a birth story - part five


In a birth story so far;

My waters have broken,
my contractions have started.
I've been to hospital with contractions that are three minutes apart,
to discover I'm only 2cm dilated.
And I've been sent home again
while things progress.

Within about half an hour of being home
I was starting to feel quite a bit of pain with each contraction.  
I desperately wanted a bath
but had been told that I shouldn't have one
as my broken waters and internal examination meant that I was susceptible to infection.
Brilliant.
I had planned to take up residence in warm water
to help relieve the pain during early labour,
but now that was out.

I decided that a walk might move things along a bit quicker
so we went for a walk (or waddle) around the village,
stopping every few minutes so I could breathe through the contractions.
These were becoming increasingly painful
and I remember thinking how naive I had been at the hospital
to think that perhaps I had a really high pain threshold.
These contractions were really nasty,
like someone was ramming me in the back with a fire extinguisher,
and by the end of my walk I felt like my insides might fall out with every step I took.
Things felt like they were pushing downwards,
which had to be a good sign.

When we got home,
my hubby had some lunch
(while I watched and pushed a yoghurt around the pot with no appetite whatsoever)
before he tentatively looked at me
and asked if it would be okay if he watched the football.
I decided I was going to see if I could have a little doze on the sofa so I agreed.
My contractions were still 3 minutes apart
but were only lasting between 25 and 50 seconds.
Baby still seemed a way off
so wanting to use the same technique I'd always used since being a child,
I decided that if I had a sleep,
then the wait would be over sooner,
the pain would be over sooner,
and Dollop would be here sooner.

Sleep failed me.
My contractions were just getting too uncomfortable.
It felt like someone was pushing my hips apart with a car-jack
while also grabbing and squeezing my stomach at the same time.
And by the time that the 90 minutes of football were up, I'd had enough.

At about 5.30pm,
nearly 12 hours after it had all started,
my husband rang the hospital.
He explained that my contractions were still 3 minutes apart
but were lasting longer
 and that I was in a lot of pain.
He was promptly advised to bring me back in.


Read the next part here.

3 comments

  1. I love reading birth stories. No two are the same, but always amazing to read.

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  2. Oh poor you suffering for sleep while he watched football. I know who has the better end of the stick. Brave taking a walk lady. You must have a higher pain threshold than me I would have been screaming my head off while walking. lol I am the same as you I always think even growing up if I could sleep whatever I wanted to come or pass faster sleep would do the trick. The more I read the more I think we are very similar. Loving this story. off to the next part....

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