And another thing...

I'm slowly working on the story of the actual birth but there are a couple of things I left out of my 'preparation post' which I think should be mentioned. (I know, I know. A birth story should have an actual birth in it at some point. So far I have a prequel and an appendix.)

Yeah, also if you don't like this type of thing - bye bye now.

1) I had one, major, must not be broken rule for those who were supporting me in labour and that was that there was to be no discussion of the labour behind my back. If any thing needed to be said it had to be said to me first. No 'she's loud, isn't she?' 'how much longer do you think?' or  'I don't think this is working' whispers going on at any point unless I was unconscious.

2) I made up my mind that I was not going to muck around with any kind of induction. I'm sure that's part of the reason why Trogdor's birth ended as it did. This time there was to be no 'natural' induction methods - raspberry leaf tea, nipple fiddling, curry (unless I really wanted one), sex (same as for the curry), castor oil, eggplant parmigiana (no, seriously), stretch and sweeps or what have you. And no medical induction either (which is not recommended for a woman with a previous uterine scar any way). Labour started naturally, in it's own time, or I went in to surgery.

3) I really thought I might die. (Yes, I'm that overly dramatic) It got to the point where I started mentally drafting letters of farewell and apology to my friends and family. I gave that up when I realised they were all just a variation on 'Good bye, I'm sorry, Good luck." I can laugh about it now. Kind of.

4) I was worried that I would start pushing before I was properly dilated, that every thing would swell and baby would get stuck resulting in the same out come as Trogdor's birth. When I asked Rachele if she would do an internal before I started pushing, just to check, she told me that she didn't like to do internals if every thing seemed to be going well and when I had the urge to push I should just go with it. "Well," I thought, "I just won't push until she checks me. Then she'll have to do it." I can definitely laugh about that now.

5) Two or three days before labour started I sneezed and felt that mini tearing/burning/stretching sensation in my scar which I believe is caused  by adhesions. It was so painful I was frozen for a minute and then instantly burst into tears. If I couldn't sneeze I was absolutely convinced I wasn't going to be able to birth.

I think that covers most thing that I left out.

To be continued....

again.

sorry.