One of the things I really wanted to know about and continuously Googled when I was trying for a baby was whether I was having any very early symptoms of pregnancy. Some people report signs within a few days of the egg being fertilised.
E's mummy:
So I didn't get any signs I was pregnant really early on, the first sign I was pregnant was a positive pregnancy test the date my period was due.
The month before I was pregnant, I had convinced myself I was pregnant because I was having signs that others seem to have had in the very early days; extreme fatigue, bloating and sleeplessness (in fact I was an insomniac for a couple of weeks), but it turned out I was coming down with Shingles!!!
At 5 weeks I had a couple of days of diarrhoea (sorry tmi) which embarrassingly coincided with guests staying at our house.
By 6 weeks of pregnancy I was sick, i mean really sick. Constant nausea and vomiting morning, noon and night. I didn't want to eat or drink and when I did I was sick. Just sips of water made me sick. I would walk into my kitchen, smell the sealed hummus in the fridge and run out to vomit. The sickness was fairly horrendous and I dropped 1.5 stone to just 7.5 stone. Midwives couldn't get my blood at 12 weeks due to dehydration. Fortunately it was completely gone by 14 weeks.
I started to show a bump pretty early, signs of a bump in photos of me (we took one every week from 5 weeks) from 12 weeks.
In terms of cravings, I never sent my partner out in the middle of the night but I did fancy anything with apple in it... Apple pie, apple crumble, apple turnovers... Plus my savoury tooth became a sweet tooth throughout my pregnancy and continues now whilst I'm breastfeeding.
After my sickness stopped I felt amazing! I felt more well than I had for years! I usually get quite bad eczema but that completely cleared and my skin was fantastic. It didn't remain that way after the pregnancy finished though. I had many people tell me that pregnancy suited me!
Monday, 25 April 2016
Excess bleeding wasn't part of my "birthing plan" - my birth experience
I was one of those people who chose to go into labour without having researched people's experiences. I knew it would hurt, I learnt about the different pain relief options available to me at my antenatal classes, I didn't want to know about the complications that could occur. I'm a health professional and so I know things can go wrong but I just didn't want to think too much about that. Being a natural worrier, googling 'labour complications' would have been foolish. I was heading towards labour with the 'whatever will be, will be' mind set.
I didn't create much of a "birthing plan". I'd initially said I wanted to labour on my local midwife led unit but that option was quickly taken off the table when I was put under consultant care 30 weeks into my pregnancy due to having Polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid) and a large baby. So my only preferences were to stay on my feet as long as possible and not to have an epidural. My partner had these 2 things drummed into his head. I wanted a natural delivery but knew if the Dr's were suggesting anything to the contrary, it was for good reason.
So this is how it actually went:
At 4 am I woke up as I did pretty much hourly at the end if my pregnancy, feeling uncomfortable in bed and needed to change my position. However I really couldn't get comfortable, so thinking nothing of it, I headed downstairs because the chances of me getting back to sleep were minimal now. I popped on a box set and snuggled on the sofa.
40 minutes later I decided to make some breakfast, reached up for a cereal bowl and had to lean on the kitchen top due to back pain. It quickly eased and again I thought nothing if it. It wasn't until about 35 minutes after that that it happened again, when I was just sat in my snuggled position, box set on, colouring in my adult colouring book that I realised this back pain was the start of something terrifying but insanely exciting. I was in labour!!!
So as a side note, I was totally thrown by the fact that all my contractions were happening in my back. I thought that my contractions would be like an extreme version of my period pain cramps which have always been in my lowered abdomen, so when I kept getting these back pains every 30 minutes I did eventually ring my mum for clarification. My mother sounded cool as a cucumber on the telephone and confirmed that I was indeed in labour, but apparently as soon as she was off the phone, it hit her that her first grandchild was on its way. She had to go to work so she contacted my sister waking her and hysterically informing her she needed to get her arse over to my house ASAP.
Anyway back to my labour pains. I was monitoring them on an app I'd downloaded. Sent my partner off to work. Got my breathing control going really early on, and paced with a hot water bottle on my back with each contraction. My sister was fab company. I let the labour ward know at about 8.30, so everything was going well. At roughly 11 I went to the toilet and passed some blood. I had, had 'the show' the day before but this was different. The midwife on the labour ward agreed an assessment was required so by 11.05 my sister and I were heading to the labour ward.
Once I'd waddled into hospital, the maternity unit was so busy that the assessment room was full so I was put straight into a labour room which, I was told, was temporary because I would probably be sent home. However 10 hours later I was giving birth to my son in that very room.
I was put on all the monitors and my bubba was doing well so then I awaited my assessment... 4 hours later I was still in that room waiting. My contractions remained in my back, coming more frequently and with more strength each time. I was still pacing and continued my breathing control as per my "birthing plan". I no longer had a hot, hot water bottle and I had not seen a health care professional for hours. I had been in labour for 11 hours with no pain relief at all.
My hind waters went around that time and annoyingly it resulted in my contractions lessening for a little while. It felt like I was going backwards but fortunately this was only short lived, within an hour they were back up to strength and didn't I know it. I was vomiting yet still no assessment or health care professional contact. My sister went out to talk to the staff requesting they come and do an assessment and offer some pain relief, I was keen to start on gas and air to continue to utilise my breathing control. I remained on my feet. No one came at my sisters request. More time passed. Then I perched on the edge of the bed, despite knowing that sitting worsened the pain of my contractions and I fainted forward off the bed. Thankfully by then my partner had arrived and he caught me. That was the end of the 'remaining on my feet' part of my "birthing plan". And FYI contractions are so much worse when lying! At that point my sister went out to talk to the staff for the umpteenth time and this time she kicked arse. After 13 hours since labour began and 5 hours since my arrival at the hospital, I was finally assessed. In the words of my midwife 'you are 7 cm, what a trooper'. I'm quite proud that I had reached 7 cm with no pain relief, breathing control alone.
I was finally offered some pain relief! In fact I argued that I just wanted gas and air and they were trying to push an epidural. My partner did the only job I had assigned him, and he did it perfectly, he stood by me and refused an epidural. I tried gas and air but it just got on my nerves (even more so when my partner started using it)! I think I was too far in for the gas and air to be effective, I wish I had started on it sooner. So I opted for Pethadine and I would recommend it to anyone. It allowed me to sleep between contractions, recoup a bit of energy. My one bit of advice, use the loo before the injection, don't decide you need it as soon as the drug is administered because you'll probably need to be carried back from the bathroom!
At 9 pm I had that well known profound need to push. I was disappointed I couldn't push in a 4 point position but I would have fainted. I completed my labour lying on my side. I got into a good pattern with my breathing. Yes it was painful but reaching down to touch his head as he was crowning was truly amazing, feeling him slide out with that final push was incredible and then holding my naked son in his first seconds of outside world life beats any feeling you will ever have. It was immensely overwhelming and the happiest moment of my life. It is true what they say, every second of agony is worth it.
My little chunky monkey had caused a little trauma so the midwife was stitching me up and that's when my labour started to become more dramatic. Initially all was calm, my bubba was naked and staring into his daddy's eyes. I was successfully benefiting from gas and air for the first time and then my midwife noticed a blood clot, so she cleared it and many more clots followed. The next thing I knew we had the doctors, Midwives, the head midwife... flocking into the room and I knew something was up. I had delivered a complete placenta so that wasn't the cause of the bleeding. It turns out that the concerns of my large size during pregnancy was the cause. My Polyhydramnios had caused my uterus to over stretch, once it had done the job of getting my bubba into the world, it didn't fancy doing any more work. As a result it wasn't contracting back down resulting in hemorrhaging. The clots were cleared and my uterus was finally contracting down after some painful manipulation from the doctors but to clear the clots, Midwives had had to reach in and scoop out. This meant I began swelling and the stitching couldn't be completed, additionally my blood pressure had gone up possibly due to the trauma. I was given blood pressure lowering medication and left to enjoy my son. Our first family moments alone. Perfect.
I took my son and put him on my boob allowing him to figure out what to do because I was totally clueless! He seemed to be doing the right thing and I was feeling some abdominal cramps as can often happen when feeding early on but worryingly I started feeling a sensation like I had during labour, a pressure on my bottom, then a warm feeling and I knew I was bleeding. I pushed the call bell and in walked a midwife I hadn't met, she took one look and hit the emergency bell. In rushed a mass of health professionals and the scooping and manipulation began again.
In total I had lost 1.5l of blood. The blood loss resulted in a big drop in blood pressure, exacerbated by the blood pressure lowering drugs I had been given previously. I was moved onto the high dependency unit. The bonus being my own room with my bubba and my partner could stay as long as he liked to help me out. The negatives, I was limited to flat bed rest, needing help to look after my son because I couldn't even sit up to tend to my son. I had 2 cannulas in with saline being pushed through one and 2 units of blood being transfused through the other. I spent 2 nights on the high dependency unit and 1 night on the ward before the magic moment of being discharged home.
It all sounds terrifying and was very worrying but more so to my partner as it wasn't until I look back that I realise how traumatic it was. I had my son safely in my arms so the gravity of the situation didn't hit me at that point. But I would like to point out that this situation is not too common and the health professionals around me were amazing and have the expertise to manage this situation very well. Plus if needed I'd do it all again for my gorgeous boy.
So as a side note, I was totally thrown by the fact that all my contractions were happening in my back. I thought that my contractions would be like an extreme version of my period pain cramps which have always been in my lowered abdomen, so when I kept getting these back pains every 30 minutes I did eventually ring my mum for clarification. My mother sounded cool as a cucumber on the telephone and confirmed that I was indeed in labour, but apparently as soon as she was off the phone, it hit her that her first grandchild was on its way. She had to go to work so she contacted my sister waking her and hysterically informing her she needed to get her arse over to my house ASAP.
Anyway back to my labour pains. I was monitoring them on an app I'd downloaded. Sent my partner off to work. Got my breathing control going really early on, and paced with a hot water bottle on my back with each contraction. My sister was fab company. I let the labour ward know at about 8.30, so everything was going well. At roughly 11 I went to the toilet and passed some blood. I had, had 'the show' the day before but this was different. The midwife on the labour ward agreed an assessment was required so by 11.05 my sister and I were heading to the labour ward.
Once I'd waddled into hospital, the maternity unit was so busy that the assessment room was full so I was put straight into a labour room which, I was told, was temporary because I would probably be sent home. However 10 hours later I was giving birth to my son in that very room.
I was put on all the monitors and my bubba was doing well so then I awaited my assessment... 4 hours later I was still in that room waiting. My contractions remained in my back, coming more frequently and with more strength each time. I was still pacing and continued my breathing control as per my "birthing plan". I no longer had a hot, hot water bottle and I had not seen a health care professional for hours. I had been in labour for 11 hours with no pain relief at all.
My hind waters went around that time and annoyingly it resulted in my contractions lessening for a little while. It felt like I was going backwards but fortunately this was only short lived, within an hour they were back up to strength and didn't I know it. I was vomiting yet still no assessment or health care professional contact. My sister went out to talk to the staff requesting they come and do an assessment and offer some pain relief, I was keen to start on gas and air to continue to utilise my breathing control. I remained on my feet. No one came at my sisters request. More time passed. Then I perched on the edge of the bed, despite knowing that sitting worsened the pain of my contractions and I fainted forward off the bed. Thankfully by then my partner had arrived and he caught me. That was the end of the 'remaining on my feet' part of my "birthing plan". And FYI contractions are so much worse when lying! At that point my sister went out to talk to the staff for the umpteenth time and this time she kicked arse. After 13 hours since labour began and 5 hours since my arrival at the hospital, I was finally assessed. In the words of my midwife 'you are 7 cm, what a trooper'. I'm quite proud that I had reached 7 cm with no pain relief, breathing control alone.
I was finally offered some pain relief! In fact I argued that I just wanted gas and air and they were trying to push an epidural. My partner did the only job I had assigned him, and he did it perfectly, he stood by me and refused an epidural. I tried gas and air but it just got on my nerves (even more so when my partner started using it)! I think I was too far in for the gas and air to be effective, I wish I had started on it sooner. So I opted for Pethadine and I would recommend it to anyone. It allowed me to sleep between contractions, recoup a bit of energy. My one bit of advice, use the loo before the injection, don't decide you need it as soon as the drug is administered because you'll probably need to be carried back from the bathroom!
At 9 pm I had that well known profound need to push. I was disappointed I couldn't push in a 4 point position but I would have fainted. I completed my labour lying on my side. I got into a good pattern with my breathing. Yes it was painful but reaching down to touch his head as he was crowning was truly amazing, feeling him slide out with that final push was incredible and then holding my naked son in his first seconds of outside world life beats any feeling you will ever have. It was immensely overwhelming and the happiest moment of my life. It is true what they say, every second of agony is worth it.
My little chunky monkey had caused a little trauma so the midwife was stitching me up and that's when my labour started to become more dramatic. Initially all was calm, my bubba was naked and staring into his daddy's eyes. I was successfully benefiting from gas and air for the first time and then my midwife noticed a blood clot, so she cleared it and many more clots followed. The next thing I knew we had the doctors, Midwives, the head midwife... flocking into the room and I knew something was up. I had delivered a complete placenta so that wasn't the cause of the bleeding. It turns out that the concerns of my large size during pregnancy was the cause. My Polyhydramnios had caused my uterus to over stretch, once it had done the job of getting my bubba into the world, it didn't fancy doing any more work. As a result it wasn't contracting back down resulting in hemorrhaging. The clots were cleared and my uterus was finally contracting down after some painful manipulation from the doctors but to clear the clots, Midwives had had to reach in and scoop out. This meant I began swelling and the stitching couldn't be completed, additionally my blood pressure had gone up possibly due to the trauma. I was given blood pressure lowering medication and left to enjoy my son. Our first family moments alone. Perfect.
I took my son and put him on my boob allowing him to figure out what to do because I was totally clueless! He seemed to be doing the right thing and I was feeling some abdominal cramps as can often happen when feeding early on but worryingly I started feeling a sensation like I had during labour, a pressure on my bottom, then a warm feeling and I knew I was bleeding. I pushed the call bell and in walked a midwife I hadn't met, she took one look and hit the emergency bell. In rushed a mass of health professionals and the scooping and manipulation began again.
In total I had lost 1.5l of blood. The blood loss resulted in a big drop in blood pressure, exacerbated by the blood pressure lowering drugs I had been given previously. I was moved onto the high dependency unit. The bonus being my own room with my bubba and my partner could stay as long as he liked to help me out. The negatives, I was limited to flat bed rest, needing help to look after my son because I couldn't even sit up to tend to my son. I had 2 cannulas in with saline being pushed through one and 2 units of blood being transfused through the other. I spent 2 nights on the high dependency unit and 1 night on the ward before the magic moment of being discharged home.
It all sounds terrifying and was very worrying but more so to my partner as it wasn't until I look back that I realise how traumatic it was. I had my son safely in my arms so the gravity of the situation didn't hit me at that point. But I would like to point out that this situation is not too common and the health professionals around me were amazing and have the expertise to manage this situation very well. Plus if needed I'd do it all again for my gorgeous boy.
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