misheycat
19-08-2008, 11:13 PM
Few Days Before Birth...
07/08/08 - At my midwife appointment my BP and protein levels were very high, had a blood test and CTG monitoring, was admitted overnight at Flinders Medical Hospital for monitoring.
08/08/08 - Overnight had 4-hourly blood and urine checks, by 2am they gave me BP medication as these kept creeping higher. During day had an ultrasound, growth seems ok though bubs is a little small for 38-weeks she appears healthy. Initially doctor told me I would be staying overnight again however they changed their mind, I was sent home to rest, given more BP medication and required to do a 24-hr urine collection to check protein levels. Also required to visit hospital daily for BP checks over weekend and see my GP daily for further BP checks.
09/08/08 - At hospital visit my BP and protein still high, however allowed to go home.
10/08/08 (38-weeks) - Once again visited hospital for my BP check, unfortunately it was still very high and they were concerned I had developed preclampsia. Doctor did internal check and advised my cervix was still soft and I was 2cm dilated so I would be induced tomorrow, then they changed their minds and advised it would happen that night.
Admitted at 6:30pm, given 2 lots of gels 4-hours apart. My DH Travis stayed with me overnight. MW told me that they would break my waters at 8am the next day.
The Labour...
11/08/08 - Woke up at 6:45am to my waters breaking. Had a quick shower, moved to a labour suite, the CTG monitoring machine was connected which prevented me from moving around and they left this connected to monitor bubs through entire labour. Also to assist with contractions they connected me to a Oxytocin drip. The doctor tried to give me anesthetic first before inserting drip into my left-hand 2 times, painfully this kept failing and I still have a massive bruise to show for it. They finally inserted this straight into my right-hand (no anesthetic) which hurt like mad but thankfully worked.
Shortly into my labour though the contractions were bearable, the MW recommended I have an epidural to keep my blood-pressure in check and to assist with not distressing bubs. The anaethesist had some probs inserting this (lucky me again haha) and I was in a lot of pain, then found afterwards though it was working it was patchy and I could feel the contractions on my left-side though they were slightly dulled.
The contractions started approximately 9:30am. A few hours later they inserted a catheter (previously they gave me a bed-pan) which helped with the epidural patchiness though I still could feel the contractions but much less than before.
By 7pm I was examined by a doctor and told that I was 6cm dilated, however this was very slow progress and they were concerned for bubs, they advised if I wasn't 10cm dilated by 11pm then they would need to consider doing a c-section. At this time they also connected a 2nd drip to try and help lower my blood pressure (not sure what was in this one).
Over next few hours contractions were steadily continuing and it felt like bubs had dropped a fair bit, I was fairly confident things were progressing.
The doctor returned at 9pm and advised they had re-evaluated my situation and wanted to check then and there if I was 10-cm and if not then they would push for a c-section. Well thankfully I was fully dilated!
At 9:50pm the MW in attendance checked and could see bub's head and told me to push, after 12-minutes of pushing (they held a mirror so I could see her head which helped me push her out, Chloe was born at 10:07pm weighing 5-pound 13 ounces (2.64kg). When she came out the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck which freaked me out and they ended up cutting this quickly (though DH still got to cut off the remainder) and hearing her cry was relieving.
I was surprised at how small she was, the MW then pulled the placenta out (didn't even need to push) and told me that this was very small also but was intact and so far Chloe seemed ok. She was just big enough to stay with me otherwise she would have had to stay in the nursery for observation.
Another bonus, no tearing or visible grazing! :smiliedance:
The 2nd drip and Catheter remained connected for 2 extra days which was very frustrating as this meant I was pretty much still restricted to bed-rest and couldn't attend to Chloe like I would have preferred. Breastfeeding was very frustrating, my nipples were huge, breasts very engorged and Chloe's mouth so small, they became very red-raw and grazed, attachment seemed so impossible to me and needed a fair bit of help and guidance from MW's, many kept telling me different things (I would have 2-3 different MW's a day due to shift changes).
I was finally discharged from hospital on the 15th after they were finally happy enough with my blood pressure though I'm on medication now.
DH and I love Chloe to bits, I think she's beautiful, she has her daddy's nose and mouth, though she can be unsettled she does have good stints where she sleeps in 4-hour stretches.
So happy to be home and motherhood is very exciting! :cloud9:
Name: Chloe Amber
EDD: 24th August 2008
DOB: 11th August 2008 at 10:07pm
Weight: 2645gms (5lbs, 13ozs)
Hospital: Flinders Medical Centre, SA
07/08/08 - At my midwife appointment my BP and protein levels were very high, had a blood test and CTG monitoring, was admitted overnight at Flinders Medical Hospital for monitoring.
08/08/08 - Overnight had 4-hourly blood and urine checks, by 2am they gave me BP medication as these kept creeping higher. During day had an ultrasound, growth seems ok though bubs is a little small for 38-weeks she appears healthy. Initially doctor told me I would be staying overnight again however they changed their mind, I was sent home to rest, given more BP medication and required to do a 24-hr urine collection to check protein levels. Also required to visit hospital daily for BP checks over weekend and see my GP daily for further BP checks.
09/08/08 - At hospital visit my BP and protein still high, however allowed to go home.
10/08/08 (38-weeks) - Once again visited hospital for my BP check, unfortunately it was still very high and they were concerned I had developed preclampsia. Doctor did internal check and advised my cervix was still soft and I was 2cm dilated so I would be induced tomorrow, then they changed their minds and advised it would happen that night.
Admitted at 6:30pm, given 2 lots of gels 4-hours apart. My DH Travis stayed with me overnight. MW told me that they would break my waters at 8am the next day.
The Labour...
11/08/08 - Woke up at 6:45am to my waters breaking. Had a quick shower, moved to a labour suite, the CTG monitoring machine was connected which prevented me from moving around and they left this connected to monitor bubs through entire labour. Also to assist with contractions they connected me to a Oxytocin drip. The doctor tried to give me anesthetic first before inserting drip into my left-hand 2 times, painfully this kept failing and I still have a massive bruise to show for it. They finally inserted this straight into my right-hand (no anesthetic) which hurt like mad but thankfully worked.
Shortly into my labour though the contractions were bearable, the MW recommended I have an epidural to keep my blood-pressure in check and to assist with not distressing bubs. The anaethesist had some probs inserting this (lucky me again haha) and I was in a lot of pain, then found afterwards though it was working it was patchy and I could feel the contractions on my left-side though they were slightly dulled.
The contractions started approximately 9:30am. A few hours later they inserted a catheter (previously they gave me a bed-pan) which helped with the epidural patchiness though I still could feel the contractions but much less than before.
By 7pm I was examined by a doctor and told that I was 6cm dilated, however this was very slow progress and they were concerned for bubs, they advised if I wasn't 10cm dilated by 11pm then they would need to consider doing a c-section. At this time they also connected a 2nd drip to try and help lower my blood pressure (not sure what was in this one).
Over next few hours contractions were steadily continuing and it felt like bubs had dropped a fair bit, I was fairly confident things were progressing.
The doctor returned at 9pm and advised they had re-evaluated my situation and wanted to check then and there if I was 10-cm and if not then they would push for a c-section. Well thankfully I was fully dilated!
At 9:50pm the MW in attendance checked and could see bub's head and told me to push, after 12-minutes of pushing (they held a mirror so I could see her head which helped me push her out, Chloe was born at 10:07pm weighing 5-pound 13 ounces (2.64kg). When she came out the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck which freaked me out and they ended up cutting this quickly (though DH still got to cut off the remainder) and hearing her cry was relieving.
I was surprised at how small she was, the MW then pulled the placenta out (didn't even need to push) and told me that this was very small also but was intact and so far Chloe seemed ok. She was just big enough to stay with me otherwise she would have had to stay in the nursery for observation.
Another bonus, no tearing or visible grazing! :smiliedance:
The 2nd drip and Catheter remained connected for 2 extra days which was very frustrating as this meant I was pretty much still restricted to bed-rest and couldn't attend to Chloe like I would have preferred. Breastfeeding was very frustrating, my nipples were huge, breasts very engorged and Chloe's mouth so small, they became very red-raw and grazed, attachment seemed so impossible to me and needed a fair bit of help and guidance from MW's, many kept telling me different things (I would have 2-3 different MW's a day due to shift changes).
I was finally discharged from hospital on the 15th after they were finally happy enough with my blood pressure though I'm on medication now.
DH and I love Chloe to bits, I think she's beautiful, she has her daddy's nose and mouth, though she can be unsettled she does have good stints where she sleeps in 4-hour stretches.
So happy to be home and motherhood is very exciting! :cloud9:
Name: Chloe Amber
EDD: 24th August 2008
DOB: 11th August 2008 at 10:07pm
Weight: 2645gms (5lbs, 13ozs)
Hospital: Flinders Medical Centre, SA