Alison's birth story
Friday 11th August
I was having mild cramping all day and a small bloody show... it was like the lightest pink discharge.
I saw my midwife during the day who did an internal examination and said my cervix was fully closed. By the night time, the cramps started getting more regular but not too painful. 6 pm came and it felt like a small bubble popped, I went to the toilet and it was light pink water. I wasn’t sure if it was my waters or discharge so I just left it and waited. I went to bed early that night because I was so tired.
Saturday 12th august
I got woken up at 3.30 am, as if someone had just hit me, I jumped out of bed and was contracting quite intensely... a lot more painful than the day before. I tried to deal with it using my tens machine but it was ramping up quickly. I jumped in the shower and I was in there for 30 mins. I decided to wake Josh up around 4.00 am and tell him the pain I was in. I tried to manage for a short time but then decided I really needed to go to the hospital.
I rang the hospital and they told me to come in, we left home around 5 am and got to the hospital around 5.30 am, but by the time I got there, I could hardly walk properly. They took me to the assessment room and I asked for an epidural... they said I’d need to get monitored for at least 15 minutes before anything could happen. I tried too but I couldn’t stay still long enough as I was in that much pain. They checked to see how dilated I was and I was already at 5cm. I went to the bathroom and noticed I was having a bleed so they took me straight to the birthing suite to conduct an ultrasound and by the time I got to the birthing suite which would have been all of 5 minutes, I was 8cm and my body was physically pushing.
It was too late to have any type of pain relief and I was just using the gas to get me through. I asked to go in the bath and was told it was too late as her head was right there. I pushed for a short time then was advised she was a bit stuck and ended up getting an episiotomy, in the next push Lottie girl was born.
Looking back now I am grateful for such an amazing experience for my first birth.
Alison's one piece of advice for mothers and partners about the birth:
Hospitals are so overwhelming when you're in labour but stick to your plan and word. You know what's best for you and your baby.
