted into the back of my hand to speed things along a little and make them last long enough. She was lovely. I had the drip inserted and at 5.11pm on Sunday 11th January Matthew made his entrance into the world. He weighed 6lb 12oz and was 49cm long.
The midwife explained as he was born that he wouldn't keep still and was twisting and turning in the birth canal which was making it harder to push. And that as I had been pushing for over an hour, she didn't want me or the baby to get into distress that's why she suggested speeding things up when she did. She also said that it was possible that if I'd stayed on the ward he'd have been born there and then as I was really ready when I came in but the transition seemed to make him relax a little.
In all, I was in labour around 4 and a half hours and had no pain relief at all. Only for the headache I complained of before I was in labour. It's been a standing joke since that if I have a headache, I'd rather be giving birth!
Hubby and my brother came in a few minutes later, they had been in the canteen having dinner when Matthew was delivered and my dad had got a message from my brother and joined them. He had been out fishing. Within 15 minutes my grandparents were also at the hospital to see the littlest person of the family.
I was later placed on the Ceasarian ward and stayed in for 2 nights before returning home. I really did not enjoy that.
I was trying to breast feed and despite latching on fine, Matthew seemed to eat constantly and not have enough food. By the middle of the 3rd night he was on formula milk and falling asleep looking VERY satisfied. When he was weighed on the day 4 home visit he had lost almost 1lb in weight and when I told the midwife I had put him onto formula milk she was really good. She said normally they don't reccommend it but she could see that this little boy was not getting enough nourishment by his weight drop but I had made a good call and to carry on as I felt fit. To carry on with bottle feeding if it made us happier or to try and do a little of both. Seeings he was clearly happier was enough for me to continue feeding him in that way so that was that. And that's why I am so determined to bottle feed with this baby too. Not for "convenience" because endless sterilising is time and energy consuming but because I saw the difference it made in Matthew and once he was on that I had no worries at all that he was not getting enough to eat.
I just can't understand why my dad was building wardrobes in the hospital room.