Two Little Buggalugs
17-04-2007, 11:05 PM
My belated birth story! :wave:
Nix was due on 4 July 2006. Had a great preg, swelling stupidly was the only real prob, but even that was bearable. Go in for check day after due date to check slowing of movements. Since I'm already 2cm dilated and there is a low level of fluid around her, I'm asked to come back 7am the next morning for induction.
Wow, it's happening. Am so completely excited I don't get to sleep until about 2am. Getting ready for hospital in morning and have my 'show'. Rock up and am hooked on the drip. Naively think that inductions are quick and will have baby by arvo... By lunch time the middies (who were all fantastic) keep asking if I feel anything. Feels odd to say, nothing really, just slight period type cramps. Am happily chatting, reading trash mags and going through my snacks! My waters are broken and no fluid comes out. Nixies head must've been right against the entrance plugging it as the tweezers things pulled out some little baby hairs!
So the drip is amped, and amped, and amped... Then the pain comes and it's not like expected. I'm told to suck on the gas when a contraction comes, but I can't tell when they are!! Instead of pelvic pains, I've got a constant back pain that is getting worse. By arvo it's too much and I've asked for pethidine and am able to go for a walk after. But once that wears off I am in even more pain and throwing up till there's nothing but bile, nice! Internal shows I'm only 5cm dilated.
Keep going with the heat packs and birthing ball, but I crack before long (early evening) and beg and sob for an epidural. Have to wait for my ob to come to see me and am in hysterics by the time she comes. I can finally rest after the epi and it turns out that's what my body needed to get to fully dilated. My ob is happy because she was thinking caesar if I hadn't dilated. However, bubs posterior position that was causing the back pain, is also making it hard for her to get down - she's stuck. I'm not even asked to push or anything yet - my ob asks what I want to do. She'll only allow me to go another hour before intervention, so the theatre is booked for forceps or caesar for an hours time, just in case.
An hour later and bubs is still stuck. Unfortunately at this time, Nixies heart rate plummets. Alarms go off and people rush into the room like an ER episode. Luckily theatre was already booked as they explain I need an emergency caesarean straight away. I look over to my husband and he is in tears - the way everyone is acting makes it so scary. He tells me later he was terrified of losing us both and hadn't contemplated it until that moment...:crying:
By this stage (around midnight) I am exhausted and wishing I'd slept more the night before). Everyone is so kind in surgery, they keep explaining to us what's going on and why. The paed is on hand and grabs my grey little conehead baby as soon as she's out. She had inhaled meconnium onto her lungs and is in danger. She is suctioned and all sorts. I still remember how lovely the paed was, he stopped on the way out and held my baby to me so I could kiss her. I was so grateful. By this stage I can barely keep my eyes open as they staff stop my trolley on the way to recovery next to Nixies who is being transferred to the NICU ward. I try to listen as the paed explains that the inhalation can be fatal but they have started antibiotics and CPAP straight away, they'll know more tomorrow. It seems unreal to me, I pass out and wake to find I can't feel my legs which freaks me out.
I'm desperate to see my baby and they organise a wheel chair for me. This (http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p229/KazGavNix/Nicola%202006/1%20July06/NicolaIntensiveCare.jpg) was my baby :gloomy:. For some reason I know Nix isn't going to be a fatal case. Perhaps it was denial, I prefer instinct. Maybe it was the fact that, despite the scary equipment and IV stuff, she is still the biggest baby in the NICU. We are surrounded by very tiny miracles with parents who will wait months to even take their baby home.
After 6 days, we are allowed to have her in my room. Because of her start, she didn't get a first breast feed until days later. I had pinched my boobs raw trying to get the tiniest bit of colutstrum out and she (understandably) had no interest in working to get milk from me. After much breast refusal, tears from me and her, some formula, she agrees to breast feed... when she feels like it... and reserves the right to chuck a tanty and reuse when she doesn't! Although my milk hadn't come in before I left, I still felt happy. My lovely ob was very concerned about how I felt having a caesar. I was so happy that Nix was OK, the 'how' did not matter in the slightest.
After reading some scary births on bubhub, some very severe posterior experiences and about some uncaring middies/doctors, I am doubly grateful to the staff at the Mercy hospital. Looking at my healthy buddha bub today, it seems like a lifetime ago, but we will never forget her scary start and our happy ending thanks to the staff at the Mercy. :kiss:
Nix was due on 4 July 2006. Had a great preg, swelling stupidly was the only real prob, but even that was bearable. Go in for check day after due date to check slowing of movements. Since I'm already 2cm dilated and there is a low level of fluid around her, I'm asked to come back 7am the next morning for induction.
Wow, it's happening. Am so completely excited I don't get to sleep until about 2am. Getting ready for hospital in morning and have my 'show'. Rock up and am hooked on the drip. Naively think that inductions are quick and will have baby by arvo... By lunch time the middies (who were all fantastic) keep asking if I feel anything. Feels odd to say, nothing really, just slight period type cramps. Am happily chatting, reading trash mags and going through my snacks! My waters are broken and no fluid comes out. Nixies head must've been right against the entrance plugging it as the tweezers things pulled out some little baby hairs!
So the drip is amped, and amped, and amped... Then the pain comes and it's not like expected. I'm told to suck on the gas when a contraction comes, but I can't tell when they are!! Instead of pelvic pains, I've got a constant back pain that is getting worse. By arvo it's too much and I've asked for pethidine and am able to go for a walk after. But once that wears off I am in even more pain and throwing up till there's nothing but bile, nice! Internal shows I'm only 5cm dilated.
Keep going with the heat packs and birthing ball, but I crack before long (early evening) and beg and sob for an epidural. Have to wait for my ob to come to see me and am in hysterics by the time she comes. I can finally rest after the epi and it turns out that's what my body needed to get to fully dilated. My ob is happy because she was thinking caesar if I hadn't dilated. However, bubs posterior position that was causing the back pain, is also making it hard for her to get down - she's stuck. I'm not even asked to push or anything yet - my ob asks what I want to do. She'll only allow me to go another hour before intervention, so the theatre is booked for forceps or caesar for an hours time, just in case.
An hour later and bubs is still stuck. Unfortunately at this time, Nixies heart rate plummets. Alarms go off and people rush into the room like an ER episode. Luckily theatre was already booked as they explain I need an emergency caesarean straight away. I look over to my husband and he is in tears - the way everyone is acting makes it so scary. He tells me later he was terrified of losing us both and hadn't contemplated it until that moment...:crying:
By this stage (around midnight) I am exhausted and wishing I'd slept more the night before). Everyone is so kind in surgery, they keep explaining to us what's going on and why. The paed is on hand and grabs my grey little conehead baby as soon as she's out. She had inhaled meconnium onto her lungs and is in danger. She is suctioned and all sorts. I still remember how lovely the paed was, he stopped on the way out and held my baby to me so I could kiss her. I was so grateful. By this stage I can barely keep my eyes open as they staff stop my trolley on the way to recovery next to Nixies who is being transferred to the NICU ward. I try to listen as the paed explains that the inhalation can be fatal but they have started antibiotics and CPAP straight away, they'll know more tomorrow. It seems unreal to me, I pass out and wake to find I can't feel my legs which freaks me out.
I'm desperate to see my baby and they organise a wheel chair for me. This (http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p229/KazGavNix/Nicola%202006/1%20July06/NicolaIntensiveCare.jpg) was my baby :gloomy:. For some reason I know Nix isn't going to be a fatal case. Perhaps it was denial, I prefer instinct. Maybe it was the fact that, despite the scary equipment and IV stuff, she is still the biggest baby in the NICU. We are surrounded by very tiny miracles with parents who will wait months to even take their baby home.
After 6 days, we are allowed to have her in my room. Because of her start, she didn't get a first breast feed until days later. I had pinched my boobs raw trying to get the tiniest bit of colutstrum out and she (understandably) had no interest in working to get milk from me. After much breast refusal, tears from me and her, some formula, she agrees to breast feed... when she feels like it... and reserves the right to chuck a tanty and reuse when she doesn't! Although my milk hadn't come in before I left, I still felt happy. My lovely ob was very concerned about how I felt having a caesar. I was so happy that Nix was OK, the 'how' did not matter in the slightest.
After reading some scary births on bubhub, some very severe posterior experiences and about some uncaring middies/doctors, I am doubly grateful to the staff at the Mercy hospital. Looking at my healthy buddha bub today, it seems like a lifetime ago, but we will never forget her scary start and our happy ending thanks to the staff at the Mercy. :kiss: