Here she is at about 2 weeks old!
Ended up going in to labour naturally the day before my induction was booked in- 11 days late! I managed to get to 8cm just with one lot of paracetamol and codeine and in the usual time frame of a cm an hour (let's just say the midwife and Davey Babes were impressed ;) ) but because I had pre-eclampsia and a very very high blood pressure (the doctor lady actually said that it was so high that if they couldn't bring it down my head could explode when pushing!!! :O) they wanted to give me an epidural as they bring down your blood pressure (the main reason why they don't like women having them!). So at 8cms they started their attempt at an epidural (by this point I was already on fluids and had a catheter in... fun fun!). And, well that ended up being not so simple because I apparently have a very strong back- the first anaesthetist kept asking if I was a gym buff which I found rather hilarious! Dave said all he could see was her pushing things in then having to pull them out again and her hands were covered in blood! Obviously I wasn't really paying attention to all this as I was concentrating on staying perfectly still and breathing through my ever greater contractions. My midwife was worried I'd be ready to start pushing before the epidural could work, but gratefully after getting another anaesthetist in, 2 hours later my epidural was in! And then midwife checked and I was 9-10 cms and she broke my waters! I can't say that the epidural really did anything, as I could still feel the pressure etc, but my legs were a bit floppy, and Dave thought it was hilarious as one of my feet were toastie warm but the other was freezing! But it lowered my blood pressure from it's highest of 180/110 to 110/68 or something like that, so I was reassured my head wouldn't explode!
2 hours and a new midwife later I started pushing. And we pushed for a good 1hr and half. I could sense that something wasn't quite right, but baby's heart was beating happy as they had a clip on her head to check. Dave was such a good man going back and forth between pushes to re-wet my flannel for my face. All of a sudden the lady doctor woman was back in and checking which way baby was... and boy oh boy, it felt like she was gonna pull the baby out with her bare hands!!!! Safe to say my epidural wasn't working anymore! They offered me gas and air but by the time I'd had 2 puffs she was finished and had established that Sally was back to back, and I would need a forceps to turn her round, and if that didn't work a Caesarian! This is when I was grateful for watching so many One Born episodes as I kinda knew what to expect- though I can't say the same for poor Dave! In the next hour all sorts of people were coming back and forth, I signed my life away, and the anaesthetist for the theatre was pretty annoyed as my epidural hadn't been topped up in like 4hours and so I wasn't numb at all and they needed me numb for theatre! Long story short they got her out with forceps quite quickly :D but not pain free for me as the epidural didn't kick in till after she was out of me! Fun fun! But by that point I was just so relieved and happy that she was out and alive, although they did hit the alarm when she first came out as she wasn't breathing. But I wasn't worried as a few seconds later after a few rubs she was crying and with Dave and I :)
So yep, pretty much experienced EVERYTHING! Was reassuring to know I can handle pain, and I think Dave now looks at me in a whole new light :D
We love our little girl soooooo much :D and she was worth every pain and stitch (I shall just say 3rd degree tear- trust me don't google it!).
I love her more and more everyday- even during her seemingly never-ending growth spurt, and explosive nuclear nappies, speaking of which I think a change is due for smelly Sally Sausage :D <3
Wow, I never knew you had such a rough time, bless you! Caleb was back to back too and a forceps delivery, fun and games! The things we go through, hey!
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