Birth experiences

 Ricki Lake & The Business of Being Born has some exciting announcements - a new site to check out & join, mybestbirth.com, for pregnant women, moms, parents & birth professionals, a new book in stores now, "Your Best Birth" and the online rental of "The Business of Being Born" now available at thebusinessofbeingborn.com. If you know someone who is pregnant, they will want to know about this!

Hi everyone! My name is Ashley and I am currently undertaking research for a pregnancy book. To help complete this research I need mothers to fill out a survey. This will cover everything from weird cravings to labour stories. You can choose whether or not your name and your newborns photo is published.
If you are interested in taking part, please email me at ashleysbook@hotmail.com.

You DO NOT need to be  pregnant now, just have had a pregnancy at some stage.
Feel free to email me if you believe you have something that could be published to help other expecting mothers. I will also be looking for detailed labour stories.
This is going to be a big bright and fun pregnancy book for all families, but will also be covering the hard topics,  and if you believe you can help putting together a modern pregnancy manual I would love to hear from you! Please also email me if you have any questions, no emails will be ignored! Please pass on my details if you know someone that might be interested.

Thanks, Ashley,

ashleysbook@hotmail.com

I never intended on having a water birth at all right from the start i was going to have a natural birth no drugs as the doctors told me that my pelvis would not be strong enough to give birth naturally which made me even more determined. I was thinking i will show them the last result would not be to let them cut me open to get my baby out.

On the saturday morning i started getting real bad pains in my stomach and as i was 9 days over. I knew what these pains were for i got home as quick as i could ws panicky as hell as i had kylie with me and did not want her to see me go into labour although she could tell i was in pain and got all panicky too. I called my dad and told him to come over and i thought the baby was coming to he hurried over i then called barry and told him to get home he immediatly knew why .

When he aarrived i was in pretty much a state basically through panicking as the day went on these pains came closer and closer together as i never knew barry said im not in labour its jus contractions and i was thinking if this aint labour wat pain have i got to come ???By now i knew these were contractions by the eevening they were 3 mins apart but from here on was agony i could feel my pelvis grinding constantly it felt like it was going to explode the contractions were coming faster and faster i was rolling around on the sofa and floor i thought i was dying lol , by this time barry was worried as i could have hurt the baby but the pain i could not bear .

The midwife arrived and she did an examination and said i was only 2cm but withthe pain i had to go to the hospital for gas and air and i was very stressed. I couldent sit and i couldent stand i was pretty much useless , by the time i got to the hospital i was 3cm with contractions 1min apart  the amount of pain i was in i had to be in labour surely 5 mins later i was measured again 5cm. The midwife said ok ur only 5cm but u are having a labour before time which she explained that jus means im having the labour pains but not actually in labour they tried getting me to lay on a bed , sit on a ball , sit on the toilet , walk around but whatever i did it did not ease the pain. Then they started offering me drugs i had gas and air  but she wanted me to have pethadine i said no i dont want it and she was arguing with me thatt i was getting stressed and it was no good for either me or the baby. So i asked for any other ways wihtout giving me drugs that was when she mentioned me having a water birth i liked that idea .

She then took me down to a ward as i had to be in labour so i carried on with the gas and air litterally 5 mins of being there this pain suddenly got a whole lot worse and to make everything a whole lot better barry had gone home to check on kylie!! I was ringing the buzzer and nobody was coming i then started to what i tried was running down the corridor as i could hardily run as i was in labour where i found the midwife. She stayed with me and called Barry and luckily he got there quick i was taken down to the pools by this time Barry had arrived i then gave back the gas and air and i was basically pain free well almost .

Just after 5 mins of being in the tub i felt the need to push the midwife said i wasnt quite ready only push if i was sure as i may tear bad but do i listen no only 6 mins after beginning to push and where i had my arms and legs through the bars i could see my beautiful babys gorgeous dark hair and the best time for me to tell barry she had his hair haha and after that it took a further 9 mins later my darling chloe myself and barry were holding together in the water i then had to let go in order to climb the steps safely with her barry carried her out of the pool i panicked because she wasnt crying which barry found amusing they then explained the cord had not been cut yet , then barry kissed baby Chloe on the head and handed her to the midwife so that he could cut the cord and there was my babys cry i longed to hear .

My baby daughter Chloe Elissa was born weighing 6Ib 13oz on sunday 25th june 2006. (now loves water cant keep her away from it )

Finding out i was preg with my third was a shock and not planned. After having no drugs with my last labour I was determined to have as much as i could this time..

I had my first antenatal appointment at 10 weeks, I was already showing and i knew he was gonna be a big boy...

At 37 weeks i started having regular braxton hicks and my belly was so big that everyone kept saying i must be due anyday now.. grrrr but at 39 weeks n still pregnant people were shocked at how big i was.. i literally looked like a lolliepop...

at my 40 week appointment the midwife said bubs wasnt in the right position and had his spine up against mine so i spent the rest of my pregnancy laying on my left to try turn him and thank god it worked, but i was getting sick of being pregnant and my mum had flown to help me out from interstate and she only had a limited time to stay with me.

5 days over due me n my mum got up and dropped the kids at school and went to do some last min shopping, we decided to take ever stair case possible and on my way back down a flight of stairs i felt a leak.. my water had broken but thank god it was just leaking a bit. so we drove to school and got the kids, calle dmy partner to come home and headed home. I walked around the house to keep the contractions going and to let gravity help get this baby out!

my dad turned up at about 5 to get my girls and we packed up the car and headed to the hospital when we arrived i realised i had left my medical notes at home so we went home to get them, i was having really bad contractions in the car lol.

we arrived at the hospital at about 7 45pm and my waters broke fully only like 10 mins later. my first stage of labour was 3 hrs , i had no drugs just used breathing to get me thru.. then it became very intence and the midwife gave me remifentanyl in and iv drip to help with the pain, it had a button i could press to administer the drug as it only lasted a minute. so i was countng every 60 seconds and presing that button like crazy.

now my midwife thought my baby was gonna be 8 pounds tops.. if she had knows how big he was sho would prob have booked me in for a c section lol.. im only a tiny person..

30 mins at 10.25pm later the head was showing at it was showtime. i became calm and focused at this point and just pushed i think it was 3 big pushed and he was born..

4260 grams, 52 cm long... he was one big boy. It was the best feeling in the world to finally hold him.

after he was taken away for weighing etc i had a bad shaking fit from the drugs.. that was not nice...

we stayed in hospital for a few nights to get feeding established and to give me rest.

xoxo

Its about time i write about miss4's birth..

Miss4 was due Jan 14, 2004 And after running around after my 2 and a half yr old i was exhasted and over being pregnant, my due date came and i had an appointment with my midwife that morning. So of I drove with toddler in tow to the hospital about 40 mins away. I waddled up to the 6th floor taking the stair in hope that my waters would break lol.

The midwife done all the check and it seems miss4 was not even is position.. well she was head down but not engaged. so the midwife booked me in for 4 days later.

4 days later and still nothing not even a niggle. I tried going 4wd, walking at the usuall stuff but nothing. The midwife said the head was engaged but ony 3/5 above the brim or something like that. so she booked me in the the 22nd to have the gels put on my cervix, I was so annoyed...

So the 22nd finally came and it felt like i had been pregnant for years. I went in and had the gels done..

The next morning I lost the plug and has early labour contractions all day. I went to the hospital at about 1pm, I had decided i wanted a drug free birth this time. As having petadine last time made my baby sleepy and hard to feed.

By 3pm my water still hadnt broken but i was exhasted in pain so they broke my waters.. and boy it hit me fast n hard.

I started to get tinggly achy legs and had to lay on my side for the rest of the birth. I can remember screaming for an epidural at this point lol hahahaha of course i was to far gone to have it lol.

so here i was on my side with my mum holding my other leg up for me and i had my arms wrapped aroung my mil's waist, face burried into her belly... screaming and saying.. no no i dont want to do this today cant we do it tomoro pmsl... i felt like i was being torn in half...

Finnally after a few big pushes at 7 pound 12 ounces, or 3.52kg Miss4 was born at 5.10pm...

I was breastfeeding her with in minutes.. it was love at irst sight..

we went home the next day!

xoxo

l thought it was time to tell you all how Deans birth went after a very long 41 weeks of being pregnant. l was 100% positive l was going to have a VBAC and no doctor could convince me into another c section. The midwives where wonderful through the time l did spend with them and l was told there was no reason why l could not have VBAC as l had given birth 3 times before.

It was the 9th of April 2008 and l woke up at 3:25am with rather nasty lower ab pains at first l thought it was just more of the bad BH l had had for the last few months of my pregnancy...they where bad BH that bad the pain would put me to sleep in the end as they wore me out totally. l went and had a long very hot shower hoping they would go away, but deep down l knew this had to be the real deal. l moved around the house quitey as l didnt want to wake the boys or hubby yet....even going in and out of my bedroom - l tried to go back to bed but just could not stay in one spot to long. The couch looked nice and l managed to rest there for awhile, at 7am l woke hubby and he suggust we time them but they where all over the place and he told me maybe its just false labor. l went to the toilet to find l had my show and was bleeding - never having a show before l started to panic and rang the hospital and spoke with a midwife who told me it was a show and discovered l had never had a show but the  5 pregnancy had one. We woke my oldest son Justin and went to the hospital, after being checked out l was dilated fully and it was a waiting game now for the waters to break  l was told if they hadnt broken by 12pm they would brake them. My waters broke at 9:35am and things happened so fast from there. Deans birth was very quick  34 seconds and he was born with the help of a midwife that had to pull his head while l pushed as the cord was pulling him back in and my hubby holding my legs down, stunned and the cord around his neck he was out. The midwife placed Dean on me for a few seconds before he was rushed away to the other side of the room while they tryed to get him to breath.....it was so scary as l could see all these medical teams around him - lm crying and there trying to clam me at the same time. So my labor all up went for 7 hours. After they gt him breathing l had a quick cuddle and then Dean and my hubby where taken to the specail nurse where Dean would be monitored. l rested for awhile as they staff where in no hurry to get me out of the birth room as l had just given birth to a 10lb baby boy and had no ripping or scratches....l was called the super mum by then word had got around the maternity ward. When l finally deceided to get up, only cos l was busting to go to the toilet l called my midwife and she came and helped me.....had a shower and was taken to the ward where l met the midwife who was looking after me....she asked how l did it and being such a small build too. l was told that my baby would only be around 8lb - what a suprise. After that l was taken to the specail care nursery and l met my son and started to bond....he was in there for a few days, at one stage he had the tube down his throat as he was not sucking, but l got a idea gave him a dummy and after that he was a guts and a demaned feeder. He was released from the specail nusery at 12am and later that day after 9pm l was sent home. Now Dean is nearly 4 months old and still a deman feeder during the day but of a night he sleeps and sleeps...still has little night mares l think he remembers his birth into the world.

Added 7th October 2008 ...

newborn

6 months old

Katja’s pregnancy was a dream.   I had no problems what so ever, even   no morning sickness and Hypermesis like I did with the other two.   Just towards the end of pregnancy that you get the typical   “end of pregnancy”   “I have had enough” aches and pains ect.

Things started with a few weeks of pre labor pains as it did with Kaeden, though they were not to bad.   By the 26th of September (two days before Due Date) I had enough and
went to see the obstetrician at the clinic.   He did an internal at which I was surprised to learn I was three centimeters dilated already.   He did a stretch and sweep of the
membranes also while he was at it and booked me in for an induction the following morning but commented that he really didn’t think I would make it though the night.

Boy was he right!!!!   A few hours after I had seen him was when the light contractions started, I still wasn’t sure if it was labor or not.   By 10.30 - 11.00pm I called the hospital
and told them I was coming in - Michelle, my sister and Birth partner came to pick DH and I up.

I was monitored for about an hour or so and the midwife decided to do an internal to see how far along I was and if I was dilated enough she would break my waters.   Funny thing was is she was also the same midwife who broke my waters with Kaeden!!!!

I was 3-4 cms dilated so she decided to break my waters.

Everything was going fine, I had a lot of fluid built up in there (she had put on my chart with Kaeden that I had copious amounts of fluid as well!!!)   The next contraction after
my waters were broken was when things started to go wrong - Bubs heart rate dropped considerably and didn’t come back up - I knew something was wrong, I kept looking from Michelle to Grant (It also showed on their faces)   The  midwife decided to do another internal straight away and said to Michelle to press the emergency button.  

Apparently the umbilical cord had prolapsed - in other words the cord had slipped out passed Bubs head and was coming out first, not a good thing as it was cutting off Bubs
oxygen and blood supply.   The midwife had to hold her hand up inside to keep the cord away from Bubs head   - lucky the doctor came running in and everything was explained
to her, by then there was also a few other midwives in there and I was told to take my earrings and rings off because I would need an emergency cesarean and I would have to
go under a general anesetic.   The midwife jumped on top of the bed and we were wheeled straight into theater.

There was a lot of people in there racing around, it was quite surreal.   It was not long and a catheter was placed in (not fun with the midwife’s hands still in there holding things
back and still only being 3-4 cms dilated!!!!)   At the same time a drip was placed in and an oxygen mask was placed on me, within seconds I was out to it.

Apparently bub had her cord wrapped around and around and she was using it as a pillow and when my waters were broken the cord simply came forward.   When Bubs came out
she was “stunned” with being under a general for about two minutes and they had put her in a humidi crib and had taken her to the NICU Unit to keep an eye on her.   Long story
but there was apparently no room in the SCN Units so they put her in the ICU -.

I came around about an hour after, they then let Grant and Michelle in to see me, the first thing I wanted to know was how Bubs was - which they told me she was fine - just being
checked out in the NICU.

I was pretty out of it but also in pain, I was hooked up to a nice little system which every time I pressed the button an amount of morphine would be put though my drip :)   They
kept telling me every time I was in pain to push it - and that they had it fixed so I would not overdose ect.   *LOL* I didn’t realize that I could press it about every 5 mins, but it
didn’t take me long!!!!! TRUST ME!!!!!  

Once They were happy with me in recovery they took me into the NICU to see katja - It was so surreal - all these tiny little babies and there was my big   8 pound 9 porker trying
to look comfortable in a tiny crib - I didn’t have time to get a good look or even touch her before they had taken me off to my room.   It was rather traumatic to have to go into the
NICU as well, I had memories from a family friend who had triplets there, they were so tiny and so sick - My bubby should not have been in there as she was not ill (well that
was my thinking at the time)  

By the time I got to my room I was continually asking when I was going to get my baby - about 20 mins later the phone rang, it was a doctor from the NICU explaining that Katja
was OK but they would keep her in until morning.

I was so happy when in the morning, I finally got to hold and cuddle my baby girl.   I gave her a feed right away and she took to it with no problems just like the other two had.

My recovery from the surgery is another story - Not that there was any problems as such - just the pain and my independence being taken away.  

I am so lucky as if my waters had broken at home there was a good chance Bubs would have been born stillborn.  And if I would have gone in and had my waters broken as with the induction the next morning, things still would have been bad as both operating theaters would have been in use.   It makes me realize how lucky we are that things happened they way they did. I was blessed with somebody looking over us that is for sure. 

  Picture of katja about 48 hours old

Picture of Katja today (18 months old)

Miss6's birth...

wow it was such a long time ago i hope i can remember....

at 38 weeks i started to experience braxton hicks, at the time i thought i was in labour so i called my partner at work and told him to hurry home... he made it home in 10 minutes flat (normally a half hour drive) all excited and pannicky. I had called the birthing suite to tell them i was on my way. My mum was on her way to meet us at the hospital.

when we arrived they done and internal and put the band on my belly that measures contractions... half hour later they came in and told us to go home as nothing was happening.... Now they tell me about braxton hicks ... i felt slightly embarresed but...

a week later same thing except this was in the middle of the night.. of we go to the hospital again only to be told to go home... OK so I was eager to meet my lil baby...

Then the night before the due date I started having contractions, no water breakage yet but i did loose the "plug" earlier that day... this time we sat there and timed them when we had 5 contractions 5 mins apart we called the hospital, they told me to come it... so i called my mum and off we went. we got to the hospital at 1am..

after they checked me out and measured the contractions they told me i was 5 cm dialated and that i could be a while yet... so we waited.

it seemed to take for ever and eventually they came in and checked me and said they had to break my waters. that was the weiredest feeling ever, i felt a faint pop and they they told me to stand up and warm water rushed from me... all of a sudden the contractions became intense and fast...this was at about 4 am and this is when they actually started timing my labour.

i was in alot of pain and wanting to push too early. this cause me to tear...

I begged for an epidural at about 8 am but they said it was too close to bubs birth to make any difference so i had pethadine instead. About an hour an a half later they got me into position, i was on my back legs up in the stirrup things and pushing whit all my might, her head came out and they told me to stop. the cord was around her neck, not that they told me that! they slipped it from her neck and before i knew it i was holding my baby! i was eager to breastfeed and they told me to try get her to latch on strait away. it was the most amazing thing ever. all the pain i was in disapeared instantly and i was on a natural high.

they took her away to bath and check her over and weigh her, 6 pounds 12 ounces,  while i got my tear stiched up, 7 stiches later!!!.

We then got transfered to the ward where all my family was waiting to meet my lil angel.

She didnt put weight on as quickly as needed and ended up in the special care ward and being tube fed thru her nose. this was hard for me to watch. I had to express milk for her to be fed and the pethadine i had during labour was making her too sleepy to feed.

eventually the effects wore of the she began to breast feed like a lil champion.

I think it was 4 days till we got to go home, over all it was a great life changing experience for me.

Hi im only 7 weeks pregnant and im already scared and worried about giving birth. I know as long as the baby is healthy thats all that matters but im so scared of the pain,i dont know how much ill be able to handle, and i really dont want an epidural. Any advice would be great.

hi iam off to write another book.

my 8th and i was wondering if anyone would like to share their birth story.

you cna share 1 story or all your birth experiences if you like and please include a picture of your baby so everyone can see them .its up to you.

natural births or c sections anything is cool.

you can see some of my books that i have writtten at : www.lulu.com/elisabeta

you can email me your storys to my minti or my email: fairysquizzy@yahoo.com.au

hope to hear from allot of you .