The birth of my 2nd princess :)
I've cut this down a lot... otherwise it would take you hours to read!
The time had come.. we had just celebrated DD1's 1st birthday and decided it was the time to add to our little family. As I had previously had issues (PCOS) falling pregnant with DD1, I assumed it was going to be the same this time round but had hoped it wasn’t going to take as long as it did with her, 2 years. I wasn’t getting periods at all so I made an appointment with my GP so I could get a referral to the OB/GYN in the closest town to see what’s going on etc.
It took a couple months but the day for the appointment came. I sat in the office and the lady across from me just looked at me blankly. “So you want to fall pregnant?” “Yes, I was put on clomid last time to fall pregnant and I was hoping to be able to get some this time”. Her response? “No.” I then sat through half and hour of a lecture of how overweight I was. I left.. in tears.
I think though that was a breakthrough time in my life. I really did need to hear them words. I joined Weight Watchers the next week.
9 months later I had lost 47kg and my periods were like clockwork. I never stopped trying to get pregnant and tried every natural remedy under the sun. Well so I thought. I had one more thing to try.. soy (a lovely friend suggested this to me). I thought it was worth a go. Throughout all of that 12 months I continued to see the above OB/GYN. She was amazed at my weight loss but still wanted to take the “lets just see what happens” approach.
So I took the soy. I was sceptical as I couldn’t see how anything natural would work as I didn’t have much faith in my body. The morning of January 8th 2011, I took a test. I was only 7 or 8 dpo but it was my birthday party that night and wanted to drink, unless I was pregnant. It was negative. Needless to say, I partied it up. A lot.
I spent the day of the 9th recovering and deciding that I wasn’t pregnant and because I had been trying for over 12 months now, I was going to stop. I was going to go back to study and forget about falling pregnant all together. It was taking over my life.
I woke up on the day of the 10th and the test I had taken on the 8th was still sitting next to my bed. For some reason, I picked it up. Could that be a 2nd line? Surely it doesn’t count now as it as been sitting there so long (internet cheapy). I showed DF.. he wasn’t convinced.
After 50000 tests later..... it was clear. I was pregnant!!! I did it! I couldn’t wait to ring the OB/GYN to tell her :) Very much a “ner ner, I fell pregnant!” kind of conversation.
THE PREGNANCY AND BIRTH
I was pretty sick early on with MS but it passed around 14 weeks. Everything else was going great. My BP was wonderful (a little low actually) which was a nice change as I had severe pre-eclampsia with DD1. The midwives I seen classed my pregnancy as “perfectly boring”. I loved hearing them words. I had been aiming and planning my VBAC from early on and pretty confident I was going to get it :)
28 weeks came and went. No GD either... wonderful I thought.
That week I seen my GP for my normal antenatal visit. “Oh your BP is up, Ill test it again”. “Oh its even higher”. (I’m not surprised after you just told me that!). Very quickly my past experiences came flooding back into my head :( I was sick at the time too so I put it down to that and I was on weekly visits from then on to keep and eye on it.
Seems it wasn’t the sickness. My BP went up and down for the remainder of the pregnancy. I was sent for a growth scan at 34 weeks because of this. Bub showed to be in the 98th percentile. Big baby, high blood pressure... VBAC dreams fading.....
Terrified of what happened in my last pregnancy and birth, I decided that another c/section was the safest and less stressful option for both me and baby. I was shattered but I had to do what I had to do. I booked in at 38+5 (the same gestation DD1 was.. I wasn’t game to let myself go any longer). If I went into labour before then, then wonderful. I would still go for my VBAC.
I had pre-labour for weeks and was so exhausted by 37 weeks. I seriously didn’t think I would still be pregnant @ 38 weeks but I was wrong. I had contractions all day, all night for hours at a time.
The morning of the 19th September (38+5) arrived. I felt somewhat calm. I said goodbye to DD1 (she was staying with my mum) and packed the car and off we went. It was a 1.5 hour drive. The entire drive, nothing was said. I just stared out the window.
I arrived at the hospital and booked in. The midwives were lovely and set me up in my room. Told me that it would only be about 2 hours before they came and got me for the c/section and to put my lovely (lol) gown on and my dressing gown.
I heard the phone ring and a midwife say “ok, no worries, we will bring her down now”. This was it. Omg. I held DF's hand so tight as I walked down to theatre. I was greeted by lots of lovely women who held my hand through everything. I got the spinal and my feet got all tingly. I was encouraged the whole way through it and they made me feel very comfortable.
I was wheeled into theatre. Greeted by the man (Dr L) who I had seen since my BP had gone up and had been my rock throughout the end of my pregnancy. He was going to deliver my baby.
The sheet went up. DF sat next to me. I was talked to constantly by the midwives and doctors. We laughed and joked around, it was quite nice. I looked at my monitor behind me.. because of the spinal and morphine, my BP was very low (stupid BP! Lol) so I was given something to bring it back up again...
1:43pm I heard that wonderful noise, my baby, screaming. It was such a relief and lowered the sheet and there was Dr L, holding my little girl. She was perfect! She was 3.94kg and 50cm long. Her head was 37 cm. I held my girl in theatre while they were fixing me all up. I held for for about 30 minutes. We just layed there, looking at eachother and my stroking her brand new face, it was so soft.
Then DF went with her why they took her down to the nursery for weighs etc.
I went to recovery for about 15 minutes and then was wheeled down. I got back into my room to see DF sitting there, holding our little girl with the proudest look on his face.
He handed her to me and she didn’t even need any encouraging to get to the breast. She knew exactly what she was looking for and latched on perfectly. (DD1 never did, it was a huge struggle due to the emergency c/section etc). It was a relief.
She is 3 weeks old tomorrow and breastfeeding is still going strong :) I don’t have any bad feeling toward my c/section and found it all round quite a nice experience and wouldn’t have had things any other way :)
