Like I promised in my last post, I'm coming to you with my labour and delivery story. It has definitely taken me a long time to get my head around what actually happened throughout my labour to be honest, and I can say that it will stick with me for the rest of my life. I am not going to lie to you, I have been pretty traumatised with the whole experience, and for something that turns into something so amazing, it definitely is very hard work and so exhausting what the human body goes through, women are amazing!
Due to being almost 2 weeks late in my pregnancy I had been booked in on the 4th of October for my induction by my midwife, so it was good to know I would have my baby soon, but I was extremely nervous. Everything about induction didn't sit right with me, it just seemed really unnatural for my body to go through that, but I knew it would be the only way my baby would make an appearance so it was a must.
My Induction was booked for 8 am on that Wednesday morning, and I have to say nervous wasn't even close to how I was feeling about what was about to happen. Being pregnant for 9 and a bit months was the easy part, I was then to push this child out and knowing it was probably going to be the worst pain I will go through made it pretty terrifying, but the little person inside my tummy had to come out somehow. So throughout the Wednesday I was on and off monitors for the babys heart beat and was getting checked for positioning, basically it was all not going to plan. I knew it then that it was just going to have something creep up to make things difficult. I was finally induced at 7.30pm, Thank goodness. But I was pretty sure I was going into Labour myself as I was experiencing lower back pain, but I had put it down to being strapped to a bed all day. It was not fun at all. 9pm came and this was the part I dreaded the most, was Harry having to leave me in hospital alone, knowing I will be possibly going into labour very soon and I was, the cramps I was experiencing was very early labour looking back on it. I'm going to be honest with you, I was so scared to stay in hospital by myself and not have him there for support, but I had to due to hospital rules.
Throughout that night and early morning I was definitely experiencing very early labour contractions and I was able to just go with them and not even need to breathe through them, I thought I was handling it well.
From 5.30am on Thursday I was getting steady contractions around every 5 minutes and lasting only a minute I would of said, and by 9am Harry was back with me to help and support me through each one. Thank god for his hands, because squeezing them made each contraction easier, I have no idea why but it helped.
So for pretty much most of that day it was just a blur and I totally lost track of time, I had 2 baths, cocodamol and diamorphine and then eventually Gas and Air. The cocodamol didn't really do anything, but along with my first bath probably made it a bit easier for me, but after an hour I got fed up and needed to get on my feet. I was then told to have another and I was only in for 5 minutes if you were lucky, I was just in too much pain I needed something stronger. If it wasn't for Harry making me speak up I would of probably just sat in pain, thats the bad part of me not wanting to bother anyone. I was then offered Diamorphine when I really wanted that as a last resort, and take gas and air until that point, but it wasn't available to me as I wasn't in the labour ward. I should of said that before my 2nd bath I was examined at 3cm and my pessary was removed as I was in labour by then. Because I couldn't handle the pain at this point I took the Diamorphine, it was an instant hit and made me feel really weird and light headed, I was then sick which made me need a drip after so I would say the diamorphine only lasted 30-40minutes if that.
My mum joined us at around 3pm and thank god because having her there for support for both me and harry was so great and I can't thank her enough for that. So after being given the diamorphine I was basically on my feet hanging on to the edge of the bed and Harry's hand every 2-3 minutes with contractions, the pain is like nothing I can compare it to, but by the time one was over I forgot the pain it was a weird experience. I was finally given Gas and Air after I was in so much pain, and you know I totally recommend it to anyone it worked wonders until Erica had arrived. From getting the gas and air my labour then started going very quickly and I was then pushing without realising. I was examined and I was dilated at 9cm, I couldn't believe that I basically managed without really making much fuss.
I was very quickly ready to be wheeled to the delivery room and by the time I reached there I was fully dilated and my waters broke, so I was ready to push. I'm not going to go into too much detail about this part as it was a very traumatic experience for me and still trying to get over it, I might make a post later down the line with what my experience was like and how I have managed to cope with it. What I will tell you was that I needed assistance with my delivery and had an episiotomy and the ventouse was used to bring baby girls head out. But by 10.53pm she was born and I couldn't believe I had my little girl in my arms and to be honest I totally forgot that we were to look at the sex of her, because I was just in awe at the fact I had a baby in my arms it was the most magical moment of my life. As much as I cant bare thinking about what happened I would not change it for the world. Erica Grace Thundow is just such a miracle and me and Harry are so blessed to have her with us in the world.
So there you have it, It's so hard to remember every little detail of how things went as it was such a blur and I was too bust getting through the contractions to care what was going on round about me. I suppose I only really remember the bad parts of it but each labour is completely different and this is my story or the best part of it. If you want to follow me, Harry and baby Erica's new journey please follow me on Snapchat and Instagram. Please leave me links to your labour stories, or if you want to ask me personal questions regarding it theres always Direct Messaging on Instagram or twitter. Thanks for reading!!
Fiona xx
