Sorry ladies, this has to go back a few days before she was born so it might be a bit long.

On Tuesday 21/10/08 I had a midwife appointment. My BP was up and they found protein in my urine. A blood test was done and depending on the results I might have had to go to hospital.

On Wednesday 22/10, the midwife phoned me and told me that I needed to go to the hospital the next day for a day stay - bugger.

Thursday 23/10 - today is my 40th birthday and I got some lovely pressies and breaky in bed. Later I have to go into the hospital. Was told 3pm but then had a phone call asking if I could come in at 2pm instead as they had a cancellation. I got there at 2pm and was put on a monitor, had BP done (higher still), got to pee in a cup lol and they found low traces of protein this time. More blood tests were done and everything was normal. They couldn't get the Dr to look at me as he was off delivering a baby so they let me go home yay but told me to be prepared to come back in if the Dr wanted to see me. At home I got a (not so) surprise party lol that the kids decided to throw for me

Friday 24/10 - Got a phone call at 10am - yes the Dr wanted to see me and he wanted me there at 11am Had to rush to get toddler DD ready and in the truck and then drive to the hospital (at least 40 mins away). Got to the hospital and found a park fairly easily. Got to the clinic on time but Dr is running late - finally get to see the Dr at 1pm. He tells me that I need to be admitted, that I have pre eclampsia, and that I need to be monitored carefully. Guess what???? I left my bag at home . He was very nice and told me to drive home carefully and get my bag and come back in. I phoned DF at work, who told me that he would meet me at home so that he could drive me back in. After picking up my bag and having a friend of DF's (who was staying with us fortuitously) mind the kids, we were off again to the hospital. When we arrived we were admitted to the ward and my BP was monitored again. It had risen even higher. Everyone was getting very worried but I wasn't lol. They constantly asked me if I had a headache or was seeing stars but I didn't have any symptoms. After a while I had my BP done again and it was so high that they rushed me up to delivery suite to have a canula put in and some meds injected to try to bring it down. At this time the Dr was saying that they would induce me sometime during the next week.The Dr had come in with 2 registrars (female) and they tried to turn the baby. Bubs wasn't having anything to do with it lol so they did an internal (female registrar did it and OMG she just shoved her hand in there - ouchies) and they found that I was 1cm dilated anyway. They started to do an induction with a catheter geared at 3cm. If I reached that, the catheter would just fall out.

Saturday 25/10 - Constant BP monitoring showed that my BP wasn't going down and they got very worried now. They talked to me about a c/s. If I didn't go into labour then it would be done tomorrow . The catheter was taken out and I started losing mucous and having mild contractions. I thought yay it was starting. I still had to sign the forms to consent to a c/s for the next day but thought I still might be able to have a normal delivery.

Sunday 26/10 - Woke up at 1.19am with pains in the belly. Went to the toilet and lost heaps more mucous. I was getting nervous about the planned c/s, I had agreed to try a spinal but that the anaethetist could only have one attempt to get it in and then I wanted a GA. My Dr agreed that that was acceptable ( thank god)

At 7.45am DF arrives and I have a shower. The midwife Rhonda arrives and stays with us the whole time. She was fantastic and answered all DF's questions. He was never concerned or worried with anyone at this hospital.

At 12.30pm I got wheeled up to theatre and had to wait until after 1pm to see the anaesthetist - Trevor, who was lovely. He listened to all my fears about the spinal and agreed to the once only attempt. Luckily he got it in first time after using a local to numb the area first. It was the weirdest feeling. It felt like my body was really warm from the waist down and then it was pins and needles. Was wheeled into theatre and prepped. Shortly after, the c/s began. I remember feeling lots of tugging and pulling and pushing. Later I was told that Meara had moved after they had made the incision and they had to go hunting for her. Talk about stubborn lol. They found one leg and pulled her around and then grabbed the other and she came out feet first. As they were pulling her head out she swallowed some of the blood so was a bit mucousy at first.

I remember feeling sick at one point and thought I was going to throw up but that passed as soon as she was born. They took her over to a table to check her out and as they declared that she was ok, they wrapped her up and brought her over to meet us. She was placed on my chest and we got to say our first hellos. She was so tiny compared to my others. The feelings just welled up inside and it was love all over again. I admit I cried but so did David. He was thrilled to have another girl to love. In recovery they checked Meara out again and weighed and measured her, then she was left unwrapped so that we could have some skin on skin time. She looked so little and scrawny so I was surprised when I was told she was 3.28kg and 52cm long. The skin on skin time was great. I was raised up a bit so that I could hold her properly and she immediately started searching for the boob She had a nice long drink there in recovery before we were wheeled to the ward.

If you have managed to get through all this - good on ya lol. Whew it was an epic. It wasn't my planned birth but still it all came good in the end.

Thanks for reading

Kim