Birth story- Asher born 26th July 2016

Annelise

I enjoyed reading other mom's birth stories before giving birth to Asher so i thought i'd share mine! Sorry, it's a bit long.

I was diagnosed with GD in my 3rd trimester and despite keeping a good diet and exercise regime, I had to be prescribed metformin. I was really disappointed when I was told I needed to be induced before hitting 39 weeks because of it, but my husband and I still made a birth plan together.

On the 25th of July I woke up feeling anxious but excited at the same time. This is it! Today im meeting my baby! So i go along doing my thing; toilet, shower, putting the wash on and all of a sudden I feel a warm liquid running down my legs! I look at my mom and mouth to her that my waters just broke! My mom was like "are you sure? Maybe you just pee'd yourself!". So i do the smell test and it's not pee! I keep calm and continue with preparing breakfast going about doing my normal morning routine while leaking like crazy. In the meantime my husband gets in from the gym and i tell him, the look of terror on his face was priceless!

So we finally get to the hospital at 10 AM, I tell the midwife my waters broke and I get told off for not coming in earlier! But as I was booked for an induction anyway they started the process with a pessary. 6 hours later, no contractions and after the midwife checks me I'm only dialated by 2cm. Normally they would insert the pessary 3 more times but as my waters had broken at 6.30 in the morning they decided to move me to the delivery suite for the cynto drip. Start me off at 28ml. Nothing. Increase to 38ml. Nothing. Then up it to 50ml and finally am getting contractions! Now all this time I am attached to a machine to monitor contractions and baby so the plan to walk around/use water to labour was out the window. I just had to lay there and breath through them. The midwife on call was by my side at all times monitoring everything and said i had a really high pain threshold because the contractions were coming in very fast with no real down time and I wasn't complaining. It's hard to explain what contractions feel like, maybe the closest thing would be really bad period cramps. At around 11pm i start shaking uncontrollably because of the pain and my midwife gently encouraged me to reconsider an epidural. I had spinal surgery 2 years prior and was very weary of the side effects, but i gave in as I was only 3cm dilated and didn't think I would have the energy to push baby out if I was in that much pain and super exhausted. Epidural done, i vomit and get an anti-sickness jab and can finally sleep. It's now officially the 26th.

Change of shift again and the new midwife comes in with a student midwife. I'm now starving and praying the next time I'm checked i've progressed. Checked at 9AM and I'm 8cm! Praise the Lord! Sleep some more. Checked at 10 and i'm 10cm! Time to wait another hour to enable baby to come down a bit more. In the meantime my hubby decides to go and stretch his legs... men huh! So he comes back late and it's time to push. Now ladies, with an epidural it is really hard to feel the contractions. They feel like a slight throbbing down below so you really have to concentrate. Everyone around me started "cheering me on". I'm there with my eyes closed so i can shut them out. It does get annoying and im normally a really laid back person, but here you are pushing for dear life and hubby is in my face caressing my numb leg, while mom is praying and shouting "i can see hair!" And the midwife is getting your name wrong and shouting "push like you need to poop"(which, by the way i totally did and hubby said it smelt really bad!). All of the coaching and shouting can get to you so make sure you include something about that in your birth plan if you're the "i need peace and quiet" kinda person.

45 minutes of marathon pushing and i hear the student midwife saying "did you press the button?". Next thing i know the room is flooded with doctors. Baby flat lined. He came out blue, they placed him on my chest, cut the cord and rubbed him like crazy. I was so out of it all i remember was hearing the cry and looking at hubby waiting for a reaction but all he was saying was "is she ok?" And not even looking at me. Then all I can remember is the main OB yelling "just get her placenta out" while i was getting my tummy rubbed by two other doctors. Turns out I was haemorrhaging. Lost 2L and was taken to the High Dependency Unit. I have to admit, this was the strangest but yet most rewarding experience ever!

The recovery has been harder than I expected. Baby blues is no joke, plus the pain from the tear doesn't help.

I hope my story will prepare you for your individual birth. Remember sometimes things really don't go to plan so don't blame yourself. Good luck mamas!