One year ago - My pregnancy & birth with Isaac (long)
After DS was born it took 19 months for AF to reappear. Just before his second b’day I got a BFP, unfortunately it was not to be and I had a miscarriage on 12 September and had to have a D & C.
DH & I went away for our 10th anniversary at the start of March (my first night away from DS) and had a great time. It must have worked 'cause 16 March I POAS and got a :bfp: due date was 19 November.
Because of the m/c in September, we had decided not to tell anyone until after we saw a heartbeat. I went to the doctors about a week later and had an u/s on 30 March - DH & the radiologist could see a heartbeat, but I couldn't - I wasn't wearing my glasses & the screen was not close enough for me to see without them.
At the nuchal scan DH pointed the baby on the screen out to DS, & he was interested for a while then said "Baby come out now?" No mate, got a bit longer to wait. DH mouthed to me "see the heartbeat?" and of course I couldn't 'cause I forgot my glasses again. Once DH pointed it out I could see it - a lovely little flutter.
My Ob was lovely, said it was important to get to know the midwives at the hossy (every second appointment is with them) and agreed with me when I said I didn't want her to do anything to earn her money. I was booked in for every appointment at the first one & she let me know that she’d be at a conference for a week when I was 38-39 weeks.
DH had to go o/s for 10 days in September and we decided, in our wisdom, to put the house on the market so that we could have inspections with no toddler (DS & I went to stay with my Mum) and no cats in the house. We got a signed contract the week after DH got back with a settlement date of 23 November. We then found a house that suited us and arranged simultaneous settlement. My plan was to go a few days over and be in hospital with a newborn on moving day.
We slowly packed up the house, we’d already put some stuff at my Dad’s when we put the house on the market, including all the baby clothes and cloth nappies. After it sold I went back and sorted out all the newborn stuff to bring back, just in case he arrived before we moved.
11 Nov (the week my Ob was away) I started a slow leak in my waters. My waters broke before labor with DS1, but there was a greater volume and it was slightly stained then, but was clear this time. I rang the midwives & she said to just see how it goes & to call back at lunchtime.
I rang DH to let him know about the leak and reminded him if bub is born that day we'll have to tell his parents we're calling him Gough (I'm a Whitlams fan – ‘November 11th was Armistice Day, a bush ranger was slaughtered & Gough was betrayed’). I went to pick up some baby clothes from my Dad’s place & hang out at the shops. DS was playing in the park at the shops and another mum asked how long I had to go, I said my waters were leaking so could be today & she said “Why are you here?” Better than sitting at home waiting. Slow leak turned into a gush soon after so we went home :p Rang the hospital, they said I was fine to stay home. I started getting niggles and called DH to come home at about 2pm & called my Mum to come up from Brisbane to look after DS after she finished work.
We had dinner & I had a shower and at about 8pm I rang hospital again & started timing contractions then rang them back at about 8:30 to say we were coming in. Got thereat about 9:20 and they put me in a room and hooked up the monitor. I stood up and did a sudoku (I bought an easy sudoku book to help me pass the time) and rocked from one foot to the other. DH took some very attractive photos of me – standing up with my dress hitched up so they could put the monitor on. I had the monitor on for about half an hour when the midwife came back to check and moved us to the birth suite.
I was in the bath by 10pm, but it wasn't as comfortable as I expected, but at least I was warm the whole time. I don’t cope well with being cold and in ‘discomfort’ (I was in hospital, can’t say pain). I was breathing through the contractions. Midwife checked on me periodically, did the underwater doppler thing a few times (no idea how many) but generally just left us alone. Eventually, (about midnight, 1am I suppose) our lovely midwife said she was going to change into her scrubs and this baby would be born soon.
I was uncomfortable on my hands & knees so was in the bath sort of scrunched up – it wasn’t big enough for me to stretch out so as to keep all my body underwater so I had my legs bent & over to one side. Midwife said push when you feel like it. It occurred to me I wasn’t in the best position, but I needed someone to tell me to move. I wasn't pushing effectively, I was breathing out rather than pushing, he was moving down to a point then going back up.
The Ob covering for mine came in (not the best time to meet your doctor) and said if I couldn't get him out soon he'd have to cut me. I asked for a towel to cover my shoulders (why didn’t I do that earlier – it soaked the water up & kept me warm), changed position to hands & knees, grabbing DH’s legs, then moved with my back to DH, sort of squating in the bath and much screaming from me as I pushed through the pain to try and get him past the point he kept bouncing up at until I got his head out, body next two pushes. Birth time was 2:20am.
I had a cuddle in the bath & confirmed didn't want the injection for the placenta, I felt some blood flow & suddenly it was all systems go, (midwife later said the bath turned claret) out of the bath, onto the bed, got the injection, then another. Placenta followed soon after. Isaac latched on to the breast straight way, with no help from anyone. He had a pumpkin head, with a definite indent all the way around at temple level, but he was gorgeous!
After a while I needed to go to the loo, handing bub to DH, the midwives helped me out of bed & I fainted before we got to the loo. Someone pressed the cardiac emergency button rather than the other one and an army of people came in. I woke up on the floor dazed with all these people around me. They put a catheter in, I had really low blood pressure and they put a drip in. They got me back on the bed, gave me a sponge bath (more correctly a wipe bath, but that doesn’t sound right) and said I wasn’t getting up again until I got the all clear.
We left the birthsuite at about 8:30 after we’d had breakfast and spent the day staring at our new boy. Mum brought DS1 in to meet his brother in the afternoon & he was smitten. I had said that I wanted DS1 to be the first to meet Isaac, so Mum sent him in the room & stayed outside, which wasn’t necessary, but it was nice to have that first meeting to ourselves.
I fainted again after lunch when they tried to get me into the shower. I really wanted a shower to feel normal again & get the catheter out, made it from the bed to the ensuite (three steps) then felt that familiar feeling (I’m a seasoned fainter) & went to sit on the seat, then woke up on the floor. Luckily the midwife came in with me & sorta caught me. Another sponge bath. They let me get up again about 5pm the next day & I was OK from then on. I asked about my iron levels as they weren’t sure if I needed a transfusion, it was decided I just had to take iron tablets, then I had to ask for them a while later before they brought them.
I have no idea of statistics, I guess official labour was 4 or 5 hrs, depending on whether its timed from when I got to hospital or went into the birth suite. Pushing seemed like ages to me and must have been quite some time for the Ob to threaten an episiotomy :dunno:.
Happy birthday to my wonderful little man, who is in my arms as I type this. I love you. :loveshower:
Photos: pumpkinhead first meeting
