Birth Stories

As a new member to this forum, I have come across several people wanting to hear of other mums birth stories. If any one is interested in telling your birth story, you can do it here. It would be good for 1st time pregnant mums-to-be, to hear of the positive stories and not all the horror stories our parents and grandparents told us.

Hello,

I had my first child on June 27th 2003

I was ovedue for 3 days and then all of a sudden my waters broke around 6 in the morning whilst my husband and i were sleeping, funnily enough i was dreaming that i was with all my family we were talking and laughing when all of a sudden i fell to the floor with a strong pain below my belly button i then woke up and found it was not a dream but the real thing!!!

When the waters broke it did not hurt much, it was a quick pain you had no time to worry about it as it just hits you. After my waters broke i new i should call the hospital because without the fluid in my placenta the baby is in danger.

Whilst i prepared myself, i had a shower, breakfast etc i kept waiting for the contractions to start but they did not and 2 days later, laying in the hospital bed still no contractions.

The midwives wanted to keep me in prenatal aslong as it took so that the labour started naturally but i just wanted to have the baby not wait another 10 days in hospital as they suggested. I had antibiotics passing thru me into the placenta to keep the baby safe but i still felt uneasy.

Finally an old doctor from the old school made a quick decision and said that i should be induced that it is not good for the baby to wait any longer if my waters broke 3 days ago....thank God he came along...............

So i was induced and after a 6 hour labour in which i remained on my but for the entire 6 hours as i was to chicken to move to another position becuase i felt i had the pain management in control this way i had a healthy baby girl.

I agree whole heartedly!
Everyone I know tried to scare the bee gee bees out of me before I gave birth. So here is my story (although it will have to be a quick version - we all know about time constraints!)
I woke up @ 6am on 18th May 2003 with a little uncomfortable pain in my belly, I just rolled over thinking bubs must be lying on a nerve a went back to sleep. I was then woken again 15 mins later with another little pain, so I thought maybe I'd go to the toilet. Off I went & then as I was getting back into bed another little pain. Hhmmm? I thought maybe I should get up & see what's going on. Because it was a Sunday my husband was still asleep & blissfully unaware that anything was up. I got up & made myself some breakfast (which it would later turn out to be the only meal I managed until much later that day)
I called the hospital & told them what was going on but for some reason I was convinced that I couldn't be in labour because my waters hadn't broken & I was under the impression that that had to happen 1st!(who knows where I got tat one from) Anyway it was about 9:30 when I decided to wake my husband up & tell him the good news. The midwives had to all through our antenatal classes that it was best to stay @ home in your own environment for as long as possible & that the right time to come in was when you didn't feel you could manage @ home any longer. I got to that stage @ about 1pm. I had been in the shower for about an hour & was beginning to dread the car ride over to the hospital. My husband was under the impression that it would probably be the early hours of the next day that I gave birth so he was doing all he could to keep me @ home longer, thinking I'd get to hospital & then just be wishing I was back @ home (I hate hospitals)
We finally arrived @ the birthing centre @ 3.30pm. I was planning to have as natural a birth as possible & we had chosen to go with a birthing centre with midwives rather than a conventional hospital with doctors (I really hate hospitals) When we got there we went into our room & I just continued on as I had @ home the midwife checked bub's heart beat with one of those speaker things every now & then & I just kept on dealing with each contraction as it came. I had decided on 2 'weapons' to help me through labour. The 1st was meditation/visualisation, I had previously decided on a 'happy place' that I could visualise & focus on just by closing my eyes, & when a contraction started I really concentrated on being there & being happy. My other 'weapon' was a theory that I had read which said that 80% of pain that women suffer in labour is actually all in the subconcious & that if you truly believed that you could control the pain that your body felt then you actually could. kind of like mind over matter. So when I wasn't in my happy place I was chanting to myself " I only feel as much pain as I allow myself to feel"
It all sounds a bit new age & fare fetched I know.
@ about 5pm I was thinking about pain relief, I had just about had enough, I decided that I wanted to have an internal exam even though they said I didn't need one because I really needed to know how much longer I had to go. I was thinking that if they told me I was still only half way that I'd have to relent & look @ my options, but if they said that i was say 7cm dilated then I'd try to push on. We did the exam & the midwife told me that I was fully dilated (hurray!) but my waters still hadn't broken, & she said that we may have some problems if they didn't break in the next 5hours or so... on cue my waters broke there & then! She told me to give her a shout when I felt like pushing & off she went. Well I'm not hanging around waiting I thought & tried to push a little when my next contraction came. As soon as I had done that 1st small push I know that this baby was coming out & it was coming fast!! There was one point when I got totally sick of people saying "just a few more pushes" & shouted @ my husband "well how many more?' to which he replied "well Stephanie, we're not going to commit to a number, but it shouldn't be to many more". 50 minutes later there was a tiny little ball of slim wriggling around in my arms!
No drugs, no medical intervention @ all, just as I had hoped & a healthy mum & bub to boot! It couldn't have been any more perfect. I know that natural birth isn't for everyone but i think it's always worth a try. Jordan had his eyes open that day & fed wonderfully about 3 minutes after he was born. i love the fact that he didn't leave the room he was born in until he left the birthing centre to come home with us & I love the fact that we had every minute of his 1st day in the world with his parents where he belongs!
Well that's my story the good, the bad & the ugly!!
& you know it isn't really that scary (I don't think?)
If one person reads this & isn't petrified any more then mission accomplished & I'm happy.
Enjoy & good luck to all.

My partner and I decided to try for a baby in December I thought it would take me a while as I'd been on the pill for 7 years but we got pregnant the first time I was so happy. We had a good pregnancy I was sick for alot of it but didnt care, I was having a baby that was all that mattered, We didnt find out what we were having it was going to be great surprize. I started having niggles at about 37 weeks and was wanting it to come along so i went for a big walk to bring it on but that didnt work and it happenend again a few days later and we did everything to keep it going but it stoped after about 24 hours of small pains about every hour. Then 10days before my due date I started getting pains again at 10 pm about 10 minutes apart I just tried to go to sleep not really thinking it was real with what had already happened. I rang my partner every hour ( he works in a pub at night) but the phone wasnt working on his end and then at 1am I knew this was the real thing I finally got hold of him and told him to get his butt home which he did so fast. I thought we could be in for the long haul maybe we should get some sleep we were too excited to do that so we sat up and played backgammon inbetween contractions which were comming every 6-7 minutes now. I rang my midwife at 3am after i went to the bathroom and saw some blood which freaked me out but was just a show. She said to me "your doing great call me when the contractions come quicker" as soon as i hung up they came 4 minutes apart I rang straight back and she and my sister in law came. They were becoming quite painful now It was now 4.30. And the contractions were comming sometimes only 2 minutes apart I was 6cms dialated already. We live on waiheke is which is 35minutes ferry ride from Auckland and the first ferry was at 6.10 with everyone going to work I didnt want to go on that. We decided to go on the Police Launch. The ambulance came at 5.30 and had a cup of tea while i was on my knees having contractions.we were waiting for the launch on the wharf the moon was still up the sun was comming up and mars was in view it was magical. Got on the launch at 6am and the ambulance guys were all cracking jokes about pushing the amubluance up the hill to Birthcare. Got to birthcare at 7am and hopped in the birthpool my contractions were becoming very fierce now. My partner and sister in law were pouring water on my back. My midwife said I could push at 7.20 I did and he was born at 7.40. I tore a little but didnt get stiches. My partner caught him his cord was wrapped around his neck and had a complete knoy in it.He weighed 6 pound 15 1/2 oz. I was ready to do it all again a few days later lol.

when i had our first baby we did not go to prenatal classes as I thought it would not really help as what they would tell you could be completely differant to what would happen. I had a appointment at the clinic on the 12th of Jan 2000, the Dr. did an internal exam and booked me into be induced the next day. I got home (we lived in a flat at the back of my parents place) had tea with my husband and my parents. About 6pm wayne went to work as he was leaving I said to him I will see you about 8pm, he just laught. At about 7.30 i was having a cup of tea with my mum when I coughed and it felt like I,d leak, i did not think much of this because i was told that when they broke it would b a flood of water. This happen a couple of times and mum rang the hospital they told her to bring me straight up. The midwife gave me a check up and told me that I would not be going anywhere that night. It toke 30mins to get hold of Wayne, I told him not to hurry the nurse had told me that first stage labour could take up to 6hrs. It was about 10pm when he got there. I had Jack at 11.13pm he was born with one push. People tell me I was lucky to have him in such a short time, at the time I was not so sure the pain was intense and my contractions where coming every 1min with about a 20sec gap in between. My Jade was born just as quick but with her my waters did not brake but my contactions where just as quick. I remember the nurse coming to do an internal and braking my waters she was asking wayne how long I had been in labour when I got the need to push, the stange thing was I could not talk,or roll on to my back as I was lying in the fetal position. Some how the sheet moved and he noticed the was some blood and he panicked and yelled at the nurse "is she meant to be bleeding". The nurse did not even have time to get gloves on and Jade was here. I beleive if they had broken my waters when I first got there she would have been born a lot earlier. I was blessed and easy birth and would do it again tommorrow if only I was pregant.
My only thought about labour was god its going to hurt but it is not going to kill me and look what you end up with. It is true what they say when it is all over the pain is gone and forgotten.

Congratulations everyone! I guess it's time I told my story. I have had 3 kids. The first one was born in 3.5 hours without too much trouble. He was 3 weeks early and weighed 3303grams. My second was born in 2 hours 13 mins and weighed 2995 grams. She was ten days early. So when my third baby came, I was expecting another early birth, but he decided to wait. He was born 1 day early on what would have been his great grandfathers birthday. His birth is a story to be told so here goes!! Good Friday 2003, I had strong braxton hicks contractions on and off all day. They were very irregular and would come and go so I didn't worry about them and went on about my day. My husband and I went to bed about 10pm that night. I was watching the footy on tv. About 11pm just as I was drifting off sleep I had my first contraction. It was a lot stronger then the braxton hicks I had been having earlier. I thought, ok this might be it, so I'd better try and get some sleep. Only 4 minutes had passed and I was having another one. My reaction was it must be braxton hicks again as I didn't think they would start off so close. I got up and went to the toilet where I had another contraction. I got back to bed and woke my husband up who woke our other kids (10 years and 7.5 years), and rang his mum to tell her we would be dropping the kids off there shortly. I went back to the toilet where I discovered I was bleeding. My husband rang an ambulance and his mum again and told her to come quickly (she has had 8 kids, and he needed her support. She also took our other kids home). By the time the ambo's got there my contractions were coming 1 minute apart. I was being put into the ambulance screaming through yet another contraction and all I could think of was that I had only been in the new house for 3 weeks, and now I'm screaming out the front yard at midnight!! The ambulance left with my husband close behind. We got 2 minutes up the road when I began to deliver. I gave birth first to the sack of waters which then broke on the outside, leaving me to have a dry birth. Leaning over pillows on all fours allowed the baby to drop into the birth canel and slide out easliy.(all 3 of my kids were born this way). My babies head was born with the cord wrapped twice around his neck. He was blue. They put the oxygen mask on the face straight away, while I delived the shoulders, which took four contractions, as there was no fluid to asist, and the shoulders where stuck. Finally my baby boy was born-in the ambulance-outside our local ambulance station!!! The entire labour was 1 hour and 10 mins. He was born at 12.10 am on the 19th April 2003 weighing in at a healthy 4120 gram. He was my biggest baby born, but he was the quickest and easiest to deliver, so don't fret if they say you are having a big baby. I had no pain relief, and no stiches or grazes. Brady's birth even made it into our local newspaper. He became a real celebrity in the hospital that Easter Saturday!!
Good luck to all, and stay safe over the xmas/new year holidays.

Hi Everyone,
i am a new mother to my 3 month old son Adam. I understand that mostmothers-to-be want to here about good births but sadly i am not one to have one.
Adam was my second pregnancy but my first born as my first ending sadly in a miscarraige at almost 12 weeks, but had died at around the 5th week without having any clues to this i was told it may just be developing slowly. So i wasnt planning on trying for another baby so soon, but to my surprise i fell pregnant with Adam 2 months later and finding out at 5 weeks.
Adam was due on the 25th of August 2003 but he decided he was enjoying being were he was. So at 8 days overdue i had a checkup and to book in to be induced, i tried to be put in on the next day but i was made to wait untill i was 10 days over.
So the day of being induced was thursday the 4th of september i was given my first lot of gel at about 8am and pretty much started having contractions which were only 3 minutes apart but not strong enough so i went back at 2pm to have a second dose of gel, by 5pm i was sent home but as i made it closer to home i felt like i wet myself but wasnt enough to have been my waters. So luckily enough i had my fiancee Dave and mum with me so they pulled into the drive quickly and they helped me get inside but to my horror once i got there i found i was bleeding quite a bit. As im sure you could understand i was hysterical due to previously having a miscarraige i didnt know what was happening to my baby. Dave rang the hospital and we were told to go straight in, when we got there i could hardly walk due to the bleeding, but a really nice staff member (by the way didnt have anything to do with child birth) got me a wheel chair.
I didnt have to wait long for someone to come see me but when the female doctor did a real quick checkover she wanted to send me home but the midwife wouldnt have a bar of it and fought for me to stay. I was hooked upto monitors to keep an eye on bubs. At about 10:30-11pm i was seen by another doctor who did a spectulum test who thought maybe when they inserted the gel may have torn a muscle decided he would send me upstairs for the night as i wasnt even really in labour anyway. But when i was getting into my pyjamas i decided i was bleeding to much and had to be looked at again they decided i would be sent up for a ceasar but then decided against it. so here i was in hospital stuck in this bed hooked up to monitors the whole time waiting and wanting to finally have my baby in my arms but there was nothing i could do.
At about 1:40am they decided that my waters couldnt wait to be broken at 8am as my baby was becoming disstressed. So they broke my waters and about an hour later i was hooked upto a drip to help speed up labour.
Finally about 3am they declared me to actually being in labour which was the greatest thing i had ever heard especially when all i could here were these other woman screaming their lungs out.
But once again i was told i was going upstairs for a ceasar as i was having complications but for some reason that changed again and i was having him naturally.
Finally i felt the urge to push but after pushing for 2 and a half hours they decided i wasnt getting anywhere and they dont ussually let anyone push for more than 2 hours so i was told i had to have an epidural as it would help me stop pushing. Up until this stage i hadnt touched a thing even though Dave and my mum tried to give me gas but i strongly refused. But once again they changed their minds as i was going back upstairs for a ceasar, so i was going to be sent up 3 times to have a ceasar but all 3 times they changed their minds, so i became very confused but i couldnt hear a thing they were saying as my endorphins really kicked in ( i would recommend them to anyone). For the 2nd time i was told i had to have an epidural they even got the guy to come down to do it but he was soon told to come back in 5 minutes. Well he wasnt needed as the next thing i knew my legs were put in stirups and they were putting the internal monitor into my babys head which i didnt feel a thing. His heart rate had dropped to around forty which everyone would know this was dangerous for him. So while ive been pushing for this long i was told my cervix had a lip which meant his head was pushing on my cervix which hadnt fully dilated. One minute im being told to push the next im told to stop, so before i knew it i wasnt aloud to push but next thing i had to push this baby out. But then things got worse he couldnt come out so he had to be vacuum extracted, i am really happy i didnt see him at this stage as i am told it was a scary thing to see. I had finally given birth to my gorgeous son but they had to cut his cord then suction his nose and mouth before i could hold him and still then we didnt know what we had had.in total i was only in proper labour for 6hrs and 58minutes but it felt like years, i was lucky enough to have had a tear which was only 1st degree and only needing 2 stitches.i was also proud of myself for not having any pain relief at all even though i was told i should have. i ended up having about 15-20 people in the delivery room with me but i ended up with a very healthy baby.

i am sorry for this being a long story but it is one which cant be elaborated.

xMELx

Well i have three children and with the first two my labours had to be induced at a week and a half over as they did not wan't to come out. They gave me the prostoglandin gel and that seemed to work pretty good. They gave it to me at the same time on the Friday night (2 years difference) between children and my first was born at 10:45 and the second child 10:46 i was in labour for about 8 hours. With my third i started having little exciting contractions at midnight on a sunday my labour stopped and started all day sunday so i walked up a huge hill at the back of our property which obviously did the job, i was a week over at this stage and about midnight that night the contractions were down to 6 minutes apart so i waited till about two and went to the hospital got there at 3 and bub was born at 6:12 with a little hint of gas while i was pushing and it was such a breeze. All three births have been wonderful with just a little gas at the end. Lovely

Hi, I had a fairly easy labour. About 5:30 Wednesday 23 July I started feeling like I had mild cramps. These continued all arfternoon and I didn't think much about it. I went late night shopping and came home and cleaned the house. At about 10:30pm I noticed they were stronger and about 3 minutes apart.

I rang the hospital and they asked if I'd had a show and I said no so they told me to go to bed so I rang Mum first and then of I went. I woke about 12:30 pm and they were fairly strong so I had a shower and got a heat pack and started walking. I kept having more showers and about 2:30am I rang mum again and told her she'd better come (she had an hours drive!) I just wanted more sleep but couldnt so I kept walking. I was starting to get uncomfortable.

Mum arrived at 4:30am (she took her time!) And asked if I'd rung the hospital. I said no, I hadn't had a show or anything so why worry, as far as I was concerned I just needed a good poo. Lucky mum was there! She rang the hospital and I was starting to get slight pushing urges (hence the feeling I needed to poo). We raced into the hospital and by this time it was 6:30. I got checked in and got in the shower and then I had a show. I wanted a water birth so the midwie got the spa ready and I hopped in (I was about 3 cm dilated at this time).

After about 2 hours I just couldn't keep warm enough cos the water isn;t aloud to be any hotter than 37oC. I went and hopped on the bed with a bean bag under my bely, on my hand s and knees, this is how I stayed for nearly two hours. My knes were sore for weeks after! I had the gas but after a while I was convinced they had turned it off so I threw it away! Foolish girl cos I then had to do the hard part alone! It burns! I had gotten onto my back and I remember trying to wiggle up the bed away from the pain! Yeah right. Right when I thought I couldn't take anymore Ezrah was out in one go! I ended up with 4 stitches, simply because I refused to push. Like I had a choice!

I was suprised about the pain. It didn't hurt where I thougt it would so my advice is to leave any pre disposed ideas at the door! I also found that I screamed and this is completely unlike me! But it was all worth it when I was handed my beautiful 8lb2oz boy.

I had a really great pregnancy, not one bit of morning sickness, no back problems nothing.

My baby pretty much laid low for the majority of my pregnancy so I thought I would be going early at least 2 weeks!!!!! I never ever considered having a C-section and never paid much attention to the videos on them in anti natal classes, so 6 days after my due date and being the size a small country, my doctor informed me that baby had not dropped and I had not dilated at all, everything had shut up shop and baby was more then happy to keep floating around. He suggested we do a C-Section as he felt being induced would be long painful and would properly result in a Caesarean anyway. Not what I wanted to hear, due to my size and discomfort he gave me a day to think about it.
My husband and I decided it was the way to go and after 6 hours of waiting in the hospital (feeling hungry and sick to my stomach) I was prepped for the op.

It was like nothing I had expected, everyone was really nice introducing themselves explaining what they were doing, having the spinal block was a bit scary but done very quickly and took effect pretty much straight away, it was a weird feeling hearing them suction out the waters etc and knowing my baby was about to be born, after a lot of pulling and pushing inside of me and feeling like I was going to be sick the curtain was dropped and I saw my beautiful little baby boy being pulled out (who was not very happy, and in later photo shots is actually giving us the finger!!! True story) everyone remarked on how big he was and my doctor said his arm was getting sore holding him and at a healthy 4810 grams (10p 10oz) and 56cm long, I am bloody glad I had a caesarean because there is no way I would have pushed him out.

I would read how women who had natural labours would look down on those who didn't, but I think we loose sight of the bigger picture which is having a healthy baby boy Ethan which is all that counts and even though I spent the first night throwing up, seeing my baby boy the next morning perfect and healthy was all I cared about.

I have learned to be flexible and expect anything after claiming and swearing black and blue that I would never have a caesarean I don't know if I wouldn't have one next time around but I guess I will have to see how that pregancy goes...

Jean, Parkinson Qld, 4mth baby boy

well how to start. its been 18 months i dont know if i can remember... LOL

i was 2 days over and restless. we had to travel 1 hour for all the doctors appoinments. i knew that i would not be having a natural labour by the size of my pregnant belly. but the doctors wanted me to try anyways as they said it would be a shame if i didn't (that made me laugh yeah real shame).

i went into hospital on tuesday night at 7:30pm. got organised got into my jarmies some of the family came to see us and give us their wishes (my mum) they put some gel (cant remember its name to bring on the labour) contractions started at 8pm. they had made a bed for my fiance on the floor of the hospital on a porter bed thingy and i was keeping him up pacing all over the room breathing deeply trying to get the pain away at 12pm i could not handle it anymore so he went to the nurse she told me to go to sleep LOL that was a laughing matter i was in absolute pain i couldn't have gone to sleep unless she was gonna knock me over the head with a hammer. she gave me a shot of pethadine and i slept til 4 up pacing again they gave me another shot and i slept til 7. they were gonna break my waters at 8. i was utterly refusing them to touch me anymore. i was sick of internals and nurses checking on me. i was starting to become aggressive cuz of the pain and then 5 to 8 my waters broke on their own a little bit of panic struck me my mum arrived just then i was freaking out i was headed to toilet as i thought i had to pee and then a huge amount of warm liquid began to run down my legs i thought i had peed myself but the nurse and mum said it was my waters breaking. after a few more hours of pain i decided on an epidural as i knew this would not be natural. we went off to the labour ward at 1:45 eilishs heart rate dropped and if they did not get her out she was gonna die. they gave me an emergency c my fiance came in the room with me eilish was removed at 1:51. i saw my little girl quickly before they took her off to do the weighing. it took them an hour to sew me uo, an hour in recovery and then i saw my little girl who was not so little. her head was stuck in my pelvis. at 4 ft 9 and my fiance at 6 ft 1 we had a 4kg and 10 gram baby. she was 8 pound 14. she was massive thats why we could not have a natural delivery!

Hi Jean,

Just a quick hello.. I too had a c section and also live in parkinson.. will write down my story one of these days.. if you wanna chat more i would like to as we have just moved into parkinson and have a 5 month baby boy... (hopeing we are talking bout the same parkinson..lol) my email add is mmelby79@hotmail.com

talk soon
Melissa