Nicholas John's birth story (very long!)

[Janie]

Sorry this is so long, I just couldn't stop typing once I started! I wanted to have a really good record of our labour and delivery, so that's what I've posted in here.

The week leading up to the 29th of April, Nicholas' birthday, was certainly eventful! Exactly one week before, at about 7pm Sunday evening, I was walking through the house to the back door when I rolled over on my ankle and broke my foot! At this stage I was 34 weeks and 1 day pregnant and was very worried about how I was going to cope in labour with a cast on my leg. I had planned for an active birth and really wanted to get through labour and delivery with nothing more than gas. I could see all my dreams flying out the window, and was quite upset about it. Fortunately, the hospital referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon who got rid of the cast and organised for me to have a boot. I was so happy about this, because with the boot I could walk around (albeit slowly!) unaided, and I was able to remove it to shower etc. And of course, there was still at lest a few weeks to go until the baby would arrive, so my foot should be feeling a lot better by then...............

So it had been a very busy and tiring week by the time Saturday the 28th rolled around - the day of my baby shower! My lovely friend, who is also a neighbour, had organised it for me, and there were about 25 people coming. My mum arrived early to help me get ready and then wheeled me down to Sara's house. I felt a bit out of it, but put it down to tiredness. I didn't really manage to eat or drink much, and while I was opening the presents I just felt like I was in slow motion. A friend sitting next to me actually suggested that I hurry up a bit so we weren't sitting there all night! A few people commented that I looked quite flushed. It was lovely to see everyone, but I found the whole day very tiring. After most people had left Andrew came down to eat leftovers and say hello. A few minutes into his visit I said that maybe we should go home - he and Sara laughed and joked that I wasn't going to have the baby tonight, and Sara said I should just leave him be to watch the footy with her partner while we had a chat. I just wanted to cry and cry (no reason!) and I asked Sara to go downstairs and tell Andy I wanted to go home. He wheeled me home, where I sat on the couch and cried some more! He was very worried about me and asked what was wrong - I told him I figured it was just hormones and tiredness.

My mum called me to see how I was. While I was chatting to her, at 9.00pm, I was sitting on our bed and she said something that made me laugh. I thought I had wet myself!!!! I remember feeling annoyed that my pelvic floor excercises weren't working! I got up to go to the bathroom and the fluid kept leaking. When I checked, I saw that it was pale pink and I instantly realised that my waters had broken! I excitedly hobbled out to Andy (with my knickers as evidence!) and told him that despite all his jokes, it was likely that we were going to have a baby, if not tonight, then tomorrow! He was so funny, he jumped off the couch, turned off the telly, put on his jumper, grabbed the keys and said "let's go"! I said I wasn't going anywhere yet, I was half-naked and I hadn't finished packing the bags! He wanted me to call the hospital, but I wasn't prepared to do that until I was ready to go, in case it made me panic. So I pottered around for 45 minutes packing the bags and getting Andy to load the car. During that time I had one mild little pain, I probably wouldn't have noticed it if my waters hadn't broken already. I called the hospital who told me to come straight in as I was only 35 weeks. Just after the phone call I had another pain, stronger this time so I decided to take two Panadeine as we were about to be in the car for about 45 minutes and I didn't want to be too uncomfortable. At 10.00pm we hopped in the car and set off for Frances Perry House. We called our parents from the car to let them know, and organised for Andy's parents to pick up our dog. Once we got going, things got interesting - I went from having two very mild contractions in an hour, to having stronger contractions every four minutes. I was very worried that our baby was going to arrive in the car! Poor Andy, it was the only time I got aggressive during labour, I swore at any car who dared to be in the same lane as us, even if they were going at the same speed or faster! And it really felt like we got every single red light, which I swore about too! And then it started raining so I swore at that as well!

Once we were at the hospital though I definitely relaxed. We parked out the front and waited until I had a contraction before I hobbled my way in on my crutches. I was so scared of having a contraction while I was walking in the hospital, while on crutches! The midwives couldn't believe it when they saw me arrive, they all laughed at me with my broken foot. We were shown to the delivery suite where our midwife explained where and what everything was and then hooked me up to the CTG. Everything was fine with me and bubs, so I said I'd like to hop in the shower. Our midwife left us to it and I spent a wonderful hour sitting in the shower with one nozzle on my back and Andy spraying my tummy with the other nozzle during contractions. Our midwife then told us that Dr Cole was on his way, although he wasn't on call that night, they had let him know I was in labour and he said he would come in to check on me - lovely man! So when he arrived I made my way to the bed so he could check on my progress. He said it was early stages but I was definitely in established labour. He said he thought that bubs would be fine, but that he would organise a paediatrician to be present as I was only 35 weeks. He then said that if I wanted an epidural there was an anaesthetist in the hospital right now so I would need to have it soon, I told him I was fine. They then said if I wanted pethidene I shouldn't leave it too long, again I said I was fine. Dr Cole and the midwife were really happy with that, and again, everyone left us to it! I hopped back in the shower for awhile, and then decided that I wanted to get active. So Andy helped me to get out of the shower, and get dressed (sort of!) and put my boot on (great look!). I walked around alot and during contractions I would lean on the window sill and rock my pelvis back and forth while Andy put a heat pack on my lower back. The view out the window was great, a lovely night skyline of the city, it was something really nice to focus on. I was still pretty good in between contractions at this stage and we chatted and laughed, took photos, and I text my friend in Canada to let her know what was happening. Things were progressing well though and eventually it was starting to hurt a little more, so Andy went and ran the bath for me. While we were waiting our midwife came in and added some lovely oils to the water and checked that we were okay, which we most definitely were! She left again, and I hopped in the bath - WOW! I loved the bath, and I didn't have to worry about my foot in there which was great. Andy was wonderful through everything, but particularly this time. He placed cold face washers on my forehead, he put pressure on my lower back during contractions (which ruined his back I think!), he fed me water and juice and jelly and continually made sure the water was the right temperature for me. Our midwife came back to put me on the CTG (she explained it was because I had gone into premature labour), again, things were fine so I got back in the bath. I said that it was getting quite painful now, so she set up the gas in the bathroom for me - WOW again! Loved the gas! I was 7cm dilated at this point, and was very pleased that I had gotten that far without any pain relief. Things got a little bit blurry for me after that, but I remember it being an amazing time. It took me awhile to get a hang of the gas. Prior to that I had been moaning and yelling during contractions which I found to be fantastic pain release. Of course sucking on the gas made that impossible, but once I had the hang of things the gas worked wonders! When the midwife next checked on me I was fully dilated so she just waited until I said I had a real feeling of pressure and I wanted to get out. At 7am I hopped out of the bath, said goodbye to our midwife, and hello to our new one and Dr Cole. I tried a few different things for pushing for awhile, but nothing was happening. His head was right down but not coming any further. I was quite tired by this stage and my foot was giving me trouble so I had to sit on the bed. I found that to be the best position at the time with my legs drawn right back. I kept pushing and pushing, still no progress whatsoever. At 9am Dr Cole (who had been in and out) explained that bubs had gotten himself into a difficult position. Apart from being posterior, he was sort of on his side too. He was worried (as I was too by now) that we were heading towards a caesarean which both of us definitely did not want! Poor Andy was not really enjoying himself at this stage, he was worried about me and bubs and was feeling a bit helpless. Dr Cole suggested I think about an epidural so he could manouvere bubs into a better position for delivery. Not much to think about for us! Although I had been adamant I wasn't having an epi, by now I just wanted to push my baby out so I told them to go right ahead and call the anaesthetist. Well, I thought I did, apparently I looked at everyone blankly and eventually Andy told them to do it! The anaesthetist turned up at 9.20am and gave me the epi. We left it to work for about 40 minutes and at about 10.10am, after Dr Cole moved Nicky around, I started pushing again. He came a bit further, but we still weren't having any luck so Dr Cole explained that he was going to give me an episiotomy and try using the vacuum. A few attempts later we still hadn't gotten any further so he brought out the forceps.

At 11.03am on Sunday the 29th of April 2007, with a big push from mum and a big pull from Dr Cole, Nicholas John was brought into the world! The relief as his head emerged was immense, it was the most amazing feeling in the world! They placed him straight on my tummy and Andy cut the cord. Andy and I cried over him, I had a quick cuddle and then the paediatrician whisked him away to check him over. Nicholas weighed 5lbs 1oz, or 2.325kgs, head circumference was 35cms and length was 44 cms. He was amazing, his apgars were 9 and 10, but the paed explained that he would like him monitored in the special care nursery for the first 24 hours, just to make sure he was fine. I got to have a lovely cuddle and then Andy went with him to the SCN, while I was stitched up. As Dr Cole was doing his suturing I told them I would come back and do it again tomorrow I loved it so much! All of the staff said that Nicholas had probably done me a favour as if he'd gone to term I probably would have ended up with a caesar because he was so stuck. And the midwives later said to me that I was lucky to have Dr Cole, any other Ob would have had me in theatre rather than do what he did. After a shower I went to see Nicholas but I hit the wall really badly so they showed us to our room, gave me two panadeine forte and I had a lovely sleep. Fortunately, Nicholas did really well in the SCN so were able to bring him in with us the next morning which was so exciting! We had a lovely five day stay in hospital, but we were very excited to bring our beautiful Nicholas home with us. We are so, so lucky.

I loved labour, we loved our whole experience and we just love being a family!

Congrats if you made it this far! Hope you enjoyed our story - I certainly did!