I wrote some of this during the obvious beginning of
labour, and I'll continue it once we've been home for a bit longer. I thought it important to document as best
and as soon as I can given what I've been blogging about previously. So here's the first part written as it
happened before we went into hospital. I haven't edited it much to keep things as honest as possible.
18th May 6amish
Earlier this week what I THINK was my mucosal plug came away. It wasn't tinged with blood, it wasn't solid and didn't look like most pictures on the internet. But after going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, coming back to bed and feeling gross between my legs, I discovered a butt-load of clear discharge had turned up all of a sudden. Following that there was a minuscule (like a couple of pin heads) amount of weird jelly stuff. None of this is normal for me, so I assumed probably mucosal plug, probably going into labour in the next few weeks.
The day following this middle-of-night discovery, I started having constant lower back pain, pressure on my bowel and some intermittent periods of period-like cramping and Braxton Hicks. Given what I've read, I assumed this was the prequel to labour and got all happy. Then nothing happened. For two days. So then I thought 'wow, maybe this is just how sucky the end of pregnancy gets'. I was unimpressed to say the least. I decided not to leave the house until this ended one way or another as walking around was unpredictably painful and I'd be frightening in public. All my lists went by the wayside - I've spent the last two days clocking computer games, eating everything in the house and looking after a gunky-eyed rabbit (great entertainment when you're stuck at home).
Earlier this week what I THINK was my mucosal plug came away. It wasn't tinged with blood, it wasn't solid and didn't look like most pictures on the internet. But after going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, coming back to bed and feeling gross between my legs, I discovered a butt-load of clear discharge had turned up all of a sudden. Following that there was a minuscule (like a couple of pin heads) amount of weird jelly stuff. None of this is normal for me, so I assumed probably mucosal plug, probably going into labour in the next few weeks.
The day following this middle-of-night discovery, I started having constant lower back pain, pressure on my bowel and some intermittent periods of period-like cramping and Braxton Hicks. Given what I've read, I assumed this was the prequel to labour and got all happy. Then nothing happened. For two days. So then I thought 'wow, maybe this is just how sucky the end of pregnancy gets'. I was unimpressed to say the least. I decided not to leave the house until this ended one way or another as walking around was unpredictably painful and I'd be frightening in public. All my lists went by the wayside - I've spent the last two days clocking computer games, eating everything in the house and looking after a gunky-eyed rabbit (great entertainment when you're stuck at home).
Last night contraction-type things started becoming
slightly less irregular - about twice an hour - but for unpredictable lengths
of time. So I thought maybe labour was
on its way. Then this morning at about
4.30am I woke up because of a slight weird feeling between my legs - so glad
I'm a light sleeper! My waters broke,
but I managed to get to the bathroom before the massive gush went everywhere. There was more fluid than I had expected - if
I'd still been in bed our mattress would have been saturated - we had to mop
our bathroom floor. Thank goodness for
small miracles!
Thankfully, the waters are clear (yay!) so we are on track for the water birth I wanted. They tell you that the amniotic fluid will continue to 'trickle' out - trickle my ass! I had to change my first pad after half an hour. At times it feels like I am uncontrollably pissing myself. And every time I have a contraction it puts pressure on everything and makes a gush come. And if I stand up, or do anything besides sit still more fluid goes everywhere.
I'm writing now because I am too excited and gross feeling to rest up for 'proper' labour. Murray was excited too. So he packed the car with the hospital bags, filled it up with gas, and got himself a pie. While he was gone I played computer games, and ate leftover Chinese. The last part of pregnancy is hungry making. I'm hoping after this rant I'll have exorcised some of that excitement and can nap for a bit. If I don't feel too gross. It's hard to lie down when you feel like you're pissing yourself.
So far the thing that's weirded me out the most about labour (I'm sure there's much more to come) is how slow everything's been. I'm guessing everything up until now doesn't count? Is it pre-labour stuff? I read somewhere that some women 'count' labour as being from when they first feel contractions. If I do this, I've already been in labour for about three days which just sounds wrong. I have a feeling it's going to take a while from this point too. But slow and steady wins the race, and I'm good with that (provided it's not another three days). And if I count from when my waters break, I kinda hope I've still got at least 12 hours to go. I'm sleepy and don't want to leave the house. We're don't plan to call my Midwife until after 9am, so hopefully everything stays ship-shape until then.
Thankfully, the waters are clear (yay!) so we are on track for the water birth I wanted. They tell you that the amniotic fluid will continue to 'trickle' out - trickle my ass! I had to change my first pad after half an hour. At times it feels like I am uncontrollably pissing myself. And every time I have a contraction it puts pressure on everything and makes a gush come. And if I stand up, or do anything besides sit still more fluid goes everywhere.
I'm writing now because I am too excited and gross feeling to rest up for 'proper' labour. Murray was excited too. So he packed the car with the hospital bags, filled it up with gas, and got himself a pie. While he was gone I played computer games, and ate leftover Chinese. The last part of pregnancy is hungry making. I'm hoping after this rant I'll have exorcised some of that excitement and can nap for a bit. If I don't feel too gross. It's hard to lie down when you feel like you're pissing yourself.
So far the thing that's weirded me out the most about labour (I'm sure there's much more to come) is how slow everything's been. I'm guessing everything up until now doesn't count? Is it pre-labour stuff? I read somewhere that some women 'count' labour as being from when they first feel contractions. If I do this, I've already been in labour for about three days which just sounds wrong. I have a feeling it's going to take a while from this point too. But slow and steady wins the race, and I'm good with that (provided it's not another three days). And if I count from when my waters break, I kinda hope I've still got at least 12 hours to go. I'm sleepy and don't want to leave the house. We're don't plan to call my Midwife until after 9am, so hopefully everything stays ship-shape until then.
* * * * * * * * * *
Only 1 1/2 hours have passed and now contractions are 4
minutes (roughly apart) and last about 30 seconds. That went MUCH faster than I thought it
would. Have already gone through a bunch of maternity pads since waters broke - I highly recommend buying incontinence
knickers if you plan on having your waters break! So annoying changing pads so often. And I had a short lie down and a shower in
that time too. Contractions are painful,
but totally manageable using breathing exercises. Can still type/read/drink/ shower through
them. Think this is going to end up
going much quicker than I thought it would...
... and an hour later my contractions have slowed down - some were even 12 minutes apart. Moving around to try and start them going again.
* * * * * * * * * *
... and an hour later my contractions have slowed down - some were even 12 minutes apart. Moving around to try and start them going again.
* * * * * * * * * *
It's now almost midday and after having irregular
contractions varying from 2 - 4 minutes apart and 45 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes
long for an hour, we called the Midwife.
She came and checked on me at home which was fantastic (even though
internal exams suck). Just before she
got there the amnio had quite a bit of blood in it, so it was reassuring to
know that it was ok. Baby is totally
fine. Good heart rate - not in the ideal
place, but head down and not facing my spine which is great. I'm only dilated 3cm though, so still a
little while before hospital time yet.
Hoping it all doesn't take too long. If it takes more than 18 hours since the waters broke, they'll put me on IV antibiotics, which will mean no water birth (and a bloody long labour). So hoping we get this baby out by 10pm!
Part 2 will follow when I have time to write
Hoping it all doesn't take too long. If it takes more than 18 hours since the waters broke, they'll put me on IV antibiotics, which will mean no water birth (and a bloody long labour). So hoping we get this baby out by 10pm!
Part 2 will follow when I have time to write
