My Birth Story...

Another gap in my blogging but with good reason I feel :o)

6th November 2010
(the day before my due date)

After my second Stretch and Sweep on the morning of the 7th of November (My due date) I was told that I was 2cm to 3cm dilated and to stay active and upright to get things moving. I had pre-labour pains all day Sunday and on and off for the next few days but I was very worried about becoming the boy who cried wolf (or at least the wife who cried labour) and by Wednesday the 10th of November I had actually said to my hubby that I was sure I was going to be induced and I was just going to come to terms with that in my head and make the best of a bad situation (My induction had been pre-booked for the 20th November)

On the evening of the 10th, hubby and I went to bed (after some "snuggling"). I then woke up at 5:30am in a puddle but as I had got in the habit of rising early with a full bladder I was unsure as to the nature of the "puddle" (was this a very embarrassing accident or was it in fact amniotic fluid),  So after a bathroom break I returned to bed, put down a bath towel and went back to sleep.

I slept until 7am and then had to get up to get my daughter ready for school. I was in some discomfort  when I woke her and I recall saying to her that I thought perhaps the baby would be coming that day. I then went down stairs and started on breakfast. I was busy stirring porridge on the hob and singing along to the "Hairspray" soundtrack to try to distract myself from the increasing pains, I used an app on my mobile phone to time my contractions which were about every 4 to 5 minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute. Suddenly I felt a desperate need for the loo and ran from the kitchen (to worried looks from my Hubby).

Sitting on the loo, I just took time to collect myself and to figure out what was happening. I quickly had to come to terms with the fact that this was DEFINITELY labour, I had my mobile phone with me and called the Community Midwife's office but got a recorded message as it was too early in the morning. I called my mum as we had planned that she could look after my daughter during my labour and then I concentrated on my breathing, and visualised the baby swimming downwards with every contraction. I don't know how long I sat in on the loo for but I know that I was sick a couple of times and then at some point Hubby got worried enough to come and check on me, but I was concentrating so much on the sensations in my body and my breathing that I couldn't find the strength to answer him. He then opened the toilet door to check on me properly and found me slightly panicked and moving between shivers and sweats.

Hubby called the Labour ward at the hospital as we still couldn't get an answer on the Community Midwife's number. They advised that they would alert the Midwife ASAP and get someone to us.

I managed to stand up and lent against the cloakroom sink whilst Hubby fitted my TENS unit to my back and applied extra pressure to the base of my spine during each contraction. Things got painful pretty fast. Contractions had increased to every 2 minutes and were lasting about 1 minute. I know I was getting a bit panicky as I felt that there was just no time to rest between contractions. I recall saying to Hubby that if it carried on like this I might have to transfer to hospital and have and epidural as I didn't think I could cope with much more. I got a bit teary and panicky but all the while I continued to stand and hold on the to edge of the sink and spiral my hips with each contraction, imagining the baby swimming down, down down with each wave of pain.

The Midwives arrived around 8:30am (having first gone to my next door neighbours house) and then my Mum arrived to look after my daughter. Everything is a bit of a blur after that as the Midwives got themselves set up in the living room and my daughter was shuffled off to school with my mum. They managed to get me to let go of the sink (which had become my lifeline) and move though to the lounge.

They needed to examine me to ascertain how far along I was, but getting me into a position to do this proved a bit tricky as my contractions seemed to be coming one on top of the other and I was jabbing the boost button on my TENS like my life depended on it.  It was just before 9am, once I was positioned on a couple of messy mats on the sofa and they were able to give me an internal. I can still recall the amazing feeling of accomplishment and the boost to my will power and energy when they told me that I was already 8cm dilated.

It was all pretty fast and intense from then on. I remember saying it felt like a needed to poo and the Midwife saying that it was fine, that was how it was meant to feel, it was the baby moving down the birth canal and that if I felt like I needed to push then I could go for it. There are no words to describe the feeling you get when you give over control and allow your natural instincts to takes over, letting your body do what it needs to do.

Hubby lit the candles on our pregnancy altar and with my TENS machine on permanent boost, I alternated between locking eyes with him and then closing my eyes and concentrating on the contractions. I never did make it off the sofa (I had always planned to give birth on my hands and knees over the ottoman) with just a few pushes the baby's head was delivered and the Midwife had me pant a couple of times to hold off the next push whilst she checked the shoulders, and then with one more big push the baby was born and placed on my tummy.

I immediately looked down to see whether we had a boy or a girl and was delighted to see that we had a perfect baby boy.

Baby Ozcar Viktor Lysander Bryant, Born at 9:40am, 11th November 2010, weighing 9lbs 5oz

He was put to my breast to suckle whilst the Midwifes injected me with a drug to speed up the delivery of my Placenta (we had agreed to this to limit the likelihood of a Post Partum Hemorrhage).

One of the loveliest things about getting the homebirth was that after the birth I was able to simply relax back on the sofa and marvel at the beautiful child I had given birth too, whilst everyone else just got on with things around me. I was brought a cup of tea, and Ozcar was assessed without ever having to be removed from my sight. The pediatrician visited us later in the day to do the newborn checks, my daughter came home from school to be greeted by a new baby bro and in the evening we allowed a few family to visit.

Even though it was all pretty sudden and intense I wouldn't change it for the world.


Our Family, with new addition, Ozcar Viktor Lysander Bryant
(Born 09:40am - 11th November 2010)



Midwife Appointment... 5 weeks to go!

I discussed the terrible consultant appointment with my Midwife who was really understanding, she can see my point of view and whilst she has to inform me of all the possible "risks" to choosing a home birth she is happy to support me in my decision. She also agreed that the consultants seemed a little blinkered but as I am healthy and open to the idea of transferring to hospital should the need arise I think it will be fine.

The next time I see the Midwife will be at my house when she comes to asses the space we have for the home birth and to give me my home birth kit... it is all getting a bit exciting now :o)

I am now starting to write and re-write my birth plan and have opted to write 2 separate plans, one for my home birth and one as an "in case of emergency" for if I have to transfer to hospital (only a 6 minute journey for us by car so even quicker by ambulance I'm sure)

I feel that by separating out the plans in this way I will be able to fully prepare myself for the possibilities of going into hospital without seeing it as a foregone conclusion which might cloud my otherwise positive outlook on the labour and delivery.

In the mean time, "Bean" is still pretty lively and enjoys a good kick of my ribs from time to time :o) I have also been experiencing lots of Braxton Hicks contractions so hopefully this all points to everything moving along nicely

Weight Loss & Bump Gain

I had a great night out for my birthday, although I did probably over do the dancing and was very achy the next day - opps!

I saw my midwife on the 23/09/10 and she confirmed thst I had lost a little over 4kg since my booking in appointment, and whilst she herself was not concerned about it she understoop my worries. She measured my bump which was slightly above average made me an appointment to have another scan just to check that the "Bean" was developing well and was neither too small or too large for my dates.

I saw the consultant at the hospital today (30/09/10) - I REALLY don't like them!!!! They appear to be ossessed with my having a child who is too big for me to birth at home and keep on at me about the risks of shoulder dystocia ( http://www.shoulderdystociainfo.com/anticipated.htm ) which I really began to feel they were using as a direct attack at me. I have no history of dystocia from my previous pregnancy dispite my daughter being 8lb 12oz (3.97kg) and I just felt that the consultants weren't listening to me.

I went down for my scan which showed the "Bean" to be just a little bit above average but still well within the normally accepted limits for a healthy pregnancy and with a current estimated weight of 5lb 3oz (2.35kg) - this news seemed to annoy the consultants who then had very little reason to refuse me my home birth, however they were not giving up and chose to bring up the Post Natal Depression I had suffered after the birth of my daughter, I just pointed out that not only did I get through that period of my life without medication but thatmmy life now was so far removed from my life 8 years ago that I felt that a comparison was not possible to make.

Needless to say Hubby and I left the hospital happy that "Bean" was well but p*ssed at the consultants for their poor attitudes.

So... It's not Gastritus after all...

Well at least I know what's wrong with me now...

Another bad "Gastritus" attack on Wednesday night had me calling Hubby at work and asking him to take me to A&E again the pains were just so bad that I am not ashamed to say I wanted the relief that I got last time from hospital strength meds.

Once again the staff at A&E were brilliant and I was seen straight away, but I was in a pretty bad way, by the time we got there, so they put me straight on to a drip and gave me Paracetamol followed by Morphine (seriously trippy and just a little scary) to take away the pain and to calm me down.

I was diagnosed as being hypotensive which was a bit concerning so spent some time hooked up to an ECG monitor and then had to make the decision as to whether to go ahead with the x-ray which the doctor wanted to do. We eventually concented to an x-ray (the purpose of which was to check for perforations in my bowel) and were glad to be told that everything looked ok.

The consultant then said that he susspected Gall Stones and wanted to do an ultrasound of my Gall Bladder in the morning... so off to the ward I go to spend a night in hospital

I didn't get much sleep though as it was about 3am by the time I got to the ward (I did get my own room though which must have been to keep me away from the other sick peeps because of my pregnancy) the ward staff then had to book me in and do all of the usual checks like blood pressure and temperature and before I knew it the sun was up and the doctors had begun their morning rounds.

I spent the morning trying not to think about food (as I was nil by mouth) and using my mobile to research Gall Stones ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallstone )

I went down for my ultra sound at about 10am and the scan confirmed the existance of several Gall Stones which was worrying but I was just glad that I finally had got a correct diagnosis and could now look at preventative measures.

The consultant has said that I will have to have my Gall Bladder removed after the Bean is born but that until then I will have to be on a REALLY low fat diet... this includes:

Things To Avoid

• Butter, Margarine, olive oil, sunflower oils, lard, suet
• All fried foods
• Full cream or Jersey milk, evaporated and condensed milk, full-fat cream inc. soft cheese, cheddar, stilton, cream cheese and full fat yogurt
• Fatty meat, eg Lamb, beef, Processed meat eg sausages corned beef, beefburgers, meat pies, tinned meat, fried eggs, all fish tinned in oil, smoked mackerel
• Biscuits, especially digestives, cream or chocolate biscuits, hobnobs, cream cakes, marzipan, danishes, pastries, sponge cake
• Crisps, nuts, bombay mix, low fat crisps, chips
• Chocolate, toffee, fudge, coconut
• Fruit pies & crumbles, milk puddings, ice cream, gateaux
• Pastry foods eg quiche, oil-based salad dressings e.g vinaigrette, mayonnaise, cream or cheese sauces, gravy (made with the fat or juices from the meat), creamy dips, hummour, avocados, & creamy soups

Unfortunatly for me I have to check this list against the list of things the docs recommend you avoid eating during pregnancy. eg the dietitian recommended that I eat shell fish as an alternative to processed or fatty meats but of course these are off the menu when you are pregnant... I was please to see I can still eat Marshmallows though :o) thank the Gods for small mercies.

So from now on it is vegetables, steamed rice and skinless chicken for me... I'll keep you posted on my progress

20 Week Scan

So glad that we had a different lady doing the scan today, she was much more gentle with me :o)

Pictures to follow, once I have fixed our scanner

Nuchal Scan

I don't think I have ever felt more like a piece of meat!!!

I was in such pain today after our nuchal scan, the woman who performed it was really rough and quite abrupt which somewhat spoilt what should have been a beautiful and special milestone for us.

Not only that but when I complained that it hurt she said it was because my BMI was too high and so it was hard to scan me...

Now I know that I am a curvy gal but I just felt that her rude nature was really uncalled for.

*ok rant over*

Never the less we have been able to see "the bean" jumping and diving about inside me now, 2 arms, 2 legs and all the right bits in between and have been told that our chance of a Downs baby is minimal.

Seeing is Beleiving

After a horribly long weeks wait for my scan we were today treated to our first glimpse of the little bean.

I had a tummy scan first which showed the bean was in the right place (they were concerned that my pains were caused by an ectopic implantation)

This was followed by an internal scan (not the most dignigied thing but not as uncomfortable as I'd expected) this checked for ovarian cysts and gave a more detailed view of the bean.

We could see Bean's little heart beating away and the obstetrician confirmed that I am 8 weeks pregnant.

I was sad that we didn't get a scan picture though, they had run out of paper! argh!!!