The Birth Story - Part I

For those of you who are offspring fans, this birth story is nothing like the somewhat lovely five minute labour that Nina endured.

It was a Thursday and four days past my due date. I had started feeling feelings a little different to any niggles I had already felt throughout the last few weeks of my pregnancy and wondered if this was it. To encourage these feelings along just in case they were the real deal, I decided a little boog-ay Sh’Bam style with my favourite group fitness instructor was in order. Throughout the class the ‘feelings’ continued (some of them a wee bit uncomfortable) and I returned home with more enthusiasm for exercise (or perhaps enthusiasm at the thought of meeting my little man) so took my dog for a walk. This was all done and dusted by 11am. Trainee daddy returned home from work around 2pm and I was pretty certain that something was happening. I trialled a combination of heat packs and hot showers to ease the pain but four hours or so later we decided a trip to the hospital was in order even though we expected to be sent home to wait it out for a bit longer. Being my first time I just wanted to know if this was it, which would then give me some perspective of what I had to look forward to should be expecting. I was asked if I wanted an examination to see where I was at and jumped at the chance but was also a little hesitant in case these feelings were not labour. An examination revealed I was only 1cm dilated so the midwife did a stretch and sweep to keep things moving. We returned home at around 8:30pm and I hopped straight back in the shower. Ten minutes later the hot water ran out!!! It was the best form of pain relief at that stage and it was gone. Half an hour or so later (when the heat pack was not helping one bit) we rang the hospital and told them we were coming back. I needed to use their hot water as I knew I wouldn’t have been far enough along for extra pain relief. The shower at the hospital was not one hundred percent fantastic due to the regulated temperature and pathetic water pressure but a pretty good option to dull out the pain. I’d been in the shower for quite a while (hello prune lady) and wanted to try something else. Our plan (we didn’t have a birth plan) was to move up the spectrum of pain relief when and if it was needed. The gas did nothing for me – I found breathing deeply through the contractions worked better for me. Oh, that and performing some sort of hybrid rain dance/sumo wrestler warm up routine whenever a contraction was happening. The contractions were coming pretty regularly (two to three minutes) lasting around a minute and were pretty darn intense. A second internal examination revealed I was a ‘good’ 3cm dilated but found out bub’s head was arching back into my pelvis meaning the contractions were a lot more painful than normal at this stage (if you can label any labour ‘normal’). I was having terrible pains in my lower front and back and the midwife on duty suggested I try a new form of pain relief that has only been available for a short time (sterile water injections) to try and combat my back pain. Trainee daddy and I had heard about these at our ante-natal class and there were mixed opinions about their effectiveness. In the end I was happy to try anything and in came the doctor. I was propped up on my knees leaning over the bed and prepared myself for the needles – four of them. 

Well at least I thought I was prepared. 

Four needles were inserted in my back (two each from the doctor and the midwife) and before I knew it, four of the loudest and high pitched squeals you ever would hear exited my body and filled the birth suite. I tell you what … if anyone else was considering those injections at that time my screams definitely would have put them off. Those needles EFFING STUNG. HOLY MOLEY I cannot even explain the pain that those things inflicted on me. They did take the edge off the pain for about an hour but it did wear off. At that stage my body and my head had given in. I told the husband that I wanted an epidural. He initially thought we should ask the midwife about the next-in-line pain relief option – pethidine but I didn’t want to take the edge off the pain; I wanted the pain gone.

To Be Continued …