Birth stories

[Gemini]

There has been some discussion about having babies, prompted by us all waiting for news of Oma's great niece or nephew!

Our stories will get lost there so please add them here

My first baby was induced at 39 weeks, due to me developing pre-eclampsia. I was 21 and very scared. In those days it was waters broken then a drip. It was only 8 hours but that was 8 hours of full on contractions with almost no let up. Intense from the start and not what I was expecting. I had terrible pain in my thighs with contractions. Thank goodness I didn't have that with my other labours. Nowadays I'm sure they would suggest change of position to relieve that leg pain. I hated pethidine and gas and air.
Baby weighed 6 pounds 6 oz.

Baby number 2 was three days past due date when I was at my ante natal appointment. The midwife did a stretch and sweep (something they have to ask your permission for now, but then it was just done) By teatime I was in labour and went back to the hospital around 6.30. DD2 was born at 10.15. I had an epidural this time, but in fact if I had known it would be relatively quick I may not have bothered.
Baby weighed 7 pounds 7 oz.

Baby 3 was an induction, as at 42 weeks she still hadn't arrived.
I went into the ante natal unit the night before and was told to come and ask them for pessary to start things off in the morning. I was keen to get started so I was there at 6.30 am having the treatment. They gave me another later as nothing was happening, and by 1 pm I was in labour and allowed to go to the labour ward. I had a epidural again.
DD3 arrived at 24 minutes past midnight, by forceps. Not a quick or easy delivery at all. I was on cloud seven with relief and joy once I saw her however, and amazed that she weighed 9 pounds! (She is the tiniest of my DDs now)

[Daisy]

Gem - what strikes me, is how different your three babies were. I don't even know what a stretch and sweep is - perhaps it was before my time. The pre-eclampsia must have been very scary.

[Gemini]

Daisy, they manually stretch the cervix slightly and sweep the membranes away from the cervix. it's not nice and its painful!
Apparently sometimes it triggers labour but not always.

I forgot to add DDs 1 and 2 birth weights so have edited

[Daisy]

Baby 1 was a bit of a surprise. For some reason I was convinced he would be late, and on the Sunday I'd done several hours of gardening. I went and had a nice warm, relaxing bath, and my waters broke. Following instructions we'd been given, we phoned the hospital I was booked in to, and they sent an ambulance! It wasn't far, and we could easily have driven there, but they were adamant! Nothing much happened overnight and I slept on and off. OH of course wasn't allowed to stay. It was only just the start of dads being allowed into the delivery room, other than that it was normal visiting hours only. By mid morning I was still only having weak contractions and and when tablets didn't speed things up I was put on a drip. Then he arrived (forceps) very quickly and by 6 pm I was in a comfy side ward having my tea. The care and thoughtfulness of the staff was fantastic.

Baby 2 was late! Nearly 2 weeks. My waters were broken by a horrible rude doctor wearing what looked like a butcher's apron. Tablets brought on labour and DS2 arrived 40 minutes after midnight. I then had to wait till 11 am the next day for stitches - far more painful then labour and no medication offered, the female doctor was also rude and said in her country women didn't make a fuss! I eventually got to the ward, exhausted, and fell asleep. I'd kept asking for my baby and no-one seemed to know where he was! Less than half an hour later student midwives woke me up to make the bed. I was less than co-operative, especially when they started chatting to each other about going horse riding later in the day. Eventually DS2 was brought up to me and he was crying so I started to feed him. The senior dragon came and told me off - he needed a bottle she said as my milk hadn't come in yet. I refused and said if you want him to have a bottle you give it to him. She did, and bless him, he deposited every drop straight back on to her uniform. I was glad to get home. The midwife who actually delivered him was Dutch - lovely, compassionate and charming.

[Oma]

With DD I had the same as Gem pre eclampsia’s I was started off ,my waters were broken and I was sent back to the ward to await labour ,
1 hour and 40 minutes later after 2 pains she slid out during visiting time ,
I rang the bell and told the midwife something had slid down my leg she said it would still be my waters lifted the covers and all hell broke loose , my DD was there in the bed with me 😁

Curtains we’re hastily pulled around me while they dealt with us ,
She was born at 5.15 pm weighing 7.12oz
I was 16 and had no idea what to expect .

DS on the other hand was a nightmare ,
2 weeks over so I was again started off and put on a drip ,
first 7 hours was painful but then I went another 20 hours in full on labour , by the time they decided to do anything it was too late , he was dragged into the world by foreceps and I had to have 3 blood transfusions to save my life
I was stitched inside and out , He was very bruised around his face and head
Born at 8.15 pm and weight was 6.12

The midwife who saw to me with DD was the midwife who delivered me when I was born ,she was old school and lovely ,

The Dr who delivered DS was horrible treat me like a animal ,
The nurse told us afterwards that I should have had a section way before he was born .

[Plantaholic]

My DS should have been a home delivery but there was signs of blood so they called an ambulance and I was taken to local maternity hospital. They had a case of a screaming lady so they checked me every so often and gave me pethadine, I was not really with it when DS arrived. He was born with a club foot so lots of hospital visits followed the birth. DD was also booked as a home birth, the same midwife sat up with me all night, labour was very slow and my doctor was called as her breathing was getting weak. Before he could use his scalpel she popped out and I hemmoraged. The bed was on blocks so they kicked the head ones away to stop the bleeding. I could easily have had DS at home and DD in hospital. With both births the midwife called every day for seven days she bathed the baby and saw to my soreness. I did have a third pregnancy but that ended in a still birth at full term

[Nanto2girls]

Both of ours were home births. DS1 was born at 3.40 am after 2½ hours of labour. He weighed 7lb.4ozs.
For the last month of my pregnancy i kept telling the midwife i was overdue.
She kept telling me i had made a mistake with my dates.
When he was born,midwife said he is well overdue by about a month.
Later that morning when she came back, she said she had phoned my doctor and told him he had been born.
Doctor told her if i hadn't had him that day,he was going to send me in hospital to be started off.

DS2.
When i had my ante natal checks midwife kept saying its a tiny baby.
She told me to pack a hospital bag,saying if baby is underweight we would have to go into hospital.
He was was born at 3.25pm after 5 hours of labour. He weighed 7lb 10ozs.
So much for being tiny.

I never needed stitches with either of them.