Now for the Labour part of our story... I woke up Saturday morning stupidly early, partly because I was so nervous and full of a weird emotion I can't describe and also because yet again, I was having contractions. I binged watched some more greys anatomy and had some hot chocolate and at 6.30am I woke chris up with a cup of tea and got into the shower. Like I said in my last post, they told us to call up at 7.30am to double check we could go in and we had been warned that we could be asked to wait at home for while and we should expect to be waiting around at hospital too. I was fully expecting to be asked to wait, so didn't feel like rushing. But when I called, the midwife told us that they were ready for us and to come in for 8.30am to get started! I couldn't believe it and either could Chris- especially as we hadn't had breakfast and we had to leave. We had a slice of toast and headed out the door. It takes 30-40 minutes to get to Salisbury hospital from our house and it felt weird knowing that next time we drive home down the long Salisbury road, we would have a little baby. When we arrived the car park was super quiet which was reassuring and a stark difference to how busy it had been the day before. We were greeted by a student midwife who introduced herself as Hannah and explained that she would be with us all day along with Joy- an older midwife who was really nice and calming. Salisbury hospital labour ward feels nice and small (which it's not) but how it is set up and the lay out of the entire ward has a really nice feel about it. We were taken to our bed were Hannah really introduced herself and explained that she would be the lead midwife with us but as she's a student joy would be there also. She then began to explain the plan of action for the day and I'll be honest, at this point my nerves were getting a bit much. Because I was already 2cm dilated on Wednesday they would be able to break my waters straight away- which was a relief as I didn't fancy having a gel applied to my bits and to "see how it goes". If after 4 hours of having my waters broken contractions hadn't started I would be placed on a hormone drip to start labour properly, then the rest is the usual baby delivering story so to speak. We were monitored on the CTG machine for an hour and when Hannah returned she explained that despite her breaking a women's waters before she would understand if we would rather Joy do it as if she struggles to do it, joy would take over anyway and that way it saves me being uncomfortable twice. I had absolutely no problem with Hannah trying because at the end of the day it was only going to get more uncomfortable, but also because despite her only being in her 3rd year she made me feel very comfortable and reassured and I knew that myself and our baby were in good hands. Unfortunately my waters were like cling film on baby girls head and Hannah jut couldn't do it, but thankfully Joy managed it with one little knick. It felt bizarre having my waters broken because despite it happening with Abi, it was more like a trickle. This was a ginormous woosh of water. We were place back on the monitor for 20 more minutes to make sure baby wasn't distressed and with in 5 minutes I was experiencing some pretty horrible contractions. At first I told myself it was just uncomfortable from where they had broken my waters but after a few I knew they were the real deal. I was both happy and petrified. It wasn't meant to start THAT quick!!! Here is where the story gets a little funny... Hannah came move us to our own room and seeing as I was leaking Christ knows what, she suggested I just wrap a towel around me on the walk from the ward to our room. Knowing the complete lack of dignity that was to come I didn't mind one bit and got up- que gush of waters- and wrapped a sheet around me and headed off down the corridor towards our room. Chris stupidly decided to walk behind me- he was seeing far to much gunk for his liking- but that wasn't the funny bit. It was unfortunate that there was a tour of the labour ward going on at that time. About 10 expectant mothers and their partners viewing a labour ward all looking excited and happy. I quickly ruined the no doubt serene vision of labour as I rounded the corner, towel wrapped round my bum leaking some of the most vile things that you'll only see if you are at a birth first hand. They all looked pretty disgusted and confused but they'd clearly forgotten just where they were! On arriving at our room Hannah asked if she could watch me for a bit because my contractions where happening quite fast and she just wanted to see how fast etc. I got dressed and had a wee and got comfortable. Chris became my back rub specialist from this point on. Everyone says that after your first baby, with any subsequent children you remember the pain as soon as it starts. Well, I remember the pain from Abi and this time I can tell you it was a lot worse. I'm assuming this is because I was induced. The contractions started so quick and were 2-3 minutes apart from the start that I didn't have time to build up to the pain. Well, I'm going to go with blaming the being induced anyway because there is no way my pain threshold has got lower in 3 years. After a couple of hours they checked me and I was 6cm dilated... But, and tmi warning, my cervix was half blocking babies way into the world. This was no problem, it just meant it may take longer for her to come that's all. Chris went to the toilet and when he came back I was a different women... He walked into the room, greeted with me, arse in the air screaming in pain demanding something stronger. I went for diamorphine which Hannah and Joy explained has a similar pain relief effect to pethidine in that it relaxes all your muscles. It just doesn't have such an effect on baby. It felt like absolute hours before they came back with it- I even started ringing the buzzer for help but it turns out it took them only a couple of minutes! To to be honest the rest is a bit of a blur. Not because I was high as a kite on diamorphine and gas and air but because I'll be honest again, it didn't make me feel any different. I was just pretty tired and panicky. At about 1pm I suddenly felt like I needed to poo. The midwifes were so calm. I got to the point where I didn't want anyone touching me. Not even chris and the very thought of the gas and air made me angry. After an hour the urge to push was unbearable but baby's head just wasn't appearing. Hannah kept reassuring me that they wouldn't see the head until right at the last minute but I just wouldn't believe it and I was really struggling to believe that the god awful pushing would be over soon. Suddenly the pain became all too much and her head appeared, Joy said that I would be pushing two more times now to get her out but baby had other ideas and just carried on sliding out and at 14.06pm on the 4/3/17 Isabel Amber Bolton was born weight 8lb 1oz. Unlike Abi, Isabel didn't cry, she had a couple of squeals then seemed at ease. The moment she was placed on my chest was unbelievable and I'll admit, I have spent the last 9 months doubting I would love another little one as much as I love Abi. But I was wrong. More wrong then I've ever been about anything. Isabel is the spitting imagine of Abi. The only difference? Her head is perfectly round and small- which apparently is because she was born so quick! Isabel is also ALOT calmer than Abigail. She doesn't stir even when Abi is screaming the house down and she sleeps most of the time!
I escaped the labour with only a first degree tear and some pretty horrible back ache. But I'll take that! We stayed in till around 10pm as I had to have some bloods taken and a doctor had to look over Isabel. She was quite red so they put her as high risk for jaundice and she also has something called talipes in her right foot where she was so cramped in the womb. The jaundice amounted to nothing and the talipes is nothing to worry about. Her foots just a little frog like and we have to do some little excerises to help it loosen up. We got home at around 11 and I have never been happier to see our bed. Abi stayed at my mums as we got home so late which was a really upsetting but also quite nice as we didn't need to worry about waking her. It felt bizarre that we had left our home that morning parents of a toddler and came back 15 hours later with a new baby. It was a surreal day that's for sure. Its taken me a week to write this and my god it's made me emotional. Tomorrow Isabel is 1 week old and we will have experienced our first week as parents to a toddler and new born. It's been hard. And I'm suffering with some serious exhaustion and a little pain but I'll write all about that in my next post about our first week. Having two children is a lot harder than having 1 new born to contend with... I've washed my hair twice. But it's also so much more rewarding seeing Abi love her little sister. This is where the fun starts though and I can't wait. Jess X
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Finally, after a long and stressful 9 months we can say we are complete. Everyone, meet Isabel Amber Bolton. Born on the 4/3/17 at 14.06pm weighing in 8lb1oz! The week leading up to this little ones arrival wasn't great... Infact that's an understatement. It was downright awful. I suspected my waters had gone last Monday and along with some very reduced movements my mum took me up to be checked. But on arrival at the DAU and an assessment, it was decided my waters hadn't gone and baby was monitoring all well. I was told to go home and rest but really keep an eye on her movmements and any fluid loss. Tuesday her movements were minimal again... But I did get a couple of nudges and rolls so decided to leave it and just really focus on feeling her having a jiggle. Wednesday saw the same - no movement. We headed up to the DAU, hooked up and after an hour the midwife came back with the news that I would be offered a sweep. I never had one with Abi so didn't really know what to expect but my mum quickly assured me it won't be very comfy... The midwife was amazing and really calmed me and it was actually not as bad as I had expected. It was all done and dusted within 2 minutes and we left with a scan booked for the next day just to check on her growth and fluid levels etc. At the time of the sweep I was told I was 2cm dilated but that doesn't really mean much with your second pregnancy so I didn't build my hopes up that I'd be in labour by the evening. Thursday my mum took me up to be scanned and it showed a very happy and healthy baby, who despite her movements getting slightly less even more, didn't appear to have any reason for being quieter than usual. I was monitored again for half an hour and sent home to relax- I actually went for a really long walk around hengitsbury head with mum and old dog milly and then spent the evening wallowing in a nice bath with candles! About an hour after we had arrived home, Penny the midwife who had been helping us the last few weeks called and said that they would like me in the next day for another sweep and to make a plan to be induced if that sweep doesn't work. It was the most positive news we could of received because despite the CTG coming back fine every time, I had been spending every night in pain with contractions that amounted to nothing and worrying about her lack of movements- I would sit kind of praying just for a little kick to let me know she was all good. We headed to the hospital on Friday at midday- Chris was day off so we both headed up hopeful that we would finally have a plan. The added stress to the situation was that Friday had to be the start of Chris's 2 weeks holiday for paternity as work is due to become too busy to have the time off. So there was now a ticking time bomb on our first few days as a family 4. We arrived and Penny set us up for our monitoring before the sweep. She told us that if it was up her she would he inducing within the next 24 hours but unfortunately it's down to the doctor. That was pretty frustrating to hear but at least we knew the midwifes were on our side. We were set up for an hour on the CTG and penny suggested that after the sweep she try some reflexology to help get things going... I was pretty eager to try it so it all sounded like a plan- even if the baby didn't come at the end at least I would of experienced something new! After an hour, a different midwife arrived and told us that the doctor was on his way to book us to be induced the next day! As you can imagine, after our last conversation with Penny, that news was a shock. But a great shock! I wasn't even having another sweep!! The doctor came and I'll be honest - he didn't have the best bed side manor and lacked some serious people skills but we got the result we wanted and were booked in for the next day- Saturday 4th- to be induced. As the doctor went to book us in, I was quite apprehensive and suddenly felt quite anxious. I'd heard very few being induced stories that were a good experience- often being told it took hours and hours and hurt more. When the doctor returned, I asked a few questions and he told us that I was actually 2cm dilated on Wednesday so they should be able to break my waters which would save a lot of the inducing time. This helped ease my mind a little and I felt a lot better. We were told to call the labour ward on Saturday at 7.30am to make sure it wasn't busy and we could come up for 8.30am. I instantly started to wonder if it would happen on Saturday as we had been told several times that the ward was extremely busy so we should be prepared to have to wait all day before being told to come in. We left Salisbury hospital for the last time knowing that next time we come here, we would have our baby. It was the weirdest feeling and one that I'll remember forever. When we we got home, I decided I wanted to repacked our bags which had been in the car for a couple of weeks. When I got in and opened the babies bag I found that the entire contents was covered in stale screen wash that had leaked!! I was a hormonal panicky mess, but luckily I managed to clean to it all and repack it and it was at the door ready by 8pm! Being the high maintenance pregnant women I was, I demanded duck pancakes for dinner. I was pretty up right all night and kept crying and getting angry so I went to bed pretty sharpish to give Chris an angry Jess break... Abi stayed at my mums and I went to bed for the last time in our little home a Mumma of 1 and it was weird. I also cried. A lot. But happy tears with some fear!! I was fully prepared for the fact that Saturday would be long and we would be waiting around at home all day before they told us to come up. And even then I was prepared to have to wait when we got there. In my next post I'll do a stereotypical birth story- part 2 of our journey to a family of 4. Who doesn't love a birth story?? Jess X |