BIRTH STORY OF ISRAEL

I thought I would share Israel's birth story, it will be long so I apologize. I started having contractions at about 38 weeks, I would have days where I thought 'this was it' but after 6-8 hours my regular contractions would fade away. Days would pass and then the contractions would start again.

At 40 weeks and 3 days I knew this was it. The contractions weren't different to the other, not stronger or more regular, but they had not ceased after the usual 6-8 hours. They had started the previous afternoon but were not strong enough to keep me home, that night I had gone out to dinner with friends and managed to keep the contractions under wraps.

The next morning before hubby left for work I asked him for a hot water bottle and luckily he wrapped it in a towel, I had been up since 4am which wasn't unusual as I had had pregnancy induced insomnia for quite a few months and 4 am was when I usually woke. I had a feeling things were going to start that day but thought it would start much later that day or night!

An hour after he left things started to progress with the contractions getting stronger and regular, by memory I was getting 4 or so in 10 minutes. So I gave him a call at 7:30 am and told him we were going to have a baby today. He asked if I wanted him to come home from work and I said no, it was more than likely that we would end up at the hospital that night, so no need to rush and the contraction were more than manageable and I was still in bed reading.

Half an hour later I felt a bubble, and thought that was weird, and then a moment later and felt another one. So I felt back and my pants were wet and my first thought was 'I'm pretty sure I didn't just piss myself' Then it clicked my waters broke and luckily it didn't gush all in the bed otherwise we would have needed to replace it! I managed to shimmy out of the bed and put the towel on the floor before I stood on it.

The contractions were picking up, not excruciating but I needed to focus and just my luck I had run out of phone credit so in between contractions I had to ring up and purchase some more. Then on the phone to Paul telling him to come home so we could go to the hospital and then a call to mum to let her know we were having a baby today! Off into the shower and threw some last things into my bags.

On the way to the hospital I wanted to swing past the local bakery and pick up my favourite treat a kind of baklava snail covered in cream patisserie with almonds on the side and cherries on top. The midwife said I could eat anything once labour was in full swing as I had gestational diabetes and needed to control my diet. I didn't end up eating it as I had just lost my appetite just after we purchased it.

When we got to the hospital I was monitored for half an hour or so, and they confirmed that labour was in full swing and got admitted into the birthing suite at around 10am. I don't remember too much in regards to times, but I do remember that I didn't want to be touched (back rubbed) and that my eyes were closed for all of it (I remember opening them up at one stage and thinking wow it's night time now) I only spoke a couple of words hot, cold, drink; hot i wanted the blanket off and cold I wanted it on.

I started off on the floor on my side as that was most comfortable, but because I was lying down my contractions were not progressing and had stayed the same for 4 hours, so I got up and moved around and then they intensified. At this stage I had begun to push, and some of the contractions were pushing for me - hard to explain but my body was taking over.

I asked to get into the shower as I was starting to feel the pain in my legs and the midwife suggested the bath, and I agreed. Once in the bath I found it quite uncomfortable, mainly because of my height and my legs are too short to push of the end of the bath so I found myself slipping under the water and my focus on the contractions were broken. The midwife informed me that she had called the water birthing midwife and if I didn't want a water birth I needed to get out now as this baby was coming, so I did (I think this was around 2pm).

I got back to the birthing suite and my contractions were piggybacking. She checked to see how far along I was and noticed that my cervix was completely swollen so she asked me to lie on the bed with my bum in the air to try and reduce the pressure and hope for the swelling to come down. I stayed like this for hours.

The midwife came and told me she wanted me to have some pethadine so my body would stop pushing, the next few hours are a blur, I don't remember the pethadine helping pain wise, but more so in making the memory hazy, something I don't like and will be refusing it this time around. After the pethdaine had worn off a couple of hours later she tried me on gas, which is useless in pain management.

There was no progression after all those hours of pushing and my contractions were still piggybacking, the midwife called the resident obstetrician in at 7 centimeters. This is where I understand where women like to have home births so that there are no unnecessary interventions. Not only was the resident rude to me (I highly doubt she has ever been in labour) but also to the midwife that was taking care of me.

When the midwife told her to stop taking while I was contracting and that I was piggybacking she just spoke over her and continued to talk at me. When my contractions stopped I told her that I wasn't listening to what she was saying while I was working through the pain (which had escalated to an all time high at this point, mainly to the fact that I was unable to focus and work through the pain, instead being distracted) I told her to tell it to my husband.

After what felt like forever of poking and prodding in places a stranger should not prod let alone poke, she told me I needed to have an emergency cesarean section. I wasn't over the moon about this information as you can imagine, and tried to delay the fact. I had come so far and it was all a waste of time and energy. My concern was that if I had said yes to this caesar, would it mean that I would require an elective caesar for the rest of my births? The doctor informed me that what was happening was not indicative of future labours, that it should be a one off. What was happening to me was that my whole cervix was swollen, not allowing bubba to come down into the birth canal. The cause of this was said to be an obstruction (although now taking to my midwife and physiotherapist I have a strong feeling it has to do with my pelvis and it not being aligned properly to allow bubba to come down, instead causing pressure and swelling).

So off to theater I went (just about in tears). When I got there hubby wasn't allowed in until I was all prepared. Having a contraction and having someone stick a needle in your spine is a lot of fun - insert sarcasm here -. Not because the needle was painful (it surprisingly wasn't), but because I had to sit in a position that was uncomfortable to me, having to sit still, and not having your support there. I asked one of the attendants that had wheeled me in if I could hold on to him while I was contracting, he politely obliged.

The pain relief that followed was amazing, amazing in the way that it worked so quickly and you could feel it flow down your body. Just before I had been given my spinal block I was feeling the pain due to all the distractions around me. Hubby was finally allowed in, and I remember saying to my anaesthesist that I could feel that my leg had fallen off the table, he didn't believe me saying that I shouldn't be able to feel a thing. It wasn't that I could feel it per say but it was more like when you have really bad pins and needles and you can't feel touch but you can feel the weight. I could feel the weight of my leg dangling off the operating table. After more and more insisting, he finally looked and then started interrupting the surgeons, 'her legs fallen off her legs fallen off', hubby thought that he was taking the micky out of me but in fact my leg had fallen off the table, a strange sensation.

What followed next was a lot of tugging and pulling, my whole body was being rocked and rolled, and then finally I got to hear and see my baby boy. The first words out of my mouth where he has little curls (although you can't see them in the pictures they straightened up when his hair dried off)! Then hysterical crying and laughing! Israel Jarrad was born at 22:07 weighing in at 3050 grams.

This is one of the only pictures I have of Israel after he was born. All my photos were stored on my laptop which died and has yet to be recoverable.  Below are pictures from his 3 week old baby shoot.