They say that every birth is different and it's true!
My first pregnancy and birth were pretty straight forward - I went a week or so over, my contractions increased over a few days, I had my waters broken when I got to the hospital and my daughter Tasmyn arrived around 10hrs later and weighed 7.7 pounds.
However, my second was totally different.
I was told it was going to be a big baby, I carried pretty much to my due date and was booked in to be induced 6 June 2012. I arrived at 8am, went through all of the necessary procedures and had the gel inserted to bring me on.
Nothing happened for a few hours, so, I was given more gel to help move things along quicker. Time went by - still no contractions, nothing was happening!
Then, around 5.30pm when Scott and his mum decided 'bugger it, we need a smoke!' after all, it had been around 9 hours since we arrived at the hospital. When they were outside and I was on my own, all of a sudden I felt like I had no control over my bladder. I thought 'OMG am I weeing the bed?!' I tried to hold it in but it was no use - so I let go and the bed was absolutely soaked. My waters had broken.
The nurses started checking how dilated I was and getting prepared for my labour as Scott and his mum got back to the room. They were shocked at how quickly things had progressed, as a moment ago I was fine!
My parents were almost at the hospital by this point and other family were beginning to fill the waiting room.
I remember it as if a switch had been turned on and I had instant contractions. There was no easing into it, they were just full-blown final stage contractions. I didn't even know they could get to that stage so quickly!
Around 45 minutes later the nurse tried to get me to stand so I could get into a more comfortable position but the pain shot straight down my back and I felt paralysed. I have never felt pain like that before, it was if my spine was broken and I couldn't move.
Eventually, the nurses helped me up and after a few minutes of standing, I went shaky and my knees nearly gave out. The sudden intensity of the contractions caused my body to go into shock. They got me to lay down again and after about 20 minutes I began pushing.
As I was pushing I knew that something was wrong, it felt different from my first birth - it felt like the baby was stuck. I focused and tried to push as the doctor told me to, remembering back to how it all worked last time. However, this time the pain was so much worse, it was near impossible to get the baby out!
Once the baby was born, I remember seeing it and thinking ' OMG, that baby is huge!'.
I held the baby and before I even knew if it was a boy or girl I remember seeing Scott's face looking worried and asking the midwives if there was supposed to be so much blood. The doctors and nurses started looking concerned and I vaguely remember hearing them discussing what they were going to do and that stitches just weren't going to be enough.
I could feel myself blacking out and could hear the beeping of the machine and whirring of voices as everything faded away. I had passed out.
A little while later, once I came too again, they explained that I needed to be taken to emergency theatre.
At around 7pm, Scott told me that we had a baby boy, we confirmed his name, then I was wheeled out of the room.
I said goodbye to Scott and our families who were all waiting outside.
I can remember being taken to the theatre room and being transferred from the bed to the operating table, on a thin hard board, just like in the movies. I was given a needle in my arm and given the mask to breathe into, I counted to 3 and that's all I remember.
The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hallway in recovery, I was trying to adjust my eyes to see the time on the wall - it was 11 pm. Where did that 4hrs go?!
I was reunited with the family and baby, who we named Ryder Chase. It wasn't until later on that I found out that whilst in theatre, I had needed two blood transfusions and was sewn up almost front to back.
Ryder was a 9.8 pound baby and had torn my stomach muscles apart.
Scott said the whole 4 hours that I was in surgery, they didn't know what was happening or if I was even alive. I didn't realise how bad it was until a nurse later confirmed that we probably didn't realise how serious the situation was and they are lucky they didn't lose me, as they came close at one stage.
I was never given the option to have a caesarean - even though they knew the baby was measuring big, and my frame was very small. If only this was put in place, then maybe things would have been slightly smoother.
Regardless of this, our baby was a very happy and healthy boy which is the main thing!
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