Birth Story. EEK!

So apparently it's very therapeutic to write it all down, and as I'm STILL having flashbacks (which I like to think is perfectly normal) I thought I'd give it a go.

Thursday 4th November - 8:40pm
Sitting on the sofa watching River Cottage and my waters broke. I ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet, giggling uncontrollably. I suppose it was relief that this was the beginning of the end. I had a shower and changed. Around 9pm hubby arrived home (a classic "my waters have broken" moment) and we called the hospital who told us to come in.

10pm - arrived at hospital where I was put on a monitor and examined. I wasn't having any contractions, but wasn't allowed to go home (twin thing) so I got a bed on the ward and spent the night (hubby sent home).

Friday 5th November - nothing much happened all day. Walked around the hospital a lot, up and down stairs, trying to get contractions to start. The midwives kept checking my temperature. Another night on the ward.

Saturday 6th November - 9am (ish)
I was told that we were going to start the induction process to get my contractions to start. At this point I had no idea what that meant! We moved to a different ward (high dependency) and I was put on the monitor again. Then at about 10:30am I was given a pessary and told they would check me in 12 hours (WHAT??!!). So we started walking around the hospital again.

4:30pm my contraction finally started! Quite exciting at first and I was OK breathing through each one. it just felt like pain (I've heard people say they are "tightenings" but mine didn't feel like that). I found sitting on one
of those big balls the most comfortable.

10pm (ish) we got moved to our own room. I changed into a nightdress and the contractions kept coming. They were about 3 minutes apart and stayed like that all night. I tried gas and air, but didn't feel as in control of my breathing so I only used it a couple of times.

Sunday 7th November
6am (ish) by this time I'd had enough and got a shot of pethidine. The midwife said I would sleep for a couple of hours, but 40 minutes later I was up being sick.

10am (ish) I opened my eyes after a contraction to find about 12 people in my room! My consultant was there and said that they were going to remove the pessary and examine me. I just made sure everyone knew I was going to have an epidural. So the pessary was removed and I was examined. I was only 3-4cms dilated, so they made the decision to put me on a drip to increase the strength and frequency of my contractions. I convinced them to give me an epidural first!

10:30am got an epidural and was put on a drip. This involved changing into a hospital gown, having a cannula inserted into the back of my hand, then having the needle in my back (this really was nothing and nowhere near as bad as having contractions), also a catheter into my bladder. I was also on the monitor from now on so that they could check the babies were OK. Despite all this once it as done I was sooooooo comfortable! No pain, nice and warm, didn't even need to get up to go to the loo. Bliss.

For the rest of the day I dozed and chatted to the midwife. It was really relaxing and the only thing I felt was the occasional ache from the contractions.

8pm I was examined and was 5cms. Hubby went out for a Chinese.

11:30pm I was examined again and they found that there was meconium (so twin 1 had pooed). This can be a sign of distress. I was 7cms dilated. The doctor left the room to talk to the rest of the team about what to do next, meanwhile a load of porters arrived and started taking stuff to the operating theatre! I assumed from this that I was going to have a cesarean!

11:45pm I was taken into the theatre and they upped my epidural. There was a lot of rushing around, loads of people everywhere, doing stuff. The anaesthetist tested whether I was numb enough by spraying a cold solution on my side. I found it really difficult to say how much I could feel so just said it felt fine. However, when the doctor started the incision I could feel it - so I let them know! They waited for a few minutes and tested with the spray again. It felt more numb, but I could still feel quite a lot.

Monday 8th November
12:01am twin 1 was born. 1 minute later twin 2 was born. I felt the baby come out and a heavy feeling when it was put on my legs. Very weird. Hubby went off and saw them, I couldn't understand anything that was going on and didn't really get it when he told me we had a boy and a girl. I was feeling everything and was having to breathe as if I was having contractions. At one point it felt like they turned me inside out and I screamed so they gave me morphine. Eventually I was sewed up and bandaged (I can't remember seeing the babies for the first time).Then I hemorrhaged and was given more drugs to stop the bleeding.

I was in recovery until around 3am as I had another hemorrhage. I tried to feed both babies and hubby held them most of the time, until they were taken to special care. I went back onto the ward where I was induced. I can't remember anything else, apart from getting another cannula in my other hand and being very, very hot.

8am phoned my mum. Hubby arrived back. I had a quick hold of the twin boy.

Hubby spent the day going between my bed and special care, where the twins were being bottle-fed. I went to see them briefly at 8pm. Spent the night on the ward.

Tuesday 9th November
Got up and had a shower. Moved to a post-natal ward.

2:30pm the twins came out of special care for me to look after on the ward. Terrifying!

Friday 12th November
Came home!