(no subject)
tl;dr: I was induced on Thursday 8th due to high BP. Was given prostin at 4pm, started getting contractions at 11pm, had my waters broken at 12.30 - 1-ish-pm on Friday 9th. Had an epidural due to complete exhaustion but it didn't work and Gabriel was born just over an hour later at 2.46pm.
THEY FOUND NOTHING ON HIS SCAN!!!! 100% clean bill of health!!!!!!!
After having high blood pressure at my midwife appointments over 2 weeks I was told I would have to go over to Ayrshire Maternity Unit for monitoring at my appointment on Wednesday 7th.
So the next day (Thursday 8th - 37weeks 6 days) we left Theo with my mum and went over on the 8.20am ferry. We had packed my hospital bags and an overnight bag in the car "just incase".
We got to AMU at 10am and were checked in to the daycare monitoring unit. They took bloods and a urine sample and hooked me up to the trace and BP monitor, which was set to take my BP every 15 minutes. My BP readings in the 45 minutes I was on the trace were /93, /89 and /90 so lower than the readings I had been getting (/94, /96 and /99 were the highest) but still borderline. We then got to sit in the day room for 3 hours while we waited for the results. The consultant finally came to get us around 2ish and took us through to a private room. He said that my BP was borderline but because it had been rising, and because of my pre-E problems in my last pregnancy, it would most likely continue to rise and start causing problems. He advised us that induction would be the best way to go before problems occured and we expected him to say he would keep me in for monitoring and induce at 39 weeks if I hadn't gone before. I asked him when was he thinking of inducing, his answer? "If there is space then we will get you in this afternoon!"... Oh Em Gee!
At this point I was fed up and was worried that if I refused induction then the next week my BP would still be high and I would be sent for monitoring again or risked out of staying on the island anyway. I decided to just go with it and see what happened.
He talked us through the induction process and gave me an internal to "see if I would benefit from a prostin pessary". He concluded I would and started arranging for me to go up to the ward. We went outside for 20 minutes to get some fresh air, get over the shock that baby would be arriving hopefully sometime in the next 24-48 hours and let everyone know we wouldn't be home.
We were taken up to the ward at around 3.30pm and the midwife came in at 4pm to take my obs, explain the induction process again and insert the prostin. I was told that I would be checked again at 7am the next morning if it had worked I would be taken down to labour and delivery to have my waters broken and a pitocin drip and if nothing had happened I would get a second prostin, then a third at 5pm that day if nothing had progressed by then. After that it would either be wait a few days and start again or baby would be coming through the sunroof!
Anyway... The first prostin was inserted and within the irst couple of hours I started to feel a bit crampy. At around 7ish I had a show and by 9pm the contractions had started in earnest. I listened to my hypnobirthing tracks and used aromatherapy, which helped me relax a lot for the first couple of hours but by 11pm sitting and laying down was started to become unbearable so I started pacing the hall and breathing through contractions. They were coming about 1 minute apart but only lasting 30 seconds so I didn't know if they were "real" contractions or just prostin contractions that weren't doing anything. The pain was all in my back and hips and it didn't go once the contraction did, it just wasn't as intense. I must have walked up and down the hall about 50 times and at one point I tried going for a bath with lavender oil, which helped but I was falling asleep and decided I would rather fall asleep in my bed if I was going to. I didn't and the pain was horrible as soon as I sat down so that didn't work. By 4am I was really starting to struggle. The contractions were still 1-2 minutes apart but were still only lasting 30 seconds but the pain was getting more and more intense. I was still walking (and had been since 11.30pm) so I decided to try another bath. I went to the nurses station to let her know where I was going and she asked if I was ok. I said "not really..." and managed to get to the bathroom before bursting into tears. I ran another bath with lavender oil and when I got in it was bliss! For 2 or 3 contractions the pain was bearable again but after that it got 10 times worse so I had to get out.
I went back to the ward and the other 2 "induction ladies" were also pacing (although they were coping better than I was at this point) so I paced with them and tried not to cry. I managed apart from once when a midwife again asked if I was ok...why do they do that?! Do I LOOK ok?! By this point it was almost 7am so she said to go lay down (yea right!) and she would come and put me on the monitor and do my obs.
She put me on at 7.15ish, gave me some paracetamol and said she would come back in 15 minutes. 7.30 came, so did 7.45 and by 8am I was almost screaming with the pain and writhing about the bed but in between contractions, which were now about 2-3 minutes apart but STILL only lasting about 30 seconds, I was passing out completely because I was so exhausted. The monitor was only showing the toco at 50 - 75%, which freaked me out because they were so intense! Even more intense than when I was in full blown established labour with Theo. I decided that I was obviously just a pussy...
I buzzed the nurse at 8am to ask if I could get off the monitor as I needed to move. She obliged and I started walking again. The contractions were slightly more managble but by this point I could not stop crying and was apologising to everyone. The other 2 girls' contractions had tapered off and they were both just feeling crampy again so I started to hope it might have worked as mine were still intensifying.
The consultant came in at 8.45am (so much for 7am!) and examined me to see if I was ready to be taken down to have my waters broken. I had decided that if he said I hadn't progressed after the night from hell he was getting kicked in the face and if I needed more prostin then he was giving me something to knock me out as I had now been up for almost 27 hours and was running out of energy. I wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor but knew it would only make the pain worse...so I didn't. He examined me for literally 2 seconds, said "yep, she can definately go down" and walked off (The other two girls were told they hadn't progressed at all)
Graeme arrived at 10am and they eventually came to get us to take us to L&D at 12pm. I was coping slightly better, even though the contractions were stronger, because Graeme was there to distract me and I had the boost of hearing I was actually progressing.
Once we got down to the delivery room the midwife got me to change into a gown, took my obs again and explained what was going to happen. The consultant came in and broke my waters at around 12.30 - 1pm ish and said he would be back in an hour to see if I was progressing or if I needed the pitocin drip (Baby gave a huge kick just as my waters broke, which made me yelp). The midwife told me I was only about 2-3 cms dilated at this point and they didn't expect anything to happen in the next 4 or 5 hours so I opted for an epidural. I always said I didn't want one under any circumstances but I had now been up for 30+ hours, was exhausted, could not stop sobbing and the contractions had ramped up a notch and were still getting stronger. I decided that if I didn't get the epidural then I would have trouble pushing when it came to it due to sheer exhaustion and would probably end up with forceps or ventouse. It took about 20 minutes for the anesthetist to arrive so I took the gas and air, which wasn't as bad as I remember and I spent a good 10 minutes with my head rolling about the bed, completely spaced out. During this a doctor came in to place my IV drip. He tried twice before giving up and asking someone else to do it for him.
Then the anesthetist took 3 attempts of hitting bone and me sobbing uncontrollably for her to get the epidural line in.... or so she thought... Halfway through I thought I needed to push so once the line was "in" the midwife checked and said I was still only 3 cm and baby's head was still really far up but to let her know if I needed to push worse with the next contraction.
With the next contraction the pain changed. It was all in my hips and down one leg. I was screaming that my leg hurt so bad and bashing the epi button but nothing happened. With the next contraction I was pushing, still screaming that my leg hurt and being told that the pain was baby turning. When the midwife checked next his head was right there so I kept pushing and refused to stop. I remembered how much I hated the feeling of the head going back up in between contractions so I didn't let it. I kept being told to rest in between contractions. I ignored them. Someone rushed out to get me a mirror so I could see him born but someone else was using it so I put my hand down and felt instead. I was expecting a hard, round, head-shaped thing but it was squishy and fuzzy and had a ridge along the top,...bizarre! Two or three more pushes and his head was out and he was doing a goldfish impression, opening and closing his mouth against the inside of my leg! I shouted at him to "STOP MOVING!" because it felt too weird then one more push and at 2.46pm on Friday the 9th of July 2010 at 38 weeks exactly Gabriel Christopher Elwood Nicholson was here!
The epidural never did work and if I had known it was going to be so quick I would never have bothered...
He was placed on my chest and Graeme cut the cord then the midwife pushed and pulled me about to deliver the placenta. I had a "marginally" 2nd degree tear (much much better than my previous episiotomy) a small tear at the front, which needed one stitch and a couple of surface tears, which she said she wouldn't normally stitch but she couldn't stop them bleeding.
He went straight to the breast and fed for 15 minutes but was very mucousy so we ended up having to syringe feed him colostrum 12 hours after birth as he would not feed again. After that one feed he perked up and caught on to what he was supposed to do. He is every bit the pro as his brother was! At birth he was 7lbs 4oz and by 48 hours old he had lost 5oz, which I am sure he has gained back already!
We were in hospital for 5 days including the Thursday I was induced as we had to wait until the Monday for his scan to see what the cystic area was. They found...nothing! Whatever was there at FOUR antenatal ultrasounds is gone! All organs are accounted the right size and accounted for. No masses. No cysts. Nothing! We are over the moon, even if it did mean two extra days in hospital.
THEY FOUND NOTHING ON HIS SCAN!!!! 100% clean bill of health!!!!!!!
After having high blood pressure at my midwife appointments over 2 weeks I was told I would have to go over to Ayrshire Maternity Unit for monitoring at my appointment on Wednesday 7th.
So the next day (Thursday 8th - 37weeks 6 days) we left Theo with my mum and went over on the 8.20am ferry. We had packed my hospital bags and an overnight bag in the car "just incase".
We got to AMU at 10am and were checked in to the daycare monitoring unit. They took bloods and a urine sample and hooked me up to the trace and BP monitor, which was set to take my BP every 15 minutes. My BP readings in the 45 minutes I was on the trace were /93, /89 and /90 so lower than the readings I had been getting (/94, /96 and /99 were the highest) but still borderline. We then got to sit in the day room for 3 hours while we waited for the results. The consultant finally came to get us around 2ish and took us through to a private room. He said that my BP was borderline but because it had been rising, and because of my pre-E problems in my last pregnancy, it would most likely continue to rise and start causing problems. He advised us that induction would be the best way to go before problems occured and we expected him to say he would keep me in for monitoring and induce at 39 weeks if I hadn't gone before. I asked him when was he thinking of inducing, his answer? "If there is space then we will get you in this afternoon!"... Oh Em Gee!
At this point I was fed up and was worried that if I refused induction then the next week my BP would still be high and I would be sent for monitoring again or risked out of staying on the island anyway. I decided to just go with it and see what happened.
He talked us through the induction process and gave me an internal to "see if I would benefit from a prostin pessary". He concluded I would and started arranging for me to go up to the ward. We went outside for 20 minutes to get some fresh air, get over the shock that baby would be arriving hopefully sometime in the next 24-48 hours and let everyone know we wouldn't be home.
We were taken up to the ward at around 3.30pm and the midwife came in at 4pm to take my obs, explain the induction process again and insert the prostin. I was told that I would be checked again at 7am the next morning if it had worked I would be taken down to labour and delivery to have my waters broken and a pitocin drip and if nothing had happened I would get a second prostin, then a third at 5pm that day if nothing had progressed by then. After that it would either be wait a few days and start again or baby would be coming through the sunroof!
Anyway... The first prostin was inserted and within the irst couple of hours I started to feel a bit crampy. At around 7ish I had a show and by 9pm the contractions had started in earnest. I listened to my hypnobirthing tracks and used aromatherapy, which helped me relax a lot for the first couple of hours but by 11pm sitting and laying down was started to become unbearable so I started pacing the hall and breathing through contractions. They were coming about 1 minute apart but only lasting 30 seconds so I didn't know if they were "real" contractions or just prostin contractions that weren't doing anything. The pain was all in my back and hips and it didn't go once the contraction did, it just wasn't as intense. I must have walked up and down the hall about 50 times and at one point I tried going for a bath with lavender oil, which helped but I was falling asleep and decided I would rather fall asleep in my bed if I was going to. I didn't and the pain was horrible as soon as I sat down so that didn't work. By 4am I was really starting to struggle. The contractions were still 1-2 minutes apart but were still only lasting 30 seconds but the pain was getting more and more intense. I was still walking (and had been since 11.30pm) so I decided to try another bath. I went to the nurses station to let her know where I was going and she asked if I was ok. I said "not really..." and managed to get to the bathroom before bursting into tears. I ran another bath with lavender oil and when I got in it was bliss! For 2 or 3 contractions the pain was bearable again but after that it got 10 times worse so I had to get out.
I went back to the ward and the other 2 "induction ladies" were also pacing (although they were coping better than I was at this point) so I paced with them and tried not to cry. I managed apart from once when a midwife again asked if I was ok...why do they do that?! Do I LOOK ok?! By this point it was almost 7am so she said to go lay down (yea right!) and she would come and put me on the monitor and do my obs.
She put me on at 7.15ish, gave me some paracetamol and said she would come back in 15 minutes. 7.30 came, so did 7.45 and by 8am I was almost screaming with the pain and writhing about the bed but in between contractions, which were now about 2-3 minutes apart but STILL only lasting about 30 seconds, I was passing out completely because I was so exhausted. The monitor was only showing the toco at 50 - 75%, which freaked me out because they were so intense! Even more intense than when I was in full blown established labour with Theo. I decided that I was obviously just a pussy...
I buzzed the nurse at 8am to ask if I could get off the monitor as I needed to move. She obliged and I started walking again. The contractions were slightly more managble but by this point I could not stop crying and was apologising to everyone. The other 2 girls' contractions had tapered off and they were both just feeling crampy again so I started to hope it might have worked as mine were still intensifying.
The consultant came in at 8.45am (so much for 7am!) and examined me to see if I was ready to be taken down to have my waters broken. I had decided that if he said I hadn't progressed after the night from hell he was getting kicked in the face and if I needed more prostin then he was giving me something to knock me out as I had now been up for almost 27 hours and was running out of energy. I wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor but knew it would only make the pain worse...so I didn't. He examined me for literally 2 seconds, said "yep, she can definately go down" and walked off (The other two girls were told they hadn't progressed at all)
Graeme arrived at 10am and they eventually came to get us to take us to L&D at 12pm. I was coping slightly better, even though the contractions were stronger, because Graeme was there to distract me and I had the boost of hearing I was actually progressing.
Once we got down to the delivery room the midwife got me to change into a gown, took my obs again and explained what was going to happen. The consultant came in and broke my waters at around 12.30 - 1pm ish and said he would be back in an hour to see if I was progressing or if I needed the pitocin drip (Baby gave a huge kick just as my waters broke, which made me yelp). The midwife told me I was only about 2-3 cms dilated at this point and they didn't expect anything to happen in the next 4 or 5 hours so I opted for an epidural. I always said I didn't want one under any circumstances but I had now been up for 30+ hours, was exhausted, could not stop sobbing and the contractions had ramped up a notch and were still getting stronger. I decided that if I didn't get the epidural then I would have trouble pushing when it came to it due to sheer exhaustion and would probably end up with forceps or ventouse. It took about 20 minutes for the anesthetist to arrive so I took the gas and air, which wasn't as bad as I remember and I spent a good 10 minutes with my head rolling about the bed, completely spaced out. During this a doctor came in to place my IV drip. He tried twice before giving up and asking someone else to do it for him.
Then the anesthetist took 3 attempts of hitting bone and me sobbing uncontrollably for her to get the epidural line in.... or so she thought... Halfway through I thought I needed to push so once the line was "in" the midwife checked and said I was still only 3 cm and baby's head was still really far up but to let her know if I needed to push worse with the next contraction.
With the next contraction the pain changed. It was all in my hips and down one leg. I was screaming that my leg hurt so bad and bashing the epi button but nothing happened. With the next contraction I was pushing, still screaming that my leg hurt and being told that the pain was baby turning. When the midwife checked next his head was right there so I kept pushing and refused to stop. I remembered how much I hated the feeling of the head going back up in between contractions so I didn't let it. I kept being told to rest in between contractions. I ignored them. Someone rushed out to get me a mirror so I could see him born but someone else was using it so I put my hand down and felt instead. I was expecting a hard, round, head-shaped thing but it was squishy and fuzzy and had a ridge along the top,...bizarre! Two or three more pushes and his head was out and he was doing a goldfish impression, opening and closing his mouth against the inside of my leg! I shouted at him to "STOP MOVING!" because it felt too weird then one more push and at 2.46pm on Friday the 9th of July 2010 at 38 weeks exactly Gabriel Christopher Elwood Nicholson was here!
The epidural never did work and if I had known it was going to be so quick I would never have bothered...
He was placed on my chest and Graeme cut the cord then the midwife pushed and pulled me about to deliver the placenta. I had a "marginally" 2nd degree tear (much much better than my previous episiotomy) a small tear at the front, which needed one stitch and a couple of surface tears, which she said she wouldn't normally stitch but she couldn't stop them bleeding.
He went straight to the breast and fed for 15 minutes but was very mucousy so we ended up having to syringe feed him colostrum 12 hours after birth as he would not feed again. After that one feed he perked up and caught on to what he was supposed to do. He is every bit the pro as his brother was! At birth he was 7lbs 4oz and by 48 hours old he had lost 5oz, which I am sure he has gained back already!
We were in hospital for 5 days including the Thursday I was induced as we had to wait until the Monday for his scan to see what the cystic area was. They found...nothing! Whatever was there at FOUR antenatal ultrasounds is gone! All organs are accounted the right size and accounted for. No masses. No cysts. Nothing! We are over the moon, even if it did mean two extra days in hospital.