The arrival and first few days of Leah Annabel
I was scheduled for induction at 6:30am on the 15th, the Ob had told me to ring at 6 to check that they were ready. So I called just before 6 and the MW told me they wouldnt be ready until 8 and to come in then. So we decided to leave just before the girls woke up, so they didn't get too upset about us leaving. We drove around for a little while and then arrived at the hospital at around 7:30. I sat in the foyer of the hospital looking at status updates on FB on my phone while DH parked the car, and at about 7:45 we decided to walk up to Birth Suite, with my frame. Got to the Birth Suite just before 8 and waited.
My student MW arrived at around 8:30 and Mum arrived a bit before her, after dropping of the girls at Kindy. There were 2 other inductions happening and they were both needing the Ob's attention so I had to wait until they were finished (either 1 or both ended in emergency CS). The Ob finally came to break my waters at 11:05. There was not too much fluid and I didn't leak to much with movement either. I sat on the bed for a while with the monitor, and then when they turned the monitor off I sat on the birth ball and bounced. The MW avoided me while I was on the ball because she said it made her feel sick :lol:. I was allowed to see if nature would take it's course until 2pm, and then had some more monitoring and was told if it hadn't picked up by 3 I had to go on the Synto. At 3:15 the Synto went on. I started getting contractions, but they werent coming quite often enough by the 1/2 hour mark, so at 3:45 it got turned up. It got turned up once more but I can't remember when. Until the synto started I was regularly updating my FB status to keep me entertained while we waited.
When I agreed to the Synto I had said that if it got things started I wanted it to be turned off once I was established. The Ob had gone into theatre again and the MW couldn't switch it off with the Ob's say-so. I had to sign a form at some stage when I asked about having a physiological 3rd stage, declining the synto remaining on until the placenta was birthed. I had the Synto on until Leah was born and it was switched off immediately. Mum and my SMW both had to go and sort out kids at about 5:15ish, Mum was picking up my kids and my SMW had to sort out care for her kids (Her DH is away at the moment, and I had told her that her family is her priority). They both just missed the birth, but my SMW caught a baby in the car park on her way out instead. She arrived in time to witness most of the 3rd stage, which was very helpful for her with her studies. The Placenta only took 15 minutes, and the contractions for that were as strong and close together as the end of 2nd stage labour!!
Leah was born facing my left leg, which made the Ob think that Malpositioning was the cause of the DSP. I had grazing all the way around, which is still very tender on the left.
Leah took almost an hour to be ready to feed. I was trying to get her to latch during the 3rd stage to speed it up, but I didnt really need her sucking to get it out, considering it was out before she became interested in feeding. We got to Maternity ward around 9pm, after my parents had brought the girls in to see Leah briefly and she had been weighed and measured. I had an excellent male MW, who did a lot of the passing Leah to me for feeds, and told me that he was more than happy to do the passing between me and the cot. The first day she was rather unsettled and fussy, she had the jitters and the sneezes so she got admitted to the Special Care Nursery at 10pm that night. She stayed there for a day and a half, and I wheelchaired myself up to the SCN approximately every 3 hours, and stayed there for at least an hour each time.
She was discharged from SCN on Thursday and we came home that night. We were in hospital for a total of 3.5 days.
Leah is very petite, 6lb9oz, and wears 00000, even with her massive clothie butt!! She feeds like a dream and doesnt puke which is awesome!! I finally got a baby that isn't covering me in milk smell, it's only my BBs that do that :lol:
