I know how popular are these articles on other blogs and lot of you may be interested to know more about my birth so I decided to share this experience with you. Liam is going to be 2 weeks on Sunday and it seems like ages when they put him on my chest for the first time. It almost feels like it never happened and everything seems so far away. I remember how frustrating was the waiting as his due date was on 21st of August and I did everything I could do for natural induction like walking and staying active. Every day seemed to last for ages. On my due date I went to Selfridges and met with my photographer to shoot few outfits instead of being in a hospital. LOL

Well, all this activity helped at least a bit as on Wednesday 24th August after walking up and down the hill in the park I lost my plug. I was over the moon as every small sign that labour is close was encouraging. Nothing happened until Friday when I was at home on the couch in the evening and my water broke. It was exciting but also scary. Although I had no contractions I knew if my water broke that Liam will be soon with us. So, I waited for my husband and we drew to the hospital where they confirmed my water broke and said if I am not going to get contractions naturally I need to come to the hospital in 24 hours to get induced. Oh dear so more waiting and nothing was certain.

And that is also what happened. On Saturday evening we took my hospital bag, baby’s car seat and everything else we needed and headed towards our hospital where I was admitted. After the initial check ups I was told that as my water is only leaking a bit they will try to break it properly and see if the contractions start naturally. And yes it did work. After one hour or so I started to feel first contractions. The game was on.

I knew from the start I did not want to have a specific birth plan. All people I know who had their birth plans ready ended up with horrific stories and usually with emergency c-section so I decided I will be more flexible. I was open to everything and although it may sound weird I said I am happy to mix it all whether that is try the pool, gas etc. One thing I said I wanted was an epidural but I still asked if everything would go well If I can still reject it last minute.

So with the initial contractions I decided to go with using hypnobirth techniques. I had my music ready and was going through contractions really well by using the hypno breathing techniques. it actually worked well for me and I was combining it with using birth ball. My husband helped through some of the worse contractions by massaging my back. As I said I was open to everything. When my contractions started to be stronger the midwife offered me to use gas (to be honest I felt that it is not working that much for me). After a while I had enough of gas as it started to make feel sick.

Most people that never gave birth are always curious to know what contractions feel like. I guess everybody feels it differently however I would describe it as much much stronger period pain. I mean it is nowhere near period pain when they really kick in but this is the closest I can describe it.

After around 4-5 hours of contractions I was checked and was told that although my contractions are getting stronger I am only dilating 2 cm. So they advised I had to be induced with the drip. At this point midwife told me she would recommend to apply my epidural as the stronger the contractions will be the harder it is to apply as you cannot move even for a bit. So we waited for the anaesthesiologist to come for about 30 minutes. The whole process was not too bad and we managed to do it in 20 minutes and it took another 30 minutes to start working. And when it started…Oh man…heaven. You feel nothing. I was given access to the button which you press for top ups according to your needs or every 20 minutes. I would recommend epidural to all of you. I know we have different preferences but I thought it is amazing as a pain relieve and it makes the whole experience so much easier. I even told everybody I admire all women that go for fully natural birth without pain relieve. Even those contractions at the start were far from pleasant.

Around 5 am in the morning I was dilating about 4 cm and I was thinking this is great. I feel nothing and the labour is progressing. It is not bad at all. However, few hours later I started to feel terrible pain. I mean it was getting stronger and stronger and I was asking midwife if it is normal and she said just to keep topping up. So I did and was pressing the button every twenty minutes. The pain was terrible and I kept looking what is wrong when I noticed that the tube from the filter slipped out and asked the midwife. Is this supposed to be like this? And she was like oh no. It slipped out and called the doctor. I felt every minute took ages as the pain was just dreadful and we waited to be told that they need permission whether just to put the tube back in the filter or apply new epidural. Oh man. Not what I wanted to hear when they came back and in the worse contractions I was told they have to apply the epidural again. I knew it will be at least another hour for everything to be done but I also knew I cannot move which was much harder at this point.

It was such a relief when it was all done and on the plus side midwife said I am almost ready to push. It was strange it came so fast as earlier the doctor said she expects I would give birth late afternoon and it was just before 8 when I was dilated about 10 cm.

And time to push came so  quickly. I felt nothing again at this point so had to be told when to breath, when to push and be guided by the midwife. It was not that bad considering you do not feel anything and you do not have that natural instinct with epidural. I think I did pretty well and then Liam was born on 28th August at 8:32. I was in tears when they put him on my chest and immediately forgot about everything. It is strange and it was the same when you hear from other women. Once the baby is in your arms you feel like nothing happened and you totally forget about everybody and everything around you.

So the labour took around 10-12 hours and it was such a mixed bag of everything. Just because I knew I was flexible and open to everything. I mean how many people you know who reads about hypnobirth and uses epidural as well?

I am not ashamed of that and as I said I can highly recommend it. It would be great if you want to share your stories with me as well. I am glad it is over and now I can just learn how to be a good mum.

Vim, ze tyhle clanky jsou velmi popularni na jinych blozich a tak jsem se rozhodla napsat o me zkusenosti s porodem a jak to vsechno probihalo. Tim nechci menit tento blog v nejaky maminkovsky, ale Liam se zde bude kazdopadne promitat. Castecne je to tim, ze nemam zatim prichystany obsah s modou, protoze se snazim prizpusobit novemu zivotu s miminkem a je toho hodne k uceni. Liam ma v nedeli dva tydny a prijde mi to uz tak dlouho, co mi ho v nemocnici dali poprve do naruci. Nejvic si asi pamatuju jak dlouhe bylo cekani, kdyz jsem dosahla uz 40. tydne. Snazila jsem se zustat aktivni, misto odpocinku chodila rychle po schodech v parku, po nakupnich centrech a malemu se zkratka nechtelo. Kazdy den byl nekonecny a strasne jsem si prala to mit vse za sebou. V den terminu jsem litala po centru, nakupovala v Selfridges a fotila posledni tehotenske outfity se svou fotografkou. A ani to nezabralo.

I kdyz vsechna ta silena aktivita nakonec byla  k necemu, protoze ve stredu 24. co jsem jako silena chodila v parku po schodech nahoru a dolu mi vecer odesla tehotenska zatka. Kazdy maly krok mi delal radost, protoze cekani me opravdu nebavilo. A az do patku do vecera se opet nedelo vubec nic. V patek si tak lezim doma na pohovce a rikam mamince, ze mi asi praskla voda. Mela jsem trochu radost a trochu strach. Kazdopadne jsem vedela, ze pokud mi praskla voda, ze Liam bude brzo s nama. Co me trosku desilo bylo, ze jsem nemela zadne kontrakce a tusila jsem, ze mi v tom pripade budou porod asi vyvolavat. Zajela jsem s manzelem do nemocnice, kde mi potvrdili, ze mi opravdu praskla voda. Podle ocekavani jsem byla poslana domu s tim, ze mam cekat 24 hodin jestli mi zacnou kontrakce a pokud ne, tak musim prijit za 24 hodin na vyvolani porodu. Ale rikala jsem si, ze to alespon budu mit brzo za sebou.

A taky se tak stalo. V sobotu vecer se stale nic nedelo a tak jsem si sbalila potrebne veci vcetne autosedacky pro maleho a vydala jsem do nemocnice, kde jsem konecne byla prijata s tim, ze mi porod budou vyvolavat. Po osme hodine jsem prosla par kontrolama a bylo mi receno, ze mi voda jenom trosku utika a tak ze mi ji prasknou poradne a uvidi, jestli mi to vyvola kontrakce. A asi po hodine opravdu kontrakce zacaly. 

Od zacatku jsem vedela, ze nechci pevny porodni plan, protoze vetsina lidi z meho okoli, kteri meli pevny plan nakonec dopadli silene a dozvidala jsem se same hororove pribehy, ktere vetsinou koncily cisarskym rezem na posledni chvili. A tak jsem i sve midwife (porodni asistence) rekla, ze jsem flexibilni a ochotna zkusit vsechno. Jednu z veci, ktere jsem si prala je ale epidural, ale i o tom jsem jim rekla, ze uvidim jak to pujde a zeptala jsem se, ze jestli kdyz to pujde v pohode, jestli mam moznost jej treba na posledni chvili odmitnout. 

A tak jsem zacala pocatecni kontrakce tim, ze jsem pouzivala techniky z hypnoporodu. Mela jsem nachystanou hudbu, proctenou knihu o hypnoporodu a soustredila se na techniky dychani. V kombinaci dychani, balonu, masazi od partnera, hypno hudby jsem prosla asi pet hodin kontrakci, ktere se daly zvladat. Malem bych zapomela, ze jsem pouzivala i trochu plynu, ale po tom se mi za chvili zacalo delat spatne a chtelo se mi zvracet, takze jsem ho nakonec odmitala.

Vetsina lidi, ktera porod nezazila se pta jak se daji popsat kontrakce. Myslim, ze kazdy je proziva jinak, ale ja bych je osobne popsala jako nekolikanasobne menstruacni bolesti. Mela jsem je presne ve stejnych miste v podbrisku, ale akorat boli mnohem vice. 

Po asi ctyrech az peti hodinach a nekolika kontrolach mi bylo receno, ze sice kontrakce mam, ze se zvysuji (coz jsem i citila), ale ze se pomalu otviram a proto mi nakonec budou muset pomoci a porod vyvolat. Asi ve tri rano se slo na vec s tim, ze mi porodni asistentka doporucila ve stejnou dobu aplikovat i epidural. Moje kontrakce zesilovaly a rikala, ze cim silnejsi budou, tim horsi bude epidural napichnout, protoze clovek se nesmi u toho pohnout ani o kousek. Cekala jsem asi hodinu nez prisel anesteziolog, ktery mi epidural napichnul a cely proces trval asi dvacet minut a pak dalsich asi 30 minut nez epidural zacal fungovat. No ty blaho, to byla uleva. Clovek necitil vubec nic. A timto chci rict, ze bych si ho nechala dat urcite znovu a muzu epidrual kazdemu jenom doporucit. A vsem jsem v nemocnici rekla, ze kazda zenska, ktera rodi bez jakekoli ulevy od bolesti si zaslouzi tu nejvetsi poklonu. 

A vse zacalo pomalu fungovat a asi v pet rano jsem byla otevrena asi na 4 centimetry a necitila vubec nic. Dostala jsem ovladac k epiduralu a mackala tlacitko bud kazdych dvacet minut ci podle potreby, aby mi byla dana dalsi davka. V pet rano mi doktorka rekla, ze predpoklada, ze porodim nekdy v pozdni odpoledne, ze pry u prvorodicek to trva docela dlouho. A tak jsem si tam v klidu lezela pospavala a rikala jsem si, ze to neni az takova hruza ten porod, az do te doby nez jsem zacala citit silenou bolest a mackala tlacitko na epiduralu jak silena. Rikam teda sestre, ze citim strasnou bolest, ale porad si pridavam a ona ze nevi a nechala to tak. Ja se ji porad ptala, to prece neni normalni, kdyz doted jsem necitila vubec nic. A zacala se prohlizet a zkouset co je spatne az jsem ji ukazala na jednu cast, kde byl epidural napojeny a rikam ji, tohle ma byt takto? A ona vykulila oci a rika, ze mi vypadlo spojeni u filtru a musi zavolat doktora. Uf, v te dobe byly kontrakce uz silene a trvalo docela dlouho nez doktor prisel. Ten mi suse oznamil, ze se jim to ted nekolikrat stalo a ze musi zjistit od vedeni, jestli muze vse spojit nebo zavest novy epidural. Nedokazala jsem si v tech bolestech zavedeni epiduralu znovu ani predstavit, ale bohuzel tomu tak bylo a prisel po asi pul hodine, kdy jsem se kroutila v takovych bolestech, ktere uz si nedokazu ani predstavit s tim, ze ho musime zavest znovu. 

A tak jsem cely proces musela absolvovat znovu a myslet na to, ze se nesmim pohnout ani o kousek, aby mi ho napichli spravne. To byla uleva az konecne zacal zabirat a k memu prekvapeni mi navic porodni asistenka oznamila, ze uz jsem otevrena skoro na 10 cm a ze bude za chvili cas tlacit. To bylo asi pred osmou hodinou rano. 

A slo se na vec. Samozrejme, kdyz clovek nic necitil tak se spolehal na instrukce porodni asistenky, ktera rikala jak a kdy mam tlacit. No snazila jsem se ze vsech sil, ale nedokazala jsem vlastne urcit co se deje, protoze jsem vubec nic necitila. Slo to docela dobre az nakonec 28.8 v 8:32 rano se nam narodila maly Liam. Citila jsem hroznou ulevu a samozrejme ukapla i slzicka. V ten moment jsem na vsechno uplne zapomela a vsechno mi to prislo jako jeden sen, ktery si vlastne ani nestal. V ten moment kdy tam lezite nemate zkratka poneti o nicem, kdo nebo co je okolo vas a co bylo pred par hodinama. 

Cely porod tak trval asi 10-12 hodin kdyz to tak pocitam a jsem rada, ze jsem se nezaradila mezi ty hororove pribehy o porodech, ktere slychavam. 

Urcite si ale rada prectu ty vase. 

Love Glamazon xoxo