mum2ethan
06-10-2008, 02:29 PM
So i thought i would start writing my birth story... sorry for a very simple and straightforward birth it’s a long story…
Thursday 25th Sept 2008:
My mum, sister and grandmother decided to take me out shopping (only my mum and sister knew i was going for a c-section and it was their way of getting me to keep my mind off it, and i wouldnt talk about it or my grandmother would know what was up) anyway that really wore me out and i thought great i might actually get some sleep tonight!!! I hadnt been sleeping much all week, too excited, scared, nervous about the whole procedure. Well was I wrong!!!!!!!! I think I got about an hour sleep that night, there was just so much running thru my mind, what would my baby look like, if it were a girl like the ultrasound had said, if everything would go well, if she would be healthy, etc etc… also trying to think of a boys name just in case!!!
Friday 26th Sept 2008:
My alarm woke me up at 5:00am, went and had a shower with the special soap (the smell of it was actually starting to make me feel sick) got out, woke up DP to have a shower, by then my mother had woken up and come out to have a coffee and keep me company. I had my small glass of water and the reflux tablet. DP finished his shower, I gave Ethan a kiss goodbye and we were on our way!!
Got to the hospital at 6:00am and went up to the maternity ward, they took me to the labour ward and started all the paperwork and prepping me for surgery. They put the drip in my hand (ive never had one in my hand before and was expecting it to be painful but it wasn’t) then they wanted to put the catheter in (I was hoping they would do it AFTER the spinal…) but the midwife was really gentle and I only felt a bit of discomfort and no pain at all (completely different from my last experience with a catheter) so that was 2 of my worries down… 1 to go… the spinal!!!! DP got dressed in his scrubs, he looked so funny in them lol he wouldn’t let me take a pic of him tho, such a spoil sport!!!
We were told they should get a phone call at about 7:30am to let us know they were ready for me at the theatre. Then at 7:30 on the dot the phone call came, they brought up the theatre trolley for me and then wheeled me down. I couldn’t believe this was all happening!! It was such a surreal feeling knowing I was about to meet my baby but I wasn’t in labour!!
We got down there then the anesthetist came and spoke to me about the risks involved in the spinal and discussed what he was going to do and asked if I had any questions. I then had to drink this really foul tasting drink for reflux as well, about 2 more ppl came and spoke to me about the operation and what they were going to do and if I had any questions, then my midwife came and spoke to me and told me that when bubs was born and if everything was ok she would bring her over and we could have skin on skin contact and a feed while they were stitching me up (so happy to hear that)
Then we were ready so they took me into the theater, DP had to wait outside while they put the spinal in, I asked if someone could lean on my shoulders as someone had done this with my last spinal and it made me feel more secure (that and the fact that I wouldn’t be able to run away!! Lol) and this really nice guy called Troy did it for me, he was chatting to me the whole time and it took my mind completely off what they were doing, he was complementing me the whole time saying what a great job I was doing it just made me feel so good!!! Lol and all I ended up feeling with the spinal was the “scratching” feeling of the local and then after that a bit of pressure and then my legs and bum got all warm and heavy.
They went and got DP (who by then was wearing a mask and seeing him I just cracked up laughing!!!) he did look pretty funny!!! They attached the monitors on me and the anesthetist warned me my blood pressure might come down which will make me feel really sick and if that happens to tell him and he will give me something for the nausea, well no sooner had he said it that I was feeling pretty sick and he said he could see the colour drain from my face, so he gave me something and it worked within a minute. He was telling me that I would be able to feel them touching my belly, but I wont be able to feel the incision, and that I had to trust him on that. It was such a weird feeling. He then said he would let me know as soon as they start, to which he looked over the screen and said opps they have already started. So im just laying there chatting away waiting to meet my bub, then I heard them say baby was about to be born, they were trying to pull down the sheet so I could see but it was stuck, when they pulled the baby out they were trying to lift her high so I could see, all I could see was a foot and then part of her belly and a thumb right where the privates were!!!! Then they said they will bring the baby to me, I said to DP did you see the baby? Is it a girl? Does it have hair? Lots of hair? To which he replied yes I saw the baby, yes it’s a girl YES she has lots of dark hair. Then I just started bawling my eyes out. They brought her over and I couldn’t believe how much hair she had!!! OH MY she had a lot of it!! We had skin to skin like the midwife promised and then she wanted a feed, she latched on beautifully!! I couldn’t believe it, Ethan had a lot of trouble latching on in the first few days, this was so different! She stopped feeding after a while and I got DP to have a cuddle, then I heard the surgeon say that they had found a 5 – 6cm cyst and did I want them to remove it? I was like ummm what? Yeah ok… So the surgery took a bit longer than normal. We were still all chatting (about shoes…lol) when one of the nurses down the business end stabbed herself with a needle (I had to have another bloodtest to make sure I didn’t have anything nasty that I could have passed onto her, which I didn’t) so that was another thing I had to add to my story!!!
Anyway got back to recovery, where I had DP in with me and my baby girl, who had another feed. I was in recovery for about half an hour. Then got wheeled back to the maternity ward. I phoned my mum, who put me on speaker phone as my sister was also there and I told them I was still waiting for the surgery!! HAHA then I said no, Ethan has a baby sister, they all let out a huge cheer, then she said she was on her way up.
Stats: Name of bub: Talitha Jean
DOB: 26th Sept 2008 @ 8:27am
Weight: 4060g or 9lb
Length: 49cm
Head Cir: 33.5cm
APGAR: 9 @ 1 min, 10 @ 5mins
The recovery has gone really well, by day 3, I was only taking panadol as pain relief, I was up and walking around the same day of the operation. I also weighed myself today (I had put on 15kg all up during the pregnancy) and it has been less than 2 weeks since having her and ive lost just over 10kg, 4 more to go and im back to my pre-preg weight!!! I also have to go back to the hospital in 4 weeks to get the results of the cyst they removed.
Talitha lost 13% of her body weight and wasn’t putting anything on, due to my milk taking forever to come thru and because she was losing weight she was getting really weak and tired, so she would fall asleep halfway thru a feed, so she wasn’t stimulating the milk to come thru, so I would express after every feed she had, and then feed her the express colostrums, I did that for 1 and a half days before I didn’t need to do it anymore, she also got a bit jaundice, but not enough for her to have to go under lights. She got weighed today and she is stacking on the weight!! Still not back up to her birth weight still a few hundred grams off. I ended up spending 5 nights/6 days in hospital (would have been home on day 3 but not with the weight issues)
She has been such a dream baby, very settled, since being home she only wakes once, yes ONCE a night to be fed and that is around 5am!! But last night she slept thru the night till 7:30am!! I know how lucky am i!!! She is my little angel, Ethan just adores her, he is such a big help he goes and gets me nappies and tells me when she is awake, he just sits next to her bassinet and stares at her, when she is awake he likes to stroke her hair and when she is upset he strokes her hair and tells her “its alright Talitha” he is such a good big brother!!
It was a great experience I wouldn’t change anything about it, I made the right decision in having a c-section and IF I were to have another baby I would have another c-section. The hardest part about it was being away from my boy, I missed him like crazy and as soon as the baby blues kicked in I missed him even more. Im so glad to be home with my complete family.
Sorry this is long and if you have made it this far thanks for reading!!!
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/Pottset/3.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/Pottset/DSCF0336.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/Pottset/DSCF0325.jpg
Mel xoxox
Thursday 25th Sept 2008:
My mum, sister and grandmother decided to take me out shopping (only my mum and sister knew i was going for a c-section and it was their way of getting me to keep my mind off it, and i wouldnt talk about it or my grandmother would know what was up) anyway that really wore me out and i thought great i might actually get some sleep tonight!!! I hadnt been sleeping much all week, too excited, scared, nervous about the whole procedure. Well was I wrong!!!!!!!! I think I got about an hour sleep that night, there was just so much running thru my mind, what would my baby look like, if it were a girl like the ultrasound had said, if everything would go well, if she would be healthy, etc etc… also trying to think of a boys name just in case!!!
Friday 26th Sept 2008:
My alarm woke me up at 5:00am, went and had a shower with the special soap (the smell of it was actually starting to make me feel sick) got out, woke up DP to have a shower, by then my mother had woken up and come out to have a coffee and keep me company. I had my small glass of water and the reflux tablet. DP finished his shower, I gave Ethan a kiss goodbye and we were on our way!!
Got to the hospital at 6:00am and went up to the maternity ward, they took me to the labour ward and started all the paperwork and prepping me for surgery. They put the drip in my hand (ive never had one in my hand before and was expecting it to be painful but it wasn’t) then they wanted to put the catheter in (I was hoping they would do it AFTER the spinal…) but the midwife was really gentle and I only felt a bit of discomfort and no pain at all (completely different from my last experience with a catheter) so that was 2 of my worries down… 1 to go… the spinal!!!! DP got dressed in his scrubs, he looked so funny in them lol he wouldn’t let me take a pic of him tho, such a spoil sport!!!
We were told they should get a phone call at about 7:30am to let us know they were ready for me at the theatre. Then at 7:30 on the dot the phone call came, they brought up the theatre trolley for me and then wheeled me down. I couldn’t believe this was all happening!! It was such a surreal feeling knowing I was about to meet my baby but I wasn’t in labour!!
We got down there then the anesthetist came and spoke to me about the risks involved in the spinal and discussed what he was going to do and asked if I had any questions. I then had to drink this really foul tasting drink for reflux as well, about 2 more ppl came and spoke to me about the operation and what they were going to do and if I had any questions, then my midwife came and spoke to me and told me that when bubs was born and if everything was ok she would bring her over and we could have skin on skin contact and a feed while they were stitching me up (so happy to hear that)
Then we were ready so they took me into the theater, DP had to wait outside while they put the spinal in, I asked if someone could lean on my shoulders as someone had done this with my last spinal and it made me feel more secure (that and the fact that I wouldn’t be able to run away!! Lol) and this really nice guy called Troy did it for me, he was chatting to me the whole time and it took my mind completely off what they were doing, he was complementing me the whole time saying what a great job I was doing it just made me feel so good!!! Lol and all I ended up feeling with the spinal was the “scratching” feeling of the local and then after that a bit of pressure and then my legs and bum got all warm and heavy.
They went and got DP (who by then was wearing a mask and seeing him I just cracked up laughing!!!) he did look pretty funny!!! They attached the monitors on me and the anesthetist warned me my blood pressure might come down which will make me feel really sick and if that happens to tell him and he will give me something for the nausea, well no sooner had he said it that I was feeling pretty sick and he said he could see the colour drain from my face, so he gave me something and it worked within a minute. He was telling me that I would be able to feel them touching my belly, but I wont be able to feel the incision, and that I had to trust him on that. It was such a weird feeling. He then said he would let me know as soon as they start, to which he looked over the screen and said opps they have already started. So im just laying there chatting away waiting to meet my bub, then I heard them say baby was about to be born, they were trying to pull down the sheet so I could see but it was stuck, when they pulled the baby out they were trying to lift her high so I could see, all I could see was a foot and then part of her belly and a thumb right where the privates were!!!! Then they said they will bring the baby to me, I said to DP did you see the baby? Is it a girl? Does it have hair? Lots of hair? To which he replied yes I saw the baby, yes it’s a girl YES she has lots of dark hair. Then I just started bawling my eyes out. They brought her over and I couldn’t believe how much hair she had!!! OH MY she had a lot of it!! We had skin to skin like the midwife promised and then she wanted a feed, she latched on beautifully!! I couldn’t believe it, Ethan had a lot of trouble latching on in the first few days, this was so different! She stopped feeding after a while and I got DP to have a cuddle, then I heard the surgeon say that they had found a 5 – 6cm cyst and did I want them to remove it? I was like ummm what? Yeah ok… So the surgery took a bit longer than normal. We were still all chatting (about shoes…lol) when one of the nurses down the business end stabbed herself with a needle (I had to have another bloodtest to make sure I didn’t have anything nasty that I could have passed onto her, which I didn’t) so that was another thing I had to add to my story!!!
Anyway got back to recovery, where I had DP in with me and my baby girl, who had another feed. I was in recovery for about half an hour. Then got wheeled back to the maternity ward. I phoned my mum, who put me on speaker phone as my sister was also there and I told them I was still waiting for the surgery!! HAHA then I said no, Ethan has a baby sister, they all let out a huge cheer, then she said she was on her way up.
Stats: Name of bub: Talitha Jean
DOB: 26th Sept 2008 @ 8:27am
Weight: 4060g or 9lb
Length: 49cm
Head Cir: 33.5cm
APGAR: 9 @ 1 min, 10 @ 5mins
The recovery has gone really well, by day 3, I was only taking panadol as pain relief, I was up and walking around the same day of the operation. I also weighed myself today (I had put on 15kg all up during the pregnancy) and it has been less than 2 weeks since having her and ive lost just over 10kg, 4 more to go and im back to my pre-preg weight!!! I also have to go back to the hospital in 4 weeks to get the results of the cyst they removed.
Talitha lost 13% of her body weight and wasn’t putting anything on, due to my milk taking forever to come thru and because she was losing weight she was getting really weak and tired, so she would fall asleep halfway thru a feed, so she wasn’t stimulating the milk to come thru, so I would express after every feed she had, and then feed her the express colostrums, I did that for 1 and a half days before I didn’t need to do it anymore, she also got a bit jaundice, but not enough for her to have to go under lights. She got weighed today and she is stacking on the weight!! Still not back up to her birth weight still a few hundred grams off. I ended up spending 5 nights/6 days in hospital (would have been home on day 3 but not with the weight issues)
She has been such a dream baby, very settled, since being home she only wakes once, yes ONCE a night to be fed and that is around 5am!! But last night she slept thru the night till 7:30am!! I know how lucky am i!!! She is my little angel, Ethan just adores her, he is such a big help he goes and gets me nappies and tells me when she is awake, he just sits next to her bassinet and stares at her, when she is awake he likes to stroke her hair and when she is upset he strokes her hair and tells her “its alright Talitha” he is such a good big brother!!
It was a great experience I wouldn’t change anything about it, I made the right decision in having a c-section and IF I were to have another baby I would have another c-section. The hardest part about it was being away from my boy, I missed him like crazy and as soon as the baby blues kicked in I missed him even more. Im so glad to be home with my complete family.
Sorry this is long and if you have made it this far thanks for reading!!!
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/Pottset/3.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/Pottset/DSCF0336.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/Pottset/DSCF0325.jpg
Mel xoxox