From no pain relief to epidural
Bev Warden had a long trip to get to the maternity ward.
I wasn't sure of my pain thresholdI had woken up at 12:45am on 6 September 2004 with my first contraction - 3 days after my due date. I got my TENS machine and birthing ball out and started to time the contractions. By 6:30am, they were coming every 6 minutes so I went for a shower and woke my partner.
We had to travel through from Perth to Ninewells in Dundee as this was my first baby and Perth Royal Infirmary had just closed their maternity ward, leaving only a midwife-led unit. I had decided that I wanted to have as little pain relief as possible but didn't want to rule it out completely as I wasn't sure of my pain threshold!
I didn't fancy the 20-mile trip homeOnce in Ninewells, and attached to the monitor, the first midwife to see me (one of many that would see me that day!) suggested that I was not yet in active labour and that she would probably send me home. She then examined me and told me that I was 3-4cm dilated… hooray! I was admitted and certainly didn't fancy the 20-mile trip back home to Perth.
I asked for some gas and air, which turned up about 2 hours later as they had to refill the canister. By 10:30am, I had reached my pain threshold and asked for an epidural, only to be told that both anaesthetists were tied up in theatre so I would have to wait. In the meantime, I had a half dose of diamorphine, which relaxed me a bit and I continued to use the entonox. Eventually, at about 14:30, I finally got my epidural - bliss!
I fell in love immediatelyWhen I was examined again, I was told that the baby had been back-to-back, hence the pain. Once I had the epidural, I managed to sleep for an hour. My contractions slowed right down, so they decided to put me on a drip to speed things up a bit. This made my baby's heartbeat drop so they stopped the drip and allowed things to progress by themselves. Things slowed right down and they started to talk about the dreaded c-section - my least favourite option on the birth plan. They took some foetal blood samples from baby's head and the oxygen levels were ok so, again, they let things continue.
The next time they examined me, baby had turned around to the right position but still wasn't descending very quickly, so they put the drip on again to try and speed things up. Once again, baby's heart rate dropped. The drip was switched off again and, at last, after a couple more hours, I was fully dilated. I couldn't feel any contractions or pressure but was told when to push.
After an hour, I was told that if nothing had happened within 20 minutes, they would be using forceps… YIKES!! I was absolutely knackered by this time, but after almost 25 hours of labour, I finally managed to push baby out and, at 1:27am, on 7 September 2004, Hayden James entered the world at a healthy 7lb and 5oz. I fell in love immediately!
Where to next?
- Read the full birth story
- Read accounts of different types of birth
- Read accounts of other assisted births