Hi Everyone!!!
So as you can probably guess from the title my baby has arrived!!!! In fact he arrived spot on his due date, 9th November 2014 at 1:40am. He was 7lb 15oz and he is absolutely perfect!!!!
I'm going to start this post as an introduction to my little man and share some pictures with you then I will go onto my birthing experience.
So here he is.........MASON SEARLE my perfect baby boy!
He is the double of his daddy! I can't see any of me in him but my Mam says when his eyes are closed he looks like me when I was a baby. I still can't believe he's mine! The whole nine month of him being inside of me still wasn't enough time to comprehend that at the end of that nine month I will have this living breathing human being that we made and he is mine and no one Else's !!
The Birth
OK, I decided to share this with you all because I wish I had read something preparing me for the birth like this instead of going into it thinking it was all going to go to plan!!
My waters broke at 1:15am on 9th November, his due date! and they went with a gush!!! I was actually downstairs telling our dog Loki off for crying in his cage to be out (I still think to this day he knew something was going to happen because he never usually whines on a night!). I shouted up to Andrew to come down because I think my waters have broke!!! So he was up in a flash running downstairs in a panic lol. I was fine at this point, I was very calm because I knew with it being my first baby he wouldn't be coming any time soon, so I rang the midwife unit and told her my waters had gone ect. I took a quick shower and got all my bags and everything together. By the time we got into the hospital it was around 3am and the contractions had just started coming mildly. The midwife explained that she was going to examine me soon and I probably will be sent home to labour there until the contractions got stronger.
Before the midwife even examined me the contractions were getting so painful I just couldn't stand it! and she asked me if she could examine me early so I said yes. I was only 2cm dilated, not even in established labour yet!! I remember thinking to myself if this isn't classed as labouring yet then what on earth is the pain going to be like at 10cm!!!
I was in so much pain she offered me gas and air to take the edge of it, and they decided to keep me in because they weren't happy sending me home when I was in that much pain. I was asked if I wanted to use the birthing pool as it was in my birth plan that I wanted a water birth, but I was far to uncomfortable to think about getting into water! (I really don't think they should make you write up birthing plans because like me, they rarely go to plan and when they don't its soul destroying and actually really affected me!) I also asked for my mam to come in with me (which also wasn't on my birthing plan! but when your in that much pain you just need your mammy!!)
I was then moved to a birthing room where I would deliver my bundle of joy!
The pain now was so bad I was demanding some more pain relief (although in my birth plan it said I didn't want any other form of pain relief other than gas and air! .....so naive!!) So I had a shot of Diamorphine, which I remember being really concerned about because I had read that it can make the baby very sleepy when their born and sometimes need help breathing, but the pain was unbearable and I needed something other than gas and air!
After the diamorphine the midwife told me she was going to examine me again in 1 hour, but I told her I wanted examining now because I was getting impatient !!!
She examined me (three hours after the first examination where I was 2cm) and I had progressed to 8cm!!! by now the pain was extreme and I just wanted more pain relief so they gave me a second shot of Diamorphine, I was completely out of it with the mixture of gas and air and Diamorphine in my system ! I just remember feeling really really tired and woozy but in so much pain as well. Then it was time to push....I can't actually remember how long i was pushing for but it was a long time ! and nothing was happening. His head just wasn't coming down no matter how hard i was pushing, it was a horrible feeling knowing that I have to get this baby out but not getting any further forward!
Like I said I was pretty much out of it with the mixture of drugs but even I knew there was something wrong when the midwife said "come on then lets get this baby out now by yourself, because I'm afraid you might need assistance if you don't get him out this time".
I tried as hard as I could and pushed as hard as I could but nothing ! So within 2 minutes or so from me trying one last time to push him out myself, there was a doctor and a junior doctor in the room along with a male paediatrician to help him after he was born, oh and the midwife! It went from having a calm birth to getting told I was going to need forceps and an Episiotomy !!! I was beyond scared but I knew it had to happen because his heart rate was dropping as he was in distress. The main priority was to get him out and he be OK!
I'm totally not going to sugar coat this at all....but WOW....having the forceps HURTS!!! also his head was only just turned around enough the right way to use the forceps or I would of had to go to theatre! That's why on the picture you can see the mark across his eye and cheek.
The doctor explained everything she was doing as she was doing it (which is good but I think id rather not of known !lol) I won't go into great detail but I obviously had to be cut to allow the forceps to in to pull him out and to be Honest I didn't actually feel that because I think they gave me a local anaesthetic first.
Then It was time to push again (and time for the doctor to pull!!) I have never felt pain like it! I know this might scare some of you that read this who are pregnant but I want you to know the truth rather than think its all a breeze!! It literally felt like someone was pulling something out of me !( which they obviously were!) I actually feel physically sick thinking about it now! I was pushing as hard as I could so that the doctor didn't have to pull as hard, it was such an excruciating pain! and then all of a sudden.........there he was!!
The only thing to go right in my birth plan was him being handed to me straight away skin to skin contact. I remember feeling like "wow he's finally here and he's OK !!" But again I'm not going to sit here and lie to you all, I was still in pain and off my head on the drugs lol I seriously thought it would be an instant connection and an instant love, but it really took time ! As guilty as I feel for saying that, It really wasn't instant like most people tell you it is. I honestly think its because of the traumatic, unexpected way the birth went that I felt this way. Don't get me wrong though I loved him from the minute I opened my eyes and saw his bloody, slimy body being handed to me! but it wasn't an overwhelming love that people tell you, or you feel like your supposed to have.
After his daddy cut the cord, he was given to the paediatrician to be checked over, and get all the "gunk" out of his mouth! but he was fine thank god!
I needed stitches internally and externally which was to be expected because of the type of assisted delivery I had. Then we were left to rest for a bit in the delivery room and my dad quickly popped in to see his grandson for the first time. I was very very tired and sore and i think i just slept for a while, also the Diamorphine was still in my system and probably in Masons system as well so we were zonked out!!
After we woke up the midwife told me she was moving us to the ward, and we were put in a four bed room with other mammy's and their babies. I took a shower and felt a little better.
The first night was hard as I was still so tired from the drugs and I couldn't sleep anyway because any little noise I was up looking at Mason to see if he was OK, as you do with a newborn!!
We left the hospital the day before my birthday, 11th November. There were a few tests Mason had to have on his heart before we left the hospital but I will write about them in a different post as this one is already longer than I wanted it to be lol!
So anyway there's my Birthing experience and I think the moral to my story is, Its all good and well writing out a birthing plan and having expectations about how you want your birth to go, but in reality mother nature will always go the way it wants to and sometimes its nothing like what you have typed out on your Macbook Pro!!!
After the diamorphine the midwife told me she was going to examine me again in 1 hour, but I told her I wanted examining now because I was getting impatient !!!
She examined me (three hours after the first examination where I was 2cm) and I had progressed to 8cm!!! by now the pain was extreme and I just wanted more pain relief so they gave me a second shot of Diamorphine, I was completely out of it with the mixture of gas and air and Diamorphine in my system ! I just remember feeling really really tired and woozy but in so much pain as well. Then it was time to push....I can't actually remember how long i was pushing for but it was a long time ! and nothing was happening. His head just wasn't coming down no matter how hard i was pushing, it was a horrible feeling knowing that I have to get this baby out but not getting any further forward!
Like I said I was pretty much out of it with the mixture of drugs but even I knew there was something wrong when the midwife said "come on then lets get this baby out now by yourself, because I'm afraid you might need assistance if you don't get him out this time".
I tried as hard as I could and pushed as hard as I could but nothing ! So within 2 minutes or so from me trying one last time to push him out myself, there was a doctor and a junior doctor in the room along with a male paediatrician to help him after he was born, oh and the midwife! It went from having a calm birth to getting told I was going to need forceps and an Episiotomy !!! I was beyond scared but I knew it had to happen because his heart rate was dropping as he was in distress. The main priority was to get him out and he be OK!
I'm totally not going to sugar coat this at all....but WOW....having the forceps HURTS!!! also his head was only just turned around enough the right way to use the forceps or I would of had to go to theatre! That's why on the picture you can see the mark across his eye and cheek.
The doctor explained everything she was doing as she was doing it (which is good but I think id rather not of known !lol) I won't go into great detail but I obviously had to be cut to allow the forceps to in to pull him out and to be Honest I didn't actually feel that because I think they gave me a local anaesthetic first.
Then It was time to push again (and time for the doctor to pull!!) I have never felt pain like it! I know this might scare some of you that read this who are pregnant but I want you to know the truth rather than think its all a breeze!! It literally felt like someone was pulling something out of me !( which they obviously were!) I actually feel physically sick thinking about it now! I was pushing as hard as I could so that the doctor didn't have to pull as hard, it was such an excruciating pain! and then all of a sudden.........there he was!!
The only thing to go right in my birth plan was him being handed to me straight away skin to skin contact. I remember feeling like "wow he's finally here and he's OK !!" But again I'm not going to sit here and lie to you all, I was still in pain and off my head on the drugs lol I seriously thought it would be an instant connection and an instant love, but it really took time ! As guilty as I feel for saying that, It really wasn't instant like most people tell you it is. I honestly think its because of the traumatic, unexpected way the birth went that I felt this way. Don't get me wrong though I loved him from the minute I opened my eyes and saw his bloody, slimy body being handed to me! but it wasn't an overwhelming love that people tell you, or you feel like your supposed to have.
After his daddy cut the cord, he was given to the paediatrician to be checked over, and get all the "gunk" out of his mouth! but he was fine thank god!
I needed stitches internally and externally which was to be expected because of the type of assisted delivery I had. Then we were left to rest for a bit in the delivery room and my dad quickly popped in to see his grandson for the first time. I was very very tired and sore and i think i just slept for a while, also the Diamorphine was still in my system and probably in Masons system as well so we were zonked out!!
After we woke up the midwife told me she was moving us to the ward, and we were put in a four bed room with other mammy's and their babies. I took a shower and felt a little better.
The first night was hard as I was still so tired from the drugs and I couldn't sleep anyway because any little noise I was up looking at Mason to see if he was OK, as you do with a newborn!!
We left the hospital the day before my birthday, 11th November. There were a few tests Mason had to have on his heart before we left the hospital but I will write about them in a different post as this one is already longer than I wanted it to be lol!
So anyway there's my Birthing experience and I think the moral to my story is, Its all good and well writing out a birthing plan and having expectations about how you want your birth to go, but in reality mother nature will always go the way it wants to and sometimes its nothing like what you have typed out on your Macbook Pro!!!
Ainsleigh
xoxo
