The birth of Lily May Ellen
It all started Thursday afternoon, 9th December 2004, when I went to the hospital for my antenatal appointment. I was 5 days overdue. At my last appointment with my doctor, my blood pressure was up a bit, so I was hoping it had come back down to normal. This wasn’t the case though. I was weighed and my tummy was measured. My tummy has always beed big for dates, so I knew this baby wasn’t going to be small.
My blood pressure was then checked. It was 130/90. The doctor was quite concerned about this. Usually if the bottom number is 90 or more they admit you into the maternity ward. So I ended up being admitted at about 3:30pm. I had 2 CTG scans done. This is where they monitor the baby’s heart beat and to see if you’re having any contractions and how well the baby responds to them. I was having some tightenings (Braxton Hicks) and the baby’s heart beat was perfect. After the CTG, I settled in and talked to mum and Jacob until they had to leave. My best friend, Natasha, also came to visit me to see how I was getting on.
At about 6pm, my blood pressure was taken again and it had risen to 140/90, an hour later it rose to 150/90. The midwives kept an eye on it until the morning. I was too excited/nervous to sleep as I knew I was going to have my baby before Tuesday.
On Friday morning my blood pressure was taken and it was 150/95. The midwife took it 5 times and asked another midwife who took it 2 times because she thought she had done it wrong. All were the same, so they talked to the doctor who had admitted me the day before. A lovely midwife came around and said “The delivery suite is ready for you nowâ€. I was like what! She thought I had already been talked to. So she got the doctor to come explain. This took about 40 minutes.
In the meantime, I sat on the bed twiddling my thumbs, thinking oh my god, I am going to have my baby by tomorrow. I rang my mum for her and Jacob to come in and I explained to her what was happening.
So the doctor who admitted me finally came. He said because my blood pressure was on the high side and because I was already overdue they wanted to induce me. Another reason they wanted to induce me is because the Pre-Eclampsia had attacked my kidneys and they started to disfunction.
At about 10am I had an internal to see if I needed gels or just my waters broken. I needed the gel so that was put in. I then had a CTG scan for half an hour and was then sent back to the maternity ward. I had a few niggling pains, but nothing major. While I was waiting for my mum and Jacob to come, I was talking to this lovely lady who had just had her baby. She kept me company and sane as I was so nervous. Mum and Jacob then turned up.
At 4pm I had the second lot of Prostaglandin gels put in and another CTG scan for half an hour. The baby seemed to be doing really well. She was very active at this point. I started getting mild “Prostin†pains at around 5pm. They didn’t hurt as such, they were just making my tummy very tight and rock hard. I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. My blood pressure was checked again, it had risen to 158/96 but the baby was still doing really well and kicking up a storm.
My waters broke naturally at about 11pm. At first, I heard and felt this ‘pop’ just above my pelvic bone. I was laying on the bed and had my legs crossed over. I thought, ok what was that. I move my leg just slightly and all this water just started rushing out everywhere! I was just thinking, oh my god, I’ve wet myself! But then thought, no it’s your waters silly. I pushed the buzzer and a midwife came. She told me to have a shower and get cleaned up.
So off I went with a towel between my legs and fluid running everywhere. I hopped in the shower, got out, was just about to put some clean clothes on, when there was another gush of fluid. So I had to hope back into the shower and clean up again. My waters kept on gushing until the morning and it went into a heavy trickle.
After I got back in bed, the contractions started getting a bit more intense. I buzzed the midwife again to see what I could take. She told my to have another shower. I had about 3 within 2 hours because the hot water felt so great on the pain. After getting back into bed again I was still in pain so the midwife gave me some sleeping tablets and Penadene Forte. I couldn’t lay down, so I paced the maternity ward for a bit.
Sleep tablets started to kick in and I felt really drousy. I fell asleep for a few hours on a chair because that was the only place I could stay comfortable. If I lied down then the contractions seemed to be more intense. I woke up at about 6am Saturday morning. Contraction gone, fluid still leaking though. At least I was out of pain. I had some breakfast and then at 9am I was taken to the delivery suite.
I got the midwives to ring my mum so she and Jacob could come down before they started the drip. I was given an internal and the midwife said my body must have been doing a lot of work during the night, but I still had to have the drip to get the contractions starting again. I had the Catheter put in(which hurt like hell!) and they waited for my mum to come before they started the drip, as that is what I requested. Mum and Jacob arrived and I given the Syntocinon through the drip. I was put on the CTG scan for an hour, until the midwife was happy with the consistency of my contractions.
Real labour and contractions started around 10am. The contractions were getting a bit intense and I had to really breathe through them so I had a hot shower, which felt so great! It felt like I was only in there for about 5 minutes but it was actually about an hour. Jacob was with me just encoraging me along. He was so good. I asked my mum to leave, as I didn’t want her to see me in so much pain. I knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it.
At about 11am the contractions were about 1-2mins apart, they were getting a bit too much for me, so I had a bit of the gas. That took the edge off a bit, but was making me sick so I stopped for a bit. I tried out a few positions but in the end just layed on the bed as I was getting a bit tired. I had a bit of a spew on the floor, which is a good sign your in labor. That is when I think it hit that yes you’re really having a baby. I started on the gas again and felt fine.
Contractions were getting way to intense by about 12pm, so while sucking on the gas, the midwife gave me a shot of Pethadine, not that I thought it made a difference at all, but Jacob reckons I was a lot calmer after. I think I actually fainted from either the pain or the gas, because there is a part that is just blank.
The midwife checked to see how dilated I was. I was 5-6cms. Part of the opening of my cervix wasn’t effacing as quickly as the rest, so I had to lay on my left side to help it catch up. Up until I started pushing I was stucking on the gas non-stop. Holding into the tube for dear life! No one was going to take it off me now. Lucky for Jacob it wasn;t his hand. About 45mins later I was dilated to 10cm.
I was pushing for a good 1 1/2 hours, but I just couldn’t get her out and I was starting to get exausted. Her head was stuck under my pubic bone. So the doctor was called in and gave me 3 options. Try the vacuum extraction or go upstairs for forceps or c-section. So I opted for vacuum extraction first.
Her head had partly come out, but then her shoulders got stuck (shoulder distocia), so the doctor had to put his hands up there and grab her arms to pull her out. I was screaming the place down it hurt so bad. It felt like my pelvis was going to break. Just imagine, two midwives, one on each side of you, holding your feet up around your ears, a doctor sticking half his arms up somewhere yuou couldn’t think possible and 2 more midwives looking on. I had all 4 midwives and a doctor in the room, plus Jacob. I guess you could say my dignity flew right out the window! Later on I heard off mum that there was woman in the waiting room laboring and spewing up in the bin because there were no midwives available at the time. Can you guess where they were?
The baby was put onto my stomach and I remember asking why she wasn’t crying, the midwife said she was in shock, so they took her and gave her a bit of oxygen and then she started crying, I felt so happy then. I asked what it was. They said it was a girl. I knew it! The midwife then handed me my brand new baby girl. I just looked at her and fell in love straight away. I was never prepard for such love I would feel for her. It was very overwhelming. Jacob gave her a kiss then she was taken to the special care unit so both of us could have a rest.
I was given some type of hormone in my drip to stop any haemorraging. There was no time for an episiotomy, so I had second degree tears, which all up gave me about 20 stitches. Ouch! After the doctor stitched me up, he said “Don’t thank me after the pain I just put you through!†All I could do was laugh.
I later found out by the doctor who delivered Lily, that it had become an emergency and I had to get her out then and there, otherwise we could have died because they might not of been able to get her out at all. The doctor also said that it was the hardest delivery he’s ever had to make and he was surprised I did it all without an Epidural. I feel so proud about that one!
At about 7pm I got to see my baby girl. I tried breastfeeding, numerous times, but she never was interested for some reason. So I ended up giving her formula in a bottle, because when I tried to express, nothing came out. I would have preferred to breastfeed but in the end i’d rather have a feeding bub.
We named our baby girl, Lily May Ellen. Lily because I love the name, May because it goes and Ellen after my Grandmother. Later I found out a Great Aunt of mine had the name May. My cousin is also known as ‘Tilly May’ Rhymes with ‘Lily May’ how ironic!
Lily was born on Saturday, 11th December, 2004, one week overdue, at 3:16pm. She weighed in at 9lb 7oz or 4290g, was 50cms long and had a head circumference of 35cms. Her Apgars were 3, 8 and 9.
***Updated due to memory coming back! lol***
