Cath: Ok, for those of you who want to know all the gory details and who aren't too squeamish... Here it is for the record! I'll put the pics in first in case you don't want to read through it all:
Rather unflattering pic of me with my funky pink plastic mug for water and trusty gas and air (before contractions got too intense...):
One of Josh's first pics:
In the early hours of Sunday, 8th August, I woke up feeling uncomfortable in bed. I got up for my usual nightly loo stop, then back to bed. But I struggled to get comfy again. Around 7am I felt what I knew was blood so got up and went to the bathroom again to check. Dave knew because I was there quite a while. But we though, just that silly polyp again, so took our time to pack our things for the hospital… fortunately we had just been shopping the day before for baby essentials so we had all the ingredients for a labour hospital bag. Just in case of course!
We packed and Dave made us rolls for lunch. Then we phoned the Royal Infirmary triage unit who said we should definitely come in. We were seen pretty quickly and the initial swab showed the polyp again. I had had some blood taken and had been waiting a couple hours to be seen again, when I got up to go to the loo and then felt a rush of blood, like getting a heavy period… that was quite scary! There was a whole lot of blood coming out in clots! A nurse was just coming into the room at the time though and she rushed out to get a doctor. There was then a bit of a flurry of nurses and a doctor trying to find a vein big enough for a needle to leave in my arm in case a drip was needed, so I ended up with a number of pin pricks all over my arms (which later made me all bruised) – not fun!
The doctor did a second swab and concluded once again that this was the polyp, but they decided to admit me to the labour ward for observations and further checks, since I had been having stomach cramps (what were really contractions but I did not realise this at the time!). My stomach was feeling uncomfortable at this point but wasn’t too bad.
Bleeding was on and off that day. I was seen by another more senior doctor who reckoned the polyp wasn’t the cause, leaving us more confused… They brought in a portable scanner to check my placenta again, which appeared to be ok although near the opening of my cervix – could it be coming away? In case I was going into labour, they arranged for me to have the 1st of 2 steroid injections which are recommended if you baby is less than 34 weeks to help boost their lungs. The 2nd one would be required 12 hours later.
Dave went home around 9pm and I stayed in the labour ward. The bleeding seemed to die down, but that night I woke around 1am with discomfort, so got up and went to the loo. The again a couple more times over the next few hours, until I eventually decided to tell a nurse who gave me painkillers. But then I suddenly had more bleeding! The contractions seemed to get worse that morning. I was back on the monitors and rang Dave around 10am to come in – shame, he hadn’t been at work very long! The doctor had seen me again and said I was 2cm dilated!! The contractions continued to get worse, but by 2pm they had died down again and I hadn’t bled for a while. I had the 2nd steroid injection. Around this time the doctor came in intending to break my waters! But when she realised the bleeding the contractions had died down, and baby was happy, they decided to wait… In case baby arrived early it was arranged for us to go on a tour of the neonatal unit led by a paediatrician, which was very helpful. Dave pushed me along in wheelchair!
Dave and I were both very tired. We even managed to drift off to sleep (Dave in his comfy recliner seat!) and we were thinking we’d probably be home the next day - home without baby was feeling like a bit of a disappointment! We had fun just chilling and played monopoly deal while the contractions subsided. Dave went home that night and I said I’d let him know if any changes in the night...;
The contractions started again about 3am. I was being woken by them every 10 minutes. I texted Dave to let him know at 4am. And then I had a whole lot more bleeding! Texted Dave again. Should he come in? No, best wait a little longer… 5am… Ok, probably best come in! After that I was just bleeding and contracting for the next few hours. Not much change in intensity or frequency and that felt manageable. Next checks I was 3cm dilated. They were keen to break my waters due to concerns about blood loss and the safety of both me and baby. And they did, with a long, plastic stick with a little hook on the end. Wasn’t sore. Membranes were clear which was good.
They left me for a few hours to contract on my own, but not much change, so they decided to start the hormone drip. I was told that the drip could take 30 minutes to 4 hours to work… 20 minutes later, the contractions started coming hard and fast! Now I think it was a combination of the gas and air and the way I handled the pain, but I kicked into basic mode… focus on breathing! The next stage when on for 4 hours, apparently, although felt like a blur to me. I had my eyes shut and didn’t talk, motioning to Dave when I needed more gas and air. The midwives and Dave helped me to move into all sorts of positions – kneeling on bed, standing up, on my side, leaning over back of bed (but I struggled to hold myself up). Actually, lying on my back turned out to be the most comfortable, which was strange because earlier it was the one position I did not want to be in! I just felt drained of energy now. Dave was amazing. He rubbed my back consistently and kept reminding me to breathe. I tried not to, but ended up having diamorphine quite late on. When I was 7cm dilated, I remember being rather horrified when the midwife indicated I may still have 3 hours to go to get to 10cm!! And I felt like I needed the loo all the time – I needed to push. But soon they could see the baby! Not sure I ever made it to 10cm… The tearing feeling was rather scary. I heard someone saying baby’s heartbeat was decreasing so I was determined to push with all I had. They took my gas and air away now because they wanted me to breathe in and push, rather than breathe out again. They even said they may need to cut me if I didn’t push! So I pushed harder, I was so worried he was going to get stuck!!
Apparently this stage for a 1st baby usually lasts about an hour, but our lovely son popped out in 10 minutes. I gave birth lying half on my side, half on back with my eyes closed. I saw him looking all healthy and pink, but they said he wasn’t breathing. The paediatricians were there and whisked him off to be re-sussed (they had expected to have to re-sus so had the station all ready. It’s a boy! They said. Joshua James! I said. Dave and I had agreed on this name for a boy already. We shared a few happy tears… And So Joshua James Dickson came into the world at 3:15pm weighing in at a healthy 2.32kgs (5lb2oz) on 10th August 2010. Is he breathing?? I asked rather desperately, but he was soon back in with us with a tube helping him to breathe and a cute little hat on to keep him cosy. Apparently he was just a little sleepy from the drugs and soon wanted the tube out so that he could breathe on his own.
The placenta came out with another little push (felt like I could do anything now!). There were many clots behind the placenta so they are pretty sure that was where the bleeding had been coming from now. I didn’t see it, but Dave did. I needed two stitches on my labia, a local anaesthetic, which I handled no probs while Skyping mom! Apparently Josh’s hand had come out next to his face which caused tear. He was so beautiful and precious!
Josh was in the neonatal unit for 3.5 weeks before he could come home. He had to acquire sucking skills so that he could breastfeed, but was fed through a nose tube in the meantime, largely milk which I had expressed. We had really great treatment both in the labour and neonatal units and are hugely grateful to all who helped us get Josh home finally, on Saturday, 4th September.
