Welcome to the tenth instalment of our Real Birth Story Series! This instalment was contributed by Ruby Hunt, creator of her gorgeous businesses – Piper and the little, and Biddy Hunt.  Ruby is a mum of one little human – the gorgeous Spencer, who is 8.5 months old, as well as Piper – her fur baby who is 6 years old. Ruby’s story outlines her long labour and the subsequent stressful and painful afterbirth complications and is told with humour. 

Please check out this gorgeous lady’s contribution, and I hope you enjoy this instalment as much as I did xxx

My Birth Story.

I’ll try to keep it short lol.

Ah where to start!

Getting pregnant was no easy road for us. After many years of trying, seeing doctors and totally reaching utter obsession over it, I decided I’d step back for a few months and let whatever happen and come to terms with the fact that it may not have been on the cards for us.

It was starting to take over my/our lives and ironically it was literally only a few weeks after making this decision that it magically happened! Ha!

Pregnancy was a breeze for me. There was a bit of nausea at the start, some back pain at the end and one cracked rib from giant pounding feet, but otherwise it was fairly smooth sailing.

The baby was cooking well, bar a few uncertainties with his size. Some measurements suggested he was a few weeks behind, and this led to a growth scan which actually showed him a few weeks BIGGER in size. And that totally freaked me out! In the end he was born only a wee 2 and a bit kilos. Hmmm.

At 36 weeks I saw my Doctor who told me it would be safe for the baby to come anytime after Saturday (this was Tuesday), but that he would prefer he cooked another 2 weeks. Mind you, showing as large as he was, a little early wouldn’t have hurt.

Sure enough, on Sunday morning my waters broke…It wasn’t the big gush that you see in movies. Instead it was a small trickle. Just enough to make one whale-sized sleep-deprived mama sure that she’d just had a little accident (and the best part) right in the middle of maternity photo session!

By Sunday afternoon, after a number of these ‘did i just pee my pants’ moments, I realized I wasn’t going crazy and the contractions started. They were slow and really quite tame, but strong enough to make me aware of what was going on.

By 5am (after a long night in the shower) I rang the hospital. I was apparently still sounding chipper because I was told it was likely to be just Braxton Hicks if I could still crack a joke. I was then told to pop in at 8am just in case.

I went in, hopped on the machine and sat for an hour while they monitored…something. And by “they” I mean “the machine”, as there wasn’t a nurse in sight.

On the Monitor – Image © mummalifelovebaby on behalf of Ruby Hunt

At this point I realised that I was totally out of my depth and understanding, and I hadn’t even the slightest clue as to what questions I should have been asking. Instead I just assumed they’d talk to me eventually. Wrong!! Nope, they sent me home, told me it WAS Braxton Hicks and to come back when the real event happened. They even told me something like that 80% of women’s waters don’t actually break before labour begins and not to assume (ha ha).

I popped on home, disappointed but relieved as I hadn’t even packed my hospital bag! Though thankfully I did after I got home, because around lunch time the hospital rang me up again and said maybe you should pop back in at 5pm. So in again I went.

At 8:30pm they finally got around to seeing me (it was a small town, apparently there were a heap of babies born that day). They left me again in a room with only my thoughts, my husband and the machine, so my anxiety took over.

At 10pm they came in, gave me some Panadol and a pillow and suggested I get comfy. At that point, I toooooottttally lost control, and cried like a baby for the first time in my pregnancy. I mean, how could I stay overnight when I’d told my dog I’d be back?!

They must have thought that I was reaaally crazy because they let me go. I laugh now, but they made me promise I’d be back if it got any worse (or by 7am at the latest), but still didn’t give me any other information.

Assuming that I was just going to be popped back on the monitor, I arrived by 7am dressed like I’d be outta there in an hour or two. I casually rolled up to the counter and got greeted with “oh yes you are here to be induced! Are you excited?”

UHMMMMM, WHAT DID YOU SAY!

Even though I had said 42,847 times since my first phone call that I was certain my waters had broken Sunday morning, it had taken them until Tuesday to actually listen. By this point I was well and truly past the infection risk period- and yet was hooked up to antibiotics before I’d even had the chance to call my parents and say get in the car (they lived 6 hours away).

I had no idea what to expect, I mean, I had thought that I still had near a month to research this stuff!! Were they joking? Apparently not…

As far as I knew, inducing was just a gel that got the ball rolling. Other than that I had no idea there was multiple types or how they worked!! At this point I’d also never experienced the joy of having people pop in to oh-so-casually check on your lady bits. What an experience that is.

Thankfully I was introduced to this with the best man for the job (ha). He arrived with an accent and a string of really horrific jokes and made rupturing what was left of the membranes not so bad. Though I do remember thinking f”%$# that hurt”… but what did I know ha.
It was later confirmed that my membranes HAD broken Sunday morning, so there was a bit of hysteria around getting him out ASAP to avoid an emergency C-Section.

Following the doctor rupturing what was left of my membranes, a sweet midwife came in and started hooking me up to this and that. I remember her taking my knickers and telling me that “that ship had sailed” haha.

 

Being Monitored At The Hospital – Image © mummalifelovebaby on behalf of Ruby Hunt

My sweet friend Jade arrived with her camera and shortly after she arrived, so did the contractions.

The drip was in and the pain was amping up. It was bearable though, and I do remember thinking- “I can DO this”.

I also remember the midwives telling me we were against the clock and that my body wasnt responding quick enough, though if she’d felt the pain she might have thought differently!!

The drip was turned up and boy did it work fast. I remember the pain being bearable still. Horrific, but bearable. But the tightness???!!!! Oh boy!

I remember not being able to breathe, thinking to myself if they don’t stop this soon then I will actually go into some kind of cardiac arrest and end up with a C-section anyway!!

I’d been against the gas because pain I can take, but nausea is a big fat no no! If I feel sick, then that’s it, I’m done! But by this point I was ready to try almost anything so I gave it a go.

Image © mummalifelovebaby on behalf of Ruby Hunt

A helpful hand – Image (c) mummalifelovebaby on behalf of Ruby Hunt

Sure enough it just made me loopy- a good joke for everyone in the room. And then I was begging for an epidural, the one thing I had gone in SURE I wouldn’t do.

Help to Breathe and focus – Image © mummalifelovebaby on behalf of Ruby Hunt

It felt like years, but finally the registrar arrived. Had I not had the gas, I may have realised it was not an aenthestist, but that’s another story. 3 people held me up whilst I slurred about not being able to sit still and then it was in.

Only seconds later I could open my eyes and think clearly again. I very clearly remember hearing them behind me saying “well that shouldn’t have worked that quickly” but in such relief I overlooked it.

Instead, I sat about marvelling over the epidural and wondering why more women don’t get them.

My mum arrived, and they all ate in front of me. I tried to eat a sandwich but that sweet midwife took it off me.

And then…Student nurse Doug arrived. He actually referred to himself as “Doug The Jouster”.

He was strange and I spent a lot of the day thinking this.

Midwives came and went and people continued to eat in front of me, but I was pain-free and couldn’t care less about anything haha. There was a small hiccup with the epidural wearing off (I was sure it was too good to be true) but after it was then turned up to the point where I couldn’t feel my arms anymore, it was then turned back down again and resolved itself. People played with my feet and made jokes whilst I was totally none the wiser.

Midwives and Doctors started to whisper and apparently forgot that I was not in any pain and had all my hearing. I heard them discussing how the baby was in distress, and that they were prepping for that C-section!

A midwife sat down with me (whilst they had me rolling from side to side to Spence’s liking) and told me that they didn’t think they would see baby before the end of their shift at 9pm! I felt defeated as it was only 5pm. It’d already been 3 days!

Sulking to myself, I noticed gloves going on, and I was sure that I was off to theatre. And then I noticed my legs were moving… and not by me!

Another quick check had shown a large change, and by that I mean I had gone from 3cm to the top of his head in only minutes. Boy they had REALLY turned that drip up!

I was told to prepare for a few hours of hard work and yet 4 pushes (20 mins later, at 5:37pm) my sweet boy was in my arms!

The Moment Spencer Arrived – Image © mummalifelovebaby on behalf of Ruby Hunt

It had been a slow start, but he made up for it in the end. Or at least, it had made work for the doctor who then had to spend 2 hours sewing up my 4 second-degree tears. Seeing that fishing hook was so freaky, while they said things like “does that go there?”, and “let us know if you start to feel anything”.

I sat around with my mum and Dave and my precious new bundle, ringing people and taking it all in.

At 10:30pm I was wheeled into a shower, still with no feeling in my legs. This was the beginning of a very unsure time for me. In fact, I was petrified. I managed to survive the shower and said goodbye to my family and was taken to maternity with my little Spence.

A very new and squishy Spencer – Image © mummalifelovebaby on behalf of Ruby Hunt

It was scary being left with a fresh baby, a pile of stitches, a fear of hospitals and no feeling in your legs!

A beautiful midwife must have picked up on my anxiety, because she ended up sitting with me (on the floor!!) half the night and just talking to me, she was wonderful.

She sent me to the toilet 3 or 4 times before she did a little ultrasound and told me that my bladder was still epiduralised, so a wee bag went in and off to bed I went. Spence slept all night and I laid there wondering how life would work now.

At 8am, my dad arrived with a surprise visit and it was all uphill from there. The wee bag was out, my legs were back in action and my family arrived. Spenny had his first bath, I survived my first wee and they sent me home not 24 hours after he was born, so my anxiety was thrilled, I was outta there!!!

I couldn’t wait to get my baby home.

A few days later I ended up back in hospital with a spinal headache (crippling to the point of not being able to sit up) and an infection in the epidural hole. It had gone in too deep, which is why it had worked so fast.

After an overnight stay and a tonne of drugs, I was back home, in not-great-but-ok shape the next day.

Fast forward a week, and I ended up in emergency with big clots. It was a horrific experience. The doctor told me it was “normal to bleed after your first baby” whilst ripping open my stitches with some very unpleasant tool checking for clotting.

After being sent home, I saw my normal doctor knowing something was wrong. And 3 weeks after Spencer was born, she found that some of the placenta was still attached!

It turned out Doug had thrown it in the bin without checking it was all there, the same bin the sweet midwife had put my sandwich in!! And because of that, I had infections galore.

I was put on all sorts of antibiotics, and I was given 3 days for it to remove itself or I’d need surgery.  Thankfully moved on its own, and what a pleasant experience that was!!!! -_-

Following this (ha) I ended up in emergency again with my month old baby and my petrified husband, while they checked for more clots, this time in my brain as my hands and feet were numb.

After 2 days in hospital, I left knowing I had nerve damage in my lower back from the Epidural going in wrong. It was only very minor, and thankfully nothing more serious than that. Over time, more infections presented themselves, all leading back to my waters breaking and nothing being done sooner.

Overall this is an experience that I am hesitant to share for fear of scaring others, but at the same time I figure that if someone reads my story and it means they speak up when something seems wrong (even if they have no clue), then it was worth sharing.

For me, it’ll be a while before I consider another baby, because labour isn’t for everyone, and I’m starting to understand that is ok.

But fast forward 8 months and although it was such a tough journey, it was worth every contraction, every infection, and every second.

We are both happy and healthy and I am absolutely in love with my little (now 11kg) man!

xxx

Ruby is the creator of the gorgeous Piperandthelittle Instagram page, which came about during pregnancy when Ruby discovered Instagram. She started out by posting random pics of her house and baby collection (as well as Piper), and she now has over 11.3K followers who are inspired every day by her beautiful feed.

Not only will she inspire you with her Piper + The Little Instagram account, but she also runs a second business – Biddy Hunt, which she started 3 years ago when she and her husband moved 6 hours from home to a country town for his work.  In her own words “No jobs and serious amount of boredom = biddy hunt”. Via Biddy Hunt, Ruby creates stunning Bamboo blankets, wall hangings and bibs as well as other beautiful quality accessories for sale.

If you want to follow Ruby’s journey, be inspired by her gorgeous images, and purchase her stunning products, then you can check her out via the following platforms. Enjoy xx

Instagram: piperandthelittle

Web: biddyhunt

Instagram: biddyhunt 

Facebook: biddyhunt