Making decisions about birth after caesarean

I started labour at roughly three o'clock on the Thursday. 

I went in, straight into [Hospital], because I'd obviously had a C-section before, and I wasn't sure what stage of labour I was in. The contractions were about eight minutes apart and I thought that was quite close. Not terribly painful, but they were coming quite often. I went in, fully expecting to be sent home' but when I got in and they put me on the monitor, they were sort of about four, five minutes apart, and I think because I'd had a C-section before, they wanted to keep an eye on me. 

So then, I think it was probably about six, seven o'clock that I was admitted in and they were, the contractions were just getting stronger by now, and still about four minutes apart' and then I think at about ten o'clock, I had an internal, but I hadn't dilated at all, which was quite upsetting, because I'd been going since three o'clock and now it was ten o'clock and I was in quite a lot of pain at ten o'clock, so they advised me to have a pethidine injection because I probably wouldn't have had the energy to carry on. Because I hadn't even started to dilate, so in their words, 'Proper labour hadn't even started' [slight laugh], which was quite upsetting. 

But anyway, so I had the Pethidine, and that really helped, and glad I had that. I didn't want it to start with, but they did persuade me that it was the best thing. So, but I was glad because it gave me a chance to have a rest and the contractions didn't seem so bad then. And then, I think I was examined at about twelve, oh no, about two o'clock and I'd actually dilated to three centimetres by then, so that was excellent. They did send my husband home at midnight, which was a bit, again, upsetting, but I was' because I'd had the Pethidine, I wasn't really aware of what was going off, but I knew he was going home, but they called him as soon as I dilated to three centimetres. He came back about five o'clock in the morning. And then at three o'clock they wheeled me down to the delivery suite' and gave me gas and air, which was brilliant, I got on really well with that. 

'and then at about, I think seven o'clock in the morning, I actually ended up having an epidural. I think they thought I was getting a bit distressed and I think I was very tired, because obviously I'd been up all night' with the in labour and I had the epidural at seven and that was just fantastic, that just took all the pain away' and you know, I was really glad I had that because it gave, obviously then I slept for a couple of hours, which was, you know, what I needed to do. And the good thing with the epidural is that you could decide how much of the drug you had, they'd come back and say, 'Do you want a top-up', and I'd, you either say, 'Yes' or 'No', and I think I had less of a top-up towards the end, so I could feel the contractions more and so I knew when to push and, and that. And then I think by twelve o'clock, midday, I was fully dilated to ten centimetres and then you had to wait an hour, and then at one o'clock I was told I could start pushing, and she was born at eleven minutes past one, so it was sort of' it all seemed to go quite smoothly really. 

I think I had a text book' labour, as in I dilated every hour on the hour and it all went very well. [Daughter's name] heartbeat, heart rate raised towards the end and that's when they got a little bit concerned, and did the ventouse, which was again, because I'd had the epidural, was no problem, I didn't feel anything. And within minutes of them putting on the ventouse, she was born. I think they only needed to do sort of one attempt with it, and she was born, so, absolutely fine.

Thank yo

Yeah, well, in the morning, I woke up at six o'clock in the morning with very mild tightenings, which I never had before, but I weren't sure if they were Braxton Hicks so I was timing them 'til ten o'clock in the morning and I thought, 'Oh, something might be happening now'. So I went to see my mum because I thought, 'I need to be around a woman who's been through it all', and she took me from a long walk to try and help it along if it, if it was the day. And it was. I went into hospital about three o'clock, they done a check and I was only one centimetre dilated, which - I was coping with the pain, I thought I was going to go through the whole thing without any pain relief [laughing] because it was really mild. So they said, 'Go home and when you get, when they become a bit stronger, or you feel like you need pain relief, then come back in'. 

And then by quarter to nine, my waters went at home, which I thought was really strange, because I never had any of that the first time round, and then by half past nine, I was running to the hospital in my mum's car, couldn't wait to get there, needed to get there. And I was on the gas and air the minute I got in the room and they were so relaxed in there. Like, I kept going on about I'm having a vaginal birth after caesarean, you know, bring the team in to be prepared, as I was expecting. And this chilled-out midwife - and she pottered around the little room as if I was just any other woman having a normal delivery, so that relaxed me a little bit. And then I was only in labour a total of four and a half hours, and an hour and a half of that was pushing, because he was coming out sideways, so he wouldn't come down properly.

So they went and got the ventouse thingy, which frightened me then because there was a few more members of the hospital in the room so I though, 'Ooh, something's going wrong ', and also I felt not really with it, because of the gas and air, and I had a bit of Pethidine as well. And they were trying their hardest to help me push and encourage me, but I must admit I was at the stage where I felt a bit spaced out on the gas and air, I was panicking because' obviously I was in pain and... there was bits leaking and all that sort of thing and I really thought I was bleeding. I was terrified that I was bleeding and I had my eyes closed all the way through it. So I kept saying, 'Oh, just take me down for a caesarean', and I was begging them for a caesarean! [slight laugh]. But I was fully dilated and it was on its way, it just needed a bit of help with that suction cup, so that was what happened. Out he come and there was no problems at all. I had a bit of a bleed after, which that then frightened me a bit, but I was' my mum was so busy distracting me from what the doctors were doing that I wasn't really aware, I was just admiring the new baby, so' It went really well, I think I had a perfect labour compared to some of my friends who's had, you know, twenty, forty hours of it, so' I think I've done really well in the end. I'd do it again, a lot more relaxed, I know that much.

So, that was more relaxed?

Yeah. Yeah, and I felt a lot better after, as well.

And how was your baby after the baby was born, because obviously, the baby had the ventouse? 

Oh yeah, I did cry about that. When he was first born and they showed me him, obviously he had this big mark on his head, I really thought he was going to stay like it. I know they don't, because I've heard about it before, but at the time, you know, I was really upset, and I thought, because he looked a bit deformed, to be honest [slight laugh]. So I thought perhaps he had some sort of disability that I wasn't aware of [right] that w

I went into labour early hours of the morning. I phoned the midwifery team. I knew my favourite midwife was on duty so it was sort of almost planned that day was the day I was going to do it. I started getting contractions and they started getting a bit more regular, sort of ten, fifteen, ten to five minutes. Because I was, I'd had a section previously, the midwives wanted me to contact them early so I rang them and I had them here at about five, six o'clock in the morning. Additionally I had also employed a doula. And' she arrived as well and the contractions continued and my daughter then was woken up at seven and following that, my labour stopped really, because my daughter was there and I went into a different sort of mode and it was coming on and off every twenty minutes, half an hour and then it came to lunchtime and my, my labour had stopped, effectively, it was every sort of half hourly. And so everyone left and I was at home with my husband just chilling out and reading the newspaper and it was very nice.

Looking back, if I had gone into hospital, I would have been there for quite a long time. I continued having contractions, but just chilling out, being at home and, and sort of every half hour kind of thing, and about five o'clock that evening, the contractions started getting more regularly. Everyone came back, I got my midwife, my special midwife arrived at five o'clock. She had finished her day's work, she was ready to support me through it and sometimes people say that that's - that's why people deliver because they feel comfortable, they're in their comfortable zone, so the person that supported me was there, everyone was ready to deliver me and my contractions became quite strong and regular and they were every five minutes or so. 

And I can't really remember all the details now as it's thirteen weeks but I was in full on labour and she examined me and I'd dilated to five, six centimetres. Over the next sort of three to four hours, they were getting regular strong contractions. I was doing a lot of yoga positions, using a TENS machine as well and I had the midwife and the doula supporting me pushing and my back, for back pain and back pressure. And' I just had a lot of support and things done for me and like one-to-one attention makes a difference, again. I don't think I would have got that in hospital. 

Not at any time did I feel anxious or worried or concerned about my baby, or the lack of monitoring as everyone's been pushing for the section. I had full faith in the people that were around me. And I think I probably would have had some form of sixth sense to know that something was wrong, possibly. 'I continued on in full labour for three to four hours and as a result of the' decisions that we had made to go into hospital because there was a risk of shoulder dystocia, we went in when I felt as if the time was right, and it was about nine o'clock. Ten to nine, where I was, the TENS machine wasn't really working and I was beginning to use Entonox and I thought, 'This is the time to go in'.

It was quite a funny feeling, getting in with the Entonox attached and in pyjamas and two women running after me and my husband and in the back of the car looking like, God, I don't know what, a screaming banshee' And it looked quite funny, but I did it, and I got in there and I still walked through the doors and felt really comfortable and supported. I walked into the birthing suite and there wasn't any sign of any medical interventions, any machinery, it was just the exact same people that were with me at home and I felt really comfortable about it. 

I continued to labour quite strongly, and it was a very, very painful labour. And' just did everything I needed to d

I went in Tuesday night and that was Wednesday morning. And then my husband came in and I was getting on and off painful contractions but, you know, they'd come and they'd be quite regular and then they'd go away again so' It was getting quite painful and I can't remember whether it was Wednesday or Thursday that I'd had the strongest pain tablets they could give me and then I had Pethidine on that ward, because that was the most they could give me. And they were still talking about sending me home, even though my waters had broken and I was in pain. I said, 'There's no way I can go home like this. I can't cope with the''. They were just so painful and I was on this antenatal ward and other people were there, you know, because they were having tests or something early in pregnancy, and there's me having these contractions trying not to be noisy in the middle of the night, you know, while I'm in pain. 

And then on the Thursday I was one centimetre dilated finally, in the afternoon and so I was like, 'Right, okay, great, something might be happening'. And then the Thursday night the contractions were still really painful but they changed, so I thought that maybe something might be happening now, and then in the morning, Friday morning I was four centimetres. And then they moved me to the delivery suite in the morning of that day and then basically I dilated a centimetre an hour so I think I went like eleven o'clock four centimetres dilated and I got in the bath for a bit, but it was really strange. The contractions were less painful and I hardly had any contractions to get, you know, from four centimetres to ten, you know, I could probably count them on one hand. 

So, yeah, then basically at five o'clock I think, in the evening I'd had Pethidine again, and loads of gas and air and at five o'clock I was ten centimetres and then I started pushing and then she was born twenty-five minutes later.

So that bit was really, you know, quick and straightforward. But it was a really out of body experience I think, because of the gas and air. I just 'and I felt like really on a mission to do it. I was like I don't know, maybe you're like that anyway the first time, you probably are, because it's probably a natural thing, but I was just like, 'Right, I'm really going to do this', [laughs] you know, 'Nothing can stop me now', not after like being in hospital since the Tuesday night to the Friday. but then' so that was all fine, and she was fine, but then I went for a bath afterwards and I was really bleeding heavily. And I said, 'I don't', you know, 'I really am bleeding, you know, I know you bleed afterwards anyway but this seems like a lot of blood' and then basically they had loads of doctors come in and I was bleeding from where the placenta was and I had some clots or something, I'm not entirely sure what was what, but then the doctor came in and she had my legs in stirrups and everything and she was picking out these clots from where my placenta was, and it was really, really painful. I was in tears, really stressed out, like [daughter's name] was in the cot at the side but, you know, it was all' people were everywhere and the midwife was sort of saying, you know, to the doctor, you know, 'Be careful, don't'' because she was just really going for it and just like not-, like I was really like beside myself, you know, and this doctor was just' and I know she had to do it, but she was really just sort of, you know, carrying on with it, just ignoring me. So that was really awful. 

But that didn't, after that, obviously the bleeding stopped and everything and that was fine. But, and I felt at the time, 'Oh that was awful, that I had to have that', you know, it wasn't like a straightforward' I was so pleased with myself that I

So how do you feel now about the way that [daughter's name] was delivered this time? How do you feel about this birth?

I'm really proud of myself, that I did it. And it was, I'm really pleased that I've experienced both' You know, afterwards I felt, you know, I was looking at her thinking, 'I can't believe I pushed you out!'. You know? [laughs]. Because it was a really amazing thing, and I think it's nice, because you just don't know how you'll feel ever about a baby, do you, when it's born, the bonding and, because it was a second baby and things and I was really sort of thinking, 'Oh, I hope I can love her as much as, you know, the first one'. So that was, it was really nice to have felt that, you know, I had a different experience with her [smiles]. 

No, my general sort of thought on it is, to be honest, I don't think it would have matter now, if I'd had a C-section... It, you know, it can be made into a big thing about having a natural birth after a caesarean that it's going to be so different, you know.

And I actually just think, you know, you're just happy to have another, you know, healthy baby, and actually although I was really, really pleased that I had a natural birth and very proud of myself, like I say, and really determined to do it, and I really was, I was so glad that I'd done it and that I managed to, or had the chance to. Actually you know, if I'd have had a C-section I would have, I think I would have just, you know, been happy that she was okay, because it did go on so long for me, so I did feel quite, well, very tired by it.