My birth story.
Wednesday 13th November3:00pm
My labour and birth story begins 2 days after my due date. I had an antenatal appointment and was offered a stretch and sweep. I decided to do it to help kick start things along. Even though I was only 2 days over due, I was completely ready to have this baby. If nothing progressed further, I was booked in to see the doctor on Monday to discussed being induced.
At that stage I had only had a few period like cramps over the past few days but they never progressed to anything.
When the midwife performed the stretch and sweep around 3pm, I was found to already be 2cm dilated with a soft cervix. I'm not going to lie - it bloody hurt. Luckily it only lasted maybe 30 seconds or so. As soon as she was finished, I felt more period cramps. I went home keen as a bean for something to happen.
4:00pm
I went to the toilet and when I wiped, what did I find? My mucus plug! woo hoo! hahaha. I'm surprised it happened so quick but started to get really excited.
5:00pm
It was around this time I started to feel more cramps with my usual braxton hicks. They felt stronger than a normal period cramp and seemed to come and go randomly. I wasn't sure if they were contractions or not at the time, but looking back now they were totally the very first real contractions.
7:00pm
The contractions started to get stronger, more regular and more painful. I began timing them but they were still a bit random. Some were 20mins apart then maybe 12mins.
10:00pm
They finally became regular and were sitting around 10 - 12mins apart. I decided to try sleep and see how things were in the morning.
Thursday 14th November
1:00am
The contractions were now 7mins apart, and freakin painful. There was no way I could of slept through them. I pretty much just laid next to Adam, trying to sleep in the few mins inbetween them and breathed and moaned through them when they came. They stayed at 7-9mins apart until the morning and I did not sleep. :( I ended up calling the hospital twice overnight but they pretty much just said to stay home as long as possible and try rest at that stage.
9:00am
I can't really remember what I did during the day. I do remember my dad came over sometime in the morning to see how I was going. I remember sitting at the kitchen table chatting and having to stop and breathe through several contractions.
3:00pm
By 2pm, they went down to about 4-6mins apart and I decided to head up to the hospital. We grabbed my hospital bags and away we went. It was the most surreal feeling driving to the hospital while I was in labour. I felt like I was in a movie haha. I told the midwives at the nurses station what was happening and I was put in a room to be checked. I was hooked up to a CTG machine for half an hour so they could see what was going on. Bub was happy, the machine was picking up my contractions and my cervix was 3cm dilated. I was told at that stage the best thing to do was go back home and continue to labour there until I couldn't cope any longer and needed pain relief. My main complaint was that I was soo exhausted and just wanted to sleep so I had energy later for active labour and pushing. I was sent home with Panadeine Forte and Temazapam to help me get some sleep.
5:00pm
I had a light dinner and took the tablets and hoped to get some rest. It did absolutely nothing and the pain was progressively getting stronger and I could not sleep at all. The contractions were getting so painful and began to turn into back labour. I remember saying to Adam "I can't do this anymore we need to go to the hospital". The back labour was the absolute worst pain I've ever felt.
9:30pm
We headed back up to the hospital. I begged for something strong to let me sleep as I was ridiculously exhausted and scared I wouldn't have the energy to push. I was also given my first course of antibiotics through a cannula in my hand as I had tested positive for Strep B during my pregnancy and needed a course of antibiotics to make sure no infections were passed onto bub.
11:00pm
I was given a Morphine injection and was left to rest. Around this time and until I went into the birthing suite, was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. The back labour was so freakin intense it is like nothing I could ever describe. I found this to be even more painful than pushing. I waited and waited for the morphine to kick in but all it did was make me feel light headed and high. It did not take the pain away at all and I still wasn't able to sleep. It was all a blur for the next few hours but I remember saying again "I can't do this". I called the midwife and said I wasn't coping and the Morphine wasn't working for me. The midwife said she would check with the midwives in the birthing suite and see what to do next. My midwife Emma who had been checking me since I arrived earlier that evening came to check me again and said I was 4cm. I was then able to be moved into the birthing suite.
Friday 15th Novemeber
2:00am-ish
Time was a complete blur after I left my labour room. I remember walking to the birthing suite thinking "Oh my god, I'm about to go have my baby. It's happening. This is real. The next time I walk down this hallway I will have my baby." I climbed onto the bed and was hooked up to the CTG again to check how bub was doing. I thought I was only in that room for like an hour but Adam said we were there for over 2 hours. I tried the Gas for pain relief through my contractions but just like every other pain relief I had tried, it did not work for me. I was already extremely dehydrated and it made my mouth soooo dry and also felt like I was going to throw up. I just wanted the back labour pain to go away and I even asked for the epidural. After debating whether or not to actually get it, I decided yes. The midwife called the Anesthetist and I was put in a gown and hooked up to a drip. At some stage I was also given my second dose of antibiotics. The Anesthetist was on his way and I was still half hearted about having the epidural. The midwife checked me again and said I was around 8cm. I finally decided not to have the epidural and go natural for the birth. She called the Anesthetist and told him not to come.
At this point my waters had still not broken. Emma kept offering to break it but I said no as I was scared it would slow things down as I read that could happen. At some point I was told I could start pushing. I loved pushing. As weird as that sounds, I absolutely loved it haha. It took the edge off the back labour and just felt like I was doing a gigantic, relieving poo. The position I was pushing in was me kneeling down facing the bedhead hanging on to it. I pushed and pushed and kept saying how I could feel it was "getting close". Emma was constantly checking bubs heartbeat and every time she moved her stethoscope further and further down my pelvis I got so excited. I was told I needed to change positions as she couldn't pick up his heartbeat from my kneeling position anymore.
I wanted to give birth kneeling/squatting but she insisted I change and she thought things would progress quicker if I did. She was right. I did the hardest manuever of my life onto my back sort of leaning on my left side because flat on my back was wayyy to painful. I also gave in to letting her break my waters too. Things went so fast after I was in the new position. It felt like it was all over within a few minutes but apparently it was a lot longer than that haha. When it was close to the birth, another midwife came in to assist with Emma. I continued pushing and then Emma said "now when I say breathe, it's very important that you stop pushing and breathe. I want bub to come out nicely" I had no idea what was going on but suddenly all I remember was Adam saying "breathe, just breathe. little pushes, just little pushes". I did as I was told and then the most horrifying thing happened. It felt like razor blades were slicing apart my vagina. In my head I thought Emma was giving me an episotomy because it literally felt like I was being cut up down there. It turned out my vagina was tearing as his head was coming out haha. I remember someone saying his head was coming out and I blurted out "Does he have hair?!" haha. Finally after pushing as hard as I ever have, his head popped out and after pushing one last time, I pushed his little body out.
4:54am
"4:54am!" I heard the other midwife say, followed by "Oh he's a little poppit". I had just given birth to my baby boy. It was the absolute most liberating thing I have ever done. I was in awe of what I just did. He was placed onto my chest and after a few tiny cries, he opened his little eyes and I stared for the first time into my baby's eyes. I was so overwhelmed by everything I just cried and cried and hugged him. I looked at Adam and saw the proudest face I have ever seen on him.
I was given the injection to help push out the placenta. I said I could push it out and I did within a few minutes. The cool thing was because my waters never broke, my placenta was still inside my nearly fully intact amniotic sac. I started getting cleaned up down there and some random doctor dude walked in and hoisted my legs up and started looking around down there. I was told I had 2 tears and needed stitches. After a numbing needle down there, he started stitching me up. After holding my baby boy on my chest for a while and giving him his first feed from my boobies, it was time for him to be taken and weighed and given his needles and such.
Emma said I could hop up and go have a shower. I thought she was joking. I said "I.. just gave birth, can I even walk?!" Turns out she wasn't joking and I literally just got up and walked to the shower feeling a million times lighter. That shower was the most surreal shower I had ever had in my life. The whole time I was thinking "I just had a baby. I just gave birth. I'm having a shower. What the hell" hahaha. After the best freakin shower of my entire life, I walked back out and my baby boy was all wrapped up ready to go in his little crib. I got dressed and then we walked back into the room I left hours ago that I laboured in so we could have time alone with our new baby boy.
James Brian Hendrick
6lb 15oz (3140g)
November 15th 2013
4:54am
49cm
He is the most perfect little thing I have ever seen and I fell completely in love with him instantly. The emotions I feel towards this little person are nothing I could ever describe. He fills my heart with complete and utter warmth and love. I will cherish, love and protect him for the rest of my life.
James 1 month update
James is now 1 month old! It's such a cliche but he is seriously growing up so fast. Time is just flying. It seems like I only just gave birth like last week!
It's been a challenging few weeks for both Adam and I but completely worth it. Newborns are demanding little divas. It's such a huge adjustment from our previous lifestyles. We are finally settling in though and getting used to being parents and the around the clock care for our gorgeous bubba boy.
Weight: We had a child nurse home visit today where she did his measurements and an overall health check. He is now 4.37kg!! he was 3.14kg when he was born so he has gained over 1kg since birth.
Height: He is measuring at 50cm. 1cm more than birth. I think this is a bit off though as he is soo much longer than he was when he was born.
Routine: I know that newborns having a routine is pretty near impossible but he has his regular sort of activities which I can predict he will do roughly the same time each day. He will wake up properly around 6 - 8am, have a feed, change then be wide awake. While Adam and I are waking up properly, we have morning snuggles with him in our bed. :) My favourite part of the day. I love seeing his little face first thing in the morning. Sometimes he will go back to sleep or stay awake. If he stays awake we hop up and put him in his little bouncer (which he looooves) pop him next to the dining table and then Adam and I have breakfast. Around midday he will have a long nap, followed by a few more naps in the afternoon. By late afternoon he becomes pretty fussy and unsettled. This lasts until the evening until he is ready to go to bed. We bath him every 2nd day and he usually goes down around 8-9pm. He will wake up once and cry but after some cuddles and settling, he will go back to sleep and sleep in 2- 3 hour blocks, waking up for feeds and change inbetween then straight back to sleep. I feel so lucky to have a baby that sleeps that long through the night.
Feeding: I've had issues with breastfeeding James right from the start. I thought he was fine the first few times I fed him but turns out he wasn't latching properly. My nipples were left literally red raw as turns out he was just sucking on the end which made them bleed and not get the colostrum properly. I was so upset and felt like a failure of a mother who couldn't feed her own baby. After a day of having to express colostrum into a cup and feed him using a syringe which broke my heart, a midwife suggested we try the "football grip" way of holding him to breastfeed and he began to latch properly and get the hang of feeding. Since then though, I have had more issues. I've been able to transition him back to the usual cradle holding grip which is great but for the first few weeks he was feeding constantly. I mean constantly! Every hour or less except for over night. It was sooo exhausting and I felt like my milk supply couldn't keep up. Thankfully, that phase is over and I think it was due to a growth spurt because he is turning into such a little chubba after being born a skinny little thing. Also, I had mastitis! Do these problems ever end?! haha. Mastitis is absolutely horrid and I was left a crying, sick mess trying to feed my unsettled baby last Friday night. Thankfully I didn't need antibiotics for it as I was able to clear it myself. I called the breastfeeding hotline and googled what to do which cleared it up by Monday. The latest issue I'm having with breast feeding now though is he is constantly unlatching himself and then crying. It is extremely frustrating as feeding takes twice as long and he has a ridiculous amount of gas so I have to burp him every time he unlatches. The child health nurse was able to answer what was going on and turns out it's an overload of lactose. It is a mixture of my hormones and his demand that is creating a dense, over supply of milk. He also has what I thought was nappy rash but it's actually a result of the lactose irritating him. He has constantly been spitting up too which is apparently also a result of the lactose as his stomach becomes unsettled from it. It's such a relief to have an answer to this as I've been scared he was going to refuse the breast and go on a hunger strike and I would have to formula feed which I absolutely do not want to do! She said this will pass around week 6 as my hormones settle down and my supply becomes completely regulated by James demand. Thank goodness because I absolutely love breastfeeding and hoping to breastfeed for at least 12 months.
Milestones:
- This still blows my mind but he has been lifting his head on his own since he was 3 days old! He did it for the first time while we were in hospital when I put him up on my chest like a little koala for the first time. He just lifted his head and looked around. He is so clever! Since then he has pretty much complete control of his head. He can hold it up for ages before flopping it down for a brief second then picking it back up again for another long period of time. The child health nurse who visited also was amazed at his head control for his age. :)
- Since he can hold his head up so well, he absolutely loves tummy time. He will stay on his tummy and prop his head up for ages just looking around at everything.
- He "cooed" for the first time while he was in his bouncer. He absolutely loves that thing. He sits in it for ages, stares up at the toys and every now and then goes "oooh!" in the cutest little voice. Last week he started to react to noises, he turns his head now when you shake one of the bouncer toys near his face. So cute.
- He is even trying to crawl now too!! He kicks his legs but can't control his arms the same way so they just get stuck under his body while he gets frustrated trying to kick enough to crawl haha. He can also roll from his tummy to his back! My baby is soo clever. The first time he did it we thought it was just an accident. A few days later he did it again. We put him back on his tummy and he did it again, and again. I am so proud of him. He is going to be a handful in a few months time!
39 weeks pregnant
I am 39 weeks pregnant today and so ready to pop. This photo was from last week at 38 weeks but I am pretty much still the same size. The only difference is I've taken out my belly ring. Over the past 2 weeks the skin above the piercing has become really irritable, sore to touch and red despite keeping it clean and wearing a pregnancy bar. I thought I was going to be lucky and save it, having made it this far into my pregnancy being able to keep it but it definitely had to come out. :( I realised after taking it out that it's actually a big stretch mark forming above my belly button which is still continuing to grown. It is my only new stretch mark this whole pregnancy! I was expecting a lot more since my body is prone to stretch marks.
I honestly can't believe it's my due date in 1 week. It feels like I've been pregnant forever but at the same time, it really has flown by. I thought he would of come early as I've been having all the pregnancy pains under the sun lately. The worst is when he's pushing his head down there which hits certain nerves causing me to double over in pain from the lightning like feeling shooting down my cervix, groin and down my thighs. ow. I also have braxton hicks contractions throughout the day and night. They are more frequent at night but not frequent enough to be timed regularly. Sleeping is a thing of the past as getting comfortable is near impossible now. I have a pillow wedged behind me so I don't roll onto my back (my usually sleeping position which is obviously a no-no), a pillow wedged in between my legs to ease pressure on my hips and to keep them aligned and a pillow to cuddle which also acts as a wedge to keep me from rolling onto my belly. Now that sounds pretty comfy being engulfed in a pillow cake but once I am comfortable enough to sleep, I wake up having a braxton hicks contraction, back/neck ache and/or needing to pee several times a night. This leaves me so exhausted during the day and it's too hot to nap! I know, I know, just wait for when the baby is here wanting to be fed every 3 hours. The difference is though, I will have my body back and I won't be waking to all these discomforts, it will actually be really cute waking up knowing the purpose is to nourish my baby. :)
So I debated whether to post this photo or not. I feel so self conscious of what I look like now and I feel I've gained too much excess weight during my pregnancy. My weight loss journey and body image issues are a whole other story but it's been quite hard for me to deal mentally through my pregnancy watching the baby weight pile on. As of today, I've gained a total of 19kgs. I know for certain that a lot of this is water retention as I've been having trouble with my joints aching - my fingers actually lock up in the morning and it's very painful to release them. The doctor put it down to water retention which should go away after baby is born. I can see such a huge difference in my face too - sooo puffy and chubby! Adam thinks it's cute but I can't wait to get back into fitness and reclaim somewhat of my old figure haha. Having said that, I feel completely blessed to be able to carry this baby and am in no way being negative towards such a beautiful experience. I love that my body is capable of keeping this little life inside of me and growing it for 9 months. Every single day I find myself day dreaming of what my little one is going to look like, feel like in my arms. I really can't wait to meet him. :) So hurry up little one!
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