Ned's Arrival... 27 September 2005 (better late than never I guess) LOL!
When I first fell pregnant with Alex, I had a fairly horrific pregnancy. I had morning sickness very badly up until 26w, and threw up everything I ate, losing 5 kgs during that time. I then went to a naturopath, who told me to go completely onto a preservative free diet, including organic everything and rainwater, which I did. Three days later I had no more morning sickness. However, over the next 3 weeks I managed to put on 17 kilos, which is NOT recommended...
After a trip to Melbourne for a continuing legal education conference, and waking up thinking I had been bitten by something because my face, eyes, and nose were so swollen, I went to the doctor. The doctor did BP testing... 190/100... proteino ++++, so I was given the option of going to the hospital NOW or NOW, if Mum didn't drive me RIGHT THEN then the doctor would be calling the ambulance... This was at 28w...
When I arrived in hospital my BP was 220/205, (I only found this out later because they refused to tell me what it was because they thought it would make it worse). The doctor booked me an ICU bed because he was sure I was going to have a stroke. I was told if my BP did not go down within 4 hours I was going to have this baby TODAY.. .. Woah I said, I'm only 28w... they said well wait and see. With magnesium sulfate and massive doses of labetolol, I was stabilised with BP at 145/95... stayed that way for another 6 or so weeks until the medical staff decided he needed to be born THAT DAY... This was at 34w, I was induced, however his heartrate dropped straightaway and I ended up with a doctor with his hand so far up my hoohaa I thought he was trying to remove the gel from my nostril rather than my cervix! I had an emergency c/s, as the doctor pulled Alex out of me his cord came off the placenta... he literally had only about another 10mins inside me before he wouldn't have made it. He is a very lucky boy!
I had a loss at 17w between the boys, and my relationship with DH (now XH) was deteriorating fast. However, we did plan to have another child, even though I was told not to, by various doctors.
So when I fell with Ned (and for those of you who remember, I didn't do a test until about 10w) I was told, by all and sundry including doctors, obs, nurses, midwives, basically that if I made it to 32w I was doing well. So my goal, in my head, was 32w, and that was what was going to happen.
So when I got to 32w, I was ready... and then along came 33, and then 34, and then 35, and then 36w, and then I had a scan to see if everything was okay, and they told me that he was 7lbs at 36w... and I completely flipped!
I was looking for a VBAC but OMG if he was 7lbs at 36w he was going to be a WHOPPER! So I begged and begged for a scheduled c/s but they said they were completely booked out for scheduled! (mind you this is Monash Medical Centre so I didn't really believe them!) Thank you Kelly for keeping me focussed during this time!
So along I went at 37w, then 38w, and then had a mini breakdown at 38w because I couldn't handle being this pregnant. I had never been "this pregnant" in my life and I was so huge it was AWFUL. I had a number of days of simply crying and wanting baby OUT NOW..... but it STILL didn't happen.
Mind you I had been told he would have been here six weeks earlier... so each day I had it in my mind that... today was the day.... And then 39w came, and then 40w came, and boy was I frustrated! GET THIS BLOODY BABY OUT NOW!!!!! But no, no scheduled c/s for me.....
I tried everything... including sex (mind you I didn't like XH at this time either) and all types of other things... but still nothing...
So along came 41w... okay I was COMPLETELY over it.
And then at 41+1 I started with the epigastric pain, the spots in my eyes, and feeling very average.... so off we went to the hospital... pre-eclampsia well and truly setting in again... (had been on aspirin and labetelol on and off during the pg to try and manage high blood pressure - mostly successfully). Had an internal with a little Chinese doctor who had tiny hands... couldn't even FIND my cervix let alone determine whether it was favourable... so got another BIG doctor with BIG hands who told me that my cervix was very high and so closed he couldn't even get a finger in there so they couldn't break my waters...
So they then said... well we can manage the pre-eclampsia, we'll have to book you in for a c/s, you can have it done next week or you can have it done tomorrow... Bugger next week, DH said, we'll have it tomorrow! Didn't consult with me at all, just said yes, we'll have it tomorrow thanks. I was so over things, and was so scared of DH at the time, I just went along with it...
So my dreams of a VBAC went out the window...
And Ned was born at 41+2 weighing 4.38kgs (or maybe 4.48, can't remember exactly) bloody hell, not bad for a pre-eclampsia mum! Mind you he had a 39.7 head circumference (that I DO remember) so I don't exactly know how I would have gone with a VBAC with a head circ that big!
So much for "knowing" whether he was going to be early or not! I was told by EVERYONE he was going to be born at 32w, and I spent the next nearly 10w going out of my mind!
I'm now a single Mummy, and loving it... Ned didn't sleep through the night for his first twelve months, including "failing" sleep school... the sleep people told me that Ned wasn't the problem, it was the Mummy's stress and anxiety that kept Ned waking up... so three weeks after I left XH guess what happened... Ned started sleeping through the night! I think leaving XH was probably one of the best things I ever did!
If someone tries to tell me when my next bubba will be born, I'm going to shoot them!
