My Family & Myself

Birth Story - Long Form

The Lead Up

Friday, January 2; evening

We had some false alarms before then, one of which had us at the hospital, but this was when things really started. I had some rather painful contractions on Friday that definitely felt like "the real thing", but they were very irregular at that point. I even got as far as calling the hospital, but decided not to go in (major expedition).

Saturday, January 3; 2:30 am

At 2:30 am Saturday, I had one really awful contraction that had me on my hands and knees, and all of a sudden my water broke with a *huge* gush. It continued to gush out every time I moved or had a BH contraction. The painful contractions stopped dead.

So the hospital wanted me in so they could check me out and considering the precipitous labour last time, I was quite sure I would not be home again babyless. I have consistently been told that the water breaking so long before labour started with Antonia (53 hrs) was a random event, so I expected labour to kick in right away this time as it usually does if the water breaks. I was right about not going home without the baby, but I was wrong about when labour would start.

Saturday, January 3; 4:00 am

They checked me out at the hospital. I was fine and dilated to about 1.5 cm (the same as a week prior, and quite normal through much of pregnancy with a third baby). Baby was still posterior and not engaged at all and there were no signs of labour. So I was sent to the maternity ward where I waited. And waited. And waited. Luckily, the doctors did not try to pressure me into being induced.

The Event

Monday, January 5; 9:00 am

On Monday morning I was supposed to have an appointment to assess the baby because I was 10 days overdue. When they made it a couple weeks prior I swore I would no longer be pregnant by January 5! I wasn't going to the appointment because I was already in hospital, but there was still no sign of labour starting and the OB was just there to confirm that I still wanted to wait and see for another day. I asked him what my chances were of labour starting spontaneously in that time and apparently they were down to 10%. So I said I'd rather be induced that day than the next.

When they checked my cervix to see if they needed the gel or not, I still hadn't made significant progress from when I was in on December 28 or 29 with false labour (about 1.5 cm). And the head was very high. Because of my history of precipitous labour, though, they didn't want to do antyhing too aggressive. The midwife wasn't sure what to do, so she called the doctor (a different one) who checked me herself (*very* roughly) and put in some prostin gel to ripen the cervix.

10:00 am

I had them call Ian because I was afraid the baby would come before he could get there if they waited too long. I was also kind of anxious without someone with me who knew what I wanted and could speak for me if I couldn't.

11:00 am

I was moved to the labour ward and Ian arrived soon after. I had some contractions, fairly frequent and painful, but still not hard enough to call it labour.

2:00 pm

They checked me again (2-3 cm and head still "free") and started the syntocin drip. I wanted the monitor off because I wanted to get in the pool, but I was informed that would not be possible due to prolonged rupture of the membranes, regardless of whether I'd been induced (which was another reason it wouldn't be allowed). I could move around a tiny bit, but not much with all that stuff attached. The contractions got steadily stronger after that, but the monitor was not good at picking them up. It did get the heart rate which dropped a little exactly in time with the contractions. I knew it was common for the heart rate to drop during contractions, so I wasn't worried and the midwife said as long as it came back up again right after and was dropping in time with the contraction rather than afterwards then she was okay.

4:30 pm

The drip had been turned up several times and the contractions were coming frequently and hard. The harder they got, the more the heart rate dropped, occasionally going from 155 bpm (what it usually was then, higher than her normal rate of around 135) to under 100. They decided at that point to check again to see how things were progressing. I was 4cm dilated, but the head was still free. The midwife waited for a contraction so she could feel better because she could barely reach. She determined that it was not the right part of the head presenting - thought maybe it was a bum because it was squishy and lumpy and thought she might be seeing some small amount of meconium. Bum seemed unlikely, though, after being head down for well over a month. So she called in the OB who had been so rough I'd asked that she not check again.

They did a quick u/s on a mini machine and they could tell she was head down, but not what was the presenting part. They also talked about it and thought maybe what the midwife had felt were orbital ridges (eye sockets). The OB then checked me (I had to let her as it was clearly necessary), but I used the gas as I was clearly not having a natural birth at that point so I saw no particular reason not to. The OB confirmed it was a brow presentation and at 4cm with no water it was very unlikely she would turn and with the heart rate drops they couldn't afford to wait. There was no way she was going to be born that way, so it was decided that a c-section was the only way.

5:30 pm

While I was being prepped for the c-section, the midwife told me what was expected to happen. She said the doctor would take her out and give her to the midwife, the midwife would show her to me and then take her to the other room to be checked and cleaned. But what actually happened was the doctor got her out and the midwife ran past me to the side room holding a blue, silent, and completely limp baby.

Ian followed a few seconds later, but was sent back. It was a very long few minutes while we waited to hear a cry. Eventually the anaesthetist, who was still with us but could see into the side room, said she was breathing on her own, but had a mask on. Then we heard a couple of widely spaced small cries, then she started screaming bloody murder. I think that's when they were putting the IV in (3 attempts). I got to see her up close a little while later, but it was about an hour from her birth until I could hold her myself.