a birth story - part thirteen

In my birth story so far...

more than 24 hours after it all started

I've given up being brave

and given up on my natural labour with limited pain relief.

I've been transferred from the smaller maternity hospital

to the big maternity unit at the main hospital in the next town.

I've had an epidural

and I've regained myself

after hours of being lost in pain and panic.

After sleeping for a couple of hours,

I was woken by one of the many machines beeping.

Emma the midwife got up to fiddle with the machine, smiled at me and sat back down.

Three minutes later, it happened again.

And then again another couple of minutes later.

I was clearly looking concerned

because she switched the beeping off a fourth time

before explaining that the babies heart rate was dipping with each contraction,

but that it was picking back up again and that was what mattered.

She popped out of the room for a moment

and then came back to turn my hormone drip down

because the hormones make the contractions more intense

and reducing it would give the baby a rest.

This seemed to work because the baby’s heart monitor alarm stopped beeping

and I had another hours doze.

At 12.30pm I woke up to the same beeping again.

I wasn't too alarmed because it had happened before

and I’d been assured that the heart rate was picking back up again after.

Emma asked if it was okay if she had her lunch in the room with me,

she said normally she would take it at the nurses station

but that she wanted to stay in the room if I didn’t mind her eating.

I think it was the fact that I had been through so much in the last 24 hours

that meant this didn't ring alarm bells in my head.

I just thought she was being conscientious,

that she was a really good midwife

who was looking out for me.

Obviously that was exactly what she was being,

only she was also looking out for my unborn baby

who was starting to show signs of distress;

only no one had mentioned that to me yet.

 Just after 1 o'clock, she ripped the heart rate graph off of the monitor

and said that she was just popping out to speak to some one.

I looked at my hubby and that flicker of fear was back on his face.

And I was definitely feeling more than a little bit scared again.

When Emma came back she had the senior midwife with her.

They both looked through my notes

and watched the monitors as the alarms went off again.

Emma left the room again

while the senior midwife explained that the baby’s heart rate was dipping with each contraction

and that it was struggling to pick back up again after.

Emma came back with a doctor

who went on to explain that because I’d had an extended rupture of the membranes (my waters had broken so long ago)

they were concerned about the baby being in distress and the chances of infection for both of us.

You can read the next part here.