Anna's story, UK - pool labour with prolonged 2nd stage and forceps

"A delayed second stage forceps birth.

Sunday 2nd January 2011 about 8pm, just had dinner, sitting at home watching rubbish on TV and contractions started. Like bad period pains which came on, got more intense, and then disappeared. That happened every 3 mins or so, and lasted about 30 seconds.

I left it for about 2 hours to check the patterns weren't a figment of my imagination - and then phoned the midwife unit at the hospital. They said they were understaffed, so I'd have to go to labour ward instead.

We got there, buzzed and was let in, and eventually shown to an assessment room. A midwife called Anna with a very strong Polish accent came and met us, examined me, and put me on a trace for the best part of an hour. I was 3cm dilated, but not totally effaced. She said my "contractions" weren't contractions, but were tightenings. I could have slapped her!

So we came home, and sat it out. My TENS machine helped a bit, so I lay in bed with that on all night, didn't really sleep at all.

Monday 3rd January 2011 - by morning I was feeling quite sick, I think I decided it was the TENS machine, so took that off, and instead went for hanging over my yoga ball and trying to chill out. Contractions were still coming every 3 minutes up to 5 minutes, and lasting about 60 seconds. The intensity was increasing.

By that evening, I was so much less comfortable, they were more intense, and I wasn't coping brilliantly. TENS and paracetamol just weren't cutting it. I phoned the labour ward again, and they said to come in. So off we went again!

This time we met a midwife called Lisa, who took me straight to labour ward, rather than an assessment room. She examined me, and I was 3cm... but this time totally effaced, and the contractions were contractions. She said there wasn't a lot to do there and then, and suggested I could go home, or have a shot of Pethidine to help with the pain, and stay on a ward. Because Tom would have to go home, and we'd both be on our own, I decided not to have the Pethidine, but to go home instead. Got back home (after getting petrol and having several unpleasant contractions and therefore funny looks in the petrol station!) at about 10pm.

Tuesday 4th January 2011 - at about 3am, having not slept for the second night running because of the "discomfort", I decided to try having a bath, to see if that would ease things at all. Well... it didn't! I was still timing things, and it slowed the contractions down a little, but made them longer. Tom got up when I was in the bath, and sat with me with a worried look on his face! I decided to get out of the bath and phone the hospital again, they told me to come in.

I got in to an assessment room, met Claire the midwife, and she examined me (4cm and totally effaced), and put me on a trace, contractions were much stronger now, and I definitely needed some help with the pain. She gave me a shot of Pethidine, and told us we weren't going home without our baby... that's what I needed to hear. The Pethidine made me feel very warm and fuzzy, that's the only way I can describe it really. It did take the edge off the pain, and I got about half an hours sleep listening to the trace. Claire suggested we went for a walk around the park opposite the hospital, so we got outside just in time to see a crowd of people with big cameras standing in the middle of the park staring at the sky. Apparently there was a solar eclipse, but it was cloudy, so I think some very expensive cameras went unused! We did two laps of the park, with Tom predicting which lamp post we'd get to before the next contraction hit... and when it did I'd hang off his neck. Thank god for a tall husband!

When we got back from the walk, I got back on the bed in the assessment room and Claire brought us some tea and toast - having been aware we hadn't really eaten all night. The tea and toast was great, but the effects of the Pethidine hadn't left me and as soon as it went down, it bounced. I was very proud of not throwing up on myself... I was passed a bowl just in time!

After that joyful experience, we were told there was a room with a view down on labour ward for us. So we were moved to a room which overlooked the car park - and told that having a window was a massive benefit... well it was, but strangely enough I wanted the curtains closed so that no-one could gawp.

We were fairly soon introduced to Hilary the midwife and Beth the trainee. They were the day shift. They told us the room with the pool was free, and so we moved across the hall into there. I got into the pool at about 9.30am. It was lovely and I was quite comfortable in there.

Contractions were getting stronger and so I started on the gas and air. I can't say it took the pain away, but each contraction was a distant memory as soon as it was over. So much so that when Hilary was asking me how the contractions were, I had to say "ask me on the next one"!

After a little while in the pool I felt a pop and a gush, the strangest feeling, but it was obvious to me my waters had gone. It was like my ears had popped... but of course it wasn't my ears!

We had local radio playing, which matched my taste in music pretty well. Although I have no idea how many times we heard Take That, Ellie Goulding and Adele. No bad thing really!

I think the midwives decided I was transitional when Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing came on the radio and I just lost it. Absolutely sobbing. I can't really say now if it was transition or second stage, or if it was the sentimental side of me thinking of my amazing friends from the miscarriage groups one of whom has made that song very poignant - you know who you are!

At this point (about 12 noon I think) Hilary said, "I think we'll have a baby by 2pm". Well if that's not tempting fate, I don't know what is!

Hilary asked me to get out of the pool so she could examine me at about 1pm, I was 9cm dilated, but a tiny bit of my cervix was thicker again. They decided that my baby had turned back to back and possibly had changed head position so her chin was pointing upwards - not great news for a nice easy pool delivery.

They suggested I leant over to the left hand side to try and help the baby turn back, so I got in the pool and kept going, trying to lean over as much as possible.

I think it was at this point that I remembered I wanted to donate placenta/cord... anything that would be useful for stem cell research. So Hilary called in the lady who works for the donation team and I filled out some paperwork. They were very amused that I was in a fit state to do so!

At about 3pm, Hilary asked me to get out of the pool again so I could be examined to see if anything had changed. I was still 9cm, and still have this lip on my cervix. At this point, the contractions were making me pretty tired, and were quite intense, but I had no urge to push, so it was declared I had a delayed second stage and that a Syntocinon drip was a good idea.

I then asked for an epidural, because I was scared of not being able to cope when it got more intense than it was.

The anaesthetist was called, and the obstetrician came in to set up the drip. I felt a bit of a failure, but had a weird feeling that I'd always need help... so went with it.

There was a change in shift of midwives at this point, so in came Fanny the French midwife (yes really). We had a good chat, and it turns out she knows my obstetrician friend in Poole... small world!

The epidural was absolutely fine while being placed, the anaesthetist was very complementary about my ability to stay still while having it administered. He said he hadn't had a lady at 9cm who could stay as still before.

Unfortunately the epidural didn't quite do it's job. It was perfect down my left hand side, totally numb, and couldn't move my left leg at all. But on the right hand side, it didn't completely work. I had a pocket of pain on my right hand side, in fact it felt like I had a big bubble of trapped wind (who knows, maybe I did!). Because the baby had turned back to back, they wanted me to lie on my left, and this was just impossibly agonising, so no matter how many times they suggested it, I couldn't do it.

I think at some point here, there was another change of midwife, and we met Lottie - who I think was a trainee, or recently qualified - she was being supervised by Lisa who we had met the night before. I didn't warm to Lottie... but by this stage I wasn't warming to anyone!

The drip kept getting upped... which I hated. I really do think it's quite an evil invention. The obstetrician came in, examined me and finally the lip in my cervix had gone and I was fully dilated. Time for pushing.

But there was still no urge to push, of course the epidural had taken that away. So I was told to push anyway. I started pushing, and kept being told to push into my bottom. Well, I couldn't feel my bottom, all I could feel was this pocket of pain on my right hand side. So every time I pushed, it hurt. I wanted the gas and air still... but they kept taking it off me so that I would use my breath to push, not use it for gas and air.

So pushing wasn't going well, and the obstetrician came in (a different one now!). She was very unhappy with me, as I had pretty much given up pushing as I couldn't feel any urge, any progress and it just hurt more and more. She said I had 30 minutes to push the baby down or they were taking me to theatre. She also doubled the dose of the Syntocinon drip at this point - so I told her she was inhumane!

I knew I had to keep going and didn't really want a section (although if anyone had said it was a possibility I'd have said 'just do it). So I pushed and pushed and pushed with all my might. In a little under half an hour, I had pushed pretty well and they could see the baby's head. Thankfully the baby's obs were absolutely fine the whole time, no distress at all. I was so tired, that they took pity on me (I think you could call it that) and wheeled in a forceps kit, and the ventouse machine. They were telling me all about the ventouse machine - but then suddenly I was having the forceps positioned.

The obstetrician told me it would be at least 3 or 4 pushes for the head, and then the same for the body. Well... one push later the head was out, and then a half push later, the body was out. We were told we had a little girl... it was such a shock. I don't know why as for the first half of my pregnancy I was convinced she was a she! It was also a shock that she had so much hair!

Tom was handed a pair of scissors and told to cut the cord - he hadn't been sure he wanted to, but the scary obstetrician didn't leave him with much choice! Our daughter was handed to me and she lay on my chest for a minute or so. The paediatrician then had to check her over because it was an instrumental birth.

I had had a cut, and then started losing blood (750mls in total). Our daughter was declared fine (10 and 10 on her APGAR) so handed to Daddy while I was stitched and sorted. Once that was complete, she was weighed, and then handed back to me.

She weighed 4535g at birth, and was born at 22.12pm on Tuesday 4th January 2011. She was 13 days overdue, and just beat the appointment we had for induction on 5th Jan. Her due date was 22/12 - so numerically she arrived on time, it was the time, not the date though!

The name Sadie Beatrice was at the top of our list for a girl for the whole of our pregnancy, and so at some point I said to Tom, "is she our Sadie then?" and he said yes with a big grin.

We finally brought her home on Friday 7th January and I can honestly say I have never been as happy to get her home. She's changed our lives in so many ways."

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