Long labour and a lot of pain!

I was huge!

Kristina tells her birth story: 'I hated being pregnant, I hated the fact that I couldn’t sit, stand bend lay down, sleep, or eat chocolate! I LOVE my chocolate, but being a type 2 diabetic, I really had to stop, and I did, I kept my sugars down all the way up until I was 32 weeks, then I had to go on insulin, only a small amount: 6 units. I didn’t mind, as I knew my baby wouldn’t be swimming in glucose, so I did what the Drs ordered.

I had a check-up when I was 35 weeks, and my baby was still quite high up. I was HUGE! They said that I would be induced on the 20th of June 2007.

I was SO happy that this baby was coming out, I had two 3D scans and had seen his little face, even named him, so I couldn’t wait to give him a cuddle!

On the 19th of June I was nervously dragged into hospital by my husband. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be induced or not today, as I thought it was tomorrow, but sure enough at 4pm I had the dreaded gel smeared on my cervix. After a sweep was done 4 days before, this was NOTHING compared to that!

My waters broke

By 6pm I got some awful cramps, hubby had gone home, as he was tired and hungry, and I was nervously waiting the next smear of gel. At 10pm I got another handful of Gel, I was only 2.5cm dilated, but the pain was awful, constant cramps, I couldn’t pee as down below was so swollen, and I couldn’t sleep as I was excited, nervous, scared all at the same time.

Come 2am the nurse saw that I still hadn’t slept and ran me a bath, I waddled up there hoping that I might get a kip in the bath. She left me alone for 5 mins, when I desperately felt like I needed a pee. I sat on the loo and this sort of pop and a gush of reddy brown stuff was in the loo.

I felt my heart pounding and stood up, when all of a sudden water was everywhere! All down my legs, all over the floor, just everywhere, I waddled along embarrassed and with tears in my eyes to get the nurse, she laughed at me and told me not to worry and to go back to bed whilst she cleaned up the water and ran me a new bath.

In bed she checked me and I was 3cm dilated, I hade my bath and got a huge show in there, but I was so relaxed 45 mins later I didn’t want to come out.

Constant pain

Come 7am I was moved to another ward, the delivery ward, and also the 'high risk' ward, (I think being diabetic I was classed as high risk). I was so tired, I hadn’t slept the night before either, so I was just exhausted!

I had my own little room, with a telly. At 9am the nurses started me on Pitocin? (I think, that drip that goes in your arm) and I was given insulin and glucose.

I got all frantic as there was a bubble in my drip, and I started to panic thinking that I was going to die giving birth. Hubby turned up at 11am thinking that I had already had my baby, only to find me moaning at the pain, I didn’t have contractions, just constant pain, and I couldn’t cope. I wasn’t getting my rest in between contractions, I was constantly having them. I needed a pee, so tried to, but the pain when I was peeing, wow! I will never forget that!

I want an epidural!

I got up and screamed at hubby that I wanted an epi, NOW! The gas and air hadn’t worked, so I clung onto him for about an hour, not letting him move to try and take the pain away. The anaesthetist came at about 1 ish and talked me through the jargon, I didn’t care, I couldn’t have cared by that stage!

Then he did his stuff, and I lay on the bed exhausted, but still in pain, and tried to get some sleep. I got about 30 mins, but remember breathing heavily through the real bad bits in my nap. My baby’s heartbeat was dropping to 80, then coming back up, so he had to get his head scraped then they told me that he had fair hair, I was convinced he had dark hair like hubby, and got a bit upset!

I was told to carry on with “natural” labour, and if baby’s heart rate dropped below 70 then to call again (I wasn’t left alone in my room for one min, a midwife was always in there)

Lucas is born

By 8pm. I needed another epi NOW! But I couldn’t as I had used the whole bag (you know the button that you press and you get a small dose of epidural?). They called for the anaesthetist but he was in theatre with an emergency, so I had the gas and air again, still didn’t work, God I was knackered!

9:30pm I was checked and told that I was 10cm, I remember thinking how it would all be over soon, but told to drink water slowly… 10pm, I was pushing, but nothing much was happening, I was still told to drink water… 10:45pm I was told to try on my knees, I was so swollen everywhere, but tried it for about 20 mins then was told to go in the stirrups!

11pm I was sick, all that water was everywhere, but told to drink a bit more, and I felt the head! 11:15pm a doctor was called as I had been pushing for so long. They were going to get a ventouse but luckily the doctors were in surgery!

11:45pm I was still pushing, but felt the head! 11:57pm My boy was born!

He didn’t cry, just stared at me and my hubby Dave.

Lucas needs extra care

Lucas weighed 7lb 11.5 oz: not bad considering they thought he would be around 10lb!

Come 3am Dave went home, and I stayed there looking at my son, I still hadn’t slept, and couldn’t because I was so tired. The nurse came in at 3:30am and checked Luke’s blood sugars… they were 1.8! He was apparently very close to a coma.

He hadn’t eaten, as nobody showed me how to breastfeed him, and because they put the glucose drip in me, my sugars were up at 8mmol!

They said that he needed to go into the nursery, and was taken there, I followed behind him with my heavy epidural legs and cried. They put a tube down his throat and gave him some milk, as he was unresponsive. He didn’t even cry for his vitamin K injection!

A few hours later, he was moving a bit more, but I had only heard a squeak from him, I wouldn’t take my eyes off of him, and the only time I left his side was to have a shower and phone Dave.

Then Luke’s temperature dropped to 35, and he was put in a hotcot, I was just so upset. At 10am I fed him for the first time, they told me to feed him by bottle, so I did so, even though I wanted to breast feed him, he took the whole 60mls!

At 4pm he was back on my ward, his sugars were stable but his temperature was still low, so he stayed in the hotcot. He slept constantly, and I didn’t know I had to wake him to feed him, so I let him sleep for 8 hours (I got 3 hours sleep in between) then a nurse woke me up by taking my blood sugar levels and told me that I should wake him to feed him.

I tried to breast feed, but he wasn’t having any of it, I was left alone to try to breastfeed. For over an hour my boy was screaming as I couldn’t latch him on, and when I did, he just pulled himself back off. In the end a midwife gave me a bottle to feed him with, and I decided that I would bottlefeed him. The next day, I was home.

Luke has slept through the night from 6 weeks old, he is a very content little baby, and STILL loves his food!'

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