Birth story - Hayley and baby Elijah

Country - Oman

First time mum

Hospital

Unplanned cesarean

*Trigger warnings* - use of the words contraction and pain. Talk of reduced foetal heart rate.

This was a surprise pregnancy. I had nausea and headaches from weeks 7-12, strange rib aches and bloating for a few more weeks but other than that it was pretty smooth going. I stayed active throughout and attended my last CrossFit class about 10 days before his arrival. I would have kept going longer but gyms closed due to a Covid lockdown. I had Braxton Hicks from about 20 weeks, these got stronger and more frequent towards the end but I kind of enjoyed them.

Baby was breech at 36 week scan and I had a successful ECV at 37 weeks. It was only mildly uncomfortable and happened on first attempt! We then waited patiently for his arrival but I had a feeling he’d arrive on or before his due date.

Saturday 17th

Contractions started at around 20:30, they were different from Braxton Hicks, building and fading in intensity. I didn’t time them but they were roughly 5-10 mins apart. I watched tv with hubby and started bouncing on my ball. They faded a little and I managed to go to bed as normal around 23:00 for a few hours… I woke multiple times to pee (as always) and the period like cramps were starting. I finally woke at 4am with noticeable cramps alongside the contractions and realized I was also super hungry!! I dozed another half hour in bed but couldn’t sleep.

Sunday 18th

I got up at 04:30 and ate some cereal and I started timing contractions which were coming hard and fast, every 5 mins, I knew this was really it! Baby’s movements were all good and I was excited that I would get to meet him soon. Little did I know there was still another 42 hours to go!

06:00 things slowed a little and I went for walk with doggies and hubby.

06:30- 10:00 I finished up some work, began tracking surges. They were regular, approx every 10 mins, 35-50 seconds each.

10:30 I noticed some tinged mucous coming away.

12-14:30 I was running errands, finishing off the last of my to do list, things slowed down a bit, not too intense. Headed home for relaxation.

15:00-16:15 I took a nap and only had 3 contractions during this time.

17:00 Hubby got home from work, I had a bath and lost my mucus plug/bloody show.

17:30 Strongest contraction so far, had to bend over the bed and really breath through it.

18:30 I walked the doggies, stronger contractions starting regularly again, had to stop and breath on our walk.

19:30 The pace picked back up to 1 every 5-7 mins. Intensity increasing too, this continued for next 4 hours, bounced on my ball, had slight back ache so got a back rub too.

23:30 decided to try get some rest, dozed in bed with some painful contractions whilst lying down. I got up several times to pee.

Monday 19th

01:30 I woke up with a very big contraction and pressure to pee. My waters broke whilst I was hovering awkwardly over the toilet with a pop and a plop, I shouted to my hubby to let him know!

This is where things ramped up. The contractions were intense from here on out. I held off ringing the hospital as I knew they’d want me to go in straight away to get checked, instead I got in the shower and enjoyed the water on my back. I put the plug in and let it fill up to a bath, relaxed here for a while and had a snack or two. I was timing contractions and Freya app told us I was in active labour.

03:00 - We phoned the hospital and as expected they told us to go in ASAP, we packed the car and had a very short drive to hospital, we managed to time it so I only had to endure one contraction sitting in the car.

03:30- arrived at hospital. I was laid down to be monitored for half hour and then examined in one of the delivery rooms (so bright and clinical, definitely distracting) I was 3-4cm dilated so they were happy things were moving nicely and showed us to our labour room where hubby set up our lights and smells and made it much more relaxing.

4:30 am- On entering the labour room I immediately started getting very intense back ache. It was a constant pain rather than coming and going with the contractions, it was hard to manage. This is where things get blurry for me, I lost track of timings and any sense of what day it was, I focused on my breathing and found some relief kneeling over my ball in the shower. I was in and out of that shower for hours, trying to find the most comfortable positions. I alternated between leaning forward over the bed, standing holding on to hubby, bent over the ball and squatting down low. I used the TENS machine at some point which provided some moments of relief.

We danced Kizomba, watched some series and tried to keep hydrated, I wasn’t interested in food but did try to have a few nibbles here and there.

10:00- When I was next examined, 6.5 hours after arriving I had only reached 5cm, this was disheartening and my back pain was constant. I was offered and gladly accepted the pethidine injection to allow me some rest. The midwife was lovely and suggested that by the time it wore off 3-4 hours later I’d be getting close and ready to push. Sadly she was wrong.

16:00- 6 hours passed and I was examined again and I had just reached 7cm. Things were moving but slowly. They wanted me to go to the delivery room at this point but I remember trying to hold off as our labour room was much more comfy. Hubby used his BRAIN and asked all the right questions, we stayed put for a little while longer. They eventually lured me there with the promise of some relief from gas and air!

17:00- I continued to labour in the delivery room, they wanted to monitor baby as it had been a while since waters broke. I enjoyed the gas and air (maybe a bit too much) and tried to stay UFO as much as possible. I tried every position possible.

18:30- 17 hours after waters breaking I finally got to 9.5cm dilated and the midwife asked if I was ready to push. I said I didn’t know. In hindsight this probably meant I was not ready, my body wasn’t ready to push. I still had a small lip of cervix in the way but she said I could try and push it out the way. I took her word for it, but looking back this probably wasn’t a great idea.

21:30- almost 3 hours of pushing later and baby was still nowhere closer to arriving. He was still high up and I could feel that pushing was getting me nowhere. My doctor had arrived and was monitoring baby and me. I was exhausted and starting to struggle, I remember asking him for help.

22:00- despite docs best efforts to stimulate him, baby was starting to show signs of stress, his heart rate was taking longer to recover after each contraction and the call was eventually made that he needed to come out urgently. It was a whirlwind from here to theatre. Hubby was not allowed into theatre ‘due to COVID’ so I went on alone. I had 3 huge contractions, the last of which happened AS they were administering the spinal block, I had to use every ounce of energy I had left to keep still. I remember that the nurses were lovely and my nose was itchy.

22:31- baby boy was pulled out safe and well, the doc had suspected he was quite large and when I asked if he was a big boy like we expected he announced ‘he’s not a boy, he’s already a man’. He screamed his lungs clear, doc briefly showed him to me before he was wrapped up and brought round and laid on my chest for a few minutes. He was then taken away again and checked over whilst I was stitched up.

23:30- We were all reunited in our labour room, which smelt like Thai food (which hubby had secretly ordered a few hours earlier!) We decided that baby boy suited the name Elijah, and enjoyed our first snuggles as a family.

Recovery from c-section was tough, 10 days after the surgery I thought I was never going to feel normal, I was still in pain. But a few days later things started to fall into place and by the two week mark I was off the medication and welcoming a few visitors.

Despite a positive outcome, I can’t help but wonder how different things might have been, and if I’d have had a shorter, more enjoyable labour, if I could have continued to labour at home or had the option of a pool or bath to labour in. I will certainly go in to my next labour with more awareness and hopefully be somewhere with those options available.

I’ve been very lucky and Elijah has been such an angel of a baby. He eats and sleeps so well and our breast feeding journey has been smooth. I like to think it’s positive karma in exchange for the long exhausting labour and surgery.