(Written while in hospital)
Wow! What an intense time that was! I am proud of myself. I gave birth
to Alexander naturally, without an epidural, just using gas. I honestly
didn't think that I could, but I did. I'm so grateful for the support of
the midwives who talked me through it all. I am so glad that they
offered suggestions of the bath and the gas.
I couldn't have done it without James. He was my rock! Early in labour
he would just hold me and sway side to side with me. Then when I was
doubting if I could do it without an epidural he supported me but also
believed in me that I could do it naturally. I was really doubting
myself because the midwives kept saying to get an epidural early because
once it starts to happen then it would be a quick finish. I didn't know
if I'd cope with the pain. I didn't know if I'd be ok. But James and
the nurses believed that I could. I wanted to get checked to see how far
along I was because if it wasn't far then I'd do the epi but Sue
wouldn't let me get checked because she knew that I'd just give in but
believed that I could do it. She suggested a bath, which took forever to
fill. Ha. I was doing ok with swaying with James though through each
contraction. Amanda suggested gas which I said no to initially but then
thought I'd give it a go. My breathing was a lot better with Eliza and I
was seeming to breathe well with Alexander so I changed my mind and
decided to try the gas while in the bath. With each contraction I'd
breathe in for 5 counts and then out for 5 then repeat. The rhythm was
quite soothing. I'm so glad that they changed their technology so you
can go in the bath with a drip on. Much nicer than with Eliza where I
had to stay in the room.
Once in the bath I had a couple of contractions without the gas but then
decided to try. It made me feel very light headed and out of sorts but
it did help take the edge off. I didn't feel sickly which was good but I
did feel burpy because of the gas and deep breaths. Each contraction
James was there holding my hand which was such a great support and
Amanda was there holding the monitor on my tummy to check Alexander was
going ok. We had some great chats. Me + gas + pain = sarcasm and chatty.
Amanda at one point said I was funny and James said afterwards that he
has had a glimpse of what a drunk Debbie would be like. Hehe.
Once the pain intensified it did go quickly but oh my word, it was so
very painful. Poor James was in a lot of pain because I dug my nails
into his hand with each contraction. Amanda said she was holding back
laughter because she was watching the pain on James' face each time but
could see he wasn't going to say anything.
When I started to get a pain in my butt that was when it sped up. The
contractions were much closer together, it was a lot harder to breath
through them deeply, I just wanted him out. Amanda called for help and
for Andrew to come. They needed to get me out of the bath but I couldn't
stand. It took 3 people to lift me up and then to get to the bed.
Andrew apparently ran up which was good because I was ready to push. He
said that I could as soon as he got there so I did. With 1.5 pushes the
head was out. Oh my word it was mighty uncomfortable and painful to
feel. Then they wanted me to keep panting to get the arms out. That was
hard because I was still having contractions so wanted to push but tried
to listen and pant.
It was amazing to look down and see them lift Alexander out of me. So
amazing. So crazy. I saw straight away that he was a boy and the pain
was gone (until the placenta). We had our skin to skin time for a long
time. It was so precious. He is just gorgeous.
I needed a few stitches unfortunately but it wasn't too bad. The pain
came when they put the drip back on to help my uterus start to contract.
They had to push hard on my stomach to assist it and to be sure there'd
be no bleeding complications. Ouch! But it worked.
So yeah. When people ask how labour was I say painful, intense, quick
but amazing. What an experience and what a precious gift he is.
No comments:
Post a Comment