Vick Grubb, 32, from Bournemouth had to be induced earlier than she expected but the experience of childbirth has brought her and Mike closer together.
Why were you induced?
I had to be induced because I spent the first few days of my 38th week in hospital with high blood pressure. They thought I had pre-eclampsia so they monitored me closely. On the day I was induced I was sent home from hospital and they said to come back if I felt sick. That night Mike ordered a pizza and I couldn't eat it as I felt so sick, so we went back to the maternity ward. I thought I would end up going home but the specialist said I'd have to be induced. That was a bit of a shock.
What happened next?
Mike went home to get my stuff and I was given a pessary to start me off. The next morning I stopped contracting as the pessary was wearing off so I was given another one and a sweep to check if I was dilating. I don't think I was at that stage. There was a lot of waiting around but they said they were going to induce me properly but it took until 6pm. In the day I used a TENS machine to stop the pain but the contractions weren't that serious, I later discovered. I felt that I didn't need anything apart from gas and air. About 7pm they broke my waters, at which time they did the changeover with the maternity nurses. You get used to one girl and I felt scared that she was leaving but I managed to get through that. After that I started to get more and more contractions. When they broke my waters they put me on a really large sanitary towel over the bed. I had quite a lot of amniotic fluid so that was a shock. The actual breaking of the waters was quite painful but it's not as painful as a sweep.
So how did things progress?
Everything was going quite well. At midnight my contractions got closer together and I was fully dilated. At that point I was ready to push. They were really pleased with my progress and they thought it would be over really quickly. They suggested I have an epidural as labour can be much more painful if you're induced as everything is unnatural. I was against it at first but then I was in a lot of pain so I had the epidural. It did really help but I was pushing and nothing was happening. I think after two hours he hadn't really moved. They tried turning him and we tried all sorts of pushing techniques. It was about four in the morning and I'd been pushing for four hours. They weren't concerned as his heartbeat was fine but they felt he was lodged in there. It seemed he wasn't going to come out and they were worried if they left it any longer there might be a problem with blood pressure. They took me into theatre to try the ventouse. They upped the epidural and I couldn't feel anything from my breast down. There were seven doctors and nurses there. I couldn't feel anything so I couldn't even tell if I was pushing. In the end they used forceps, that's the last resort before a C-Section. The forceps worked - it pulled him out straight away. He had a lot of bruising and I was really upset as I couldn't hold him. They told me to breastfeed but I couldn't feel anything. That was the worst part of the whole thing.
How did you feel when you saw Dylan?
It was very emotional because you can't believe that something so wonderful has come from you. When they open their eyes and look at you - it's like a little alien. It's so emotional - you can't believe that they are finally here, they've come from you and you've made them. All the feeling of pain does just go immediately. I forgot the pressure and the horrible feeling I had. It's brought me and Mike closer together.