Nikki's story - Taylah
Hi, my name is Nikki and I was 29 when I gave birth to my little
girl Taylah in March 2005. I was planning on having a water birth
and Taylah was due on the 23rd March but I tried to do everything
possible to make sure she came early - I took herbs, drank
raspberry leaf tea, had acupuncture sessions every few days (and
asked the acupuncturist to induce me at 38 weeks, when that didn't
work I tried reflexology), took homoeopathic remedies and took
several supplements including zinc which is supposed to help
facilitate an easy labour and prevent you from being
overdue. On the 27th of March I was still waiting and
extremely frustrated! I decided it was time to do the castor
oil thing. I also decided that it would be Murphy's law if I left
Auckland for the day, I was bound to go into labour! As it was
Easter weekend I decided to join my parents in Whangaparoa (half an
hour out of Auckland).
Within an hour of taking the 3 doses of castor oil I had
diarrhoea and felt nauseous - this continued all day and I was
quite worn out by the end of the day! I went to bed that night and
woke at 5am on the 28th with an intense period pain. I snoozed for
a bit longer and had another one half an hour later - "maybe this
is it!" I thought. I got out of bed and made myself a cup of
tea and decided to write down the times of these pains. I decided
to head back to Auckland and rang Taylah's father on the way.
The pains continued every half an hour all day - we watched videos,
went for a walk and got very bored waiting for something to
happen. Finally at 7pm I decided to make some dinner and
while I was in the kitchen I had my first contraction - it was
intense but only lasted for about 45 seconds. From then on
they were 20 mins apart, then 15 mins apart, at 10pm we decided to
try to get some sleep in between contractions but there was no
chance of that! At 3am they were 8mins apart and lasting for 1 1/2
minutes. I started vomiting because of the pain. I was
starting to get exhausted and woke Dave up so he could time my
contractions. We got up and watched TV and at 5am I told him I
couldn't take it - he had to ring my midwife. I was sure I
would be at least 5cm by now. When she told me I was only 2cm
and it would be at least another 8 hours to go I almost cried - my
plan for a water birth went out the window. She said I
couldn't have any Pethidine because that would slow down the
contractions and there would be no point in going to the hospital
now to have gas. The best thing I could do is go back to bed
and try to get some sleep - as if!!
At 10am the contractions were 6mins apart and still lasting for
1 1/2 mins - I told Dave to ring the midwife and let her know we
were on our way to the hospital - I needed an epidural! We got
to the hospital and I had some gas - it did absolutely
nothing. I got into the water and was quite surprised - I had
thought it would be quite good for pain relief but it didn't feel
any different. My midwife arrived at the hospital at 11am -
she checked me and said i was only 3cm - on average i had dilated
1cm every 6 hours! At 12am I finally had an epidural - bliss,
after vomiting for 9 hours i was exhausted and I could finally
rest. After a couple of hours the electrode monitor started to
hurt - it felt too tight around my belly and I couldn't get
comfortable enough to sleep. I told my midwife but she said it was
as loose as it could be. At 4pm I asked the midwife if she should
empty my catheter and she asked me if I could feel it. I
replied "no, but I've been drinking water all day and i have an IV
drip inserted". She emptied it - a litre of urine! No wonder i
had pain in my kidneys!
At 6.30pm my midwife told me I was fully dilated and I could
start pushing - I had only just started to drift off to sleep and I
couldn't muster enough energy to speak let alone push! I pushed but
the pain around my middle (where the electrode monitor sits) was
stopping me from pushing effectively. She had let the epidural
wear off so i could feel the contractions although i couldn't
really tell when one ended and the next one began. I tried to push
on all fours then another pain in my back - this time it was
further down across the whole of my lower back - i thought that it
must've been from that position so i tried lying on my back again
and pushed for another half an hour before that pain came back
again. I figured it out - i have to push through that pain to
get the baby out. After an almighty push she came out and a
feeling i can only describe as like having to cut my finger off to
get her out (I've since found out that I have Coccydinia and that
was why it was so painful - i should've had a steroid injection in
my Coccyx before labour). She was born at 7.50pm. All 8lb 12oz of
her lay on my stomach - i was still in so much pain with my back
that i couldn't hold her properly - i just wanted someone to take
her off me! She looked straight into my eyes and i couldn't
believe how alert she was. She started breastfeeding straight
away and knew exactly what to do.
After a shower and brushing my teeth (something i desperately
wanted to do after all that vomiting) i held my beautiful baby girl
and started bonding with her the way I thought I would when she was
first born. I have still never seen a newborn that is as
beautiful as Taylah was and she is now the prettiest little toddler
I have ever seen. I am so proud to be her mummy.