I was due on the 15/12/2012 and had had a perfect an non eventful pregnancy. At 40+ 5 I went to see my obstetrician for my scheduled visit. Baby had been 3/5 engaged for weeks and figured it was just a matter of time. My usual visits were of the order- “bp, 120/80, heartbeat, 145 bpm, urine, no protein, head, engaged, any questions? See you next week”

I was very tired at the appointment as had had a terrible nights sleep the night before. My obs  checked my bp and urine and heartbeat, before asking to do a S& S and excusing himself to his office.

He came back in and his first question was ” what are you doing at 2pm?” Being 11pm, in my oblivious and tired state I replied “grabbing some lunch, getting a nap”. “Well the hospital is ejecting you and I would like to induce you if you agree. Your bp has creeped up to 125/90 and I’m concerned that given your previous readings it could be a precursor for preeclampsia and as you are at term I would prefer to deliver the baby rather than mess around with medications”  my cervix was still long and thick and I was pretty emotional, but agreed to the hospital induction.

Hubby ran me a bath when we got home and the next couple of hours flew by!

At 2pm we rocked up to the hospital, got taken to our room and immediately got attached to the ctg monitor. I had to be on the monitor for hours as she kept wriggling and losing her trace and they needed a solid half hour of trace.

At 5pm, they finally pit the prostaglandin gel in (after the midwife had to stand holding he monitor on her for half hour!) and again, I had to remain still for an hour.  After the gel went in, the tightenings  started within half an hour. At 9  they came in again to assess and  after consulting with my obs i was told that they wouldn’t be putting the 2nd gel in as they were planning to but I would be transferred to the birthing suite shortly.

Throughout my pregnancy, I did prenatal yoga and attended a few prenatal yoga birthing classes. I had been taught positions to relieve pain, told to take long showers and walk around and also told not to get on the bed!!!! With these options taken away from me due to the monitoring and my little wriggler being lost every time I moved, I was stuck to the bed and thankful that at least I had organized a TENS machine and could do something!

The contractions started to come on thick and fast in the birthing suite. My husband was amazing throughout this painful stage and towards the end, through my exhaustion I put him in charge of powering the TENS- one hand up to start , waving to finish. The TENS got me through to 4:00am, and 6cm dilated before I also got the gas. An hour later as things intensified again, I got pethidine also.

At 5:30 I asked for an epidural and so the midwife contacted my obs and allowed me off the monitor to visit the bathroom before an internal would be done. I had a overwhelming urge to push that she actually picked up on so back to my bed she sent me.on the way my waters broke!  My obs had organized to be there at 8 am, to rupture my waters so my midwife got back on the phone to say we wouldn’t be organizing the anaesthetist as the epidural wasn’t needed and to get there at 7 as waters had already broken and baby is on its way! All I could rely on now was the gas and TENS to get me through!

From this point, I was utterly exhausted. My obs arrived at 7 and by this stage I was fully dilated and the pushing stage had well and truly begun. I dont remember much from here except being really determined to get my baby out- It took another 25 minutes, but at 7:25am our beautiful daughter Cailin entered the world. Before they put her  in my arms, I couldn’t even open my eyes or form conversations as fatigue had well and truly set in, but the amazing sense of regeneration I felt cuddling her was indescribable!!! My perfect little girl found her way to my nipple and fed for an hour!

As painful as it was, it was an amazing experience. Without the Tens, I certainly would have had the epidural (way earlier too!). I have been told that as I was induced, there were more multiple contractions which come faster so my obs was very impressed that I didn’t need an epidural.

I definitely will be organizing another Tens when it’s time for baby number two!

 

[ilink url=”http://sweetbeats.com.au/tens-machine-hire-labour/”]To find out more about using TENS in labour, click here[/ilink] [hr]

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