At first I was terrified…
Sally's wish to give birth naturally second time round, after her first baby was born by Caesarean section, came true.- Second-time fears
- I was convinced it was wind!
- It wasn't as bad as the first time
- She burst into the world!
When I found out I was pregnant for the second time I have to admit I was terrified. My first labour had been long and painful and had ended in an emergency caesarean 12 hours in, when the baby became distressed. This time round, I insisted on a VBAC and my doctors and consultants were happy to go along with this, as long as I accepted that things may end up the same as last time.
I had problems with my scar during the end of my pregnancy, as well as SPD which caused me pain. I went through most of the pregnancy taking strong pain relief. When I woke up at 6am three days after my due date with period-like pains I put it down to scar pain again. A few hours later, I started to realise that the pains were becoming slightly stronger and more frequent so my husband phoned the hospital. They told me to come in so my scar could be monitored.
I was convinced it was wind!I arrived at hospital around 11am with my husband and son in tow, totally convinced that I had wind and they would send me home again. This pain was nowhere near as bad as my first labour. I was shocked when the midwife told me I was 2cm dilated! They sent me down to a ward as she told me my progress would probably be slow due to the fact I had a CS last time. I wanted to go home but I was told that they wanted me to stay in.
Hubby departed with my son and I sat back with my book in the ward, ready to wait this one out for hours. Around one hour later I was suddenly hit with two enormous contractions one after the other. I buzzed the midwife who I thought would tell me to stop fussing. She timed my contractions for a while and told me that things were hotting up. A wheelchair was bought in (although I insisted on hobbling upstairs under my own steam which made the nurses laugh) and I was taken to the labour suite.
It wasn't as bad as the first timeWhen I arrived I was around 4cm dilated so not sure what all the panic was about. By this time I still felt the contractions weren't much really. I remembered being doubled over in complete agony in my first labour, begging for an epidural. I took some gas and air and wandered around for a while, waiting for my husband to come back.
About an hour later, at 2.30pm, my contractions started to pick up and became quite intense (though still not as bad as the first time). I had some pethidine then a huge contraction came and my waters popped. After this, things started to pick up quite quickly and my contractions speeded up to about one every minute. I had to be attached to a monitor throughout due to my baby becoming distressed first time round but all the pain was in my back and I really wanted to stand up. At around 3.15pm, the midwife called for a doctor as I began to lose blood.
She burst into the world!The doctor arrived as an enormous urge to push came over me. The doctor examined me and told me to push as I was 10cm dilated and my cervix was bleeding as I had dilated so quickly. I pushed for 30 minutes with my husband screaming at me to keep going.
At 4.45pm, Emma Katie Louise came bursting into the world weighing 8lbs 1ozs and looking a bit shocked. I couldn't believe I had actually done it. Even with her head sticking out between my legs I had been convinced another CS would be on the cards. I felt so good at delivering myself this time and my little girl is an absolute pleasure.
Where to next?
- Read the full birth story
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