Helz
Aug 9th, 2008, 17:04 PM
I finally had my daughter Chloe on the 23rd July after going a few days overdue. Chloe is my first child so I didn't really know what to expect from labour or what it would feel like. As it happens, it took about 8 hours before I realised I was actually in labour!
In the evening of the 22nd I had a few pains in my lower back/bum which I can only descirbe as feeling kind of like constipation - which was what i put it down to, I didn't really think anything of it what with all the strange twinges etc I'd been feeling for a few months. I went to bed feeling a bit uncomfortable and woke up after about 2 hours feeling like i needed the loo but nothing came out. The cramping pains got a bit worse and i was back and forward to the loo. At about 4am I started thinking that perhaps they were contractions so I went on the internet and searched for what people's labours felt like, a few had said it felt like constipation so I decided to time them. At this point they were 7 mins apart, but in denial, I still thought it couldn't be labour and perhaps it was just a coincidence, but within half an hour they were 4 mins apart so I woke my partner to tell him i thought i was in labour. I got my bag ready and phoned the delivery suite at the hospital and they told me to come in as by this point contractions were 3 mins apart.
When I arrived at the hospital I was 3cm dilated and the midwife told me that the baby had her back to my back which was why I was experiencing all the pain in my back/bottom and none on my front, she said this was called back labour. I started off on gas and air which to be honest I don't think made any difference whatsoever, I just felt really thirsty and the pain was just as bad. I had a shot of morphine but the midwife told me she didnt think it would do much at all to take the edge off the back pain - which was true! I tried walking around, boucning on a birthing ball and nothing seemed to help the pain so I ended up lying on my back on the bed. By this point contractions were coming every 2 mins and lasting for 1 minute so I had no real time to catch my breath, I was like this for about 4 hours. I had my waters broken to speed things up which took several attempts and afterwards the contractions were coming 1 minute apart. I gave up on the gas and air much earlier so basically managed it on my own. By the time I was 8cm dilated my baby was taking a long time to recover her heart rate after my contractions so I had to be hooked up to a monitor and I had a couple of people in the room with me although I can't remember who any of them were lol! I went from 7cm to being fully dilated in 20 minutes and I think that that 20 minutes was the worst 20 minutes of my life, I felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing me in the back and almost like I was being sawn in half lol! I felt much better when the pushing stage began as I could concentrate on that, it only took 7 minutes to push her out thankfully but I did have a few tears, including internally, as she came out with one arm up. I had never been so happy and relieved in my life when it was all over and I could hold her, she looked so beautiful. I don't think I want another baby any time soon after that though lol!
In the evening of the 22nd I had a few pains in my lower back/bum which I can only descirbe as feeling kind of like constipation - which was what i put it down to, I didn't really think anything of it what with all the strange twinges etc I'd been feeling for a few months. I went to bed feeling a bit uncomfortable and woke up after about 2 hours feeling like i needed the loo but nothing came out. The cramping pains got a bit worse and i was back and forward to the loo. At about 4am I started thinking that perhaps they were contractions so I went on the internet and searched for what people's labours felt like, a few had said it felt like constipation so I decided to time them. At this point they were 7 mins apart, but in denial, I still thought it couldn't be labour and perhaps it was just a coincidence, but within half an hour they were 4 mins apart so I woke my partner to tell him i thought i was in labour. I got my bag ready and phoned the delivery suite at the hospital and they told me to come in as by this point contractions were 3 mins apart.
When I arrived at the hospital I was 3cm dilated and the midwife told me that the baby had her back to my back which was why I was experiencing all the pain in my back/bottom and none on my front, she said this was called back labour. I started off on gas and air which to be honest I don't think made any difference whatsoever, I just felt really thirsty and the pain was just as bad. I had a shot of morphine but the midwife told me she didnt think it would do much at all to take the edge off the back pain - which was true! I tried walking around, boucning on a birthing ball and nothing seemed to help the pain so I ended up lying on my back on the bed. By this point contractions were coming every 2 mins and lasting for 1 minute so I had no real time to catch my breath, I was like this for about 4 hours. I had my waters broken to speed things up which took several attempts and afterwards the contractions were coming 1 minute apart. I gave up on the gas and air much earlier so basically managed it on my own. By the time I was 8cm dilated my baby was taking a long time to recover her heart rate after my contractions so I had to be hooked up to a monitor and I had a couple of people in the room with me although I can't remember who any of them were lol! I went from 7cm to being fully dilated in 20 minutes and I think that that 20 minutes was the worst 20 minutes of my life, I felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing me in the back and almost like I was being sawn in half lol! I felt much better when the pushing stage began as I could concentrate on that, it only took 7 minutes to push her out thankfully but I did have a few tears, including internally, as she came out with one arm up. I had never been so happy and relieved in my life when it was all over and I could hold her, she looked so beautiful. I don't think I want another baby any time soon after that though lol!