Beansbeans! sprout's speedy arrival- 2/2/12 (warning: its long)
So the only place to start is at the beginning. Which means that a very short labour and birth is going to turn into a long story!
After DD2 was born, we had decided that we were happy with our 2 princesses, and our family was complete. But as time does, our minds were changed. Things happened that reaffirmed just how precious life is, how extremely lucky we are to have what we have, and that our love is bigger than we realise and how lovely it would be to welcome another child into our family.
So in June last year I decided to do a hpt. For weeks and weeks I had been feeling 'off'. A couple of friends had asked if I was pregnant, but I so sure I wasnt. Dh and I were even using the idea of me being pregnant as a joke, never thinking I actually was! Anyhow, I go do the test and low and behold its positive. I called DH from work, told him to come home straight away, we needed to talk. (he told work I had locked myself out of home, and he had to let me in, nice quick thinking lie) When he got home I showed him the test, and well we were over the moon. DH got caught out in that lie pretty quick, he was so happy he told his boss immediately!
Anyhow, I booked an appt with a gp, who booked a dating scan for that afternoon. I had no idea how far along I would be, I'd had AF once since DD2 was born, so I had no real cycle to speak of. So I go along to the scan, and I am shocked to find out we are 10weeks along!! Seriously how could I have not known for 10 weeks?!
This pregnancy graced me with major anxiety. The hospital here scared me. I knew they have a real thing for weight numbers, that they would focus on that, and i didnt want that. I knew this time round I didnt want to be cared for by a variety of people, I just wanted one person to care for me, know me, my body, my wishes, and someone who would advocate for me. So this time round the midwife program was out. But thankfully for us we knew of a great gp who was also an ob, and thankfully I could get into see him. But that still didnt get rid of anxiety of the hospital situation but it was a start.
My ob was great, he is highly respected at the hospital and stuck up for me with all the grief they gave me. Firstly the hospital told me he wouldnt be allowed to deliver our baby. He assured me he would deliver (the obs have a deal going apparently). Then the hospital was sure that my blood group had changed so wouldnt gie me my anti d when I needed it, he gave them a nice serve during one of my appts and made sure I got it done. He stuck up for me when it came to weight, and he listened to me about my concerns about the hospital what I really wanted to happen when labour and birth time came.
Round half way through the pregnancy, we decided to look for a midwife. I so wanted a home birth, it would mean I could have my family (dh and the girls) around me, I would be safe and in good hands. The only problem was that the closest midwife who would take us on was 1.5hrs away, and the terms of her taking me on didnt really give us the confidence in using her services. So back to the hospital it was.
At 27 weeks I booked in for a 3d/4d scan, I so wanted to see what this little bub looked like. And we decided to find out the gender too. I wanted to find out gender because for the entire pregnancy i had been having some serious nightmares about losing this bub. My nightmares were simple, a voice kept on telling me to say goodbye to our boy, we were never getting a boy. I would always see a little boy's face drifting away from me. The nightmare scared me so much that I was sure that I was going to miscarry, or something serious would be wrong and we would lose the baby not long after birth. So we go for a scan, and it turns out that we are pregnant with our 3rd girl. (should have seen how white DH's face went with that finding!! :lol: )
Anyhow the rest of the pregnancy went by fairly quietly. No real pregnancy complaints, anyhow.
At my 38week appt, I asked my ob what happens after the 40wk mark. I just wanted to make sure I was prepared for everything. If I made it to 41wks then I would have an appt with the hospital ob, who would book me in for an induction. I was surprised at how early they would book me in for an induction, but I founnd out later it was because my ob knew my fears, knew I didnt want to be transferred to a different hospital, and he knew I needed to trust the ob who would be inducing me, if it came to that. Turns out the hospital's ob had handed in his resignation and his last day was when I hit 41wks. After that it was casual obs until the hospital found a fulltime one. My ob knew this wouldnt go down well with me.
So I passed the 40wk mark, and at my next appt (tues, 40wk+4) my ob did a s&s. He also made the appt for the induction (fri 41wk).
After my appt I was crampy all afternoon, that night I was having contractions that were 8mins apart, but they tapered off after a while. Woke up the wednesday morning a tad disappointed, I have to admit.
On the wednesday we decided to go for a long walk in Bunnings (so it was raining and Bunnings is great entertainment for all :P ).
That night I woke up in bed at 12:15am (thurs) to a major leg cramp. It seriously hurt too.. I could seem to stretch it out either. So I get up to try and walk it out, and just as Im getting up I get my first contraction. I was so happy!! I literally danced down the hallway to start my timing. So I time the first couple, and they are 1.5minutes apart.. Im tired and so sure that I mustnt be using my contraction timer app right, but figure I should wake DH up. As I go down the hallway my water breaks. So I go in and wake him up, but instead of telling him Im in labour, I tell him to clean the kitchen cause we are getting visitors (im sure he thought I was sleep walking and talking). It took him a second to get what I meant, but he got it.
He gets up and I tell him to ring maternity and tell them everything, and ring someone to come and look after the girls. I hear him talk to maternity and his mum.
Anyhow I get ready to go to the hospital. Im finally done, and am waiting for MIL to turn up so we can go.. No sign of her. I ask Dh where she is, and well he woke her up, but had to ring her back to tell her to come over!! He asked if I wanted him to ring her yet... Umm yes I wanted him to ring her, I needed to push!
So he rings her, and I wait. I head outside with my bag in tow, Im standing in the rain, breathing through each contraction. It finally clicked with DH how quickly this labour was going, and he decided to get me in the car, and go. He would ring his mum along the way and tell her the front door was open. Thankfully we pass her on the way to the hospital and the girls would have been left alone for all of 1minute.
So the drive to the hospital is only a couple of kms from home. The drive lasted only a few minutes but I was hit with a succession of contractions on the way. We had to go through emergency, which up until then I didnt even know where it was at the hospital. We go into emergency, and there is no one there. DH had to push a button to get service, after a couple of conrtactions someone comes, and slowly goes to get the security guard, who after a few more contractions lets us into maternity. I take 3 steps and am hit with another contraction, another 3 steps am hit with another. The security guard offers me a wheelchair, but I refuse thinking Im likely to have this bub before he gets back with one.
So the birthing suite is literally 10metres away, I can see it, but more importantly I can feel this bub crowning! I get down to the birthing suite and can feel bubs head coming out more and more. I mention it to DH who, lifts me out of my shoes (which are now broken thanks to DH's quick moves) lays me on the bed, takes off pants and underwear too. The midwife asks me not to push so she can get everything ready, get the other midwife in there. But I kindly inform her that Im not pushing, I havent pushed yet even though I feel that need to. Literally 30secs later at 1:38am our beautiful little girl had made her arrival into this world. Instead of pushing her out, she worked with my body and made her own entrance, as I breathed through the contractions. I am so proud of her, so proud of my body. This time round I was only grazed in two places!
She came that fast that the other midwife had made it in, nothing was ready in the room, they had no supplies in that room, the midwife hadnt even got her gloves on yet!
My ob definately didnt make it in time. He got there half hour after she was born. He thought he had more time.
So in the end, we made it to the hospital just in time. There was no time for anything to go wrong in the hospital. If we had chosen a home birth the midwife would not have made it in time, and Dh would have delivered, which was fine for him, but is what we thought would happen if we went with the homebirth. My ob made sure I could go home asap, he even cleared me to go home before the 4hrs, but then said I should stay for the 4hrs so he wouldnt get in trouble!
We welcomed Miss Arabelle Aiyana Grace into the world on the 2nd of feb 2012.
Weight: 3.4kgs
Length: 53cm
Labour: 1hr 23mins.
