Post by odiness on Sept 23, 2007 0:21:37 GMT
Hi everyone
Thanks to Adam and Danni for posting the news about baby Jasmine's arrival.
For those of you who don't know, my little girl arrived at 6.12am Friday morning weighing 6lb 3oz. Little Jasmine Ruth has Downs Syndrome which was diagnosed during at 16 weeks through screening followed by an amnio. Despite a very heart rendering decision I chose to continue with the pregnancy because already she was already my little angel and so much a part of me. After doing all I could to determine that she had no major health problems that could be detected throughout the pregnancy it was still an anxious time awaiting her arrival before knowing that she was going to be the healthy, precious little bundle I hoped for.
Here goes my labour story.....
Wednesday morning I woke up at 38+5 wondering whether my waters had broken as I had lost some fluid but not a massive amount. Feeling relitively well apart from the odd niggle, I decided to carry on with my day as planned and meet the girls from my antenatal for coffee followed by a shopping trip. By the time I got home Wednesday afternoon my niggly pains had developed into something that I thought might be labour but I went to bed for an hour and tried to get some rest.
By around 8pm I was fairly certain that my labour had started so I got my final bags packed and had a bath and tried to take the advise of the hospital which was to wait for my contractions to get closer together or the pain to get unbearable.
By 1am Thursday morning I decided to go into hospital, my contractions were still 5 minutes apart but already really painful and I wondered whether I was being a complete wimp about it all. On arrival the hospital confirmed that I was in labour but only 1cm dilated and in the early / latent stage, they admitted me to the antenatal ward to hopefully get some rest and continue to be monitored for progress.
All day Thursday my contractions remained about 5 minutes apart but the pains got more and more intense. I was told that the first stage of labour could go on for a few days and to be patient. I tried walks and the birthing ball etc to get things going..... By 1am Friday morning I was absolutely shattered having had no sleep the night before and having been perscribed sleeping tablets but beig unable to get to sleep because I was just too uncomfortable. 24 hours after being admitted, I was sat in the hospital room on the birthing ball, crying because all I wanted was to sleep and being told that it was still very early days. One of the midwifes noticed my light on and found me upset and really just to humour me said that she would check me over to determine whether I was any further dilated and to put my mind at rest.... I could tell when took a deep intake of breath and said "oh my god, you're 8 cms dilated" that perhaps my labour wasn't as latent as they had been telling me.... Here was I just on paracetamol and about 30 mins away from delivering!
I was rushed down to delivery but the problem was the fact that despite the progress, my contractions were still 5 minutes apart and my waters hadn't actually broken at all! So at 3 am my waters were broken to try to speed up contractions, still no joy so at 5pm I was given a drip (can't remember what was in it) that would speed my contractions up. I was having gas and air at this stage so much less uncomfortable. I had actually started to doze between my contractions because I was sooooo tired!.... Then all of a sudden I had a huge urge to push and the mid wife said that I could... Only problem was that with no sleep in 48 hours and too much gas and air along with the sedative given to me earlier, I was really feeling too exhausted to push and just started to cry that i couldn't do it... anyhow, with much encouragement from the midwife, I managed to push hard and long enough and after 30 mins (that felt much longer)... at not long after 6am (36 hours after labour started) baby Jasmine arrived with a great pair of lungs and pinked up immediately.
To my amazement and delight she had absolutely no health complications, no heart murmour, hearing fine, breathing great, she's also feeding really well. I can't tell you how happy and relieved I am that my precious little angel is as healthy as can be. Obviously I know that things can change and there are more tests etc to go thro0ugh, I honestly didn't think I would be taking her home so soon after her birth.
She is the most beautiful, precious little thing I have ever seen and I am very lucky and happy to have her.
Thanks to everyone for supporting me throughout the hard decision and the remainder of the pregnancy. I know I have said it before but I honestly mean that having this site as a reference and support structure has made such a difference to me....
Wow she's here and I wouldn't change her for the world... Will keep you all updated.
Love Lucy
P.S. Have asked Rilith to post my pics cos I am useless and still so very tired!
Thanks to Adam and Danni for posting the news about baby Jasmine's arrival.
For those of you who don't know, my little girl arrived at 6.12am Friday morning weighing 6lb 3oz. Little Jasmine Ruth has Downs Syndrome which was diagnosed during at 16 weeks through screening followed by an amnio. Despite a very heart rendering decision I chose to continue with the pregnancy because already she was already my little angel and so much a part of me. After doing all I could to determine that she had no major health problems that could be detected throughout the pregnancy it was still an anxious time awaiting her arrival before knowing that she was going to be the healthy, precious little bundle I hoped for.
Here goes my labour story.....
Wednesday morning I woke up at 38+5 wondering whether my waters had broken as I had lost some fluid but not a massive amount. Feeling relitively well apart from the odd niggle, I decided to carry on with my day as planned and meet the girls from my antenatal for coffee followed by a shopping trip. By the time I got home Wednesday afternoon my niggly pains had developed into something that I thought might be labour but I went to bed for an hour and tried to get some rest.
By around 8pm I was fairly certain that my labour had started so I got my final bags packed and had a bath and tried to take the advise of the hospital which was to wait for my contractions to get closer together or the pain to get unbearable.
By 1am Thursday morning I decided to go into hospital, my contractions were still 5 minutes apart but already really painful and I wondered whether I was being a complete wimp about it all. On arrival the hospital confirmed that I was in labour but only 1cm dilated and in the early / latent stage, they admitted me to the antenatal ward to hopefully get some rest and continue to be monitored for progress.
All day Thursday my contractions remained about 5 minutes apart but the pains got more and more intense. I was told that the first stage of labour could go on for a few days and to be patient. I tried walks and the birthing ball etc to get things going..... By 1am Friday morning I was absolutely shattered having had no sleep the night before and having been perscribed sleeping tablets but beig unable to get to sleep because I was just too uncomfortable. 24 hours after being admitted, I was sat in the hospital room on the birthing ball, crying because all I wanted was to sleep and being told that it was still very early days. One of the midwifes noticed my light on and found me upset and really just to humour me said that she would check me over to determine whether I was any further dilated and to put my mind at rest.... I could tell when took a deep intake of breath and said "oh my god, you're 8 cms dilated" that perhaps my labour wasn't as latent as they had been telling me.... Here was I just on paracetamol and about 30 mins away from delivering!
I was rushed down to delivery but the problem was the fact that despite the progress, my contractions were still 5 minutes apart and my waters hadn't actually broken at all! So at 3 am my waters were broken to try to speed up contractions, still no joy so at 5pm I was given a drip (can't remember what was in it) that would speed my contractions up. I was having gas and air at this stage so much less uncomfortable. I had actually started to doze between my contractions because I was sooooo tired!.... Then all of a sudden I had a huge urge to push and the mid wife said that I could... Only problem was that with no sleep in 48 hours and too much gas and air along with the sedative given to me earlier, I was really feeling too exhausted to push and just started to cry that i couldn't do it... anyhow, with much encouragement from the midwife, I managed to push hard and long enough and after 30 mins (that felt much longer)... at not long after 6am (36 hours after labour started) baby Jasmine arrived with a great pair of lungs and pinked up immediately.
To my amazement and delight she had absolutely no health complications, no heart murmour, hearing fine, breathing great, she's also feeding really well. I can't tell you how happy and relieved I am that my precious little angel is as healthy as can be. Obviously I know that things can change and there are more tests etc to go thro0ugh, I honestly didn't think I would be taking her home so soon after her birth.
She is the most beautiful, precious little thing I have ever seen and I am very lucky and happy to have her.
Thanks to everyone for supporting me throughout the hard decision and the remainder of the pregnancy. I know I have said it before but I honestly mean that having this site as a reference and support structure has made such a difference to me....
Wow she's here and I wouldn't change her for the world... Will keep you all updated.
Love Lucy
P.S. Have asked Rilith to post my pics cos I am useless and still so very tired!