It all started on Thursday March 17. My usual morning routine, I got up and went to the loo, on the way back, felt a gush of fluid, thought it was weird and maybe I had wet myself, grabbed a towel and put that between my legs, but it was soaked in a second, then got a 2nd and then a 3rd towel and they were all sopping wet. It was 8.40am at this stage and I still had to get the girls to school. I went into the kitchen and said to my Dad ‘You’ll have to take the girls to school, I think my waters have broken.’ He basically went into a mad panic and rushed them off to school.

I rang my OB, finally getting hold of him just after 9am. He asked me if I was just having a slow trickle, but when I told him that I was gushing fluid, he told me to get straight to the hospital. Stupidly, I hadnt even packed a bag or anything for hospital. I rushed around getting most of what I needed to and was hoping that it would be the right stuff, my brain really wasn’t working right. To be honest, I was freaking out as I was only just over 34 weeks. I rang DH at work to tell him that I was off to the hospital and that I would call him when I knew what was happening, I honestly thought that it was a false alarm.

We arrived at the hospital at 10.20am. went to reception to tell them that I was there and then was taken upstairs to the delivery suite in a wheelchair. My dad was told to wait in the relatives room, I was told to remove my underwear and hand over the pad I had on, it was definitely my waters had broken. They put the foetal monitor on and everything seemed fine. They rang my OB and it was decided that I would have a c/section at 7.30pm. I then had a cortisone injection to help the babies lungs. I rang DH and told him and it was organised that he would finish work at 3.30pm, go home pick up the camera and he would be there in time for the birth!

Dad came back and said that he would go home and organise stuff there so that he could bring the girls in that night. There was no point him waiting around for nothing. I rang a couple of friends to tell them what was happening. My midwife came back in to talk to me, and as we were talking I told her that I was feeling strange, well, my stomach was. She monitored me for a while and then took off to call my OB. I had no idea what was happening. She came back a few minutes later, which by this time was midday, to tell me that I was having my c/section at 1.30pm. as it turns out I was having contractions every 2 minutes and I didn’t even feel them!

They were now in a mad panic! I had to have another injection of cortisone, some antibiotics, a cathetar and a canular in my hand. I was to be prepared for theatre in another 15 minutes. So I had to ring DH at work. Well, this turned out to be a bad timing issue. DH was at lunch, the receptionist told me that I would have to ring back in ½ an hour, I ended up screaming at her to find him or he would miss the birth of his baby! It only took a couple of minutes for DH to ring me at the hospital and I told him to hurry up as I was almost ready to leave for theatre, would be going down at 1pm. It was now 12.20pm and it would take a while for him to drive there.

I was put in my gown, had the pre-med stuff put in my drip and we were almost ready to head down to theatre when DH arrived. They handed him the scrubs, gave him 2 minutes to get changed and we went down to theatre. We went into the pre-op anaesthesia room. The guy doing my spinal block was supposed to be one of the best! HA!!! I was sat up, told to curl up into a ball, really easy with a pregnant belly, not! He had 6 goes trying to get it in, kept asking me if he was hurting me, although I was screaming by then. He gave up and then had me lay down on my side, bang, it was in, or so he said.

I could still feel my legs, they were buzzing but I couldn’t move them. I was wheeled into theatre, my OB told me that I could have picked a better time as he was really busy that day! Like this was my choice! But he was so sweet. It took another few minutes to get me on the table and set up before they started with the c/section. My OB moved very quickly as he was worried, but told me that was his job anyway. It was extremely painful and I kept blacking out from the pain. It took him 6 minutes to get my baby out!

A gorgeous 6lb girl! She was 45cms long, head circumference 33cm born at 1.51pm on St Patricks Day!

I got to hold her for a few minutes before they whisked her away. I was then sewn up, whisked to recovery, and stayed there for about 15 minutes, before I was asking to go back to my room. There was just so much to do, most people didn’t even know I was there. I wanted to tell everyone about my baby!

Finally I was taken back to my room! The first person I rang was my sister at work! She almost fell off her chair when I told her that she was an aunty again! She was so excited and it was good because I got her to call my dad and let him know all the details. It was arranged that they would all come in together as it was easier that way.

Things went wrong with Hayley. It was decided at 4.30pm that she would have to be transferred to another hospital as she needed NICU for her immature lungs. I was devastated. I couldn’t get out of bed to see her and she couldn’t come and see me! I rang my Dad to tell him to get there quickly so that the girls could see their little sister before she left! It was an hour later that the paediatrician came back in to explain fully why Hayley needed to go to another hospital. It was pretty 50-50 what would happen!

The girls and my sister got to see Hayley before she left. The ambuance team brought Hayley across to see me before she left. She was so tiny and really struggling. I couldn’t stop crying. Off she went to the Mercy NICU! It was totally surreal being in the maternity ward without a baby!

I have to say that the staff from NICU were amazing, calling me every couple of hours, updating me on her progress. The girls and DH went over to visit every day, but I wasn’t allowed to until Sunday. However, Saturday afternoon, we got the call that she was to return to me, she was doing amazingly well! Better than anyone expected.

I was discharged on the 22nd. I still had to make 2-3 trips a day to take in my EBM, but that gave us time to spend with her and bath her, which she loved. Hayley was finally discharged on April 1 and is now really thriving!