Lollys Lounge

My due date was 21st March 2007 but I was keen to have the baby earlier as I wanted a Pisces not and Aries baby!
I was also worried that it was a posterior baby as I had had back ache and was worried that it would be a long erratic labour.
I had an Induction massage booked on Monday 19th with Lindsay Renwick – although had thought might go into labour on the 19th as I had been feeling quite “crampy” during the Sunday night – and I had been preparing to tell Lindsay that I didn’t need the massage as I had already gone into full labour.
But woke up Monday morning feeling pretty normal – so didn’t cancel the massage as I figured I wanted to have one “last” treat before the “onslaught” as it were!
I tried to take things easy on Monday – stayed in bed till 11, decided not to venture out the house.
But must have got my “nesting” instinct then cos I found myself mopping floors and sweeping up places that I usually ignore!
Consequently when I got to Lindsay’s massage hut at 3pm I was a bit dusty n dishevelled.
The massage was lovely – I thought she would just concentrate on the induction bits on the feet and legs – but it was a whole body massage and felt so lovely and calming. The only bits that hurt were when she pressed on the reflexology points for uterus on my ankle – and made me lie on my back for a whole 7 minutes while she massaged my face
Felt very calm but a bit wobbly on my over laden feet (I had just started getting one sided hip pain the past few days – God I would be glad to not be pregnant!!) as I got to the car. Driving back home – spoke to the Dinky Diapers nappy laundering service and arranged them to drop off a bag o nappies on Friday – half thinking that they might sit around unused for a few weeks till Baby #2 made its appearance.
By the time I got home it was almost 5pm and I knew Marty and Daniel would be back from work/nursery in the next hour – but I decided to try and get some sleep – which I think I managed for a bout three quarters of an hour before they came home.
Can’t quite remember the evening - Did me or M put Daniel to bed? What did we have for tea?
I watched two episodes of Firefly (ahh Malcom Reynolds..!) while leaning on my birthing ball – I think I had rhubarb crumble and clotted cream as a pudding…
I had a few contractions while watching tv but they were quite sporadic – I was a bit disappointed cos in my head I was hoping to go into full labour once Daniel had gone to bed and baby #2 would pop out in the middle of the night – and D would be able to come down in the morning on his way to nursery and meet his new sibling.
So when midnight came and the contractions had slowed down to a stop I was a bit miffed and wondered if this one was going to be 2 weeks late like Daniel.
I went to bed with my cup of raspberry leaf tea, after having an Evening Primrose capsule and a paracetamol (for the cramping pain – ha!)
And hoped that I could get some sleep – so I could concentrate on going into labour properly tomorrow! (!!)

At 2am woke with worsening pain - well more intense cramps. I couldn’t sleep so went downstairs.
I laid out old duvet and couple of pillows, got out birth ball and watched Charade on DVD while lying on the floor. Contractions not too bad or too regular – but there were ones that made me stop concentrating on the tv and have to go “inwards” to breathe through them.
I watched the dawn break and a bit of Desperate Housewives – until the pains were getting more painful that I woke up Martyn at 5am to get him to put the TENS machine on my back.
Cue lots of worried fumbling from him – but he did attach the electrode pads the right way round in the end.
I found the TENS was a good pain distraction method for the early part of labour, the intermittent buzzing was quite comforting during the rest periods and the boost button allowed me to ramp up the buzzing when I felt a contraction coming on. I wandered around like this for a while discussing with Martyn how we were going to manage getting Daniel to nursery this morning as I didn’t think I felt up to being left on my own (we briefly entertained the idea of getting either my Mum or Tony to ferry the boy to his nursery but laughed at the idea of either of them being up at this time in the morning) Martyn had begun timing the contractions and how far apart they were (I kept insisting he use the stopwatch feature on my phone)
At about 6:00 I asked Martyn to call the midwife – and spoke to her through a contraction (I felt like a bit of a fraud – should I make more of a meal of it to make her think I am more advanced than I am?) and she agreed to get to us about 7am
Even though I was definitely in labour all I could think about was how we were going to get Daniel to nursery at 8am. I definitely didn’t want him in the house while I was in full labour – as I knew my mind would always be on him and wonder how he was taking everything.
Midwife Laura got here just before 7am and sat by me on the floor as I rocked on the birth ball through contractions just chatting to me quietly as Martyn got Daniel up and gave him breakfast. Daniel wasn’t his usual boisterous self – probably wondering why his mum was breathing heavily while rocking on the big ball, and who was the strange new woman who was sat next to her?
When M and D were out o fthe room she gave me a VE and said that I was 5-6 cm dilated. Amazing considering it didn’t feel like I had been labouring “properly” for long. Luckily she said she would now stay with me for the duraction – which meant I could send M& D off to nursery without fear of being left alone. (I did say to Martyn though that the midwife had said that the new baby could be with us within an hour so he had better get a move on!)
While they were out, I lay on the sofa buzzing my TENS machine on and off, while watching the local news and chatting quietly to Laura. Keeping still definitely slowed the contractions down – which I think normally I wouldn’t have wanted – in this instance I was just waiting for M to get back before I “let myself go”
Although by the time he came back the contractions were getting very strong and I was eyeing up the birthing pool (which M had filled up before he left) but was waiting for him to guide me through it. It did feel good getting in the water (although I had been reluctant to take off that TENS)
Then the labour began properly. Started with my counting breathing ( a breathing method I had adapted from yoga but included vocalising numbers on each out breath) then as it was getting harder just breathing out with a grunt or shout.
Martyn was a great birth companion, encouraging me with lots of “You can do it”s and “Almost there”s. Wiping my brow with a cool flannel, feeding me juice, ice and Lindor chocolates (!) checking the pool temperature, massaging my lower back. I would respond by shouting at him that his brow mopping wasn’t right and that the hose for filling the pool was touching my legs – poor bloke!
The 2nd midwife, Julie, had come round at the stage but I hardly noticed as I was just concentrating on getting through the contractions on all fours in the pool. The midwives generally kept to themselves in the adjoining lounge through this stage of labour – leaving just me & Marty to get on with it in the kitchen. I think it was a long while before I realised that there was gas and air available for me too – and I took long luxurious lungfuls once I had it! (I feel quite proud that I only really used it for the last hour or so of labour!)
The midwives then came into the kitchen as apparently I had been making sounds as if I was in transition – but I can’t really remember – I think the sounds had changed as I was getting tired and the pain was starting to wear me out. Laura asked me if I could feel any pressure below – and I remember saying yes – but it felt so different to Daniel; there was not feeling of an involuntary push at the end of the contractions as I had had with Daniel. I was starting to feel a bit despondent. Why was this different? Was there something wrong? Was I not doing something right? I remember apologising the Martyn and the midwives as they were all looking at my body expectantly and I was not “performing” (They told me not to worry and I was doing fine etc but I really did feel a bit of a failure)
After what seems like an age waiting around for me to push something, they suggested I get out of the pool (no!) so I could have an internal exam to see how far I had progressed. This was extremely uncomfortable – and I had to lie on some towels on the kitchen floor while Laura examined me. Apparently I was fully dilated but there was a slight cervical lip which could have been impeding the baby’s progress. Added to that the amniotic sac was still intact and she asked my permission to rupture it as this might speed things along. I agreed as I wanted to get on with it. So it was out with the Amnihook™ (which luckily I didn’t see) and my waters gushed over the kitchen floor – luckily they were clear. (Marty said it was a sight that he didn’t really want to see!) Julie then suggested I stand upright for a few contractions to help baby’s head descend. I remember standing over the kitchen surface (covered in crumbs from the boys’ breakfasts) trying to feel some “descent” feeling very weepy that my 2nd child would be born in this unglamorous position.
Then Julie suggested I walk up and down the stairs to get things moving! Even though I knew logically this was a good thing to do, I felt even more despondent that I was made to walk up n down our stairs wearing nowt but a towel round my shoulders. What would happen if this didn’t work? Surely that would mean a hospital transfer? Why was my body not doing what it did for Daniels birth? All these questions were wheeling round my head that I almost didn’t hear Julie say that I could get back in the pool (had she done a VE then? I can’t remember..)
Back in the pool I felt a semblance of control return and just had to wait until the contractions started up again before I felt the unmistakable urge to push at the end of the contractions – at last! But wait a minute – these hurt!!! And it wasn’t a case of 2 or 3 good pushes and he was out (like Daniel) There were at least 2 or 3 pushes just to get the head out ( I put my hands down between my legs to feel the head – no wavy hair just a little furry scalp) Then I was expecting an easy push or two to birth the body. Not to be – at the next push I heard the midwives telling me to pant slowly to let the body out – and I’m sure I felt both Julie and Laura’s hands helping the body come out. In the mean time I have been told I said “What the f*** are you doing in there boy??” It seems that cord had been looped round his neck and shoulder meaning there wasn’t much room to manoeuvre down there. With the last contraction the rest of the body came out – the midwives delivered him (by this point I had given up trying to control what was happening with the lower part of my body I just wanted it to be over!) and handed him to me under my arm with the express requirement to keep his body close to mine and under the water.

He looked so different from what I had expected. His skin seemed quite pale and pink, and he had a good layer of fat all over his body (his hands and feet were still grey though) I didn’t even look to see if it was a boy – it was Martyn who pointed it out. He cried pretty much right away and I managed to get him to suckle straight after that. He was perfect – although I still had a strange sensation that he wasn’t my son (how odd?!)
The midwives let us 3 alone for a good ten or fifteen minutes before they came in to help Martyn cut the cord and dry the baby. I stayed in the pool – I was hoping for a physiological 3rd stage – but with a time limit of 30 mins. If the placenta hadn’t showed by then I was happy to accept the injection. 1 cup of tea and almond slice later, there was still no show of placenta. I got out of the pool and Laura tried controlled cord traction and massaging my belly while telling me to push (but to be honest my nerve endings down there felt so shot I couldn’t work out if I was pushing or pulling to be honest!)
So they gave me the injection – but 10 mins later still no placenta! So another trip up the stairs to the toilet (with midwife following behind holding an Inco pad in place to catch the drips of blood from the cut cord that was dangling unglamorously from me) to see if I could make myself do a wee (no) then a trip back to the kitchen floor with a threat to catheterise me (nooo!)
I tried putting new baby to the breast again (discovering that he had had his first meconium poo all over the towel that Daniel had done the same thing 3 years earlier!) The sucking seemed to make the placenta finally make its appearance – phew (I had thought briefly about keeping it to plant in the garden – but after a jolly conversation with Laura about Lotus births and having to bury placentas very deep otherwise foxes will get them made me think twice about keeping it)
A quick exam revealed that I only had a 1st degree tear which wouldn’t need stitches and then I headed downstairs for a bath to wash off all the matter and wash off baby’s meconium nether regions – then Martyn took him away to get him dried off and dressed. I too got into my pyjamas, said goodbye to Laura & Julie and we opened a bottle of champagne, just as my mother came round… (grr!)