Wednesday 20 June 2012
Sunday 17 June 2012
First moments
As with George I expect these first pictures will always make me cry nostalgia, joy and wonder all rolled up. I don't think at the time you can ever quite realise the incredible, miraculous and momentous - ness of birth, I will treasure these forever, to me they are simply wonderful and utterly priceless.
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| Last photo as a threesome - in the hour before we went to the hospital |
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| Taken in the hospital car park exactly 2 hours before giving birth |
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| My beautiful Ruby is born - no words |
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| Drinking her in |
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| Joy |
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| Mummy and daughter waking up to our first ever morning together |
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| Adoring and gorgeous big brother meets sister - the very first moment |
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| Back home in the sunshine - The happiest smile of my life |
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| The loves of my life |
Birth Story
How do you know where to start in describing something so amazing, so beautiful and so perfect that the mere smell of her brings tears to my eyes. Tears of joy and still, 3 weeks on, tears of disbelief that my daughter has made it into this crazy world. I wrote a birth story for my yoga class, so maybe I'll start there:
Last Saturday 26th May we welcomed Ruby Rosalie Greer to the world at 12.14pm weighing in at 9lb 8.5oz. As some of you know I was booked for an induction of labour at 40 weeks due to previous losses and a suspected blood clotting issue. I had done all I could in the prior 2 weeks, massages with Debbie, reflexology, accupuncture and all the old predictables to naturally induce my own labour to no avail so into Stoke I went for the induction. I had been feeling a little apprehensive but tried to focus on the positives which were mainly that I could leave George in a relaxed situation knowing exactly what was happening rather than any last minute dashes to hospital. I also felt strongly that I could still have the type of natural labour that I desired as my body had successfully done this before.
On arrival at the hospital the midwives said that they would see if they could immediately break my waters and see how I go from there. I said that this was not what I wanted and I would prefer to have the Prostin pessary which I felt was a more natural process. Luckily my cervix was not favourable for immediate breaking of waters so I got my wish with no added pressure or persuasion. The first pessary went in at 1pm and we relaxed for most of the afternoon, walking and sitting on my ball, and listening to my Maggie Howell Natal hypnotherapy CDs. At about 7pm I could feel some tightenings and according to the monitor they were coming too regularly for another pessary and we thought things might get going. Sadly not and it all faded away and I somehow knew nothing would be happening that night so I sent Ryan home and another Prostin pessary went in at 11pm. I listened to my Maggie Howell CD over and over that night as it had helped me throughout my pregnancy so much and it really kept me positive in those hours, as well as drowning out the noise of the other labouring women. On Saturday morning, tightenings were irregular and I could not really feel them but I had a strong sense that if I could get out into the sunshine for a walk I could get things going. The midwife did examine me and said that I had gone from 1 to 2cm dilated but I couldn't feel any regular tightenings. At about 9.30am Ryan & I went walking around the car park, practising all of the charlie chaplin and camel wobble walks, and I started to feel the tightenings again getting more regular. By 10.15am I was beginning to breath with sound through the tightenings although I was concerned that I was making a meal of things. We went back to the antenatal ward for a toilet stop and I then felt that I wanted to sit on my ball and stay put for a little while. The contractions were getting so regular that I decided to get my TENS machine on and was using the ARRRR breathing sound that we had practised in class and I had also been practising with this sound for perineal massage. A midwife came in at about 11 and thought it sounded like I was progressing and she wanted to examine me. I also felt that I was progressing and agreed to the examination although said that I did not want them to break my waters regardless as I felt things were happening and I would hopefully not need any further intervention. On examination I was just about 4cm so in 'established labour' - very pleased that it wasn't all in my head! I then stood up to make the move to labour ward and my waters went naturally.
After that the contractions were very intense - it took me about 15 minutes rather than the usual 15 seconds to make the walk from antenatal to labour ward as I refused to be wheeled, the thought of sitting down was not good! Once in the labour room at 11.20am Ryan talked to the midwife about my birth plan (unbeknown to me) and dimmed the lights, put on my birth music and I was delighted to have no monitors attached to me or any further examinations. I got in the bath which made me yearn for the pool that I was not allowed! The contractions grew ever stronger with no gaps to take stock and really get into my birthing zone, although I am happy that I did as well as I could. My husband did bear the brunt of my discomfort as I am not one for talking or being touched in labour as he quickly remembered. Very soon I started to feel an urge to push which I was concerned about as with George I had pushed too early, developed a swelling on my cervix, which had then extended my labour by several hours. I was so determined to be more in tune with my body this time. I tried to ignore the pushing urge and breath through the contractions until the bearing down sensation was uncontrollable. I also remembered the worst thing for me about my last labour was the constant unknown of when it might all end (I honestly worried it wouldn't!!!). Again, I was able to push these thoughts away and trust that things were happening fast and that all was well. I do remember a brief period of self doubt but Ryan and the midwife really encouraged me through this and I just knew that this couldn't possibly last for 14 hours like my last labour as it was so very intense. Just as we talked about in the class just a few days before I was repeating to myself about looking forward to the ecstatic moment of joy when my baby would be born and reminding myself that my much longed for baby would soon be here. After a short time the midwife felt a pushing contraction and got me out of the bath. She piled some pillows on the bed where I stood up and leaned my head on the pillows and I was told that I could push if I wanted to. I don't think I had any real period of transition. Fairly quickly I could feel the head and was told to pant for a while and push the breaths away while the head crowned and also for the midwife to unwrap the cord from baby's neck, which thankfully I didn't know about at the the time but is very common and doesn't pose any risk to the baby when handled correctly. I really remembered the blowing a hot drink breathing technique which helped a lot. Once the head was out I felt such a huge sense of joy and relief that my baby would soon be here, as I heard the first cry followed by the rest of her body. The midwife caught the baby and laid her on the floor as Ryan cut the cord. I had been 99.9% convinced that I was having another boy but on asking for my baby boy I was met with a smile from the midwife and my husband and a gorgeous baby girl. Such a beautiful surprise. She was born 1 hr and 10 minutes after my waters broke and although it was very intense it was a great experience and I was so happy that it was as natural as possible in the circumstances. I birthed her in the standing position I hoped for and no tears again - hooray!
I believe that the speed of my labour was perhaps helped by the treatments I had in the preceding week as I had been told that these would help get everything ready and ensure that I had
good stores of Oxytocin for when the contractions did get going and I had been overdosing on Debbie's labour oil for this reason! Yoga and the hypnotherapy CDs gave me the belief that I could do it and have the birth I desired. I cannot ever describe the overwhelming love and joy that I have felt on meeting each of my babies but once again, 5 minutes after giving birth, I was telling my husband that I wanted more!
Last Saturday 26th May we welcomed Ruby Rosalie Greer to the world at 12.14pm weighing in at 9lb 8.5oz. As some of you know I was booked for an induction of labour at 40 weeks due to previous losses and a suspected blood clotting issue. I had done all I could in the prior 2 weeks, massages with Debbie, reflexology, accupuncture and all the old predictables to naturally induce my own labour to no avail so into Stoke I went for the induction. I had been feeling a little apprehensive but tried to focus on the positives which were mainly that I could leave George in a relaxed situation knowing exactly what was happening rather than any last minute dashes to hospital. I also felt strongly that I could still have the type of natural labour that I desired as my body had successfully done this before.
On arrival at the hospital the midwives said that they would see if they could immediately break my waters and see how I go from there. I said that this was not what I wanted and I would prefer to have the Prostin pessary which I felt was a more natural process. Luckily my cervix was not favourable for immediate breaking of waters so I got my wish with no added pressure or persuasion. The first pessary went in at 1pm and we relaxed for most of the afternoon, walking and sitting on my ball, and listening to my Maggie Howell Natal hypnotherapy CDs. At about 7pm I could feel some tightenings and according to the monitor they were coming too regularly for another pessary and we thought things might get going. Sadly not and it all faded away and I somehow knew nothing would be happening that night so I sent Ryan home and another Prostin pessary went in at 11pm. I listened to my Maggie Howell CD over and over that night as it had helped me throughout my pregnancy so much and it really kept me positive in those hours, as well as drowning out the noise of the other labouring women. On Saturday morning, tightenings were irregular and I could not really feel them but I had a strong sense that if I could get out into the sunshine for a walk I could get things going. The midwife did examine me and said that I had gone from 1 to 2cm dilated but I couldn't feel any regular tightenings. At about 9.30am Ryan & I went walking around the car park, practising all of the charlie chaplin and camel wobble walks, and I started to feel the tightenings again getting more regular. By 10.15am I was beginning to breath with sound through the tightenings although I was concerned that I was making a meal of things. We went back to the antenatal ward for a toilet stop and I then felt that I wanted to sit on my ball and stay put for a little while. The contractions were getting so regular that I decided to get my TENS machine on and was using the ARRRR breathing sound that we had practised in class and I had also been practising with this sound for perineal massage. A midwife came in at about 11 and thought it sounded like I was progressing and she wanted to examine me. I also felt that I was progressing and agreed to the examination although said that I did not want them to break my waters regardless as I felt things were happening and I would hopefully not need any further intervention. On examination I was just about 4cm so in 'established labour' - very pleased that it wasn't all in my head! I then stood up to make the move to labour ward and my waters went naturally.
After that the contractions were very intense - it took me about 15 minutes rather than the usual 15 seconds to make the walk from antenatal to labour ward as I refused to be wheeled, the thought of sitting down was not good! Once in the labour room at 11.20am Ryan talked to the midwife about my birth plan (unbeknown to me) and dimmed the lights, put on my birth music and I was delighted to have no monitors attached to me or any further examinations. I got in the bath which made me yearn for the pool that I was not allowed! The contractions grew ever stronger with no gaps to take stock and really get into my birthing zone, although I am happy that I did as well as I could. My husband did bear the brunt of my discomfort as I am not one for talking or being touched in labour as he quickly remembered. Very soon I started to feel an urge to push which I was concerned about as with George I had pushed too early, developed a swelling on my cervix, which had then extended my labour by several hours. I was so determined to be more in tune with my body this time. I tried to ignore the pushing urge and breath through the contractions until the bearing down sensation was uncontrollable. I also remembered the worst thing for me about my last labour was the constant unknown of when it might all end (I honestly worried it wouldn't!!!). Again, I was able to push these thoughts away and trust that things were happening fast and that all was well. I do remember a brief period of self doubt but Ryan and the midwife really encouraged me through this and I just knew that this couldn't possibly last for 14 hours like my last labour as it was so very intense. Just as we talked about in the class just a few days before I was repeating to myself about looking forward to the ecstatic moment of joy when my baby would be born and reminding myself that my much longed for baby would soon be here. After a short time the midwife felt a pushing contraction and got me out of the bath. She piled some pillows on the bed where I stood up and leaned my head on the pillows and I was told that I could push if I wanted to. I don't think I had any real period of transition. Fairly quickly I could feel the head and was told to pant for a while and push the breaths away while the head crowned and also for the midwife to unwrap the cord from baby's neck, which thankfully I didn't know about at the the time but is very common and doesn't pose any risk to the baby when handled correctly. I really remembered the blowing a hot drink breathing technique which helped a lot. Once the head was out I felt such a huge sense of joy and relief that my baby would soon be here, as I heard the first cry followed by the rest of her body. The midwife caught the baby and laid her on the floor as Ryan cut the cord. I had been 99.9% convinced that I was having another boy but on asking for my baby boy I was met with a smile from the midwife and my husband and a gorgeous baby girl. Such a beautiful surprise. She was born 1 hr and 10 minutes after my waters broke and although it was very intense it was a great experience and I was so happy that it was as natural as possible in the circumstances. I birthed her in the standing position I hoped for and no tears again - hooray!
I believe that the speed of my labour was perhaps helped by the treatments I had in the preceding week as I had been told that these would help get everything ready and ensure that I had
good stores of Oxytocin for when the contractions did get going and I had been overdosing on Debbie's labour oil for this reason! Yoga and the hypnotherapy CDs gave me the belief that I could do it and have the birth I desired. I cannot ever describe the overwhelming love and joy that I have felt on meeting each of my babies but once again, 5 minutes after giving birth, I was telling my husband that I wanted more!
A final point is to do with feeding. I was very lucky to breastfeed George for just over a year without so much as lookimg at any nipple cream. This time it has been very different as Ruby was struggling to get a decent latch and I was getting very sore. On day 5 my midwife noticed that her tongue was a little restricted and I took her to breastfeeding clinic a day later where they confirmed a very mild tongue tie. Unfortunately the wait on the NHS is well over a month so I did talk to someone privately who was able to do the tongue tie division at my house a day later. It didn't seem to cause Ruby any discomfort and has made a huge difference to feeding with my nipples healing over-night. Just something to bear in mind checking.
We are both doing really well now and George is a very loving big brother having changed his mind that he does like baby girls after all.
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