'All I wanted after the birth was tea & toast marathon of the labour was some buttered toast and sugared tea. But it wasn’t to be.
“She’ll come early and fast” were the words I heard again and again in the run up to the birth of my second daughter. The latter certainly proved true - the former couldn’t have been further from reality. Having had a rather miserable induction first time around, I wanted to go into labour naturally. And so I waited. But at 40 + 10 nothing had happened and I dutifully packed my hospital bag and went to Kings for an induction.
When I got there I was too dilated to have a pessary - I’d been having Braxton Hicks for weeks. They gave me a vigorous sweep and sent me home to wait. My first girl had arrived so fast I hadn’t a clue what ‘normal’ labour was like - I went from 0-60 in a matter of minutes. So this time around I spent a lot of time on Mumsnet googling ‘what do contractions feel like?’. There’s no clear answer.
At 8pm I felt pains as if I was being punched - and it was only when they started coming regularly that we thought we should head into hospital. We were ushered quickly into the midwife led birthing suite, a beautiful private space with a double bed. My husband was a rock and I found focusing and using my breathing really helped to get through the pain. The urge to push came quickly and I delivered on the floor next to the birthing pool which they didn’t have time to fill up.
All I wanted after the marathon of the labour was some buttered toast and sugared tea. But it wasn’t to be.
I had lost a lot of blood and my blood pressure dropped dramatically so I had to have IV fluids. My husband & new baby looked on anxiously as I smiled deliriously up at them, unable to say my own name. Then, with extensive bruising and tearing, I was sent out to have an epidural to be stitched up. The epidural was magical - I wish someone had told me how incredible it was before I went into labour! It also meant my stitching was done really well by a senior doctor.
We stayed in hospital recovering for 3 days afterwards. The midwives and doctors at Kings were marvellous & we felt very lucky to have such excellent care. But postnatal wards are not the most
relaxing of
places, extremely
hot & full of crying babies! We were very happy to get home to tea and toast on tap - and to introduce our daughter to her new sister.
But it was not to be....!'
My Birth Story By Katherine Stephens
THE LONG WAIT
GOOGLING IT
HERE WE GO
TEA & TOAST toast