Mine is really long, sorry!!!
When I found out I was pregnant I worked out my due date to be 27th December 2006 but following my 12 week scan they put my date back 4 days to New Years Eve.
From the age of 10 I had a phobia of vomiting so getting pregnant was terrifying. I hadn’t been sick for 13 years and I’d read loads of stories about women who had the same phobia getting through pregnancy with no sickness, I was unlucky and had it really bad. I really hoped my date was right as I hated being pregnant and couldn’t wait for it to be over, but I did have a bit of a ‘psychic feeling’ that I would have her on the 16th!
I ended up being induced at 37+5 (by scan date) as I had been being very sick for 10 days and was losing weight fast.
On the Monday (11th) Mark had to take me to hospital as when he got home from work I was being sick and just couldn’t stop. They gave me an anti-emetic injection and sent me home with some buccastem.
The midwife came on the 13th December so I asked to be induced as I was scared by the time I went into labour I would be too weak to give birth naturally and she arranged for me to see my consultant the next day.
The consultant gave me an internal/sweep and said I was 2cm dilated and the head was right down so it would be ok to induce me early the next week but I jokingly said ‘I can do tomorrow’. She didn’t think it would be possible but they checked and they could so I was told to be there for 7.30am the next day.
I didn’t sleep a wink, kept being sick and at 2.20am realised I was having contractions every 10-15mins. Mark woke up as I had to keep dashing to the loo to throw up so he didn’t get much sleep either. I wanted my Mum with me as well as Mark as he is not too good with blood, needles, etc. and I didn’t trust him not to pass out on me.
My Dad came round with Mum at about 6am to wish me luck and then Mum, Mark and me set off for the hospital at about 6.30am. When we got there the midwife took me to the induction room where there were already two other women but I didn’t see them as they had the curtains round the beds. I had another internal and was 3cm dilated then they hooked me up to a machine that showed my contractions and the baby’s movements.
I was really sick again and at about 11.00am the pains started getting much worse. Everytime the midwife walked past I was leaning over the bed with Mark rubbing my back, and she kept saying ‘we’ll take you to delivery soon’ but it felt like forever.
She took me up at about midday and the two women that were already in the induction room when I got there were still there – I bet they hated me! It was a bit of a walk, the pains were quite strong and my stomach felt tight, like when your trousers are too small so I undid the button on them even though they were hanging off me due to all the weigh I’d lost!
A midwife called Jane broke my waters at about 1.40pm by which time I was 5cm dilated. Jane had to go to a meeting but said she’d be back in a while and wanted the baby out before 5pm when she went home.
A lovely midwife called Hannah came in and it struck me I’d presumed my midwife would be older than me as I was 23, but she was only 22 and had been doing the job for almost a year.
I sat in the rocking chair but I was getting worked up about the mess I was making as water kept gushing out. I tried to eat a bit of cake but it made me really sick again and although I’d said I didn’t want pain relief in case it made me sick, I was so used to it and the pains were really starting to hurt, I decided to have a Meptid injection.
I went drowsy and clammy and was sicker than I had ever been in my whole life. I remember the fear in Mark and my Mum’s eyes and my Mum asking the midwife if it was normal to react like i had, which she said it was. Mum kept muttering about how they shouldn’t give women things that had such bad side effects when they had got to push a baby out but I didn’t really care at that point, I felt so out of it and to be fair it did take the edge off the pain. Mum had been nervous I would be shouting and swearing at everyone when I was having the contractions but I felt chilled and just wanted to go to sleep. Ater a while I felt I needed to push so Hannah had a look and said yes, it looked like I was fully dilated.
I pushed a few times and Hannah and Mum could see the head but but Scarlett’s heart rate was dropping so she went and got a more senior midwife called Jenny. I heard something about ‘getting the scissors just in case but you probably won’t need them’ and I felt kind of detached and remember thinking ‘Scissors? What might she need scissors for,’ but I was too tired to ask.
I think Scarlett’s heart rate must have dropped quite severely as I heard Jenny say ‘we are going to have to do one’ and she explained to Hannah how to do an episiotomy. In my head I was thinking ‘OMG she has never done this before and she is cutting me and what if she doesn’t do it right,etc.’ but on the outside I seemed perfectly calm because I was still feeling so drowsy.
The next thing I knew Mum said ‘Oh, look Hale’ and suddenly Scarlett was there. I didn’t know until then she was back to back and I could see she had dark hair and tanned skin like Mark. She was born at 4.20pm and I was so relieved as because I was induced on the 15th and I’d had a feeling the baby would come on the 16th I thought I would be in labour all day and night!!! I’d had to have a growth scan at 33 weeks and we found out ‘it’ was a ‘she,’ which we had told Hannah but when she born nobody announced the sex, it was only later when she was filling in the paperwork she said ‘It is a girl, yes?’
Scarlett didn’t cry at all (not until they pricked her heel to test her blood sugar the next day) and they put her straight on my chest. Mark wasn’t sure if he wanted to cut the cord or not when we did my birth plan but he did in the end.
By then the first midwife, Jane, had come back and Jenny had gone off but then Jane told Mark to press the orange button by the bed. We hadn’t realised anything was wrong but Scarlett had gone floppy and stopped breathing. I don’t remember it as if I was there but like I was watching it all on TV or something but they took her off me and the room filled up with midwives and a paeditrician.
They all crowded round her so I couldn’t see what was going on. Mark was holding my hand but I could see he was torn between holding my hand and seeing what was going on. Mum was watching what they were doing and was really worried, and I was thinking ‘Whats going on? Is she ok? Please don’t let this have all been for nothing? I want my baby!!!’ but I was still feeling drugged up.
I kept asking if she was going to be ok and my voice sounded really monotone. One of them said ‘Her hearts beating fine’ but after we found out she’d to have oxygen and 5 rescue breathes.
In a way I was glad the Meptid had made me feel so drowsy as I’m such an anxious person I would probably have gone hysterical. It felt like ages since Mark had had to press the buzzer and I think we all lost concept of time but it was probably only a few minutes. They never really explained why it had happened and didn’t seem very concerned once they gave her back to me, but Mum said it was probably the shock of coming out so quickly after the episiotomy.
We all had a hold of her and then the midwife called Hannah said she would weigh her. Mum said to me ‘What do you reckon Hale, 5lb something?’ I didn’t have a clue as she wasn’t very long but she wasn’t scrawny. Mark guessed 6lb 2oz, Hannah weighed her and she said ‘Guess what Dad, your spot on!’ Considering Mark hadn’t been around babies before it was a good guess. She measured her length at 49cm but when the midwife came to see us at home two days later she measured her to be 47cm.
Mark really liked the name Claudia but he had pictured her to have blonde hair and she was born with dark hair (which she quickly lost and after being bald until she was 2 and is now blonde!).
We had a short list of 5 names, as well as Claudia we had Amelia, Hollie, Hope and Scarlett. Scarlett was my Dad’s favourite and he was so excited about being a Grandad I said ‘Shall we go with Scarlett then?’ Mark was happy to but it felt strange calling her by any name and I kept saying ‘Does she look like a Scarlett?’
My only real complaint about the hospital where I went was that I’d given birth at 4.20pm and by 6.30pm I still hadn’t been stitched up. I needed the toilet but when Hannah came in to check on us she said to try and wait until I’d had the stitches. I kept sending Mark to ask how long it would be, but they were really busy and just kept saying soon. The midwife called Jenny eventually came and did it and that was the only time I said ‘Ouch!!!’ She had literally just finished when someone came in and said there was an emergency so she dashed off and Mark had to lower the bed for me so I could go and have a bath.
Mum stayed with Scarlett and Mark came with me as I was a bit woozy and wobbly.
After I had a bath they bought me some toast and then took me up to the maternity ward at about 8pm. I was made to go in a wheelchair which seemed daft as I’d had to walk to the delivery suite in pain with the contractions, but after she was born I felt so much better than I had done in ages that I think I could have skipped there!!!!
Mum and Mark stayed for about half an hour and then left. I was a bit freaked to be left on my own with Scarlett and I was scared that she would stop breathing again and worried that I wouldn’t notice. I’d sent texts to all my friends to tell them she was here and kept getting messages congratulating us which was lovely. My Dad sent me a really sweet message saying Mum had told him how brave I was and how beautiful Scarlett was and that he was really proud of me. Dad isn’t like that normally so it made me feel all tearful. All night I kept picking Scarlett up, putting her down, trying to sleep but not being able to.
Nobody came to check on us so I had to buzz for someone to come as I tried to breast feed her but although she’d latched on straight away just after she was born, I couldn’t get her to. Breast feeding wasn’t something I felt I strongly wanted to do so she had a bottle instead. I then had to buzz again a bit later as dozy me hadn’t packed any wipes or cotton wool and she had pooed!
There was only one other Mum and baby on the ward so it was quiet but I couldn’t wait to get home.
The next day Mark came at about 10am and I asked if I could go home. They said I could so at 2pm when it was visiting time, my Dad came and brought the car seat (Mum had gone with my sister for her wedding dress fitting). Mark’s Mum and Dad also came and they were all laughing at me as I kept asking and asking when I could go home, but they wanted to make sure Scarlett was feeding ok.
Eventually they let me go at about 5pm. I’d only taken 3 sleep suits and Scarlett had been sick on them all. I’d asked Mark to bring some more with him when he came but he’d picked up vests instead, so she came home in a vest and snow suit!
As birth’s go I don’t think mine was too bad. It was 14 hours from when I realised I was having contractions to when she arrived and I thought I would be in absolute agony but the Meptid did help ease the pain a bit, although if I have another baby I don’t think I’d have it again. It was more traumatic for Mark and Mum than for me as I remember what happened but not as if it was happening to me, where as their memories of it all are clearer and they remember how scary it was to see me being so sick and when Scarlett needed to oxygen and rescue breaths.
I am so glad I didn’t let the phobia stop me from having a baby, Scarlett is the best thing that’s ever happened to us and I feel so lucky to call her mine.
If you read all that thank you and well done xxx!!!
Scarlett age 1 1/2 hours
age 3 hours
