A suction cup birth

The 15th passed and nothing happened except that I walked around 2 cm open for weeks. After a false alarm and four calls, I managed to get my husband home from Iraq. That was a week before Christmas and my doctor said that if the child is doing well, it can still celebrate Christmas in my stomach, but I should please come back for a check-up beforehand.

The amniotic sac bursts

On December 21st my husband and I went to the CTG and the heart sounds were so bad that we were immediately referred to the hospital. When I got there, I had a stress CTG and 5 minutes after I was connected, my waters burst by themselves. The midwife said: “Oh, as a first-time mother it always takes a few days.” After half an hour I was in so much pain that I gratefully accepted the injection that was offered to me. So far, however, I have been laughed at.

Everything goes so fast

From my delivered 2 cm I quickly went to 5 cm. If I want to have a PDA , I should decide quickly, with 8 cm there would be no more. While I was thinking about whether I would like to endure the pain like this or not, the whole thing took care of itself, I was 8 cm and more within a very short time. The pain was unbearable and due to the stress CTG I was no longer allowed to get up or even use other alternatives such as a bathtub or a ball. I rolled from left to right in my bed and I didn’t want my husband’s hand anymore either. I clutched the handles and yelled at the whole delivery room. I never thought I would get so loud, but I couldn’t take it anymore, one contraction followed another and I didn’t have much breaks in between. Now they stopped smiling and realized that it will probably still be something today.

On the delivery room bed: birth with suction cup

I was then allowed to sit on the delivery room bed fully open, but pushing didn’t help, my little darling just couldn’t get out. So the head doctor was called back from her Christmas vacation and she found that my son had slipped into the birth canal with his hand on his head and was stuck. The first thing she did was push on my stomach during the contractions, but nothing happened. After a few attempts, the rope came around my stomach and this method didn’t help either. So plunger and cut. After countless attempts, terrible pain and a few breaks in labour, she said that if the next attempt didn’t work, she would have to do a caesarean section .

Finally done: Aiden Richard Francis is here!

Thank God the next attempt worked and my son, Aiden Richard Francis, was born at 4:22 p.m., three days before Christmas Eve. I will never forget the brief moment in my arms. This small, fragile person had made it. My wish for my husband to be present at the birth has come true. I had to hand him in quickly and he was examined. Thank God everything had gone well and apart from a damn misshapen head and a very small tear through the suction cup, nothing had happened. After only four and a half hours the torture was over… I thought.

Now the afterbirth…

The afterbirth would not and would not come. Infusion, acupuncture, injection, nothing helped, so again rope around the stomach and push. I couldn’t take it anymore, everyone had always said that the afterbirth comes very quickly and is usually painless. However, that was not the case for me. Afterwards they pressed from above and pulled from below and were about to put me to sleep for the scraping when it finally worked and with animal pain. I could have had another child for this pain.

The afterbirth…

Thank God neither my husband nor the little one noticed, both were outside the delivery room together and came back in to sew and I was able to examine my son in peace for the first time. At 3980 g and 53 cm, the little one lay with me and was very calm. I wasn’t allowed to breastfeed yet because I had been given a lot of medication. So we both just lay there with dad at our side and looked at each other.

I found out later that my amniotic fluid was already green and that Aiden was not doing well. For days he kept spitting up amniotic fluid and didn’t want to drink properly. Unfortunately, the hospital was so overcrowded before Christmas that none of the nurses really had time to explain important things properly or even to provide breastfeeding help. Only at night I was lucky that my sister sat next to me and helped. During the day the children were slammed in the chest and they left again. If you have problems – ring the bell. On Christmas Eve, three days after giving birth, I decided to go home. There I would have much more peace and my midwife would give me additional support.

The first Christmas with our son

So on December 24th, 2007 we sat at home with our son for the first evening (without a Christmas tree). My husband was still decorating and we knew that in a few days my husband would have to go to war again and I would stay at home alone with the little one. On the morning of December 25, the phone rang and my husband was allowed to stay home for four weeks. That was of course a wonderful Christmas present for us. The first few days weren’t really nice, I wasn’t feeling well (I should have stayed in the hospital), but there I didn’t feel comfortable with all the hustle and bustle. I had engorgementin the breasts, everything hurt, of course also the stitches and the little one just screamed at night. Of course everything settled down and in January my husband flew back. I will never forget the moment when he stood by our son’s bed at night, in full uniform, with tears in his eyes. It almost tore his heart out not knowing if he will ever see him again and if he will never be that small again.

United together

8 months later we are living happily and ‘almost’ healthy together in England and we are all enjoying the family get-togethers. It was a tough 5 months alone with Aiden for me, but we got through it well. Unfortunately, after the joint eaves, I became seriously ill and was diagnosed with MS. But even that will not be an obstacle for all of us and we will enjoy every second to the fullest.