Ella Grace finally arrives
It was 14th March and I was 39 weeks and 1 day. It had been a pleasant day. I went for my daily walk around the block and had my afternoon rest. At about 4pm I started getting a headache. By 8.30pm my head was killing me and I wanted drugs.(through out my pregnancy I had not taken anything)
I rang the birthing suite and asked the midwife what I could take. I was asked all sorts of questions including "Are your legs swollen? and Do you have pain anywhere else? As I answered yes to these the Midwife said that I needed to come in and be checked out. And bring your bag just in case.
I called Mum at work to tell her what was going on. She ran every red light and made it home in 7 minutes. Not bad when you consider it normally takes 12 minutes.
We arrived at the birthing suites at 9.15pm and I was taken straight to a room. My blood pressure was 156/104, my legs were twice their normal size and I had a really bad pain just above my 'bump'. The doctor took blood and explained that the pain was in my liver. Apparently with a huge headache and high b/p your liver can start failing.
My b/p was taken every 30 minutes and I was monitored closely. The CTG was put on me for about 1 hour (baby wasn't moving very much). At 12.15am another doctor came and I asked to go home. The answer was NO. My blood test results were not so good. Mum went home and I was admitted still with the headache.
Doctor visited me the next day as the headaches were still there. My b/p was still high and my arms as well as my legs had swelled. I asked again about going home. Again the answer was NO. As I wasn't getting any better and the headaches persisted the doctors decided that the only way I was going to get better was to have this baby. The decision was made for the first induction on Thursday morning at 8am.
I got up early Thursday morning and prepared for going down to the birthing suites. I was so excited that today would be the day that I would meet "Noodle" for the first time. At 8am the midwife came to say that the induction had been put back to 10.30am as the birthing suite was full. I was so disappointed. At 10.30am I was told that it was being put off until tomorrow as the suites were still full and I couldn't be accomodated. At 2.30pm I said goodbye to Mum and then called for the nurse. I needed drugs for my head yet again. By the time she had arrived at 2.45pm the pain in my liver had become so intense that I wanted stronger drugs. With this comment to the midwife, I was put in a wheelchair and whisked down to the MDAU where Dr Busch was waiting for me.
I has my first lot of gel at 3pm and was told that the next lot would be at 7pm. As the baby was engaged Dr Busch said that I would only need 2 lots of gel and things would be on the way. At 7pm the midwife came and said the the birthing suite was full and that I was going down at 9.30pm. I did go down at that time, however, there was an emergency on the maternity ward and the doctor was called away. At 1.30am the doctor arrived and did the internal. While doing this she explained that my cervix was posterier and she was going to try to flip it forward. The pain was terrible and her attempt was unsuccesfull. So the gel was inserted and another CTG and back to the ward for a sleep.
I was told that my waters were going to be broken at 8am on the Saturday (19th) morning. I was up early as my contactions had stopped at 4am and I had been walking to try and start them again.
Dr Busch met me in the birthing suite and did the internal. While he was doing it I asked if I would finally meet "Noodle" today. He had bad news. My cervix was still posterior and I needed more gel. At that remark I became very distressed and yelled that I wanted it out today.
The decission was made after yet another CTG that I would have a c-section. The operating room was booked for 2pm and I was so excited. At 1.30pm the midwife came in and inserted a drip into my arm and told me that there had been an accident and the doctor was not available.
Finally at 4pm I was wheeled down to the operating room. I couldn't believe that it was finally happening. As I was having a g/a, I was prepped for the c-section awake. In went the cathater, my belly slathered with what ever it is they use to make the area sterile and then the g/a given.
At 4.39pm on 19/03/2005 :girl: Ella Grace :girl: finally made it into this world. My Mum was waiting outside the operating room for her. At 5.45pm I finally met my little bundle of joy while I was in the recovery room.
After this experience I have decided that Ella will be the one and only child I ever have.
Thanks for reading my long, drawn out birthing story.
