Sorry it has taken me so long to write this up! And as its taken soooo long i'll prob have forgotten half of it, fingers crossed I havent!
***WARNING - IF you are pregnant and others stories scare you, maybe don't read this.... it's not the worst of birth stories but not the most pleasant either....so read with caution*** (Also, I'm a wuss when it comes to pain so....maybe take the not so nice bits and tone it down a bit at your own discretion too!)
Okay so I was due to be brought in and be induced on 27th of October at night and hubby and I had decided to focus on that date and that more than likely our LO would be born on the 28th! (I was due Oct 15th!)
At 8pm on the 25th, we were shopping in Dunnes and I got a twinge in my tummy - now I'd been having twinges on and off but there was something a bit different about this one, it wasn't any worse, but there was something different and I said to hubby that we should be prepared.
Finished the shopping, went home, had dinner, watched tv, had a couple more twinges and decided to head to bed. Woke up with a pain I'd never felt before and said to hubby that this was it and we'd better start timing them! After about two hours of these pains, I got the TENS machine out which turned out to be a pain in the arse more than anything - tried using the ball but whenever I got a contraction I just wanted to peg it out the window!
By 3am I felt like I couldn't stay at home any longer, the pains were coming about 5 mins apart and were lasting a good solid minute each time! Local hospital is only 5 minutes away though so gave them a call to see what they thought. The MW said if I could last at home until they were 3-5mins apart and lasting a good 1 to 1 and a half minutes I'd be better off staying home than being in pain in there. By 6.30am I said feck this, rang them and she said come on in.
At 6.45am I had an internal and babies head was still not dropped even though I was getting contractions! He was over to the left slightly and not coming down....and because of this, my body wasn't dialating properly. So she said your going to have to walk walk walk walk walk! I was admitted and told I was in for a looooong day!
I walked and walked and walked the corridor and eventually I told them the pain was really really bad, could I please take something, ANYTHING! And I was told NO! I was in shock - not even a bloody paracetamol, I thought I'd be allowed something. So I got onto FB and was talking to a friend who recommended asking to get into the bath if it was free....about an hour later they eventually let me! But for the hour, I was left in a ward with women who were waiting to be discharged, each were in because their bp was too high, i was sitting in the bed or on the chair having contractions....and the matron told me i had to leave my curtain open as i was blocking light from the other patients by closing them?? WTF??
Anyway, stayed in the bath for aaaaaaages - DH looked so worried everytime i got a contraction, bless him there was nothing he could do! He tried rubbing my back, shoulders etc but everytime a contraction came i just wanted to deal with it my own way - it seemed the easier option!
After a few hours in the bath I got DH to call a MW, that the pain was too bad and I wanted to be checked. They took me out and brought me to another ward, got an internal to be told I was in labour and that we would start talking pain relief and get ready to head to labour ward. Nurse came back to me 5 mins later to tell me there was no labour ward free and that I'd need to wait here and asked about pain relief options. I said I'd wanted to do just G&A but she advised me that this was a BIG baby, that this my first pregnancy and that I'd more than likely need an instrumental delivery, so I agreed to the epidural. She brought in G&A and I waited in that ward for half an hour until labour room was free. Then I was asked to walk to the delivery suite as there were no wheelchairs/porters available!!!!!!
Eventually got to labour ward & MW rang for epi....half an hour later she called again and 15 mins after than the anethisist came to administer it! Getting the epi in was fine and im a wuss with pain.... I only took 2.45 mins to get from 3cm to 10cm and then an hour of pushing. I needed the vacuum for the last 5 mins. I also tore myself and was cut twice. I had 7 stitches in and out... Baby slowed down during labour a few times and a doc had to cut his head while he was inside me to take a sample of his blood to check his oxygen but thankfully he was ok. It turned out the cord was around his neck and so hubby didnt get to cut it, doc just whipped it off and cut it...
Baby Ben was born at 18.09 weighing 9lbs4oz.
Was out of hosp for two days and I still couldnt sit, walk, lie down, pee, the pain was unreal.....Public health nurse came out and I told her all about it and she told me to get to my GP. My GP looked at me. My episiotomy she said looked like it was done by a blind man. It was totally infected. The stitches were uneven and too tight and the whole thing was swollen. Then, she actually saw I had torn up further too... (as in, up where I pee) and they had left this untreated. No stitches, nothing.... as it had started to heal, she couldnt do anything about it other than to let it keep going the way it was. But everytime I pee, I'm tearing it a little and then it has to heal again. I am just finished a course of anti biotics / pain killers / anti inflammatories! But I'm getting better each day. It just sucks because I havent really been able to hop up and run to my baby when he cries because of the pain, I need DH's help at night time because after lying in one position for a few hours, its still and sore which makes the pain worse. I've to shower minimum four times a day to keep area clean so DH has to mind baby then. Thankfully he managed to get two weeks off work!
Also, for the last few weeks of pregnancy, I got the PUPPS rash (check out g..o..o..g..l..e images!) Its a really red bumpy itchy rash, which has come back with avengance now! Its all over my belly, legs, bum and feet!!! Worse than ever. I've a steroid cream for it but its just not working!!! grrrr...
Now just as I'm getting a bit better - I've gotten piles! Had to get the nurse to check them out, so now I'm on sepositories and cream and anti constipation medicine! They are a killer !!!
So because of all this, baby only gor 4 full days of breast milk and has only had one feed a day on them since then. The pain of the breast feeding on top of everything else was just too much - but thankfully we are starting back properly on the bf'ing tomorrow and fingers crossed he will remember how to latch and hasnt gotten too comfy with the bottle!
aaaaanyway, thankfully my mr.ben is doing really really well and is up to 11lbs already and he is really thriving!!!! And you know what, everytime I look at him, the pain i'm going through is all worth it!!
Maybe give that a try and see if it eases any? I also had to use a clean cloth to clean the area with just water after I pee'd to keep it nice and clean. 