The birth story of little Liam Brock
The Birth Story of little Liam! :boy: Feb 18 2006
But first a brief run down.
After trying to conceive for 6 months I thought it best to see my OB to make sure everything was fine with me and check on the status of endometriosis as I thought this may be the cause of not getting pregnant. After a laparoscopy and removal of what was there we were sent on our way to try again with the help of Clomid for a couple of months. Unfortunately this did not help so we were referred to Hunter IVF. After preliminary testing it showed that DH was fine (much to his delight) and so too was I. It was decided that medication I was taking for arthritis may have been the downfall in our quest in achieving a pregnancy. So I was taken off all my medications and started our first cycle of IVF. To our delight we were successful with our first attempt. I had to have Clexane injections for the duration of the pregnancy to help thin my blood for the arthritis, but also to aid sufficient flow through the placenta and to prevent blood clots forming so bubs would be healthy.
Fast forward 37weeks.
Wednesday 15th Feb -
After seeing my OB (at 37 weeks and 5 days) on her return from holidays she decided due to my rising blood pressure and elevated blood results it would be best to meet my baby. And not soon enough I say. We knew we would be meeting him early from the start of my pregnancy as I was having clexane injections to help with my arthritis and to prevent any blood clots forming and causing problems with either myself or the flow to the placenta. She advised me to contact the hospital first thing the next morning to arrange a time to go in to have the gel in order to get things going. So we went out with our son for dinner as our last night as a family of three, kind of as a special time for him as we knew the next week or so would mainly be focussed on his new brother.
Thursday 16th Feb –
I rang the delivery suite at 8:30am to find out what time I needed to be there. After a quick chat we decided it would be fine for us to drop our son off at preschool and go from there, so roughly 9:30am. Just as we arrived at the hospital and were pulling into the car park my husbands phone rang and we were advised that all of the delivery suites were now full as they had become very busy and that they were really sorry but they were going to put me off until the following morning. Needless to say we were not impressed. :fuming: Not only the fact that we had just spoken to them to confirm everything and just arrived, but I was all prepared to hopefully have my son that day. I asked about the possibility of coming back later that day and staying overnight but the midwife said no, even though I had expressed the fact that the OB had actually requested I do that the previous night. So, feeling very disappointed we decided to head to the shops for some retail therapy and a cuppa. Just as we pull into yet another car park the midwife calls back after speaking to my OB and says it will be fine for me to go back in that night so I could have some rest and be ready for the early start the next day.
Friday 17th Feb –
Finally, the day is here, or so I thought! I was instructed to have an early light breakfast. So at 6am I was given breakfast and told to be ready to go down to the birth suites at 8am. I got organised and DH arrived about 8:30am only to find me still up in the ward. I had a trace done for half an hour, I think mainly to help pass the time as when we were finally taken downstairs at 10:20am they did another one for half an hour after they gave me the gel. I was then sent back up to the ward and had another trace done for two and a half hours (it was suppose to be three but midwife didn’t see the point). By now it was early afternoon and I was starting to get niggly pains in my lower belly but nothing more. This continued for the rest of the day. I enquired as to what was happening next and was informed nothing would happen now until the following day. Needless to say after preparing myself again for labour and meeting my new baby I was more than annoyed at the situation. More so the fact that no one had bothered to tell me what was going on. :cry: The tears started and emotions ran high for an hour or so. DH went and got our son so he could visit. He wanted to know where his little brother was. It was a challenge trying to explain to a four year old that his brother just wasn’t ready to come out and hopefully he would be ready to meet us the following day.
Saturday 18th Feb –
Once again I was up and had an early breakfast as I would be going down to the birthing suites at 8am. I had instructed DH to be back by 8:30am as I was confident we would be on track. Well, low and behold at 8am I was taken downstairs and monitored for half an hour. DH arrived at 8:30am (after going upstairs to look for me first) just as I was about to have my waters broken. We wondered around for half an hour but I was constantly paranoid my leaking waters would embarrass me so we headed back.
At 10am the syntocin drip was started-6ml/hr. This was my biggest fear of the whole labour as all I could remember from my first DS’s labour was the intensity that the contractions came on due to the drip. I made my fears known to my OB and she agreed to go easy on me. At 11am the dose was doubled to 12ml/hr and again at 12midday to 24mls/hr.
12:30pm I was getting mild contractions every three minutes, but nothing that I had to stop for, I was just noticing the discomfort. Just after 1pm the drip was once again turned up to 48mls/hr and I was getting contractions every 2½ to 3 minutes but now lasting roughly 30 seconds. The dosage was increased again at 2pm to 60mls/hr and again at 2:45pm to 70mls/hr.
From here on in I could no longer take notes on how I was feeling and what was happening so DH took over (as is evident in the way it has been noted).
3:15pm - “Lots of pain….she needs drugs!!â€
So I tried the gas, which did nothing for the pain, just made me feel sick. I tried to persevere with it until 3:45pm when I asked for an epidural.
4:10pm - “Ready to kill someoneâ€
At this point the anaesthetist was called and the drip was turned right back to 40mls/hr. All I can remember is crying in pain and twitching/rubbing my toes against themselves (I actually ended up with burns like carpet burn because I was rubbing them so hard)
4:25pm - Anaesthetist arrives and starts to explain procedure. My response to his introduction went something like this -“I know I have had one before, just do it and get it right so it stops hurtingâ€
4:40pm – “My wife is back, drugs are good!!â€
I was 1cm dilated. Most of my pain had gone except for one spot on the right hand side of my lower abdomen.
5:30pm – I was 5cm dilated and the drip had been increased slowly up to 96mls/hr. I was still having pain in the one centralised spot on my belly but it was slowly becoming duller. At this point my mum arrived to give DH a break.
6:30pm – Drip increased again to 120mls/hr and the pain was getting worse in that one spot with each new contraction.
7:00pm – “All good to go….10cmâ€
7:05pm – By now my OB had arrived and I was ready to push. And the painful spot on my tummy had stopped hurting…finally! I remember focussing really hard on trying to get my little boy out as I was well and truly ready to meet him. I decided that I would like to see him as he entered the world so my DH held a mirror for me to see. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had. It was just amazing to see a bit more of him with each contraction knowing that the harder I tried the sooner he would be here. It probably also seemed so wonderful because it didn’t hurt, but I do remember hoping that I wouldn’t tear as that is something I definitely would not want to see.
7:30pm – \:D/ The moment we had waited for, for so long. Liam Brock was born with apgars of 8 and 9. :confetti: He weighed in at 5pd 5oz (2405grams), was 47cm (18.5 inches) long and had a head circumference of 32cm. It all seemed very surreal, a moment I had waited for and thought about so many times was finally happening. The journey had all been worth it.
DH rang his mum as she had DS#1 Bradley and was ready to bring him in to meet his new little brother. I remember the look on his face as the joy of seeing Liam brought the most beautiful smile and his face lit up with excitement. He was speechless for a few minutes and just amazed with him. Bradley kept making little squeals and giggle type noises as I am sure he just couldn’t put it into words how he was feeling. I had my mum video their meeting as it is one of those ‘never happen again’ moments that I just had to have. Bradley was fascinated with each movement and sound that Liam made and had to tell us each time he did something. After helping DH to bath Liam, Bradley headed home with Grandma a very proud big brother. :smt026
