Birth of my second son

Monday Feb 4 2013 - I woke up feeling pretty consistent Braxton hicks, nothing terribly painful, but there was definitely a pattern. As I was getting my toddler breakfast I soaked through my underwear and pants. Went to check what it was. My husband and I both agreed I didn't pee myself but we decided to take a wait and see approach. Later that afternoon I called my midwife to discuss it and we decided at that point we would wait and see what happened until the next morning.

Tuesday February 5 2013 - nothing happened all night, the contractions didn't get stronger or closer together but because I was still leaking it was decided that I would go in to get a exam. The exam showed that my water did not break and that I was 1cm, 50% effaced and at -2 station. I was pretty depressed, and very embarrassed over the false alarm.

Wednesday February 6 2013 - I woke in the morning thinking I had peed myself, so I waddled over to the bathroom only to find it was a bloody show. I also noticed minor cramping but I put both down to the exam the day before. After the false alarm the day before I was determined not to get my hopes up so I busied myself with my toddler and cleaning. The cramps stayed consistent and were building in intensity over the day. By the time my husband came home they were 10 minutes apart but not quite painful yet. We needed to do some errands so off we went to do some shopping. We got home about 7, had dinner and put my son to bed. The contractions were steady, and at that point I decided to take some gravol and go to bed. I stayed I bed from 9-12am, I did not sleep at all. Instead I just tried to relax through each contraction. They were only 5-7 minutes apart so I figured I had awhile to go yet. At midnight my husband came in, I decided to get up but told him to sleep as it looked like it was the real thing. Immediately after getting up the contractions moved to 3 minutes apart, lasting one minute. I paced the house, trying to be quiet so as not to wake my son. At 1:30am it became too much, I could barely stop myself from crying out. I woke my husband and told him to call his parents so we they could pick up my oldest. They arrived around 2:15, and were gone by 2:30am. After another 15 minutes I called my midwife, and after a brief discussion the decision was made to head straight to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at 3:30am, was examined and found to be at 5cm. I immediately got onto the bed on my knees leaning over the headrest. I was given entonox (laughing gas), and by and hour later the if wives noted that my body was pushing on its own. They were asking me questions but I wasn't able to focus, so during a contraction they did a quick exam (by which they only had to put one finger in to feel the babies head descending. They said I could push when I wanted. I gave a small push, then a big one and out popped my son at 4:41am. I had done the entire active stage of labour and delivery in an hour and eleven minutes.

Now things get a bit crazy. My son was very small, which surprised us all but still seemed very healthy. I was given oxytocin for the placenta due to low platelets. After 20 minutes the placenta didn't come so the midwives had me breast feed while they messaged my belly and applied light traction on the cord. Nothing. I was asked to squat and push...nothing. Still squatting, they put the baby to my breast and tried again...nothing. They talked and decided to do a quick catheter in case my bladder was too full, I only had a tiny amount of pee. They again tried to message and use traction but only this time the cord snapped. They took turns trying to 'fish it out', but my cervix had tightly closed. Fuck. OB is called and they decide to attempt a manual removal while I am awake. I get a shot of morphine, and I'm told to breath in the entonox like my life depends on it. The OB tries to reach in but the pain is worse than anything I can describe, the midwives are trying to hold me down but I can't be still. At that point it's decided I need to go to OR. I'm starting to gush blood, so in minutes I am strapped to a operating table and put under. I wake 20 minutes later in recovery. They explain the placenta never detached and they would have never been able to get it out without surgery. They comment that it had many problems such as cord placement, weird growths and it basically fell apart in the doctors hands. I get to see my tiny but perfect son again. Grayson weighed in at 5lbs 8oz and 19 inches long. He scored a 9 on his apgars and seemed to be very healthy despite his low birth weight. We were in the hospital for a day to be monitored but are home now and we are both doing great. Despite my complications I did not a single scratch. The only discomfort I had was my uterus from the beating it took but otherwise I feel perfectly fine. It turns out I had what they call a battledore placenta (marginal cord insertion), which can cause low birth weight and why the cord snapped so easily. I had no clinical symptoms of the condition nor was it detected in two ultrasounds. I'm just lucky I didn't go into preterm labour and that Grayson is still healthy despite being so small. He breast feeds like a champ and everyone anticipates he will gain very quickly.

TL/DR - active labour to delivery 1 hr 11 minutes, baby boy weighed 5lbs8oz. Retained placenta which required a OR trip to be put under. Found to have a battledore placenta that caused low birth weight. Everyone is very healthy despite the complications.