Birth of my son
Well I did it.
Lu Fang finally arrived in the world on November 7th, 15 days after his due date. It was a journey. On the day of the birth I was on a high, so proud of myself. Six days later I am still overjoyed to be a Mum but flooded with emotions-he is so precious and needs looking after and I will need help to stay in the moment and enjoy him.
I waited until Day 13 to be induced-was theoretically confident that he was safe and sound and didn't need to be induced any earlier, but naturally felt nervous about waiting this long. As hospital staff err on the side of caution for everything, it was hard to be a first time Mum and make that call, fortunately I learnt of a case where an overdue women was scheduled, by her obstetrician, for that late an induction due to a long weekend, so I knew it was perfectly safe. Everytime I went to hospital for tracking he was healthy.
The first lot of gels didn't work, and so on Saturday morning I felt the anticlimax. The overbearing registrar told me I had to fast "just in case" the next lot of gel didn't work and I needed a caesarean. Deliberately ignored her and drank a decaf latte on Melbourne Street as I refused to fit into her schedule of the time by which she was ready to perform that procedure on me. So that was weird, walking down North Adelaide 42 weeks pregnant, looking at the now very familiar landscape of Brougham Place, and thinking it was all for a last time. I kept talking to the baby, wondering what was going to come next.
Minor contractions did start, but there was still no head engagement. The registrar did the most excruciating internal examination-I was using my TENS machine and the gas for a minute and pulled the gas off to ask Andy to count me in. In some ways that was worse than the later contractions because it didn't have an end point. Registrar and consultant were very adamant I should have a caesarean straight away, I asked for a third lot of gel, they said it was too risky, I asked for them to wait overnight to see if the mild contractions had any effect. Staff left the room, had an argument, returned and said I could wait overnight and then I was left in the room to see what happened. Although these contractions were minor, they were every 5 minutes, they did hurt, and it was an odd nights sleep. Andy had to go home to sleep and rang the family to tell them all that after 24 hours in hospital there was still no progress.
On Sunday I woke up, contractions had finally halted, the next registrar started their shift, they did the internal examination, it didn't hurt at all, I was 3cm dilated and waters broke easily. This was good. We had our last walk of freedom outside, took photos of the two of us, the last shot of my pregnant belly and returned for the next stage which was the syntocin drip. This was the bad part. Like accelerating from 0-200km, very quickly I was having 4-5 contractions within 10 minutes but without much of a pattern, so I was in too much shock to even use my TENS machine or ask for gas. I'd get through one by counting and positioning myself, go to the bathroom and have another one. Being attached to a drip and a tracer made it harder to try positions and I panicked a bit. I did count and in the end that was all you could do-count and breathe. By 12 oçlock I knew that I was too tired to continue to 8pm (the "scheduled" time I was meant to complete induced labour!) like this and asked for the epidural. I needed to be calm to do anymore work, didn't want to use pethidine and didn't have the waterbath as an option due to my drips.
Having to stay completely still when I had contractions every 2 minutes was difficult, especially when the registrar ran in and halted it for an internal examination-he said the baby's heart rate had dropped dramatically and he had to see what was going on (the previous day Lu's heartbeat was fantastic, which was another reason why I insisted on not being rushed into a caesarean). This was the only bad bit, having to lie horizontal whilst the next wave of the waters rushed out, and I had another contraction. Registrar said that despite pumping syntocin into me, there had been no further dilation, baby's head still wasn't engaged and he thought a caesarean was required. Or I could wait another 3 hours and see if there was a change.
It was nice that he gave me a choice, but all I could think of was having an epidural. Once I established that either choice required an epidural (caesearan now, possible caesearan later), I asked for an epidural now and a repeat conversation later.
Epidural was calming and I snoozed, waking up to hear Andy and the registrar talking. Registrar said he was still unhappy with Lu's heartbeat. Given that I finally had a doctor that was offering a medical opinion based on observations of me and the baby (not statistics and not using their medical school script), plus I'd given everything else a go, I was absolutely ready to consent. There was no way I wanted to jeopardise Lu, and I also was relieved they didn't just keep bulldozing with the syntocin if it was going to be futile.
part 2 to come-caesarean and seeing him
Lu Fang finally arrived in the world on November 7th, 15 days after his due date. It was a journey. On the day of the birth I was on a high, so proud of myself. Six days later I am still overjoyed to be a Mum but flooded with emotions-he is so precious and needs looking after and I will need help to stay in the moment and enjoy him.
I waited until Day 13 to be induced-was theoretically confident that he was safe and sound and didn't need to be induced any earlier, but naturally felt nervous about waiting this long. As hospital staff err on the side of caution for everything, it was hard to be a first time Mum and make that call, fortunately I learnt of a case where an overdue women was scheduled, by her obstetrician, for that late an induction due to a long weekend, so I knew it was perfectly safe. Everytime I went to hospital for tracking he was healthy.
The first lot of gels didn't work, and so on Saturday morning I felt the anticlimax. The overbearing registrar told me I had to fast "just in case" the next lot of gel didn't work and I needed a caesarean. Deliberately ignored her and drank a decaf latte on Melbourne Street as I refused to fit into her schedule of the time by which she was ready to perform that procedure on me. So that was weird, walking down North Adelaide 42 weeks pregnant, looking at the now very familiar landscape of Brougham Place, and thinking it was all for a last time. I kept talking to the baby, wondering what was going to come next.
Minor contractions did start, but there was still no head engagement. The registrar did the most excruciating internal examination-I was using my TENS machine and the gas for a minute and pulled the gas off to ask Andy to count me in. In some ways that was worse than the later contractions because it didn't have an end point. Registrar and consultant were very adamant I should have a caesarean straight away, I asked for a third lot of gel, they said it was too risky, I asked for them to wait overnight to see if the mild contractions had any effect. Staff left the room, had an argument, returned and said I could wait overnight and then I was left in the room to see what happened. Although these contractions were minor, they were every 5 minutes, they did hurt, and it was an odd nights sleep. Andy had to go home to sleep and rang the family to tell them all that after 24 hours in hospital there was still no progress.
On Sunday I woke up, contractions had finally halted, the next registrar started their shift, they did the internal examination, it didn't hurt at all, I was 3cm dilated and waters broke easily. This was good. We had our last walk of freedom outside, took photos of the two of us, the last shot of my pregnant belly and returned for the next stage which was the syntocin drip. This was the bad part. Like accelerating from 0-200km, very quickly I was having 4-5 contractions within 10 minutes but without much of a pattern, so I was in too much shock to even use my TENS machine or ask for gas. I'd get through one by counting and positioning myself, go to the bathroom and have another one. Being attached to a drip and a tracer made it harder to try positions and I panicked a bit. I did count and in the end that was all you could do-count and breathe. By 12 oçlock I knew that I was too tired to continue to 8pm (the "scheduled" time I was meant to complete induced labour!) like this and asked for the epidural. I needed to be calm to do anymore work, didn't want to use pethidine and didn't have the waterbath as an option due to my drips.
Having to stay completely still when I had contractions every 2 minutes was difficult, especially when the registrar ran in and halted it for an internal examination-he said the baby's heart rate had dropped dramatically and he had to see what was going on (the previous day Lu's heartbeat was fantastic, which was another reason why I insisted on not being rushed into a caesarean). This was the only bad bit, having to lie horizontal whilst the next wave of the waters rushed out, and I had another contraction. Registrar said that despite pumping syntocin into me, there had been no further dilation, baby's head still wasn't engaged and he thought a caesarean was required. Or I could wait another 3 hours and see if there was a change.
It was nice that he gave me a choice, but all I could think of was having an epidural. Once I established that either choice required an epidural (caesearan now, possible caesearan later), I asked for an epidural now and a repeat conversation later.
Epidural was calming and I snoozed, waking up to hear Andy and the registrar talking. Registrar said he was still unhappy with Lu's heartbeat. Given that I finally had a doctor that was offering a medical opinion based on observations of me and the baby (not statistics and not using their medical school script), plus I'd given everything else a go, I was absolutely ready to consent. There was no way I wanted to jeopardise Lu, and I also was relieved they didn't just keep bulldozing with the syntocin if it was going to be futile.
part 2 to come-caesarean and seeing him
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