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Thomas Hall's Birth
My second child was due 24th July 1997. With my first son being three days late, and despite having expected him to arrive anytime from 36 weeks onwards (36 weeks being at Christmas, that’s why!), I really didn’t think that number two would arrive any earlier than my due date, if then.
Monday the 21st arrived and my friend called to say that she couldn’t come to see me as planned because she had another friend coming for lunch and had the house to tidy up before then. This was devastating news for me as my son (2 ½) was really trying my patience that day and I was keen for the distraction of his little friend to play with. I asked if I could come to her house so she could tidy while I was there. She sensed my upset and said ‘Fine, come on down’.
When I got there she said ‘I’m not arguing with you, you’re staying for lunch’, to which I protested but got nowhere. Her friend arrived and we were introduced. We were now myself, 9 months pregnant and my son aged 2 ½, my friend, 5 months pregnant and her two kids 4 ¼ & 2 ¼, and her friend, 6 ½ months pregnant and her two children 4 ¼ & 2 ¼! What a bunch. It was a lovely sunny day and lunch looked very tasty indeed.
At about 11:30 a.m. I jokingly remarked to my friend how strong my Braxton Hicks were that day, and that the only sign I’d had when I went into labour with my son was….strong bh’s. She got all excited and I told her not to be so daft, the baby wasn’t due till Thursday.
Anyway, it was about 1:00 p.m. when I suddenly realised that not only was I getting these bh’s every few minutes but they were starting to hurt! My friend (getting more excited by the minute) sat me down with a cup of tea and told me to relax. I felt as though I was in safe hands because not only is my friend a nurse, but her friend is a midwife! The cup of tea failed to do whatever it was supposed to do so I was sent up for a bath, the theory being that I would definitely know if I was in labour or not after a bath. I’d only been in the bath for five minutes when I knew! It was now about 1:40 p.m. and I got out, got dressed and went to tell my friend that I thought maybe I ought to go to the hospital. I phoned my husband who leapt onto his bike for the short journey home, and my friends friend (the midwife) gave me a lift home (all of 400 yards up the road!). She called the hospital to tell them I was on my way. While I was at home the phone rang, it was my Sister-in-Law (who NEVER phones me, least of all during the day!). I explained that now was not a good time as we were just going to hospital. That’s it I thought, the whole family will know and it still might be a false alarm!
DH arrived home and we leapt into the car and were on our way. It now occurred to me that I’d not even stopped to say goodbye to my son and that upset me. I also realised I’d missed lunch and that upset me more! (Only kidding). My contractions were now coming every two minutes or less and I was starting to panic. I also realised that Chris, the midwife friend of my friend, who’d phoned the hospital, hadn’t told them I wanted an epidural, a) because she didn’t know, and b) because I forgot to tell her to.
We arrived at the hospital at 14:50 and I promptly and politely started requesting my epidural. I was taken to a labour room and left for 20 minutes. A midwife came to examine me and I was told the anaesthetist was elsewhere and would be with us as soon as he could. What! I wanted my epidural and I wanted it now! She said she had better put down that I was 5cm dilated because any more and I wouldn’t get my epidural (I was actually 6cm). She also said that my waters were bulging. I re-iterated my instructions not to have them broken as I felt this was where it had all gone wrong with my first delivery. She agreed saying that the baby would be born as soon as they broke. I demanded some form of pain relief and was given entonox, it helped a little. At 15:30 I was told the anaesthetist would be half an hour. Panic set in because things were going so fast, the monitors were telling us that the babies heart rate was dropping with every contraction, and I hadn’t had my epidural. Thoughts of c-section due to fetal distress were now going through my mind.
I asked for more pain relief and at 15:41 was given Meptid. This must have worked wonders because at 15:50 I felt the pop of my waters immediately followed by that overwhelming and uncontrollable urge to push. I pushed once and felt the baby’s head move down. A calm overtook me and I knew that this baby would be born very soon, unlike number one who took 1 1/2 hours of extremely excruciating pain to deliver. Two more pushes and my second son was born at 15:55! He was placed immediately on my tummy and I loved him instantly. I was on top of the moon and remember sitting there saying ‘was that it?’. Then the anaesthetist turned up!
Thomas (who at this stage was actually being called William Thomas!) had dark hair and was beautiful (still is for that matter J ). He weighed 8lb ¼ oz, was 53.5cm long, head circumference 34cm.
However, just like last time that wasn’t it L . My second son, just like his brother, had been born with his hand on his head thus causing me to tear quite badly. This time it wasn’t obvious what was wrong I just wouldn’t stop bleeding. After a few hours of continual bleeding it was decided that I needed to go to theatre. I decided against the spinal I was offered and went for the general anaesthetic. Why you need to stay awake and experience being repaired beats me. It’s only just occurred to me that I should have had a general for this after my first delivery, maybe then I would not have been so traumatised by the process. I had three tears repaired, one of them being to my cervix, hence the continual bleeding.
So all in all, I feel I had a much more positive and enjoyable experience than the first time, which does not lessen the way I feel about my first son in any way at all, it just took me a lot longer to bond with him.
I thank God for two lovely healthy sons.
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