Birth story: An 11lb 2oz baby after gestational diabetes
Carrie's first baby may have been premature and tiny but her 2nd was the complete opposite
Carrie was convinced that her second child would come early after her first son Sammy was born prematurely at 30 weeks. But at 34 weeks it became apparent that this time she was likely to go full term.
She was then diagnosed with gestational diabetes and fortnightly scans showed her baby was measuring ahead of his weeks - which is quite normal with GD.
Even with the condition under control, she was booked in to be induced at 40 weeks.
Here is Carrie's story in her own words:
A false start
I arrived at the day unit for 7.30am and was immediately hooked up to a monitor. I was dilated enough that they were certain I wouldn’t need a pessary to start things off, which I was pleased about. At 10.30am I was told they didn’t have enough midwives on for me to be induced, so I was sent home. It felt like a bit of an anti-climax. Luckily we didn’t have too long to wait, I had a sneaky subway on the way home and got called back in at about 1pm.
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Back to the delivery suite
I was shown to the delivery suite, settled in and all the observations were repeated. I had a midwife and student with me who were both nice. My waters were broken at 4.30pm after a bit of a battle as the membrane was tight over his head. I couldn’t believe how much fluid was coming out!
They hooked me up to the Syntocinon drip pretty much straightaway, so within about 20 minutes the contractions started. I decided to go as long as possible without pain relief and coped pretty well just sitting on the ball for a couple of hours. The room was so quiet that the midwife kept asking if I wanted music on, but I was just concentrating on breathing through the pain.
They ramped the drip up every 20 minutes or so and the contractions were a lot more intense than I remember them being last time. At about 8pm I decided to try some gas and air, but it didn’t seem to do anything! So I asked for some diamorphine. It gave me a bit of a rest in between contractions, which were every 2 minutes by now, but didn’t ease the pain of the actual contractions.
'The doctor declared there was no way I could get him out as he was so big'
I kept asking when they were going to examine me as I was feeling a lot of pressure. Eventually at about 8.45pm I was examined and went from 8cm to 9cm whilst she examined me. There was a quick change of midwives and 10 minutes later I started pushing. I didn’t feel as though anything was happening.
After an hour of pushing I was really tired, especially as I’d not eaten since 11am. I kept telling the midwife I didn’t think it was working. She decided it must be because my bladder was full so put a catheter in, which did nothing. By 11pm I was begging them to help me, as he just wasn’t moving down and the pain was so intense.
2 hours later
The midwife told me I hadn’t been pushing for 2 hours yet but both me and my husband told her I had. About 20 minutes later the doctor came in and examined me and declared there was no way I could get him out as he was so big and back to back.
As she started telling me I was going to theatre all I could think was ‘thank God this is nearly over’. I then had an agonising wait for them to prep theatre etc. I was practically grabbing the anaesthetist’s pen to sign the consent form.
Trying not to push on the way to theatre was possibly the most pain I’ve ever experienced, as I was trying to stay still for the spinal! But as soon as it was in the relief was amazing. There was a weird sensation in my legs, but they were numb.
The doctor was right, he was a 'whopping 11lb 2oz'
The Doctor turned him with her thankfully tiny hands, delivered the head with forceps and then used her hands to pop his stuck shoulder out. All I could say was ‘please let me get to take this one straight home’. Unfortunately the last bit gave me a third degree tear but by then I didn’t care!
As suspected he was a whopping 11lb 2oz. We debated what to call him for a few minutes and agreed on Sebastian. Thankfully he was relatively unscathed by his delivery. The Doctor stitched me back up and 20 minutes later we were back on delivery.
Throughout the whole thing my husband was fantastic. He just knew when I needed a drink or my face wiping. Poor thing, I just kept giving him a ‘save me’ sort of face!
Sebastian has been a good baby so far. I can’t believe how much easier it is having a baby who is delivered at full term!
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