Some might call me crazy and this statement is largely based on the fact that I have had really lovely experiences each time, but I have to say I LOVE LABOUR!
I would much rather take labour over pregnancy any day, not that I had particularly horrendous pregnancies either, it’s just 9 months is such a long time to wait for your bundle of joy, and well, let’s just say my labours are quick!
Our gorgeous first born Elliott entered the world nearly 11 years ago now via a planned induced labour.
My due date came and went with no sign, not even a Braxton Hick or a show or anything! Each subsequent day after that felt like a week and when 7 days had passed that felt like an extra month. On day 7 I had a stretch and sweep at home and I was told by the Midwife my cervix didn’t look favourable, so a date was booked for my planned induction on day 10. A Saturday night at 10pm.
We spent the afternoon with my Mum & Sister and I was mostly waddling around the house & garden chasing after my 5 year old Nephew in the vein attempt I could still bring on labour naturally. That evening I took full advantage of the time to pamper myself and had a relaxing bath and washed and blow dried my hair. A quick check of the hospital bag, then off we trotted to the hospital. This was it, I was going to meet my baby. I was ridiculously excited and quietly nervous all at the same time, but I told myself not to fear it, lots of women have been through this and I could do it too.
I was assigned a bed on the maternity ward and asked for my notes….. oops I didn’t have them! I’d left them at home in that safe place next to the telephone in case I went into Labour Rob had all the numbers to hand.
Instead of staying put and allowing Rob to go home and collect them, in my panic I decided to go back home with him. By the time I got back to the hospital, had my pessary and was strapped up to the foetal heart monitor my blood pressure had soared and our baby’s heart rate seemed to be quite erratic which was causing a lot of concern.
Lots of back and forth and phone calls to the labour ward followed and I was soon transferred downstairs and put in a labour suite to have my waters broken to get things moving. I was also given an intravenous drip and strapped back up to the foetal heart monitor. The time was probably about 1am now. Poor Rob had envisioned going home and having a good nights sleep before any action and in truth so had I. We never imagined this outcome.
Being strapped up was hard. It was always my plan to be mobile to keep things progressing. But it also provided one of the most annoying and funniest moments Rob & I still talk about to this day. Rob sat on a stool beside me next to the graph print out of my contractions and getting very excited when he saw I was having one. I had my own personal commentator about what I was feeling!
Rob: “Oh, you’ve got a contraction coming now”
Me: “Yes I know I can feel it”
Rob: “It’s going away now”
Me: “Yes I know”
Rob: “This is going to be a big one”
Me: *Pant, pant* “Yes, I know, I can feel it”
This conversation went on for a few hours and I was relieved when he was so tired he fell asleep on the stool. I can still picture him bobbing around. Priceless.
In my mind I was in for the long haul and thought my labour would be hours, even days. You read so many stories of people being in labour for 24 or even 48 hours, especially with their first. So even though my contractions were intense and quite close together when offered gas and air I declined. I thought I’ll save the drugs for later, this is surely going to get worse as time progresses. About 6am my cervix was checked and I was about 3cm dilated. This only confirmed my theory that I had ages to go.
Rob was back to his usual commentary and I needed to go to the toilet. Yay, finally I was allowed to come off the foetal monitor and stretch my legs. Once I was up and mobile things turned up a notch again and I felt like I was going to give birth in the toilet. Once I’d made it back to my labour suite, I sent Rob off to find a Midwife as I had that urge to push. It’s such an intense feeling, there is no denying it. He came back with a Midwife who reminded me that they’d only just checked me 30 minutes ago, that there was a shift change and that I wasn’t due to be checked again until 9am and offered me the gas and air again.
I accepted her statement and took the gas & air, a few puffs later and I found it more annoying than helpful, so I gave up. Rob as I’m sure many partners do, gave it ago, which I can laugh about now, but at the time I think I was annoyed. The contractions and urge to push was overwhelming now and shift change or not I insisted on being checked again.
Much to the Midwife’s surprise and Rob’s I was 10cm dilated and ready to have our baby. I decided to stand for this part (gravity and all that) and lent over the hospital bed, Rob on one side holding my hands and the midwife on a crash mat crouched under me on the other. This part seemed to take forever and I actually think I was pushing for over an hour. In between contractions I could feel baby retracting, it was like taking two steps forward and one back. It was truly exhausting and I remember saying to Rob “I’m parched” I mean what a word to come out with when you’re in labour! He of course obliged and fetched me a drink with a straw before I continued pushing.
When baby started crowning, Rob came around the other side of the bed to look. I listened to everything the Midwife told me, ‘pant, pant’ and ‘only push when you’re having a contraction’, I think this helped immensely when it came to tearing and like Lottie, I didn’t need any stitches.
Rob confirmed the sex to me as we didn’t know what we were having and whilst I was having a little snuggle with our baby boy he cut the umbilical cord. We’d shortlisted two boy names and upon seeing him knew that he was going to be Elliott Lawrence Shaw. Born at 8:50am a healthy 7lbs 13oz, roughly 3 hours hours after established labour had commenced. We were so in love with our beautiful perfect baby boy.
Does anybody else enjoy labour or think they had longer to go? I bet there’s a few funny stories to tell about partners too…..
I had my first baby in October. On the Tuesday night (3 weeks early!!) my waters broke ironically after an antenatal class! The hospital said to wait 24 hours and still nothing happened. Then an hour and half after being induced Arthur arrived!! Even the midwives were a bit surprised by how quick it was!
WOW that was quick Nicola, bless you. I bet you couldn’t believe he’d arrived, especially as he was early as well. Congratulations btw, Arthur is a fab name, I hope you’re enjoying every minute xxx
We had an Arthur in October too! Slightly complicated and traumatic birth story but he is healthy and absolutely gorgeous now thank goodness.
Congratulations Catherine, bless you, I hope your experience wasn’t too bad xxx
It’s nice to hear of someone who had a positive birth experience! I also had a planned induction – we went in at 9am on a Saturday.. pessary in, foetal monitor on, contractions starting, and my husband tells me to ‘budge up’ as he’s tired and needs to lie down. It was 11:50am and we’d been there 3 hours.
Ha ha Rebecca, husbands have no idea do they. I hope you gave him a stern stare 😉
The normal (if there is such a thing as normal) experiences are less talked about, but we wanted our lovely community to know they happen too xxx
Ahhh that is a lovely labour story! I enjoyed it too, as strange as it sounds… mine was a very long ‘early labour’ (contractions on and off for 4 days) but once I’d got to 3cm I then went to 9cm in about 2 hours, then my daughter was born another 2 hours after that in the pool. It was lovely. Painful and tiring obviously but lovely. I think too many people are keen to tell you horror stories when you’re pregnant, it’s nice to hear of positive experiences! 🙂
Definitely painful & tiring Sarah, but SO worth it. I always wanted a water birth but never made it into the pool, I’m very jealous, your experience sounds lovely too 🙂 xxx
Thank you for posting a positive story – I’m 28 weeks and slightly obsessed with birth stories. It’s so good to hear from people who are happy with how things went, especially after being induced.
I must confess there were times during the labour when I was worried things were going to get complicated Mel, but I tried to remain calm and my husband definitely lightened the situation with his antics and in the end we were blessed with a lovely experience and a healthy baby boy.
Good luck with your labour, I hope you too have a positive story to tell xxx
Thank you so much for sharing your labour and birth story. I’m 23 weeks and am also somewhat obsessed with birth stories at the moment, so it was lovely to read yours. I think the only thing I’ve really learnt so far is how different everyone’s story is!
You’re absolutely right Sophie they are all different. All three of my pregnancies and births were so different, but I’ll save the stories of Joseph & Anabelle for another time 😉 xxx
I was also induced although this was due to baby being underweight as I suffered from pre eclampsia and my placenta was starting to struggle. I had a really lovely easy labour and was only in the birthing suite for 21 minutes before baby was born! ?
My funniest memory and one that we still laugh about (and my husband tries to deny) was when I was in the throes of labour and he said ‘I’ve downloaded Game of Thrones on the iPad. Would you like to watch it (and I quote verbatim) to take your mind off things’ oh if looks could kill!
Oh no sorry to hear that Suzie, glad the labour turned out well though.
Tee hee, men are so funny aren’t they, all done with the best intentions, but so far from being helpful sometimes xxx
I was induced with my twins at 37 weeks due to pre-eclampsia .. and it was loooong. They started the induction at 2pm on Friday. Twin 1 was born at 7.20pm on the Sunday, and Twin 2 at 7:50 .. two things I remember the most .. the first being that the anaesthetist was too busy to give me the epidural I asked for to get some sleep, and when he eventually came in when I was 8cm, I spouted the foulest potty mouth known to mankind. I was so embarrassed afterwards, I still cringe. My husband (partner at the time) was a complete super star, but fainted when they eventually gave me the epidural!! In hindsight, my labour, albeit long was very straightforward, but I was so tired by the end of it, I didn’t want much to do with the babies .. something that still saddens me today and they are 2.5 x
Ah bless you Nikki, that is such a long time to be in labour, I bet you were exhausted and no wonder you had a bit of potty mouth when the anaesthetist finally arrived. Don’t beat yourself up about not wanting much to do with your twins when they were born, you’d delivered them safe and sound into this world and it definitely sounds like you needed a well earned rest xxx
Great article Lorna! My labour (5 weeks ago!) was quite different to what I’d envisaged when writing my ‘birth preferences’ (induction, epidural and forceps delivery, rather than the active, non-medicated birth I’d hoped for) but it’s our story and so is special in its own way! I have more confidence in my own strength now, and finally understand what people mean when they say they’d go through it all again despite how scary or painful it may have been at the time! x
Congratulations on your new little one Amanda.
Every birthing plan I wrote I requested a water birth, but I never made it into the pool for any of my three labours!
I definitely think having such a lovely experience the first time gave me the confidence to do it again & again xxx
I too didn’t have the birth story I’d hoped for (and now realise lots of people don’t!) . Waters breaking followed by 24 hours of worsening contractions which then stopped dead. Then an induction the next day ending in an emergency c section. It wasn’t my ideal but our little bundle arrived safely. the care we were given as a whole family at the hospital was amazing and i’d do it again in a heartbeat. Lasting memory will be my husband moaning about a piece of toast that had ‘got stuck half way down’ all morning the day I was induced. Safe to say the midwife wasn’t impressed either, particularly when he proudly announced halfway through my ‘6 contractions in 10 minutes’ that it had finally dislodged!
Oh gosh Cat, I bet that felt a little strange your contractions starting then all of a sudden stopping.
Your hubby sounds hilarious, dislodged toast in deed, they have no idea do they… xxx
Yay, Love love love positive birth stories! Don’t people look at you funny when you say you loved your labour, I have never heard ‘me too’ despite saying it to anyone who asks! First labour was 2.5 hrs established and second was 30 mins from 3cm to newborn cuddles so with you on the fast labours. My second was also a water birth at home, the most magical experience EVER, everyone should do it!
Ah Shell the home water birth really does sound magical, I’m almost tempted to have another just so I can do this too xxx
Lorna you was so lucky, I had three very different labours! The first, daughter number 1, I was induced had 30 hours of labour. I cannot even remember the last few hours as I was so tired and by that point I had a lot of gas and air and eventually the epidural to get me through it! My second, only son, was perfect four hours in total from first contraction to the end! My youngest daughter was terrible, she was six weeks early after a problem pregnancy and leaking waters from 28 weeks. I was expected to be induced and was rescheduled for the next day but I started naturally. During the labour had worries of heart rate, umbilical cord coming first and if the steroids worked. After the labour and a quick cuddle she was whisked off to the nicu where we didn’t see or hear about her for four hours! But all is well, two weeks in hospital and went home all ok. Now she is a loud four year causing as much trouble as before.Sorry for such a long post!!
Ah bless you Tanya, you must have been so worried about your little lady. That’s one thing I’ve learnt about being a Mum of three, no two pregnancies, births or babies are the same, not even when all the contributing factors are. It certainly makes for one exciting life 😉 xxx
As dramatic and scary as it seemed at the time, I was very lucky with mine…down on paper as 55 minutes! At 10 days overdue I woke at 3am with minor back pain. It got worse as the day went on. My only happy place was my birth ball, attached to the TENS machine. Every so often my pain would get more intense and I would grip the sofa and do the sort of breathing you would expect when having contractions. Surely they weren’t contractions as I had absolutely no pain in my tummy, right? How wrong I was. I poo pooed my mum’s suggestion of calling my midwife for that very reason. I did however text my husband to suggest perhaps he didn’t play squash that evening, thank goodness! I had a bath and returned to my ball. My pain got worse and I called the hospital who told me to prepare for a long night but it sounded like very early days. My husband got home about 7pm and I phoned again. This time I was told to take paracetemol. I had to hang up as I was so cross at what I thought was such a ridiculous suggestion. My husband had a bath. I figured I was nowhere close to anything happening so this would be ok. It was at this point my pain became unbearable. Husband out of the bath and confronted with a wreck on the floor, we were going to the hospital! Well, we got as far as the kitchen and my waters broke. Except they didn’t break. I could feel what I thought must be my baby’s head (turned out it was the amniotic sack, still in tact!). I shouted to my husband to call an ambulance I could feel the baby coming. Then I had a tummy contraction and I remember thinking I should write this down…8.30pm. Paramedics arrive, me on the kitchen floor, husband told to get warm towels, me sucking the life out of the gas and air, our neighbour the priest knocking to see if everything was ok and me screaming “don’t let him in!!” as I lay half naked, legs akimbo! The midwife arrived and I was pushing but the baby’s heart rate kept dropping with each contraction. We were off to hospital! Straight to the delivery room, I kept saying things like ‘but I wanted a water birth, I packed my bikini!’. This quickly turned to ‘I want an epidural/caesarian/push it back in, it can’t be too late!’ It was too late and I was really pushing. 16 minutes later at 9.55pm my gorgeous baby boy was born! I was never even told I was fully dilated so was shocked to be holding my baby! And they say first time labours are slow…
Wow Hannah, how amazing are you having baby at home, I bet that was a complete shock especially going form what you thought was back pain to full on labour.
Hopefully you can have your water birth next time 😉 xxx
Such a timely post – thank you. I am currently 41+1 and getting bored of waiting! Induction booked at 40+13 which is something I really wanted to avoid and have been trying all the old wives tales to get labour going naturally but after reading this I’m not so worried if it does come to induction, such a positive story which is lovely to hear. Too excited to meet this baby!!
Keep us posted Sarah, there’s still time for a natural labour, but if not, your induction will still be amazing & your baby will be here before you know it xxx
So wonderful to hear a positive induction story as mine was far from that, i truly hope next time that I will have a lovely story to tell.
Oh no, sorry to hear that Natalie. Fingers crossed for a better experience next time, it’s good that you’re thinking about a next time and it hasn’t put you off completely 😉 xxx