Kayla’s Birth of Isabella

Here is my birth story of my daughter Isabella.

We found out we were expecting in March, last year. I had bought a pregnancy test because I was constantly grumpy, felt like I had a hangover for a week and hadn't had my period, which was really unusual for me. The test was positive. I walked into the kitchen where Jason was waiting and showed him the test. He gave me a massive hug and didn't want to let go. We were both so happy and began telling everyone right away. My mum and step-father were happy for us, as well as Jason's parents, but dad wasn't too happy about it. For the first four weeks, I had a lot of morning sickness, but after that my pregnancy was a breeze. At 17 weeks, we found out we were expecting a girl.

From then, it went so fast I could hardly keep up with the weeks. Eventually, I got to my due date (29th of November). I waited all day for it to start, but it didn't. A week later, I was still waiting, so I was booked in for a checkup at Waikato hospital and they would book my induction from there.

At the hospital, they monitored baby and did an internal. I was easily 2 cms. They booked me in for 7pm on Sunday.

At 41+5 weeks I asked my midwife if she would do a sweep to try and bring on labour. I was 2-1/2 cms by this stage and having horrible back pain.

The sweep definitely helped, because I woke up the following morning (Saturday the 11th of December 2010) at 3am with contractions. I timed them as 6-7 minutes apart.

I got up and walked around for a while, then had a bath; meanwhile, Jason was still asleep. By lunchtime, they were still 6-7 minutes apart, so Jason and I went for a walk over the farm to try and speed things up. I texted my midwife to let her know and we arranged to meet at the birthing center for a checkup.  My midwife did an internal and I was almost 3cms, but contractions were still the same length of time.

I was booked in to be induced the following day, so I really wanted baby to come by herself. I got no sleep that night, and the following morning, my contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and I could really feel the pressure in my back.

I had only dilated another cm. Angela, my midwife, put a drip in my hand and gave me some
fluids to try and speed things up. She monitored me for an hour, then suggested I get some rest. We decided to meet at Waikato hospital at 7pm, which was when I was booked in, anyway. At the hospital, I was given the prostaglandin gel to speed things up. I was told this would take about half
an hour to work.

3 minutes later, I was in agony. The rest of the night was a blur; all I remember is getting up for showers and hallucinating. Angela gave me a shot of pethidine to help with the pain.

Next thing I know, I’m in the delivery suite where I had some gas and eventually an epidural (I was so tired). I felt so much better after that.

At 2pm, I was 7 cms. Angela broke my waters, then they attached a wire to baby's head so they could monitor the heart beat easier. At 5pm, I was 9cms and the surgeon told me that baby was posterior and if she hadn't turned within an hour, I would have to have an emergency c-section.

6pm came very quickly and she was still posterior. I was so upset that I couldn't do it by myself, but I wanted what was best for our baby. I was wheeled into theater and they began to cut me open. The doctor gave me some more pain relief because it was quite painful and I was starting to feel really sick.

On Monday the 13th of December, at 6:18pm, our daughter, Isabella Jade, was born and my partner
cut the cord and brought her over to meet me. It was the happiest moment of my life. She looked just like her daddy.

I was stitched back up and taken to recovery, where I was monitored for 2 hours. Ella had her first feed and had more cuddles with her daddy.

Mum was waiting in the delivery suite for 3 hours until we were finally wheeled out (it only felt like 30 minutes). Jason and Mum had to leave for the night and were told to come back in the morning.

Ella is now 14 weeks old and such an easy baby. I was upset that I couldn't have the birth that I wanted, but at the end of the day we were both happy and healthy, and that's all that mattered.

Tags: c-section, c-section birth story, ceserean, ceserean section birth story, over due, 41 weeks birth stories, birth, epidural, induction, birthing stories,

Comments

[Lillibet]

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry your birth didn't go the way you had hoped; it can be very distressing when you end up with the opposite of what you expected. It's really normal to feel that happy that your baby is healthy, yet be sad that your birth wasn't as you had hoped. Feeling sadness about the birth is not incompatible with love and happiness that you have your baby. I remember having a stretch and sweep with my first - it was really painful, and my care providers didn't explain the risks of doing it. It sounds to me like your little one just needed more time to gestate, but your care provider's policies got in the way.

[kayla]

thanks for your comment. ella is now a year old and although i wanted a natural birth i am very happy that i had the experience i did because it was so worth it. i am hoping that i can have a natural birth next time. =) i will definately be staying at home as long as i can