My labour story

Little pains started at 4:30AM on 06/08/2018. I didn’t pay attention as I had pains in the last days and nothing was happening. My waters started leaking at 5:00AM, the amount was half a cup at a time. I called triage, they told me to come in and check if that was waters. All this time I had frequent pains at the buttom of my tummy (not strong) that came and went. At 5:50AM me and my husband came in to the hospital. Doctors said if nothing happened within the next 24 hours, I most likely should be induced. The pains kept repeating, I told this to doctors, but they said I was only at the beginning stage of labour and when I progress, the pains should be in my WHOLE tummy. 8AM-12PM (4 hours) I was transferred to a ward because of some risks (gestational diabetes and SGA baby) and was simply waiting. I told midwives my pains were quite frequent, lasted for 1-1,5 minutes and the gap between them was 1-1,5 minutes too. But I wasn’t examined. At 12:30PM I had CTG, for 20 minutes everything was fine till I realised my baby’s heartbeat was gone. I was in a big shock and called midwives straight always. You can’t imagine the terrible thoughts I had in my head. I was then quickly transferred downstairs to a ward for giving birth and was connected to another CTG machine which they said could work better and give more accurate results. When CTG started there my baby’s heartbeat was normal and the graph showed my contractions were frequent. I had no pain relief because I thought it was just the beginning and will be more painful. I knee contractions had peaks and peaks are the most painful. It’s most important to go through the peaks and then everything will be ok. At 1PM I wanted to go to the loo for a wee. When I did that I had a strong feeling I needed to push. I went back to the bed and told this to my midwife. She examined me and I was fully dilated. I couldn’t believe it and started crying from happiness. A few minutes later I started pushing but first it was difficult. With a few more pushes I realised what I should do and it was easier. I had that animal instinct and wasn’t shy to shout like an animal. The period of pushes was 55 minutes. My husband was with me and supported me so much, also gave me water and food when I needed it between the pushes. He also filmed the labour and said it was the most amazing thing he has ever seen how his baby is born. I had an injection for my placenta to go out straight away. When I had our baby skin to skin, I started hysterically crying from happiness. Then 2 of my midwives were trying to stop my bleeding. One of the vessels was teared. It was an emergency and 12 doctors came in straight away. It was a crazy moment because I had just given birth and two of my arms were occupied with drips and blood tests. At the same time I had 1 or 2 stitches put on. So our boy was born on 06/08/2018 at 14:44, 39+3. Then 3 of us had 2 hours of our time before the baby was examined. His weight was 3108 grams (17th centile, not UNDER 10th centile as it was predicted on scans and that’s why I was offered induction so many times since week 37 which was a lot of psychological pressure as I didn’t want it). We stayed in the same ward till next morning and then were transferred to the other ward upstairs with other new moms and their babies. Our baby was examined a few times, all healthy thank God. We were discharged 24 hours after delivery. We also saw a doctor who kept insisting on induction and saying that my baby wasn’t thriving in the womb anymore. She realised some mistakes were made and induction wasn’t necessary at all. I’m happy I had such an easy labour and it was a miracle. I expected it to be much harder and longer. The service in the wards was excellent