The Birth Story

I am sitting on the sofa with the long suffering wife as she winces in pain trying to feed -well okay succeding to feed. So here we go, the birth story.

On monday morning I was woken by the wife to be told that she thought baby might be on the way she was getting 'niggles' i dutufully took the day of work and we waited..and waited..nothing much was happening but my wife decided we had an urgent need for things from the shops, so of we went to tescos (of course not before i had just popped into PC world for a browse). On reaching the supermarket i asked what it was we needed and the wife looked at me a little blankly before suggesting we needed crisps. 24 packets of crisps later and we ehaded home for an uneventual time. Finally we turned in at midnight

Tuesday Morning

On Tuesday morning at 3.30am the long suffering wife woke me to tell me she had been having contractions - 4 of them 8 mins apart. It was game on. I phoned our friend in london who wanted to see a birth and she jumped in her car, also phoned the hospital to let hem know we where in very early stages. At 7am she arrived as did the midwife who gave her a check over and left us to it. Contractions continued speradically with the wife deciding she felt she could live with it. When it got to lunch time we went to the local pub for a slap up meal and then back home to more struggling. At 5pm we had another visit from a midwife and all seemed okay, and another at 10pm. By midnight the wife really needed some pain relife and we where honoured with a visit from the head of midwifery who made her first home visit in 15 years and was superb, the brought with them gas and air, but the wife couldnt get on with it. She was however suffering and had started saying she just needed it to be over, and looking at me with pleading eyes begging me to help her.

Wednesday Morning
By wednesday morning we where back ont he go with regular contractions and had another visit from a midwife, by now the LSW was really struggling and eventually climbined into the bath. She was suffering now, and really just wanted things to be done, she kept asking how much longer. Midwives came and changed shift in a blurr of half drunk copes of coffee. I poured water over the wife and she struggled through the pain. At about 11am they decided the time had come for her to push. She did with all her might and screamed and screamed in pain. After 30 mins of this they examined her and established she was only 6cm dilate and was just brusing herself with the pushing. Back in the bath and falling to pieces with tierdness and pain she sucked dry canaster after canaster of gas and air. By the end of the labour five bottles.

Finally when the time arrived to push she had next to no strength left, and the soft part of babys head was trying to come out first, not providing the force needed. It was two and a half hours from there to get baby grace out, and the wife suffered every minute of it.

When baby was born the wife was just at a point of complete exhaustion 5.56pm on Wednsday evening. She had no strength left and so we went - or rather i went - for the injetion to bring on the delivery of the plasenta and with it a blood bath.

Laying against my legs my arms around her she held our beautful baby girl and the world seemed a better place. By the time first feed had happened it was 10pm and at last we where left alone wondering what it is you do with a baby.

I took a minute for air and found my legs giving, i cried for two hours, the shock kicking in and my body just shaking. At last we curled up in bed for our first night together as a family, and bless her heart she did not stir till 7am. She made up for that this morning of course by not sleeping till 7am..she has some remarkable lungs....oh yes indeed.

I somehow managed to put my shoulder and neck, and so am feeling grouchy, not really a birth scar, but of course i like to complain. The wfe escaped with stitches and is doing well.

They say she tore her stomic mussles during pregnancy and didnt have any to speak of during labour, The she found thes trength to push astonds me. They say she will need some physio to bring about some repair.

Enough for now it must be time for sleep

Yours alseep

The Broken Man