Patricks Birth Story Part 2

Here is part 2 of my little P's birth, and if you haven't read Part 1 you can find it here.

It was now officially the 7th of June, and I could breathe a sigh of relief that my son wouldn't be a 666 baby. Around this time I was allowed to use gas and air, when I was next examined I sucked on it so hard that John who was only about 30cm away, felt galaxies away and everything felt a bit strange and fuzzy. I used gas and air for Noahs birth and I never felt like that - which makes me think I didn't use it properly. Either way, it made me feel out of control which I despised as one of the main reasons in either birth I didn't want an epidural, is because you can't control your limbs and I absolutely didn't want to be out of control of myself. I was then a little wary of the gas and air, however it didn't deter me from using it as by this point I was in a fair amount of pain.

The time between 1-3 is a little hazy, I had a IV antibiotic drip fitted in which the lady tried to get a vain 5 times before calling someone else, I think personally she was nervous as I've never had issues with a vein being found in the past. An anaesthetist came in and must have thought that I'd be feeling the pain from the nurses failed attempts, so he rushed off to get something to numb the area he was going to try in my hand, during that time a doctor appeared and actually asked if I needed the numbing cream to which I can't remember my exact reply but I was in excruciating labour pain and they thought I'd give a sh*t about a needle in my hand, with that he found a vein instantly and my IV was fitted. All precautionary due to the early water breakage. In truth though, I think they could have stabbed straight through my arm with the needle and I wouldn't have budged as it was nothing in comparison to the pains in my back. As with my previous labour, it was all in my back with zero tummy pains.

Around 3:30am (I checked this from my notes a few hours after birth - don't you wish you could keep them?) I began to tell Martha I felt like I needed to push, well actually I told her it felt like I needed to do a huge poo - again like it did when I birthed Noah - except this time I knew that this was the pushing phase and in fact there was no possible way I could go to the toilet now. This stage was a little frustrating as I don't think she believed me, and kept saying 'I'll see if the head is descending when you have a contraction' however every time I had one she was either washing her hands, or writing something down and would only return to 'check' when my contraction had gone - thus deciding for herself that it wasn't quite that time yet. However, thirty minutes later and with a few rude words from myself I demanded she checked properly and with that she exclaimed the words I'd be longing to hear for the past couple of hours 'Ok it looks like we're about to have a baby'. I'm not ashamed to admit I panicked a little now as I could definitely tell within the next contraction P's head was going to come out - yet there was no baby doctor (which was needed as he was prem) and she was only a student who was completely alone, it worried me and I wish I'd just focused. Nonetheless Martha buzzed another midwife who managed to get in quite quickly, and as I expected P's head appeared with that contraction. This whole part of labour I really didn't like as I was kind of let to do whatever I liked and I was so wary of tearing again as I had to have 28 stitches after Noah, I managed to remember to pant but just as I did, John raised the back of the bed accidentally and I let out a scream followed by some obscenities aimed at him. Along with that the midwife trod on my IV and ripped it out, spurting blood everywhere. However seconds later at 4:30am, little P entered the world, all 6lb 5 of him, with just a very slight tear to me. (Thank you son!!)

He was breathing, he was crying and he was healthy. A little blue and grunty, but no one seemed to concerned. He was placed on my chest and we had that skin to skin I'd waited 36 weeks to have, and my god was he worth the wait. Just at that point I didn't realise we wouldn't cuddle again for another 4 days, Patrick would spend the next week in intensive care and my god were we so unprepared. P's NICU story will be coming up on the blog over the next week, so stay tuned.