It was Thursday and I was 13 Days over due with my baby girl. This was my first pregnancy and I was becoming very impatient. I was due to be induced the next day but was asked to come into hospital the day before to have the gel put on my cervix. At around 2pm I received a phone call. This wasn't a good phone call :( It was a midwife from the hospital calling to tell me that they had a high volume of women in labour and didn't have enough room for me so I would have to wait until Monday!! That was FOUR days away! I began to get very upset as I explained that I had my 2 birthing partners all organised with work off and I was so far overdue and it just wasn't fair!!! Of course it was a bit dramatic but if you've been in this situation before, you will understand! Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done and I was just going to have to wait. I was asked to come in for monitoring seeing as I was so far over. From then on I just felt so uncomfortable and was getting tummy crams and I felt just plain shit house!
It was when these cramps became painful that I thought, something's going on! I called my sister and told her to come over to my parents house where I was living at the time. We went to the hospital together for my appointment to be monitored and sure enough, the monitor showed small contractions. This ment nothing to the nurses as labour can stop at this point so an hour later I was sent home.
I don't really remember most of the nite except the ridiculously intense heart burn that I was suffering. It SUCKED! I couldn't lay flat so I propped myself up in my bed and my sister fell asleep at my feet at around 10pm. Did I get any sleep? Of course not. Eventually around 2am I gave into this horrible back pain, took myself down stairs and sat infront of the heater with my back facing the vent. I put the coffee table infront of me, slumped against it and passed out in between, what had now turned into, CONTRACTIONS!!!
6am came along and the only sleep I had gotten was the 4 or so minutes between contractions. My dad walked in to what must have looked so funny, and asked me what the hell I was doing. Were a power saving family so I immediately jumped out of my "zone" and shouted "I'M SO SORRY!! I didn't realise it had been 4hours!" My dad was just like "it's fine! But what are you doing?" To which I replied "oh... I'm in labour." The look on my dad's face was priceless, "why didn't you wake me!!!!!!!" There was nothing he could do and I didn't want to disturb anyone so I just let them sleep. I really enjoyed the time by myself anyway now looking back. It was peacefull and allowed me to get into "full labour" without the hype of excitement.
We started to time contractions which were still irregular but no further apart than 6 or so minutes. I jumped in the bath around 10am, made a call to my other birthing partner (who still had the day off work conveniently) and at around 11:30am I jumped back out, got dressed and headed into the lounge room for some support off my family as the contractions were now very painful. My mum gave me a massage because my back was KILLING now but when I started to cry, she told my sister and birthing partner that it was time to take me to hospital
The drive was a blur. All I remember was sitting in the back seat leaning on the front passenger seat. It was a 30minute drive. The next thing I remember is being dropped off out the front. We arrived at 12pm and they put me into a bath. I really didn't enjoy this as I couldn't sit up or lean forward so I just ended up floating and was very uncomfortable. I couldn't get out of the bath as every movement I made resulted in a contraction. So.... I was craned out lol! I was then wheel chaired back to my room, which was in the next room, because I just couldn't move. I did ask for an epidural a few times but I was determined my whole pregnancy not to have one so my sister pulled aside the midwife and explained this to her. The midwife then explained to me that all the doctors were busy and I would have to wait. Silly me didn't realise that there was never any doctors "available" lol.
At around 7pm I needed to do number 2's, or so I thought! I was put on the toilet with a catcher of some sort in the bottom incase baby fell out into the toilet! When I realised I needed to push I freaked out and said I wanted to go back to the bed! They set me up a mattress on the floor but there was NO way I was birthing my baby on the toilet floor! So with a little persistence and a lot of contractions later and I made it to the bed.
My best friend held my hand while my sister watched me push Caitlin out. They put a mirror down there for me to watch and I have to say it was AMAZING! defiantly watch if you can. It really helps you to push, like a motivator :( they used wet pads to stop the burning down stairs and after 15 minutes of pushing.....
Caitlin maree Louise Tate was born!! At 7:18pm on the 28th of April 2006. Weighing 7pounds 11 ounces and 52cms long!!
I now know that Caitlin was posterior which is why I had so much back pain, back to back contractions when I moved and why she took so long to birth. But all in all I had a great birthing experience, no drugs at all, only a small tear which didn't need stitches and a fast recovery. For the rest of the night though, I couldn't stand up or I would vomit. Not sure why, maybe the balance difference? I'm so glad I didn't get induced!! It most probably would have ended in an epidural and a cesarean because she was posterior so thank god that didn't happen!! Her heart did drop a few times but it came back up and her cord was wrapped twice around her neck so she was very blue. Talk about scary!
I really enjoyed my time in the hospital. It was so peaceful and such a lovely experience bonding with my baby :)
Xxx
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