Generally my pregnancy cruised through, it was very stressful on my relationship with my husband, and I wasn't as supported as I wanted or needed. We ended up seeing a neuropsych for him due to his brain injury and he just wasn't coping with everything, it did help and things were much more bearable for the remainder of the pregnancy.
Around the 8th month I had a blessingway which was just so wonderful and beautiful organised by some of my wonderful friends who I dearly treasure. This was so important as it really supported me emotionally which I needed at the time, and it extended beyond my pregnancy to the first few weeks which I couldn't have made without these beautiful people in my life.
I had a fair amount of anxiety this pregnancy, thinking that there'd be a spanner in the works somewhere, something would just not go the way I envisioned, but I didn't think it would turn out the way it did. My biggest fears were birthing rapidly and with no support people around me, and then the other fear was having a prolonged labour, cord issues and baby getting stuck. My desire to homebirth and have a waterbirth this time was very much what i'd hoped and longed for after having a traumatic hospital delivery with my first and a homebirth with my second, I knew that I had birthed before, I should have no issues.
The last few weeks were quite tiresome, I had some unexpected false starts which I thought was labour at about 38 weeks but it all petered out and I woke up still pregnant. I was willing my body to give me some indication that labour was in fact happening. Ringing my twin sister to determine whether I was in labour didn't help this time around as I was just a bit all over the shop. I continued with my normal activities taking my oldest to school, caring for my second child and just going through the motions while heavily pregnant. I reached my 40th week and then thought, ok anytime now little buddy as i'd never gone before 40 weeks, I thought I wouldn't have to wait too much longer. Got to the 41st week which is where I went into labour with my 2nd and that came and went too. By the time I got to 41+3 I was starting to get a bit anxious as I was booked into the hospital they would be wanting to induce around that time and that was something I was not comfortable with. After consulting with both my midwives I agreed to an internal and a stretch and sweep. I'm generally not a fan of any intervention as baby will come when baby is ready. But being my 3rd pregnancy I was a bit concerned as to why I was having a lot of pre-labour but nothing progressing. That day I also went and got reflexology and was also getting twice weekly visits to the chiro to make sure my pelvis was correctly aligned. I let my midwives know I was having tightenings but it was all bearable and nothing regular, but one of them lived an hour away and rather than her driving down through the night we decided it might be best if she stayed close by at the other midwives house. Nothing happened through the night much to my frustration I was still pregnant on Wednesday but having irregular tightenings. By that Wed afternoon my midwife had gone back to her home and I was reluctant to call her again incase of another false alarm. I did give my good friend a heads up that I think it was starting to get more regular, as in the last few weeks of my pregnancy I offered for her to be a part of my birth space and that i'd love to have her share my birth with me.
So Sarah arrived about 4pm that afternoon and I had the birth pool all ready blown up, we then noticed the pool kept deflating, so we had to patch it up with sticky tape which was all we had on hand. I was just pottering around, the kids were jumping in and out of the birth pool and were very excited that their little brother Mitchell would arrive soon. I'm pretty sure I organised dinner, played out in the yard with Cameron and swung him on the swing, all while getting some fairly regular contractions. I was just enjoying them and didn't want to rest cause I didn't want things to stall. Sometime in the evening both my midwives arrived we were in the process of filling up the birth pool and I was getting antsy as we didn't realise how much longer it would take trying to fill the birth pool from the shower recess. The kids thought it was great and they were spashing their hands in it and then they were blowing up balloons and then racing them across the water and squirted me and my midwife in the face, while it was kinda funny it was definately getting a bit distracting. I remember Sarah in the background lighting candles and just being such a gem with the kids. They decided to set the kids up on the fold out sofa as I was in the main room (where they sleep with me) and try and settle them for the night which was exciting as i thought once they are in bed, things will start to ramp up and i'll be able to focus properly on birthing Mitchell.
Once they were settled which I didn't realise was about 11pm, I was definately starting to get more intense contractions. I remember my pain coping techniques from last time, and was just blissfully unaware of everything and everyone. Around 2am my beautiful friend Sarah had to leave and I acknowledged that she was leaving, but was very much in labour land. I was sad she had to leave and miss the birth, but so grateful she was there to be an extra pair of hands. The next few hours I knew it would be daylight soon and I was wondering why it was taking so long, I was getting intense pushing urges so I just went with them as gently as I could. I remember him doing a corkscrew type movement while I was trying to hold the urges to push, and I was saying, he's moving, he's moving! I wasn't wanting him to flip because up till that point I was pretty sure he was in a good position. So this kinda put me off a bit and then I hit a wall. I wasn't liking being in the pool anymore, was trying to see if gravity would help as I couldn't feel him descend even though I had been having pushing urges for a few hours. I got up and walked around for a while, sat on the toilet for a while, kept saying open and out, open and out, come on buddy. I remember punching myself in the leg when i'd get a massive contraction to distract myself from the pain. I kept having a lot of show when I was on the toilet which bugged me as it was messy, so i'd wipe, wash my hands, contract, wipe, wash my hands, contact, so I ordered my husband, and say, here you do it! lol So I made him clean me up, he didn't object as he saw how much pain I was in. When he was there I didn't want him to leave my side, I would grip his arm so hard I thought I would break it. I also ordered him to rub my back as the pain was so intense, but then i'd get the shits cause his hands are like sandpaper and were too rough for my liking. I remember standing in the ensuite doorway knewing that i'd been in hard labour for a while and working my way though it, i was starting to get a bit distressed and asking my midwives, why is it taking so long, somethings not right, he should be out by now. My second had his cord around his neck and when he descended he went back up, but the midwife at the time moved it and it was ok, the cord was flat though. This time I couldn't even feel him in the birth canal and was starting to wonder why. I asked my midwife to do another check and I was around 9cm but my waters hadn't broken, I asked her to break my waters as i thought he'd then descend and we could get him out. When she broke my waters I was worried about a huge gush going all over the bathroom and carpet, but there was hardly any waters left and they looked sludgy to me. Knowing he was a 42 weeker by that stage, meconium in the waters wasn't a surprise and generally not something to transfer for. But I started to add things up thinking well i've been in labour for a while, it's been pretty sporadic leading up to this, he's 42 weeks, there's meconium in the waters and i'd been having pushing urges for about 3 hours, I thought, somethings not right I think we better head into hospital.
So we decided to transfer, basically when I left my home I knew that Mitchell was not going to be born naturally, if I felt he was going to come out, i'd have stayed at home as transferring was definately not in my birth plan, I hadn't even considered it. The ride to hospital was completely unbearable my bearing down contractions were severe, I was trying so hard to breathe and just get through it. That 30 min ride seemed to take forever. Once we got to the hospital, my midwife got me a wheelchair as there was no way I could walk. I basically held on tight to my husband and was wheeled up into the delivery suites. I remember being asked to hop on the bed straight away, got an internal where they found I was about 9cms and had a cervical lip which they couldn't budge, I wasn't interested in birthing him anymore, I just said, knock me out and get him out! But the midwife couldn't make the call, eventually a doctor was brought in who was briefed by my midwife and then did her checks on my and agreed to the c-sec. I was given gas at this stage which helped a bit, but it just made me dizzy and nauseous, my husband was not to leave my side and I was gripping him for dear life, the contractions made my whole body contract I felt like I was climbing the walls and there was no relief in sight. I wished that they'd hurry up, put me under and just get things over with.
Finally they were wheeling me into theartre where I expressed several times, I don't want an epidural, just knock me out, but it was ignored. I remember my husband being in there and I was gripping his hand again, but again I got the shits cause his hands were like sandpaper, so after my protests they gave him some gloves to wear so I could grab onto him. They were trying to administer the epidural but my contractions were non stop, the doctor then says i'm sorry we're going to have to give you a general, mid contractions I just yelled, good, knock me out and get him out, he's not coming out!! At that time I think I had to sign paperwork and my husband was then ushered out of the thearte, which was lucky as pretty much after he left I vomitted all over the orderly and some stuff from the gas making me feel sick. I kept apologising I felt terrible but they were all really good about it.
By this time I was in hospital for 2 hours contracting immensely with only gas, this was by far the worst labour of my 3, and the first 2 weren't exactly a walk in the park. I remember they were then prepping me for the gas, I had a mask on my face and then the ob pops her head in and says, I just need to check your dilation one more time and I was still stuck at 9cm. Around this time they took the gas off me and put a mask over my face, I closed my eyes and was grateful it would all be over soon, about fucking time I thought!
So at 7:30ish in the morning Mitchell Ryan made his entrance to the world and I wasn't to meet him till about 10am that morning. He was quite the talk of the ward as he was the biggest baby there at the time and he'd had a little visit to the special care nursery where they are all little bubbas and here is my little sumo baby! He was a good 10pd3 and very very healthy. I was pretty dosed up on morphine and couldn't move at all due to the ceaser. But I was incredibly happy that my little man was finally here despite the dramatic entrance. I also suffered a PPH and lost a fair amount of blood. My iron levels were super low and they were monitoring Mitchell for his blood sugar levels as he was such a big baby. All was fine, though I was very close to having to have a blood transfusion.
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