this was my first birth 5yrs ago, but i'm new to this site so thought i'd share it. be warned...its not nice!!!

ok, my first pregnancy went really smoothly, no morning sickness or anything! the labour on the other hand was horrendous!!!!
i first felt my contractions at around 4am and my then partner was at work doing the night shift so i called him and he was home within about
an hour, he then went straight to bed!!!! contractions started getting really bad around 3.30pm so went to the hospital...hitting around 10
red traffic lights (me yelling at him to go faster, him yelling at me cos he couldn't) when we finally got there, i was sent from one ward to
another, then back again (useless hospital!) eventually i got a bed and was being taken care of by two trainee midwifes.
at 6.30pm, i was examined and told i was 6cm dialated and had approx 4hrs left as it was an hour per cm (apparently) so i told my then partner to go call my mum as she wanted to be there and the midwifes left to get me some pethadine(SP) as the gas and air made me feel ill especially as i had a chest infection. anyway, as they all left i had an almighty contraction and the next thing i know, something was bulging between my legs (no not the baby, my waters as they hadn't broken yet) i pressed the alarm button and one of the midwifes came back in clutching the needle full of pethadine (as you can imagine, i didn't get it in the end!) they broke my waters and had a look and said ''i can see the babys head'' within minutes i felt the urge to push, my then partner was still no where to be seen (he'd gone for a cigarette too) about 5
mins into pushing, he came back and then seconds later i heard the midwife say ''breech'' and withinn seconds the room was full of doc's.
first of all they tried to push baby back up and turn him around (they figured it wasn't gonna work after 5mins) and it was too late for a
c-section so i had to give birth to a breech baby, naturally...with NO pain relief!!!
it took around 5mins to get the body out and then a further 15mins to get the head out, i had to be cut in the end as i
simply could push anymore. once our son was fully born,he had the cord wrapped around his neck and and swalled merconium(SP) and his
heartbeat had dropped dramaticly, he had to be rushed away to have his lungs cleared and be resusatated(SP). i on the other hand was made to get up and walk across the room, holding a sanitary towel to myself  (before being stitched up) while they cleared to bed!
after i was stitched up, i asked the doc how many stitches and was simply told ''too many to count!!'')
thankfully our son was fine, weighed in at 5lb 15 1/2oz (only one day early) and we went home after a week but... my story doesn't end there!!!
about10 weeks later, we we're visiting my mother-in-law (around 300milesaway from our home) and i was still bleeding, i'd been to the doc's
several times and was told i must have an infection and was given antibiotics, but while we were away, the blood turned black and i smelt
of rotton flesh down there (sorry, i know, not nice!)i got an emergency appointment with a doc and was told the same thing as before (infection
and antibiotics) but i put my foot down and said he had to do an internal examination as something really wasn't right, he gave in and
did one and gagged when he went to have a look, he then said he could see something in there and sent me straight to hospital as he couldn't
remove it himself.
at the hospital, another doc examined me and manged to get the offending item out, turns out it was a swab left in
there from the birth!!! they tried to say it was a tampon but i just said that it must have been there before i got pregnant as i hadn't
used one since givng birth!!!! i was given about 5 different types of antibiotics to take away with me and sent home, it then took my normal
doc 6 weeks to contact me and i was then told that whatever had been inside had been thrown away before being properly tested!!!!
as you can imagine...it wasn't the greatest first birth that i thought it would be!!!

OMG!  What a horrible experience, especially for your first baby.  I'm sorry that you had to go through that.  Thankfully, you and your son are okay.  Hopefully your second birth was a lot better.  Thanks for sharing!