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Birth Story Katie Griffiths Griffiths
Everything changed for me when we got to the Abbey Birth Centre, we had our own room, and it was so peaceful and calm. I relaxed massively when we arrived there (I also had gas and air, which helped considerably with the relaxation, at the very least I’ve been informed it made me talk a lot of nonsense!). The midwives were lovely and largely left me and my husband to it. They also didn’t complain when I carried on listening to Joseph. It took me another 4-5 hours of labouring in and out of the birth pool to get to transition. During transition I screamed for the epidural I had claimed I absolutely did not want, but luckily I had an amazing husband to hold me and a genuinely brilliant midwife who helped me to take control of my breathing again and calm back down.
I don’t really remember pushing for 2 hours, although I did. The pushing was a blur to me, and I actually enjoyed it more than the rest of labour, because it felt like finally something was happening. Apparently, during this phase, while in the birthing pool, I kept submerging my head to ‘push better’! Once again my husband was a tower of strength in hauling me back up, and between him and the gas and air, I got through. When she eventually came, the midwives asked me to put my hand down and guide her out, and all I remember feeling was so.much.hair. One big push and her head was out, with minimal pain actually, and I was asked to do one last push to get her body out. Unfortunately, this last push was agony, the reasons for this became clear later. But then, miraculously, she was there. I was tired, relieved, overwhelmed. She was here. At that moment, nothing else mattered at all. Our world was complete.
Unfortunately, however, after lovely skin-to-skin cuddles in the water, and delivering the placenta, I was checked over and it turned out that the agony I had felt was her shoulders, in a slightly twisted position, giving me a third degree tear. It was severe enough for us to be moved upstairs so I could go into theatre. While I was waiting Megan managed to latch on for her first breastfeed, which was another overwhelmingly magical moment for me.
The spinal block they gave me for the stitches I absolutely hated, so much so that eventually I was sedated for the duration because I was getting so distressed. But then, when I woke up again, everything was done, and my girl was there. I stayed in hospital overnight to recover, and spent the whole night watching her sleep, my tiny perfect girl, here at last. And one of the huge benefits of spending a night in hospital was that the lovely midwives helped me latch Megan on for every feed overnight, so that by the time we left the two of us had got the hang of latching!
When I look back now on my labour, I was so lucky that apart from the tear it was incredibly straightforward, and even luckier than it ended up in my Megan Rose.