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Anna's birth story (long)
Anna's Birth Story:
Short version: (as my notes) Date and time: 19/10/03 18:35 1st stage: 12 hours 55 minutes 2nd stage: 15 minutes 3rd stage: 10 minutes Total: 13 hours 20 minutes Pain relief: TENS & gas-and-air Weight: 3013g / 6lb14oz Length: 51cm Head: 34cm Apgars: 9 at 1 minute, 10 at 5 minutes. Long version: I woke at 5:15 on Sunday morning, got up to go to the toilet, and had a sudden twinge of what I thought was back pain. As I was trying to go back to sleep I had another twinge, which was longer (about 20 seconds), and realised that it was a contraction. It was much more painful than the beginning of labour with Rachel, but having had 30 hours of labour with her, I decided to try and go back to sleep. After an hour I was still awake and had had about 6 contractions, all painful, but not longer than 30 seconds and when John rolled over I asked him if he was awake, and when he said he was told him I was in labour, but wasn't sure whether it would develop further, or stop as it wasn't very regular. He asked what I wanted to do, and I said that I was trying to go back to sleep. At about 8:00 I was still contracting, but it hadn't increased in strength, length or frequency, but I woke John. His first words were "did I dream you said you were in labour?"! I told him he hadn't and that I'd like him to fetch the TENS machine. (The hospital hires TENS machines but only once you are in labour) Rachel then came through to our room and I told her that the baby was starting to come out of my tummy. She got very excited, and I explained to her that she would go to play with a friend, which she seemed quite happy about. This was a bit of a relief as she has said at intervals that she wanted to "help" the baby come out. (She also thought that we would all stay in hospital together, when I said that she couldn't sleep there, she told me that there would be a "bed for mummy, a bed for daddy, a cot for baby and a little bed for me"!) John was due to play the piano in church at 11:00 and he asked whether I thought he would be able to do this. Thinking of last time I said that I thought he probably could, but only if he took the mobile phone so I could get him if I needed to. (the church is only a couple of minutes walk away) The contractions were coming more frequently, about 7 minutes apart, but still about the same length. I phoned the hospital to say that I was in labour and would (probably) be in later that day, and my husband was coming in to fetch a TENS machine. Then John phoned a friend who was leading the music group, and asked if she could give him a lift to the hospital to fetch the TENS machine, as we don't have a car and the Sunday bus service is only every hour. I had breakfast, with Rachel, while he fetched the TENS machine, then finished packing the hospital bag and the overnight bag for Rachel. When John returned, he phoned the friend who was taking Rachel, and asked if they could take her after church. The contractions were beginning to get more painful, so I said that I was going for a bath before I had the TENS machine on. Rachel helped to run it and she decided to put some baby oil in, and put so much, that I could scrape it off me once I'd got out! I also had to clean my back before the TENS pads would stick on. When the machine was on it was better, but I then said that I wasn't happy with John going for the whole church service, which is about 90 minutes long, so we agreed on him coming home before the sermon. This meant he played all the songs bar one, and was home about half way through. When he came home just before midday, I was beginning to wonder about going into hospital. The contractions were just getting much more painful-I couldn 't stay still during them but were still varying as to length and frequency. I found that if I had a space of more than 5 minutes, then the contraction would be more than a minute, but if I had a space of about 2-3 minutes then the contraction would be more like 20 seconds. Mostly they were shorter and quicker. We then thought we'd better decide on a name, having not managed to so far! We had lunch, phoned to check that Rachel was okay (she was!), and then I decided to time my contractions, partially to see if there was any pattern, partially for something to do. Over the course of the next hour I wrote down the time and length of each contraction, and realised that they were definitely increasing, if only slightly in frequency and length. They were now mostly less than 5 minutes apart and at least 45 seconds long, and some were as long as 90 seconds. They were probably more painful too as I had to turn the TENS machine up. This was the point (about 3:00pm) I decided I'd better go in, so we got our lift into the hospital, and hoped that I'd remembered to pack everything I'd meant to! On the car journey, the contractions slowed down, and we went up to the delivery suite, with me feeling nervous that it was all stopping. We were shown into one of the delivery rooms (I think it was "D") and introduced to our midwife, whose name I've unfortunately forgotten, and a student midwife, Maureen. Both were really nice and helpful, which was good because I was getting really nervous and remembering last time. They did the usual listening to heartbeat, taking blood pressure etc. The machine gave me a usual blood pressure reading, but gave my pulse as 147, which is about double for me, and they were a bit concerned as to whether I had an infection, so decided to take my temperature. The thermometers were new and the student midwife had to instruct the other as to use, which was quite funny, and luckily my temperature was normal and so they decided the pulse was probably okay. They asked what I wanted (having ignored the birth plan last time I didn't bother writing one this time!) and I said I guessed an epidural, but I hated internals. She pointed out that I had to have one if I wanted an epidural, which I knew, so I got on the bed to try, and got the gas-and-air. It's the bit that I really dread and I was getting really nervous, so she suggested that I could try without an internal if I was prepared not to have an epidural. At the time this seemed a good proposition, and they left us for a bit wile I opened the windows and John got the bed up to a height I could lean on. When they came back the contractions were much more painful and I needed the gas-and-air as well as TENS with each contraction. Last time I never really got into the gas-and-air, but this time I found that it did help. The midwives came back in from time to time and checked that all was well (brought tea for John and water for me), checked the heartbeat and chatted, which was nice not to feel forgotten, but to have space on our own. At one stage when they were talking to us the tour of the suite came round and knocked on the door. I offered to give a scream or two to encourage the mothers-to-be going round, but was discouraged from that! It was about 5:30 that I started feeling like I wanted to push. For a few contractions I tried to ignore the feeling because having had a long labour last time, I was convinced it would be about the same length again and it couldn't possibly be time to push. Eventually I said to John that I knew that it was silly, but I felt like I wanted to push. He pressed the alarm button and the midwives came back in. They told me to push if I felt like it and I rather nervously tried the next time. I was still leaning over the side of the bed at this stage, but then wanted to lie down, so I lay down on the floor. They suggested I moved to the bed, but I'd forgotten (!) that it could move up and down, and it was high for me to lean on, and I didn't want to climb up that high, so I insisted on staying on the floor. I was passed a pillow, and I lay on my side and pushed. I really wanted to know how long I was going to have to push for, but suddenly the waters broke. It was very encouraging as I then felt that I was doing some good, but the poor midwives got rather soaked! I don't think it was many more contractions before John suddenly said that he could see the face and Anna came out, at 6:35pm. They passed Anna up to me, which felt very strange as she was still attached. It took a few minutes before they asked me to push again and the placenta came out. John tried to cut the cord, and the scissors were blunt! Then they examined me and said I didn't need stitches, which was what I really wanted to hear. I had a first degree tear only, which didn't need stitches. So I climbed up and sat in the chair and fed Anna. She immediately latched on and had a really good feed. She then stayed awake looking round at everything-or as much as she could see anyway! While I was feeding her there was a power cut and we were under emergency lighting only. Apparently other mothers in labour were transferred to another hospital as the resuscitation machines don't have any back up power and so didn't work, so she came out just in time! They couldn't do the baby checks without lighting so we waited some time before they decided to do it with a torch. Then as they produced the torch, the lights came back on! I developed really bad back ache and asked for a paracetamol, which seemed to clear it. John rushed off to phone Rachel as it was now after 7:00 and we thought she might be going to bed. She was very happy, and excited to hear the news, but went off to bed happily. I then went for a bath and was surprised how little blood I was losing compared to last time. We then had to hurry slightly over to the post-natal ward as visitors time finished at 9:00, and John wanted to catch a bus just after then home. Anna managed to sleep through till nearly 3:00am, which is more than I did!. I developed a bit of a migraine due to not drinking enough, and had to ask for more pain killers. After feeding Anna went back to sleep until 9:00, which is the best night she's had so far! The next day I saw Maureen, who came to see how we were, and brought a present for Anna of some knitted booties (knitted by her mother) and some matching pink socks for one of Rachel's dolls. I thought that was really nice and Rachel was thrilled to have a present too! In the morning I phoned up John to ask him to bring a couple of things, and spoke to Rachel, who was very excited. She wanted to know if the baby had come out of my tummy and was pleased to hear it had. John and Rachel then came in and Rachel was very keen to hold Anna. I went home that evening. Anna's now feeding reasonably well. At her check on Friday (5 day) she had put on ½ oz, taking her to 6lb 14 ½ oz, and her cord fell off on Saturday. She's sleeping reasonably during the night, waking up 2-3 times, which is more than Rachel-but is getting better. Last night she was fed at 10:00, 1:00, 4:00 and then not until 9:00. She's very contented and only really cries during the nappy change, and has a couple of short awake periods during the day when she's happy just to sit and watch in a bouncy chair. She has dark blue eyes, and hair that was fairly dark at birth, but is rapidly becoming fairer. She looks a bit skinny at the moment but I think that's mostly because Rachel was about the same length, but a pound heavier. She's trying to suck her thumb and nearly manages it most times now. Rachel is still an adoring older sister, and thinks she has an extra doll, although she's been trying to join in on any feeding going today. And she's particularly enjoying all the extra presents she can open "for" Anna. She's determined that Anna wants the teddy she bought for her with her all the time and we get told off if we forget it! Debbie |
#2
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Anna's birth story (long)
Welcome to Anna!! Awesome birth story. So glad things went so well,
excellent timing to miss the power outage! Congrats! Kat Mama to Maggie 11/03/01 and #2 EDD 02/01/04 (It's a Boy!) "Welches" wrote in message ... Anna's Birth Story: Short version: (as my notes) Date and time: 19/10/03 18:35 1st stage: 12 hours 55 minutes 2nd stage: 15 minutes 3rd stage: 10 minutes Total: 13 hours 20 minutes Pain relief: TENS & gas-and-air Weight: 3013g / 6lb14oz Length: 51cm Head: 34cm Apgars: 9 at 1 minute, 10 at 5 minutes. Long version: I woke at 5:15 on Sunday morning, got up to go to the toilet, and had a sudden twinge of what I thought was back pain. As I was trying to go back to sleep I had another twinge, which was longer (about 20 seconds), and realised that it was a contraction. It was much more painful than the beginning of labour with Rachel, but having had 30 hours of labour with her, I decided to try and go back to sleep. After an hour I was still awake and had had about 6 contractions, all painful, but not longer than 30 seconds and when John rolled over I asked him if he was awake, and when he said he was told him I was in labour, but wasn't sure whether it would develop further, or stop as it wasn't very regular. He asked what I wanted to do, and I said that I was trying to go back to sleep. At about 8:00 I was still contracting, but it hadn't increased in strength, length or frequency, but I woke John. His first words were "did I dream you said you were in labour?"! I told him he hadn't and that I'd like him to fetch the TENS machine. (The hospital hires TENS machines but only once you are in labour) Rachel then came through to our room and I told her that the baby was starting to come out of my tummy. She got very excited, and I explained to her that she would go to play with a friend, which she seemed quite happy about. This was a bit of a relief as she has said at intervals that she wanted to "help" the baby come out. (She also thought that we would all stay in hospital together, when I said that she couldn't sleep there, she told me that there would be a "bed for mummy, a bed for daddy, a cot for baby and a little bed for me"!) John was due to play the piano in church at 11:00 and he asked whether I thought he would be able to do this. Thinking of last time I said that I thought he probably could, but only if he took the mobile phone so I could get him if I needed to. (the church is only a couple of minutes walk away) The contractions were coming more frequently, about 7 minutes apart, but still about the same length. I phoned the hospital to say that I was in labour and would (probably) be in later that day, and my husband was coming in to fetch a TENS machine. Then John phoned a friend who was leading the music group, and asked if she could give him a lift to the hospital to fetch the TENS machine, as we don't have a car and the Sunday bus service is only every hour. I had breakfast, with Rachel, while he fetched the TENS machine, then finished packing the hospital bag and the overnight bag for Rachel. When John returned, he phoned the friend who was taking Rachel, and asked if they could take her after church. The contractions were beginning to get more painful, so I said that I was going for a bath before I had the TENS machine on. Rachel helped to run it and she decided to put some baby oil in, and put so much, that I could scrape it off me once I'd got out! I also had to clean my back before the TENS pads would stick on. When the machine was on it was better, but I then said that I wasn't happy with John going for the whole church service, which is about 90 minutes long, so we agreed on him coming home before the sermon. This meant he played all the songs bar one, and was home about half way through. When he came home just before midday, I was beginning to wonder about going into hospital. The contractions were just getting much more painful-I couldn 't stay still during them but were still varying as to length and frequency. I found that if I had a space of more than 5 minutes, then the contraction would be more than a minute, but if I had a space of about 2-3 minutes then the contraction would be more like 20 seconds. Mostly they were shorter and quicker. We then thought we'd better decide on a name, having not managed to so far! We had lunch, phoned to check that Rachel was okay (she was!), and then I decided to time my contractions, partially to see if there was any pattern, partially for something to do. Over the course of the next hour I wrote down the time and length of each contraction, and realised that they were definitely increasing, if only slightly in frequency and length. They were now mostly less than 5 minutes apart and at least 45 seconds long, and some were as long as 90 seconds. They were probably more painful too as I had to turn the TENS machine up. This was the point (about 3:00pm) I decided I'd better go in, so we got our lift into the hospital, and hoped that I'd remembered to pack everything I'd meant to! On the car journey, the contractions slowed down, and we went up to the delivery suite, with me feeling nervous that it was all stopping. We were shown into one of the delivery rooms (I think it was "D") and introduced to our midwife, whose name I've unfortunately forgotten, and a student midwife, Maureen. Both were really nice and helpful, which was good because I was getting really nervous and remembering last time. They did the usual listening to heartbeat, taking blood pressure etc. The machine gave me a usual blood pressure reading, but gave my pulse as 147, which is about double for me, and they were a bit concerned as to whether I had an infection, so decided to take my temperature. The thermometers were new and the student midwife had to instruct the other as to use, which was quite funny, and luckily my temperature was normal and so they decided the pulse was probably okay. They asked what I wanted (having ignored the birth plan last time I didn't bother writing one this time!) and I said I guessed an epidural, but I hated internals. She pointed out that I had to have one if I wanted an epidural, which I knew, so I got on the bed to try, and got the gas-and-air. It's the bit that I really dread and I was getting really nervous, so she suggested that I could try without an internal if I was prepared not to have an epidural. At the time this seemed a good proposition, and they left us for a bit wile I opened the windows and John got the bed up to a height I could lean on. When they came back the contractions were much more painful and I needed the gas-and-air as well as TENS with each contraction. Last time I never really got into the gas-and-air, but this time I found that it did help. The midwives came back in from time to time and checked that all was well (brought tea for John and water for me), checked the heartbeat and chatted, which was nice not to feel forgotten, but to have space on our own. At one stage when they were talking to us the tour of the suite came round and knocked on the door. I offered to give a scream or two to encourage the mothers-to-be going round, but was discouraged from that! It was about 5:30 that I started feeling like I wanted to push. For a few contractions I tried to ignore the feeling because having had a long labour last time, I was convinced it would be about the same length again and it couldn't possibly be time to push. Eventually I said to John that I knew that it was silly, but I felt like I wanted to push. He pressed the alarm button and the midwives came back in. They told me to push if I felt like it and I rather nervously tried the next time. I was still leaning over the side of the bed at this stage, but then wanted to lie down, so I lay down on the floor. They suggested I moved to the bed, but I'd forgotten (!) that it could move up and down, and it was high for me to lean on, and I didn't want to climb up that high, so I insisted on staying on the floor. I was passed a pillow, and I lay on my side and pushed. I really wanted to know how long I was going to have to push for, but suddenly the waters broke. It was very encouraging as I then felt that I was doing some good, but the poor midwives got rather soaked! I don't think it was many more contractions before John suddenly said that he could see the face and Anna came out, at 6:35pm. They passed Anna up to me, which felt very strange as she was still attached. It took a few minutes before they asked me to push again and the placenta came out. John tried to cut the cord, and the scissors were blunt! Then they examined me and said I didn't need stitches, which was what I really wanted to hear. I had a first degree tear only, which didn't need stitches. So I climbed up and sat in the chair and fed Anna. She immediately latched on and had a really good feed. She then stayed awake looking round at everything-or as much as she could see anyway! While I was feeding her there was a power cut and we were under emergency lighting only. Apparently other mothers in labour were transferred to another hospital as the resuscitation machines don't have any back up power and so didn't work, so she came out just in time! They couldn't do the baby checks without lighting so we waited some time before they decided to do it with a torch. Then as they produced the torch, the lights came back on! I developed really bad back ache and asked for a paracetamol, which seemed to clear it. John rushed off to phone Rachel as it was now after 7:00 and we thought she might be going to bed. She was very happy, and excited to hear the news, but went off to bed happily. I then went for a bath and was surprised how little blood I was losing compared to last time. We then had to hurry slightly over to the post-natal ward as visitors time finished at 9:00, and John wanted to catch a bus just after then home. Anna managed to sleep through till nearly 3:00am, which is more than I did!. I developed a bit of a migraine due to not drinking enough, and had to ask for more pain killers. After feeding Anna went back to sleep until 9:00, which is the best night she's had so far! The next day I saw Maureen, who came to see how we were, and brought a present for Anna of some knitted booties (knitted by her mother) and some matching pink socks for one of Rachel's dolls. I thought that was really nice and Rachel was thrilled to have a present too! In the morning I phoned up John to ask him to bring a couple of things, and spoke to Rachel, who was very excited. She wanted to know if the baby had come out of my tummy and was pleased to hear it had. John and Rachel then came in and Rachel was very keen to hold Anna. I went home that evening. Anna's now feeding reasonably well. At her check on Friday (5 day) she had put on ½ oz, taking her to 6lb 14 ½ oz, and her cord fell off on Saturday. She's sleeping reasonably during the night, waking up 2-3 times, which is more than Rachel-but is getting better. Last night she was fed at 10:00, 1:00, 4:00 and then not until 9:00. She's very contented and only really cries during the nappy change, and has a couple of short awake periods during the day when she's happy just to sit and watch in a bouncy chair. She has dark blue eyes, and hair that was fairly dark at birth, but is rapidly becoming fairer. She looks a bit skinny at the moment but I think that's mostly because Rachel was about the same length, but a pound heavier. She's trying to suck her thumb and nearly manages it most times now. Rachel is still an adoring older sister, and thinks she has an extra doll, although she's been trying to join in on any feeding going today. And she's particularly enjoying all the extra presents she can open "for" Anna. She's determined that Anna wants the teddy she bought for her with her all the time and we get told off if we forget it! Debbie |
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Anna's birth story (long)
Welches wrote:
Anna's Birth Story: Congratulations on Anna's birth, and thanks for sharing your birthstry :-) -- Andrea If I can't be a good example, then I'll just have to be a horrible warning. |
#4
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Anna's birth story (long)
Hey,same day as my baby! Congrats and great story!
"Welches" wrote in message ... Anna's Birth Story: Short version: (as my notes) Date and time: 19/10/03 18:35 1st stage: 12 hours 55 minutes 2nd stage: 15 minutes 3rd stage: 10 minutes Total: 13 hours 20 minutes Pain relief: TENS & gas-and-air Weight: 3013g / 6lb14oz Length: 51cm Head: 34cm Apgars: 9 at 1 minute, 10 at 5 minutes. |
#5
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Anna's birth story (long)
Congrats!
-- Kristi EDD June "Welches" wrote in message ... Anna's Birth Story: Short version: (as my notes) Date and time: 19/10/03 18:35 1st stage: 12 hours 55 minutes 2nd stage: 15 minutes 3rd stage: 10 minutes Total: 13 hours 20 minutes Pain relief: TENS & gas-and-air Weight: 3013g / 6lb14oz Length: 51cm Head: 34cm Apgars: 9 at 1 minute, 10 at 5 minutes. Long version: I woke at 5:15 on Sunday morning, got up to go to the toilet, and had a sudden twinge of what I thought was back pain. As I was trying to go back to sleep I had another twinge, which was longer (about 20 seconds), and realised that it was a contraction. It was much more painful than the beginning of labour with Rachel, but having had 30 hours of labour with her, I decided to try and go back to sleep. After an hour I was still awake and had had about 6 contractions, all painful, but not longer than 30 seconds and when John rolled over I asked him if he was awake, and when he said he was told him I was in labour, but wasn't sure whether it would develop further, or stop as it wasn't very regular. He asked what I wanted to do, and I said that I was trying to go back to sleep. At about 8:00 I was still contracting, but it hadn't increased in strength, length or frequency, but I woke John. His first words were "did I dream you said you were in labour?"! I told him he hadn't and that I'd like him to fetch the TENS machine. (The hospital hires TENS machines but only once you are in labour) Rachel then came through to our room and I told her that the baby was starting to come out of my tummy. She got very excited, and I explained to her that she would go to play with a friend, which she seemed quite happy about. This was a bit of a relief as she has said at intervals that she wanted to "help" the baby come out. (She also thought that we would all stay in hospital together, when I said that she couldn't sleep there, she told me that there would be a "bed for mummy, a bed for daddy, a cot for baby and a little bed for me"!) John was due to play the piano in church at 11:00 and he asked whether I thought he would be able to do this. Thinking of last time I said that I thought he probably could, but only if he took the mobile phone so I could get him if I needed to. (the church is only a couple of minutes walk away) The contractions were coming more frequently, about 7 minutes apart, but still about the same length. I phoned the hospital to say that I was in labour and would (probably) be in later that day, and my husband was coming in to fetch a TENS machine. Then John phoned a friend who was leading the music group, and asked if she could give him a lift to the hospital to fetch the TENS machine, as we don't have a car and the Sunday bus service is only every hour. I had breakfast, with Rachel, while he fetched the TENS machine, then finished packing the hospital bag and the overnight bag for Rachel. When John returned, he phoned the friend who was taking Rachel, and asked if they could take her after church. The contractions were beginning to get more painful, so I said that I was going for a bath before I had the TENS machine on. Rachel helped to run it and she decided to put some baby oil in, and put so much, that I could scrape it off me once I'd got out! I also had to clean my back before the TENS pads would stick on. When the machine was on it was better, but I then said that I wasn't happy with John going for the whole church service, which is about 90 minutes long, so we agreed on him coming home before the sermon. This meant he played all the songs bar one, and was home about half way through. When he came home just before midday, I was beginning to wonder about going into hospital. The contractions were just getting much more painful-I couldn 't stay still during them but were still varying as to length and frequency. I found that if I had a space of more than 5 minutes, then the contraction would be more than a minute, but if I had a space of about 2-3 minutes then the contraction would be more like 20 seconds. Mostly they were shorter and quicker. We then thought we'd better decide on a name, having not managed to so far! We had lunch, phoned to check that Rachel was okay (she was!), and then I decided to time my contractions, partially to see if there was any pattern, partially for something to do. Over the course of the next hour I wrote down the time and length of each contraction, and realised that they were definitely increasing, if only slightly in frequency and length. They were now mostly less than 5 minutes apart and at least 45 seconds long, and some were as long as 90 seconds. They were probably more painful too as I had to turn the TENS machine up. This was the point (about 3:00pm) I decided I'd better go in, so we got our lift into the hospital, and hoped that I'd remembered to pack everything I'd meant to! On the car journey, the contractions slowed down, and we went up to the delivery suite, with me feeling nervous that it was all stopping. We were shown into one of the delivery rooms (I think it was "D") and introduced to our midwife, whose name I've unfortunately forgotten, and a student midwife, Maureen. Both were really nice and helpful, which was good because I was getting really nervous and remembering last time. They did the usual listening to heartbeat, taking blood pressure etc. The machine gave me a usual blood pressure reading, but gave my pulse as 147, which is about double for me, and they were a bit concerned as to whether I had an infection, so decided to take my temperature. The thermometers were new and the student midwife had to instruct the other as to use, which was quite funny, and luckily my temperature was normal and so they decided the pulse was probably okay. They asked what I wanted (having ignored the birth plan last time I didn't bother writing one this time!) and I said I guessed an epidural, but I hated internals. She pointed out that I had to have one if I wanted an epidural, which I knew, so I got on the bed to try, and got the gas-and-air. It's the bit that I really dread and I was getting really nervous, so she suggested that I could try without an internal if I was prepared not to have an epidural. At the time this seemed a good proposition, and they left us for a bit wile I opened the windows and John got the bed up to a height I could lean on. When they came back the contractions were much more painful and I needed the gas-and-air as well as TENS with each contraction. Last time I never really got into the gas-and-air, but this time I found that it did help. The midwives came back in from time to time and checked that all was well (brought tea for John and water for me), checked the heartbeat and chatted, which was nice not to feel forgotten, but to have space on our own. At one stage when they were talking to us the tour of the suite came round and knocked on the door. I offered to give a scream or two to encourage the mothers-to-be going round, but was discouraged from that! It was about 5:30 that I started feeling like I wanted to push. For a few contractions I tried to ignore the feeling because having had a long labour last time, I was convinced it would be about the same length again and it couldn't possibly be time to push. Eventually I said to John that I knew that it was silly, but I felt like I wanted to push. He pressed the alarm button and the midwives came back in. They told me to push if I felt like it and I rather nervously tried the next time. I was still leaning over the side of the bed at this stage, but then wanted to lie down, so I lay down on the floor. They suggested I moved to the bed, but I'd forgotten (!) that it could move up and down, and it was high for me to lean on, and I didn't want to climb up that high, so I insisted on staying on the floor. I was passed a pillow, and I lay on my side and pushed. I really wanted to know how long I was going to have to push for, but suddenly the waters broke. It was very encouraging as I then felt that I was doing some good, but the poor midwives got rather soaked! I don't think it was many more contractions before John suddenly said that he could see the face and Anna came out, at 6:35pm. They passed Anna up to me, which felt very strange as she was still attached. It took a few minutes before they asked me to push again and the placenta came out. John tried to cut the cord, and the scissors were blunt! Then they examined me and said I didn't need stitches, which was what I really wanted to hear. I had a first degree tear only, which didn't need stitches. So I climbed up and sat in the chair and fed Anna. She immediately latched on and had a really good feed. She then stayed awake looking round at everything-or as much as she could see anyway! While I was feeding her there was a power cut and we were under emergency lighting only. Apparently other mothers in labour were transferred to another hospital as the resuscitation machines don't have any back up power and so didn't work, so she came out just in time! They couldn't do the baby checks without lighting so we waited some time before they decided to do it with a torch. Then as they produced the torch, the lights came back on! I developed really bad back ache and asked for a paracetamol, which seemed to clear it. John rushed off to phone Rachel as it was now after 7:00 and we thought she might be going to bed. She was very happy, and excited to hear the news, but went off to bed happily. I then went for a bath and was surprised how little blood I was losing compared to last time. We then had to hurry slightly over to the post-natal ward as visitors time finished at 9:00, and John wanted to catch a bus just after then home. Anna managed to sleep through till nearly 3:00am, which is more than I did!. I developed a bit of a migraine due to not drinking enough, and had to ask for more pain killers. After feeding Anna went back to sleep until 9:00, which is the best night she's had so far! The next day I saw Maureen, who came to see how we were, and brought a present for Anna of some knitted booties (knitted by her mother) and some matching pink socks for one of Rachel's dolls. I thought that was really nice and Rachel was thrilled to have a present too! In the morning I phoned up John to ask him to bring a couple of things, and spoke to Rachel, who was very excited. She wanted to know if the baby had come out of my tummy and was pleased to hear it had. John and Rachel then came in and Rachel was very keen to hold Anna. I went home that evening. Anna's now feeding reasonably well. At her check on Friday (5 day) she had put on ½ oz, taking her to 6lb 14 ½ oz, and her cord fell off on Saturday. She's sleeping reasonably during the night, waking up 2-3 times, which is more than Rachel-but is getting better. Last night she was fed at 10:00, 1:00, 4:00 and then not until 9:00. She's very contented and only really cries during the nappy change, and has a couple of short awake periods during the day when she's happy just to sit and watch in a bouncy chair. She has dark blue eyes, and hair that was fairly dark at birth, but is rapidly becoming fairer. She looks a bit skinny at the moment but I think that's mostly because Rachel was about the same length, but a pound heavier. She's trying to suck her thumb and nearly manages it most times now. Rachel is still an adoring older sister, and thinks she has an extra doll, although she's been trying to join in on any feeding going today. And she's particularly enjoying all the extra presents she can open "for" Anna. She's determined that Anna wants the teddy she bought for her with her all the time and we get told off if we forget it! Debbie |
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Anna's birth story (long)
Wonderful story Debbie! Congratulations and welcome to little Anna.
Love Nicky |
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Anna's birth story (long)
Welches wrote: Anna's Birth Story: Short version: (as my notes) Date and time: 19/10/03 18:35 1st stage: 12 hours 55 minutes 2nd stage: 15 minutes 3rd stage: 10 minutes Total: 13 hours 20 minutes Pain relief: TENS & gas-and-air Weight: 3013g / 6lb14oz Length: 51cm Head: 34cm Apgars: 9 at 1 minute, 10 at 5 minutes. Debbie Congratulations Debbie! Welcome to Anna and Rachel sounds adorable! -- Vidya mom to Vandu(4) EDD May 6th '04 |
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Anna's birth story (long)
"Welches" wrote in message
Anna's Birth Story: Short version: (as my notes) Date and time: 19/10/03 18:35 1st stage: 12 hours 55 minutes 2nd stage: 15 minutes 3rd stage: 10 minutes Total: 13 hours 20 minutes Pain relief: TENS & gas-and-air Weight: 3013g / 6lb14oz Length: 51cm Head: 34cm Apgars: 9 at 1 minute, 10 at 5 minutes. snip Thanks for sharing the whole story, Debbie! Sounds like things went very well. That power outage was a strange little twist--glad she made it just in time! -- Em mama to Lann, 9/21/03 |
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