The Birth of Paige Katherine
This is my birth story of our second daughter, Paige Katherine.
After trying for almost 3 months, Brendan and myself found out we were pregnant with number 2. Excited and nervous all at the same time, we went to the doctor and found out that yes we were indeed pregnant and due on December 24th! :o
Out of both pregnancies I would have to say this was the hardest. I was much sorer and tired this pregnancy, but I guess having a toddler at the same time probably didn't help much with that. Health wise I was fine throughout all antenatal visits, which was good and at 36 weeks the midwife, doctor, myself and Brendan decided that a second Csection was the way to go. My hospital was amazing and my midwives were amazing. Very pro VBAC and Breastfeeding. However after all my scar infections with DD1 (last one being when she was 18 months old, where I should of been hospitalised) plus how stuck she was in my pelvis, we decided it was for the best to go with the Csection. So my Csection was booked for the 16th December at 38 weeks and 6 days.
My Birthing day rolled around pretty quickly and I was up at the hospital on the 16th at 6.30am. I was prepped and ready to go by 8.30am. I was told it would be pretty straight forward and that I would have my baby on my chest for skin to skin in about 15 minutes. I was so excited and nervous. Unfortunately though it didn't turn out that way. Miss Paige was nice and comfy in there and was not ready to come out at all. So there was lots and lots of pulling and tugging and she was so stuck that I could hear the surgeon grunting and groaning, struggling to pull her out. I was then told that as she was so hard to get out they had to cut along my scar longer and also up. So I had a T cut. Instead of taking 15 minutes to get her out it took almost 45 minutes to get her out. After what seemed like forever a baby was shown to me over the screen and I heard her cry. Unfortunately though, I didn't get my skin to skin contact. She was so stunned and when they took her over to the table I was told that her blood sugar was very very low and they couldn't find a pulse in her legs. So she was brought over for a kiss and then taken away to the SCN. I have to say this is probably the most heartbreaking and hardest thing I have had to deal with as a mother. Brendan went with her, so I was on my own getting stitched up on the table. Which took a really long time. I was told they did cosmetic stitching. So after another 1.5 hours of being stitched up and then sent to recovery. I was then taken to the SCN to give Paige her first feed. I was told she was going to stay there for a while to be monitored, and brought to me for feeds. So I was wheeled back to my room. A midwife then came in and told me that her blood sugars were so all over the place that she wouldnt be let out of the SCN until she had 3 good BSL's. So she was brought to me for feeds but unfortunately after all day of bf'ing she still wasn't getting good bf's, even with the occasional top up of formula. So at about 9pm one night, the SCN midwife came and asked my consent to insert a nasal tube that would feed her formula. I was told unfortunately it was either that or a canula. So I gave my consent and was told to get some rest cause she was going to stay there the night. Unfortunately no one told me that I should of been expressing :doh: so when she was finally let out of SCN and I had to breastfeed her, all she did was suck and suck and suck. Which was soooooo hard because she'd gone from basically being force fed formula, to colostrum. So I had many nights of non stop feeding and sucking and unfortunately the occasional top up just so I could get 2 hours sleep. But I am pleased to say that she is doing fantastically now. She feeds every 2-3 hours during the day and is only waking up once or twice during the night for a feed. She's a great sleeper and I am so proud of the fact I stuck it out with bf'ing. I never got to do it properly with DD1 and it's soooo fullfilling to see her putting on weight and having lots of wet nappies, knowing that its me that she's getting her milk from. Shes an absolute angel and even though her birth was bloody hard, I am so glad she is here and wouldn't change it for the world.
