Tana's Birth

Here's my birth story. Tana was born on Friday 11th Jabuary at
1:42am, weighing 3.33kgs (7lbs 6). We're settling in slowly, and it
was definitely a case of love at first sight!

Ok, here goes, warning: v long birth story with some mention of pain.
My pressure waves began on Tuesday 8thJanuary at 3am, and were strong
enough to wake me up. I went to the bathroom, put on my `Easy First
Stage' Cd, and happily went back to sleep, feeling excited and
strong, and wanting to meet our baby soon. I woke my husband Dan at
6am, as the pws were getting stronger, and he timed them for me. They
were now about 20 seconds long, and 10 minutes apart. He stayed home
from work, and encouraged me through each pw, and we spent most of
the day in bed – I was trying to rest as much as possible, and save
my energy. At 8pm, we called the QMC hospital, and their labour suite
was full, which meant I would have to go to the City Hospital or hang
on longer at home. I decided I'd rather wait at home instead of going
to an unfamiliar hospital. My pws were now about 7 minutes apart, and
the hospital asked me to come in when they were 3-4 minutes apart. I
stayed on my birth ball for most of the time, and kept the `Birthing
Day' affirmations and `Easy First Stage' cds going. I did a couple of
fear release sessions, hoping it would speed things up, and Dan
stayed awake with me, encouraging me and making sure I was eating and
drinking regularly.
This went on until 9pm on Wednesday, by which time the pws were
intense and over 2 minutes long. I was getting a bit fed up of being
at home, and didn't want to make the drive to hospital in
transformation, so we decided to go into hospital. I checked into
labour suite at 10pm (with chocolate cake for the midwives), and they
said I was 3cm dilated, and my cervix was thin and long. I agreed to
a membrane sweep to speed things up, as I was starting to get really
tired, and used my `peace' cue, which worked fantastically for the
sweep. I then spent the next few hours on the birthing ball, and on
the beanbag, with my hypnosis CDs on in the background. The midwives
were all so on-board with the hypnobabies philosophy, and very
respectful of my birth plan. I was offered an aromatherapy massage,
which was so wonderful – it really helped me feel relaxed and
revitalised.
I was very much in my own `special place', and Dan was wonderful with
reminding me to use my `peace' cue, and `release' – we even came up
with another one, which Kerry must have been saying on the CD – `limp
and loose', and I kept chanting that and swaying to each pressure
wave. One of the doctors came by on his rounds and saw me with my
arms around Dan, rocking away, and thought it was just great we were
dancing through the pws! What really helped me focus was blowing out
each breath through loose `horsy' lips, as it kept me from tensing up.
By 1pm on Wednesday, my cervix was a stretchy 3-4cm, and I was so
disappointed that 15 hours of active labour had resulted in half a
centimetre of dilation. I was finding it increasingly hard to keep
any food or drink down, as I kept vomiting, and my urine was very
high in ketones, which meant my body was going into starvation mode.
Dan was so great about making sure I was cleaned up and dry and
comfortable, and keeping me focused, even after I was being sick.
Baby was doing wonderfully though – nice and steady heartbeat. I
agreed to have my waters broken, and to have a saline IV put in to
help with the dehydration. After 4 pints of saline, and several hours
later, my ketone levels were still increasing, and my dilation was no
further along. My energy levels were now running pretty low – I had
been in active labour for over 15 hours, and in latent labour for
about 42 hours previously, and I felt it was time to agree to
syntocinon to help my pws be more effective. Using syntocinon was
one of my biggest fears, as I knew it made pws much more intense, and
I was unsure I would be able to cope with any increase in intensity,
as I was just so tired – I hadn't eaten or slept in what felt like
forever.
I decided I would like some pain relief, to take the edge off the
syntocinon, and opted for gas and air. This was the one (minor)
regret I have about my birthing experience. Instinct told me the baby
was in an awkward position, and that was the reason things were going
so slowly, and that I should go for the epidural and really sleep,
and gather some energy for the pushing stage. Rational thought said
to try the gas and air first, and then see if I needed something
stronger. The gas and air made me feel weirdly floaty, and didn't
take sensations away, just made me feel very nauseated and out of
control. I really hated it, and it made the vomiting worse! It also
didn't help that I needed to inhale it before a pw began, and could
never get the timing right, which meant that I felt p**n at the
beginning of each pw, as I wasn't using my hypnosis, and ended each
pw feeling disorientated and unable to brace myself for the next one.
Dan tried it out as he had a headache (he was just as sleep starved
as I was), and it couldn't even help with that!
I really preferred not having the gas and air, as I felt totally able
to cope with only my hypnosis cd going on in the background. I
decided it was time to look at my other options for pain relief, and
was offered pethidine, which I refused because the side effects
include vomiting (which I had already done enough of!!), and opted
for the epidural, because syntocinon needed to be increased in dose -
contractions still not leading to 'progress'. All this time, the baby
was happy, and my blood pressure fine. It was so funny that all the
midwives kept saying `your baby is happy', as one of my hypnosis
visualisations were of a `healthy, happy baby', and I kept repeating
this in my head in the weeks preceding my birthing time.
The epidural was put in on Thursday afternoon, and I finally had a
snooze (hadn't slept for 3 days). The syntocinon was finally doing
its job, and by 10:30pm, I was fully dilated, and allowed to start
pushing at 11:30pm. Unfortunately, I had to do `purple pushing' as I
couldn't feel pressure waves, and had to rely on midwife telling me
when they were beginning. By 1am, I was still pushing for all I was
worth, and the midwife was encouraging me, but it was clear that the
baby was not moving past a certain point – although the head was
visible with lots of black hair (according to Dan). The Dr was called
in, and said it would have to be forceps – baby was still doing fine
but it was clear that further pushing wasn't going to lead anywhere.
He was so supportive though, and said that he was going to do
everything in his power to ensure I had a vaginal birth, as I had
worked so hard for it! And we weren't going to move to theatre, as I
was doing fine in my room with the hypnosis on in the background.
So, the forceps came out, and I had to have an episiotomy as well,
which I had been so keen to avoid. I told Dan I didn't want to see
the forceps, so he dampened a flannel with cool water and put it over
my eyes. This felt great, and the darkness really helped me focus on
my `special place' and I was talking to baby and reassuring her that
we were both safe.
I think poor Dan had a real shock when he saw the forceps, although
I had warned him they might be a bit daunting. I had the weirdest
sensation when the forceps were in me, and it felt like my pelvis was
being clicked out of the way, it wasn't p**nful, just really strange,
and made me throw up (yet again!).
Finally, our baby was out, and they plonked her onto my belly. I
reached up to pull the flannel off my eyes, so I could see her, but
Dan kept his hand over my eyes, and I couldn't budge him – I kept
saying `let me see, let me see!!!', and then went really silent when
I realised no-one was saying anything and I couldn't hear her crying.
My heart stopped for a few seconds, then I heard her making little
noises, and started asking Dan if we had a girl or boy – he was
really quiet, and the midwife kept prompting him, and he eventually
told me we'd had a little girl. He was just so busy staring at her,
that I don't think he could hear us!

The midwife started cleaning her up and weighing her at one end of
the room, and we found out why the labour was so long – she'd had the
cord so tightly wrapped around her neck, the doctors couldn't unwind
it, and ended up cutting it off (this was when Dan had covered my
eyes) and there was also a true knot in the cord, as well as the fact
that she was trying to come out looking upwards!! Dan cut the bit of
cord that wasn't around her neck, and her apgars were 9 and 10. I had
some stitches after the episiotomy, and they were concerned that I
was losing a lot of blood, so had to have more syntocinon.

I finally got to hold her, when Dan let her go, and she was so
perfect and tiny – definitely the most beautiful baby that ever
existed - even covered in blood and gunge! Welcome to the world, my
little miracle baby – if not for hypnobabies and the grace of God, I
am sure things could have gone very differently. Dan was my rock
throughout, and with him and baby Tana, we overcame our first big
challenge as a family.

It didn't go according to my birth plan, but I am just so proud of
myself! I had a really long talk with one of the modwives, who was
really concerned that I shouldn't feel I've failed in any way because
it wasn't the completely natural birthing experience I had hoped -
and I don't at all! in fact, I still feel like I could leap mountains
in a single bound :) The truth is, we had to adapt to the
circumstances, and I think I did that really well - always staying
practical and not losing sight of the goal - a happy healthy baby.