Primrose Susan was born on 3rd July 11.58pm weighing 8lb 3oz and she is beautiful.
As usual my birth plan went out the window (don't really know why I bothered to write one up for the third time!). I went to hospital on my due date - 1st July - for a few checks and all was fine so they sent me home and asked me to return on the saturday. So 9am on saturday we were back at the hospital - had BP check and fetal heart monitor on and all was fine and the midwife was about to send me home...then they remembered they hadn't done a urine test...so they did this and found ++ of protein. My blood pressure wasn't too high but the swelling in my ankles had got really bad and so they decided I was "borderline pre-eclampsia". The doctor told the midwife to do a stretch and sweep and send me home until monday. Then ten minutes later the stretch and sweep turned into the proposal to break my waters and have me induced. I felt scared at the prospect of this - although I had been induced with my first and I was getting really frustrated and had said to hubby I didn't want to be sent home again with no baby, so although I was apprehensive about it I was quite pleased that something was finally happening. So at midday they broke my waters (worse experience than the first time - "tough as old boots" it was according to the midwife - nice!), then they gave me two hours to see if the contractions started naturally...they didn't, so the drip was set up...along with an antibiotic drip that I had to have every four hours during the labour due to a urine infection that I didn't realise I had until I got to the hospital that day.
By 9pm I was 10cm and ready to start pushing..."a few more pushes like that and your baby will be here" the midwife said encouragingly. However, I pushed for nearly two hours and couldn't understand why I couldn't push my baby out. Then they got the scan out and saw that her face was round the wrong way and so every time I pushed she was just pushing into the wall. Then the doctor showed up and suddenly I knew things were not going according to plan. They explained how the baby's head was stuck and so they would take me into theatre to try a ventouse delivery...and if that didn't work then they would have to do an emergency c-section...I just burst into tears at that point...as I signed the consent form I don't think I have ever felt so upset, scared and powerless. I tried to stay positive and kept telling myself that they would get her out with the ventouse as they had done quite easily with my first-born. So I was wheeled into theatre and that was terrifying in itself, especially as hubby had to go and get gowned-up and it seemed like ages before he was back by my side. They tried three ventouses before one finally "stuck" and then I had to push again...and I did, as hard as I could until it felt like my head would explode. After about another 5 minutes of pushing the doctor said what I had been dreading..."we will have to do the C-section". It was like the end of the road...I just lay there helpless with tears running down my face...I didn't stop crying until I heard my baby's first cry.
At 11.58pm Primrose Susan was born. She was lifted over the screen and I saw her for the first time...my beautiful daughter. It took an hour and a half to stitch me up and hubby held her close to my head. It was so frustrating not being to hold her straight away as I had done with my other two, but once we moved to recovery we made up for it...she latched on straight away and fed for about an hour! Then the midwife got her dressed and put her in a cot and told me to get some sleep. I would have done but then the after-pains started. Apparently these get worse with each baby you have, whether it is that and the fact my stomach had just been cut open but it felt like I was having contractions all over again...it was so bad I didn't sleep all night and I couldn't even sit up to see Primrose who had been put in a cot at the end of the bed. They gave me more painkillers but it didn't seem to be helping and the doctor even came back to take a look at my stomach. By 7am it had eased luckily and we were moved to a general ward. I stayed in another two nights, my platelets were low as I had lost a lot of blood and my haemaglobin is still low but they let me go home with some iron tablets. I was so pleased to get home and back to my other children, but it has not been easy so far. Hubby only took a week off work so I'm now home alone with the three of them and still trying to recover. I was quite emotional about the whole experience for the first week: horrified that I had to have a C-section third time round when I had had natural births with my first two; annoyed with medical staff for not realising that she was in a difficult position earlier on; frustrated that perhaps I had not done all I could to move her into a better position, but I am coming to terms with it now and after all is said and done I have a beautiful baby daughter who is safe and well.
