My waters broke on the Sunday morning about 7am, and contractions started, so we called the midwives, and filled the Pool. Both of my first 2 labours were about 7 hours in total from first twinges to baby's arrival, so I was confident that by early afternoon, I'd have my baby. However, by mid morning my contractions were stopping. I tried Caulophyllum (homeopathic remedy), and Clary Sage (aromatherapy oil), but nothing happened. I know that once your waters have broken, if you haven't produced a baby within 72 hours (protocol at this time), they want to get you into hospital to induce you, so I was very aware the clock was ticking... The next day, my midwife asked me if she should book me in for the induction on Wednesday. I told her I didn't want to think about that option, as I was trying to think positive. I needed her to say "Don't worry. This often happens. I'm sure your contractions will start again really soon." I knew about the 72 hour rule, but would have been unwilling to be induced, so I think she knew there would be a battle if it came to it, but fortunately it wasn't necessary anyway. She was also worried that my bump had shrunk, and requested that we go into hospital for a scan to check everything was OK. My waters had gone - I would have thought that should've explained it. But anyway, we felt it would be irresponsible to ignore her concern, so off we trotted to spend the afternoon at hospital - the last place I wanted to be at this point! The scan was fine, apart from the radiographer said I was showing as 164 weeks pregnant! And then she input something incorrectly, so that when we went to have the results analyzed, we were told the baby was breech, which fortunately I also knew was wrong.
On the way home from the hospital, I went for some Acupuncture to try to kick start contractions again. The acupuncturist was confident she would be able to stimulate contractions, but wasn’t sure if they would continue once the treatment had finished. But in actuality, I didn’t have any contractions even while she was treating me! I was desperately trying to stay positive, but did wonder whether the labour would start again on it’s own.
So we bought a pineapple (supposed to help induce labour), had a curry, and settled down to watch TV, sitting on my Birth Ball. About 8.45pm contractions finally returned. Yippee! After a while I got my TENS machine on, and got focused on my breathing. But around midnight I felt the contractions were easing off again, so I thought the best thing would be to take the TENS off, and get some sleep (not knowing how long things may be off or on for). But after about 2 hours I woke up as the contractions were too strong to sleep through, so I got the TENS machine back on, and got back on the Ball. By 2.30am, we thought we should probably call the midwife, who arrived just after 3.00am. As soon as she arrived I told her I wanted to get into the Pool (on the phone, the midwives had told me to wait until they arrived before I got in), so she took some details, measured my bump, and took the TENS off, as I was running to dive in. I told them I thought I was pretty close, and they agreed. I didn't have any internal examinations as my waters had broken, and didn't want to risk infection in case the labour stopped again. Mind you, by this point it was definitely passed the point of no return, but I was really pleased that the midwives didn't feel the need to do an internal. Jonnie got in the Pool with me, and it didn't take very long after that. In fact Sandy was born only about half an hour after the midwives arrived. I'd had minor tears with my previous deliveries, so I asked the more experienced midwife if she would help me deliver without tearing, which she did, and I didn't tear at all. I was amazed! It made such a huge difference to my recovery. Alexander was born under the water at 3.40am on Tuesday 5th December. I brought him to the surface, and we stayed in the water while he got used to life 'out here'. It was magical. We had fairy lights on, and music playing. Sandy was so chilled out - no crying. In fact he was so relaxed, the midwives were concerned he wasn’t breathing very well, and suggested cutting the cord. I asked if they thought it was a good idea to cut off his established oxygen supply if they had concerns that he wasn’t breathing very well with his lungs, and they agreed to leave it. After a while, they were happy he was breathing well on his own, so I asked if we could have some privacy to spend, just the three of us getting to know each other. They left us to it for about an hour in the dim light, having skin-to-skin contact with Sandy, while they sat in another room doing their paperwork. It was fantastic!
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