Isabella Rose's birth

I have been overwhelmed by all these birth stories, so I thought I would add Bella's.

I was 9 weeks pg when I had my first appt with my gp and he organized for us to have a scan.After about a month of waiting , he finally gave me a referral to see an Ob in Shepparton, but it was two months after that that I finally got my first appt.
I knew that I was RH- already, so the group bloods weren't a surprise to me, but when the Ob said that my Anti D levels were already up to 1 in 16( they usually sit at the 1 in 8 level), I knew that my baby was in trouble.
I started having Doppler scans on bubby's head at the 26 w mark and had to have them every visit, I was put on fortnightly visits straight away. I was having Blood tests every other week to find out my levels and as soon as they hit the 1 in 128 mark, they transferred me to RWH to be monitored there, I was 30 weeks.
I went to my first appt. extremely scared and had every right to be, as the first thing that was mentioned was the fact that they wanted me to have an Amniocentesis there and then, to see how baby was and if she needed a fetal transfusion or not! Here I was, 3 hours away from home, with a 2 yr old and my parents were in Queensland! Both DH and I refused point blank to have the amnio, as I still had to travel home on the train for 3 hours and then get three other children to bed.
At my next ob appt in shepp, I was told that they would monitor me for 6 more weeks and if they thought bub was getting worse(Doppler scans) they would transfer me to RWH and induce me.

At 36 weeks and 4 days, I received a phone call from Shepparton saying that I had to be at the RWH by 8 am on the 7th of March to be induced.
I frantically started trying to find accomodation and luckily RWH had their hostel across the road.

Mum came down on the Saturday and took all four children back to her place so that I could relax before going to Melbourne the next day. That night my aunts took DH and I out for dinner and the next morning, we packed up our Tarago and headed to Melbourne.

We arrived at the hospital, shortly before 3pm,booked ourselves into the hostel and then went for a walk. Went to bed reasonably early that night because we knew I would need all my strength for the next day.

Monday 7th March, woke up around 6.30 had a shower and went and got something for breakfast. Went over to the hospital at 8 am , just to be told that a lot of women had come in overnight and we had to wait. We gave them our mobile numbers and decided to go for a drive to wait for their call.Went back up to the hospital at 1pm and was told still no beds....I started to get upset and told them that my OB has specifically told me that the baby HAD to be induced before night as their was the risk that she could die, You know what...SUDDENLY there was a bed free!!!Surprise Surprise!!!

Went up to the birth Suite and started getting comfy in the bed( As if you could!) The midwife put the telly on and we waited for the resident to come in and start the inducement. When the resident came in she gave me an internal and said I was already 2 cms dilated. The put the gel on and then broke my waters. After half an hour they came back in and put me on the drip, because they wanted to speed things up!This was at 2.30pm.
My cousin and her Partner and their little boy were allowed into birth suite as well and they stayed with me until they had to leave.We were laughing and joking around, I was having lots of small contractions, but not really bad ones.

They left about 5pm to catch their train and then the contractions came faster. The resident came in and did another internal and said I was only 4 cms...I said that was bullsh$t and just kept crying because the contractions were so intense.
By the time she came in again it was 8.30pm and she did another internal and said I was only 6 cms...as I said the DH I felt the urge to push. The midwife kept on saying don't do that, you will tear and DH was trying to help by agreeing with her. I yelled I need to push and pushed down hard, Well as I said that she had a look and found that bubby's head was crowning.One more big push and bubby was out..they cut her cord and rushed her immediately to the waiting trolley. She was born with her cord wrapped around her neck and even though she was pink when she came out she was starting to turn blue.

I was given two secs to cuddle her and then she was rushed up to NICU.
After a 5 and a half (or something like that) labour, our beautiful little girl Isabella Rose Lucinda was born weighing 6lb 4 oz.

I was allowed to rest for a n hour and then I wanted to have a shower. I rang for the midwife who helped me to the shower, got changed and then was allowed to go the the ward. I really wanted to see my baby, but they were working on her and I wasn't allowed up there yet.
DH and I fell asleep waiting for the Paediatrician to ring us in the ward and the next morning at 6am, we were finally allowed up to the ninth floor to see her. We were told that her blood levels overnight has risen to nearly 400 and that she needed to have a blood transfusion straight away, this was going to take 8 hours and during that time all we could do was ring and ask how she was.
I decided that I couldn't just wait around the hospital all day, so I convinced the nurses to let me have a day pass, so DH and I could do some shopping.

We arrived back the hospital and immediately went up to see our little girl. She was very jaundiced and was laying under 4 sets of phototherapy lights. I went back to the ward and Hubby went to get some dinner. We decided that we would go up at 10 pm to see how she was, but at 10 pm the security guards decided that he couldn't come and get me first, so I discharged myself from the ward, packed up my stuff and went straight up to see Bella.
DH helped me carry my clothes etc.. down to the hostel and we went for a drive until it was time to check Bella again(every 3 hours!)
We had no problem getting past security after that, and when Bella was moved into SCN after 4 days, we finally saw light at the end of the tunnel.


They started removing one light at a time, but every time they did that her levels would rise again, and then steady out, then drop. We had our first BF when she was 5 days old and then had to suddenly make a trip home as our two eldest started school again on the monday.
By the time we got back to Melbourne that night(Saturday), She had all lights off and was in an open crib. He levels rose the next day, and I started to get upset because all I wanted to do was to get her home.
The Paed came in on the Sunday night and said that if he levels had dropped by the morning she could be released by 12 on the Monday.
Thankfully her levels dropped, so at 12pm the next day, we bought our beautiful little survivor home.

Everything was going well, until at 2 months of age her levels started to drop. The paed wasn't concerned to start off with but when she was 3 months old they dropped to very low levels, and we raced her over to Shepparton for a blood transfusion. 1 week after the transfusion her levels had risen again and everyone was happy. We had blood tests every two weeks, the first fortnight was fine, but the next fortnight her levels dropped down to 5.5 (supposed to be above 10.0), by the time she had her blood test the week after they had dropped to 3.3 and then on the friday they had dropped down to 3.1. When we got up to the childrens ward, we spent half an hour trying to find a vein to put the canula in, her veins were colourless!!! Just when we thought we would have to put a canula in her neck, we found a vein, it wasn't very strong, but it held the needle. We waited around Shepparton for 4-5 hours for the transfusion to finish and then took our little princess home. Next day she wasn't as lethargic as she had been , and by the next Wednesday she was back to her normal self.
So all up Bella had three Blood transfusions. The first one was 4 hours after she was born, the second was at 3 months and the third was at 4 months.

Bella is now 10 months old, and has been given the all clear by her Paed. She is crawling around and has even started to take a few steps by herself.

Jess it's so hard to walk out of the hospital without your baby - you did really well! Thanks for sharing Isabella's story, it had a beautiful ending.

Thanks for sharing your story. It must of been hard not being able to hold your baby straight away. Glad she is doing well :) \:D/

Thansk for sharing your story.. Bella is such a lucky girl and you are so strong.

wow what an amazing and touching birth story and shows how strong both you and Isobella are. Glad to hear all is well after a rocky start!

Jess,
What an amazing journey for you all. I'm so pleased everything turned out beautifully
Bec

Thank you for sharing you story with us. That must've been so hard not being able to hold your baby straight away. I am so glad everything is going well now though.

Wow Jess, what a dramatic start to life your Isabella had, so glad she is healthy and fit now.

Hope the next one doesn't get to that!
Best wishes michelle