Aidan and Carolyn

It all started when I woke up at 0640 on Monday 7th July, 2003 (just one day later than my EDD, and eight days after the scan EDD) with low down period cramp and lower backache. These weren't quite what I expected contractions to feel like, but the pains came and went every 20mins or so throughout the morning.

At 1300 my midwife came to discuss induction. She did a sweep and told me I was 2cm dilated, and that my cervix was effaced.

At 1500, the contractions started to really hurt, and increased to one in every 10mins. My Mum and Dad were on their way down from Scotland at this point (they'd planned to travel down that day anyway) and when Mum called to tell me they were about three hours north of here, I was in the middle of a contraction and she was able to talk me through it.

I was starting to feel slightly panicky being on my own during the contractions but, as I still didn't really feel I was actually in labour, I put off phoning Keith until 1600. When I did call, we had a 15sec phone call which went something along the lines of me saying "I think you'd better come home" and him replying "I'll be there in 15mins"!!

Now Keith was here he could time the contractions properly - they were one every 8mins, each lasting about 1min.

At 1640, we switched on the TENS machine.

You know how they suggest you 'rest between contractions'? No chance!! I just couldn't find any comfortable position, and found myself wandering aimlessly around, or rocking on my birth ball in between them. The TENS machine did help a fair bit in at this stage though.

By 1730, the contractions were one every 4mins and were lasting 1min. So we called Delivery Unit, and they contacted the community midwife. She arrived at 1830 by which time the contractions were one every 3mins. At 1900 she did an internal and told me I was 4-5cm dilated.

Some time around now I tore off the TENS machine as it seemed to be making the pain worse.

At 1914, I started using Entonox ('gas and air').

At 1950 the Entonox ran out!! The midwife had called another midwife to bring some more, but she had to come from Ely and would probably take about 30mins to arrive!

By now the contractions were back-to-back and Keith counted me through them - thirteen breaths to each contraction. I did panic a few times - mainly because I thought that I still had hours to go and I didn't think I could cope with that level of pain for much longer (I thought I was only about 5cm dilated). This usually happened around breath twelve of each contraction (so Keith tells me!).

I started to feel a burning pain sometime around then.

In my desperation to find any position to ease the pain (I have no idea how people can lie down during labour as my back was so sore there's no way I could even have lain down in the bath! This wasn't even back labour either!) I stood up and leaned on the mantlepiece over the fireplace (Keith did remember to move the pot plant out the way first!).

At 2010, the midwife surprised me by telling me that she could see the membranes, and that she was going to rupture the sac with the next contraction. Keith could see Aidan's dark hair at this point too!

I think there were one or two contractions when she was holding baby's head, and I panted.

Two tiny pushes later and Aidan was born at 2017! The contractions had been so powerful that, with the aid of gravity, Aidan had come most of the way down and I hardly had to push at all!

Keith and the midwife helped me to lie on the floor, and Aidan was put on my tummy while she cut the cord. Then he was wrapped in a towel and given to me to cuddle.

I spent the next 30mins or so gazing at him and cooing at him wonderingly! I have vague memories of the placenta being delivered during that time, and also of saying to the midwife that I could feel something pouring out of me. But I was really so focussed on my baby that I wasn't really aware of/didn't care what else was happening.

What actually happened was that I haemorrhaged - I lost about 500mL of blood when the placenta was delivered. The midwife had originally called the other midwife on her way with the Entonox and told her not to come as I'd already had the baby. After the bleed, she phoned her back and asked her to come anyway.

They did an examination (needed that new supply of gas and air then!) and told me I had a couple of 1st degree tears and grazes, but they didn't need stitches.

Then, around 2100, they wanted to move me from the floor to the sofa - I tried to do so and promptly passed out. I was only out for a few secs, but they took my blood pressure and it was 70/50. Over the next 30mins or so, it started to increase but it dropped back down to 70/50 again and they called the ambulance.

At this point, Aidan had been dressed and was lying contentedly in his Moses basket. My Mum and Dad (who by now were in a pub round the corner having dinner) called, and Keith told them what was happening and they came round.

The paramedics tried to insert the saline drip into my arm, but my BP was so low they couldn't find the veins, so they ended up putting it into my hand when I was in the ambulance.

I gave Aidan his first breastfeed at 2300, which went really well.

But during this time I continued to bleed, and at 0100 the midwife decided to put some stitches in the tears in case that was causing the bleeding. It took 30mins, and was almost more painful than labour! Needed about four doses of local anaesthetic, and more Entonox, and all the breathing techniques I'd learned in yoga just to get through it!

At 0230 I fed Aidan again and Keith and my parents went home.

I was still 'symptomatic' however, and they decided I needed a blood transfusion. So around 0400 I was started on the first of two units of blood. I continued to bleed despite the stitches so they also gave me a syntocinon drip as they now believed the bleeding came from the placenta site. The bleeding did stop eventually.

Despite haemoglobin levels of 8.4 they were going to discharge me on the Wednesday, but then the paed came to do the routine checks on Aidan. The blood test showed a slightly elevated infection marker so they took him away to do further tests - more blood so they could culture it for 48 hours to see if there was any bacteria, and also a lumbar puncture to check for meningitis (i.e. a full septic screen). In the meantime, they started him on a course of IV antibiotics as a precaution.

Despite the lumbar puncture and blood cultures coming back completely clear, the infection marker levels dropping to normal, and Aidan himself showing no signs of illness, they decided to keep him on the full course of five days of antibiotics, rather than stopping it at 48 hours. (The paed himself told us that the reason for this is the litigation culture we now live in - they've got to be seen to be doing everything possible, even when that's unnecessary.)

Aidan had his last dose at 0700 on Monday 14th. On the Sunday, we were told by the paed they liked to observe the baby for six hours after the last dose. The paed (one we'd never seen before and was very junior) who came to discharge Aidan on the Monday told us he wanted him to stay for 24 hours!! So, we ended up having to self-discharge from hospital just to get home on the Monday - and have written all over our notes "Parents insisted on going home, despite advice not to". So, we were made to feel really irresponsible for leaving.

We finally got home at 1800 on Monday 14th, and things have gotten so much better since then. Keith and I are both loving getting to know our gorgeous boy!

--Carolyn, 23/07/2003 (edited 19/11/2003).