Pregnancy Info HOME

Hi Alex i'd be happy to help!

* My experience was 9 weeks ago (sep 20th)
* I did go to prepared childbirth class but actually never got to stay! I was sent to hospital due to high blood pressure and stayed in Hospital until a week later when pregnancy was induced,
* My labour was induced at 9.30 am on the 19th sep and I started having contractions on and off from around 10.30 am. My waters were then broken about 5pm and contractions started getting stronger. I was given pain relief (pethadine) I honestly was in so much pain i couldn't tell you at what time that was! I was finally taken to the delivery room at 3.30 in the morning where i was Given an Epidural. I Also had gas and air on and off. I finally gave Birth at 12.16pm on saturday. so if you count labour from the point of my first contractions after induction from 10 am on the friday i guess you would say it was 26 hours in labour.
*I stayed in hospital for 3 nights after the birth (had been in hospital 7 nights before the birth due to pregnancy induced hypertension)
*My baby was in a crib on wheels next to my bed and never left my side. The hospital i was in had all babies like this and the "nursery" was a room where you could change and wash your baby.
* My Husband was allowed in the room with me at all times whilst in labour and stayed with me throught (apart from a short toilet break!)
* When i was in labour the nurses/midwives constantly told me to move about and try to walk or sit on a birthing ball to try and speed up the labour. I found moving very painful before the pain relief and they recomended a hot shower to help relieve contractions pain so i did do this.
* I felt i was treated very well and as a competant adult throughout.
* I was in so much pain it is hard to remember but i felt the hospital staff were positive and i remember one nurse who came in to me and reassured me i was doing very well considering the pain would be more intense due to Induction.
* I desperately wanted to breastfeed and advised mid-wives. They gave him straight to me to try once he was born. Once I got cleaned up and they took me up to my ward I found things very different. Nobody seemed to help me at all with breastfeeding. I had no idea what i was doing. It wasn't until i was about to leave the hospital on the 4th day that a breast-feeding advisor came in and showed me how to massage my breasts to help bring the colostrum down. Had this have been done on the first day I might have been more sucessful in breastfeeding. As the first few days after i struggled with breast feeding my baby wasn't getting anything and the nurses very quickly gave me bottles to "top him up" As a result of the lack of help Post-Labour my baby seemed to not feed as much as he should and then lost more than 15% of his body weight. I ended up having to bottle feed to get his weight up and baby then did not latch on to me properly. I had to give up on breastfeeding.
* I don't think i could really change anything about the childbirth experience. All i could hope for is that with the next pregnancy I am not induced! I felt like i did not cope with the pain at all in the early stages of labour (before the pain relief) and was advised that this was because i was induced 2 weeks early and my body wasn't ready and therefore the process was alot more painful!

If there is anything else I might have missed or you want to know more details about my experiences i'll be happy to answer!

Hannah