My first birth was spontaneous and our daughter was born at 42 wks plus one day. Birth had started in the early hours before the day we were due to be induced for post-dates however it was a long birth and she arrived at 42 wks exactly it was a pretty traumatic birth experience and I was keen to avoid that second time.
4 years later and we didn’t share our due date, I was particularly convinced that I would have another post date baby and to be honest the EDD just seemed so irrelevant to us. I joined the 10month mamas on Facebook and read up on induction and the risks of going post date. Having studied statistics at degree level I know how they can be twisted and used to fit an agenda.
The EDD rolls around and passes without consequence.
No concerns, measuring fine, I had a consultant appointment where he urged me to have a sweep and that going past a certain point doubles the risk of your baby being still born. Luckily I had read up so I knew this increased but to say double was misleading and trying to coerce me into doing something we didn’t want to do.
I could talk back at him and the statistics exactly and the fact that the study was from 1956. NICE (national institute for clinical excellence) state that information should be given in very specific ways so it is easy to understand and to not be misrepresented what the consultant should have said is the risk goes from 1 in 1000 to 2 in a 1000.
I was booked in for Induction of Labour (IoL) at 41+5. I let them but ultimately I would decide based on how I felt and after discussing it with my husband we pushed it back to when I had gone into spontaneous labour with our eldest at 41+6. The hospital were happy with this and had actually called us to push the IoL back a day as they didn’t have space. I did have a sweep at my midwife appointment but it didn’t do anything particularly!
We decided that due to our childcare (it was half term and my mum needed to go back the following day) that we would go in on the Saturday morning at 9am at 41+6. I had a good nights sleep and off we went with everything we needed.
We arrived slightly late but it didn’t really matter. They did all the usual checks, weighed me (which I didn’t look at!) and set me up on the monitor. We played travel scrabble and listened to some music. The midwife then said I was having slight contractions showing on the monitor although I had no idea! They said they would put the pessary in and then we could go and wander round the hospital if we liked. They would take it out after 24hrs if not in established labour. The pessary is like a tampon with chemicals on to stimulate your cervix. This was round 11.30am.
We went to get coffee and it all kicked off. So back we went to the labour ward after around half an hr. We were told there was no space and we had to go up to postnatal ward until in established labour. We were put on a ward with a few others I don’t recall how many, what I recall is they had their baby’s and I didn’t, I recall the balloons and people talking. We drew the curtains, popped on the tens machine and I put the head phones on and listened to music as it helped me to zone out and focus on breathing.
After a while I said to Paul I can’t cope with this we need to go back down. No one had really explained what to do though?! Paul went and got a midwife and we eventually went back to labour ward and into a different room. It was around 2pm by now. They checked how dilated my cervix was and was told 3cm, I was so disappointed and deflated the contractions were coming thick and fast on top of one another. I couldn’t cope and asked for an epidural as I knew it would likely be ages as barely dilated. (I had been 2cm when they put in the pessary!). They took out the pessary. I was active standing up and bending over the bed breathing. I couldn’t use the gas and air as I was so used to yoga breathing.
The person doing the epidural struggled to site it and after ages of trying I said just don’t bother (in fact I said fuck it!) She wanted to see my notes from my previous birth to see where it was sited. My husband was getting so annoyed at this point too and nearly chucked her out of the room! They checked again how dilated I was and in the space of an hour or two I had gone to 8cm so I knew I could do it now.
I was leaning over the back of the bed kneeling and it all just took over really. That’s how it felt an almost out of body experience. Something else instinctive taking over. I wasn’t told when to push or to not push, I just went with it. Making guttorial noises, low in my throat. I remember my hair getting in my face and being annoyed by that! I recall the amazing feeling when my waters broke the relief of the pressure going, a split second later the baby’s head was born! I think the waters had cushioned it as it didn’t hurt.
Then I recall the midwife asking me to lie on my left side and she held my leg up in the air, I think she was concerned baby hadn’t turned as yet to then deliver the shoulders. I remember she hit the button and a few people came in and not long after the baby was out! Paul said its a Charlie! Our name if baby was a boy! I was in shock as I was convinced it was a girl! I recall holding baby having lots of skin to skin and we delayed the cord clamping as long as they were happy to which wasn’t long 3mins or so, as I had to have the drip to prevent blood loss (due to previous PPH) so they wanted to get that started quickly. I also needed stitches as I had a second degree tear in the same place as the cut in my previous birth.
Charles James was born at 17:15, 41+6 and weighed in at 10lb 1oz in fact they did it three times to check!
Afterwards the midwife explained that the pessary can hyper stimulate the cervix leading to lots of contractions but not dilating. It would have been helpful to have known this at the start of the process!
They also explained they were concerned about shoulders getting stuck and why they asked me to lie on my left.
Overall it was a positive experience and quite quick. I would think due to me already having been in early labour without realising it and actually will always wonder if they hadn’t interfered in the process when he would have been born. I also think due to me keeping upright as much as possible during the process too.
