Birth Plan - Smirth Plan!

Oops, I know I said in my last post - Belated Birth Announcement - that I'd be back over the weekend to elaborate, but you know how it is, life happens, and with a 13 week old in the mix now, the computer is getting very minimal usage!

So where do I start?

After reading numerous 'birth' books and getting myself mentally ready for 'everything' (yeah right!), and attending birthing/baby classes, Mr Mel and I sat down and drew up a birth plan in early April, as we were due on 28 April.

The midwife at our class encouraged us to keep all options on the table, even if you have a birth plan, so yes I had all options in the back of my mind, but was really really really keen to go with our plan.

And let's just say our birth wasn't quite exactly to plan!

My birth plan was deliver naturally, no pain relief, quiet, dark room with music, and just Mr Mel and the midwife (unless other medical assistance required).

Well things kind of went awry!

In the last 2 weeks of the pregnancy I developed excess fluid so they said the wouldn't let me go much past due date.

On due date Saturday 28 April I went to the Hospital for them to kick off the induction, they were to insert a tape called Cervidil that helps the dilation kick off, then I was to go home, go back Sunday for a check, and if all going to plan go home then back on Monday for them to get the induction fully going.

On the Saturday the admin person at the delivery suite said 'so we're admitting you now', I said 'no just the 2pm appointment then I'm going home, back tomorrow', she gave me a funny look and said she'd be back, the OB came and said because of the fluid they were inserting the cervidil but I'd be admitted as they were worried if my waters broke at home (hour away) that the cord could come out before bub due to the excess fluid!

Luckily we had bags packed (due to earlier scare when bub was in transverse), so I was taken to the maternity ward after they did the cervidil.

On Sunday arvo they checked and weren't happy with the Cervidil so put in a balloon that's meant to take the dilation further.

On Monday morning 5am they checked and I was 4cm dilated, so they broke my waters and put me on a Sintocin drip to help contractions, horrible thing that turned out to be!

They checked throughout the day and still 4cm, so they put the Sintocin up to the max, but at 7pm that night I was still 4cm, I was exhausted, contracting every 15 mins since 5am, so they said they'd take the drip out, and start again the next day.

So Tuesday morning 5am they hooked up the Sintocin again, still only 4cm, by 11am the pain was horrid, so I tried the gas and quickly vomited! Then I started labouring in my back, so I tried water injections into the sachrial area, oh my god, so painful, like fire being shot into your back, but it gave relief of the back labour for a few hours.

At 2pm still 4cm, and they said if not further along by 5pm then c-section.

At 5pm I was finally 10cm, so started pushing, after 4 hours bub turned posterior and the OB said bub won't be able to be delivered naturally without an epidural, the pain in my back was ridiculous, can't describe how much it hurt!

So I had the epidural at 9pm, and after half hour they realised that it hadn't worked, the needle had turned upwards pointing to my head, they said it was too dangerous to try it again, and bub was getting into a worse position so only option was c-section.

So at 1030pm Tuesday they wheeled into surgery and Jessica was born at 1048pm, she was perfect, 3.42kg, 54cm.

We stayed in hospital till the following Monday, which looking back was a godsend. I was exhausted, both mentally & physically, and I think I was in a bit of shock with the whole situation, having gone in expecting a 'normal' birth I ended up with a myriad of very invasive procedures. 

Yes having our baby in our arms wiped it all from my mind at the time, but I can tell you even now, nearly 14 weeks later, I still get teary when thinking about the birth, it was traumatic, and I think it had a huge contribution to me getting a bit of the 'baby blues' in the first few weeks at home.

We don't have any family close by, all my family & family are in Victoria, and all of Mr Mel's are in Sydney, so it was just the 2 of us, with no real idea what we were doing, and without anyone to help us shine light on the 'situation'.

Mr Mel was an angel, he was so caring, loving and supportive, I could see him worrying about me, especially at 2am when I would be crying while feeding our daughter. 

At the time I didn't think I would be able to do it, she had silent reflux (we found out at 6 weeks) and would only sleep if we held her upright. So for weeks on end I would sit in the corner of our lounge with bub asleep on my chest, a blanket wrapped around us, watching rubbish TV, as I was paranoid of falling asleep and hurting her.

Adding to that the noises she made, NO ONE told us that babies are so bloody noisy! Where did the term 'sleeping like a baby' come from?  If it was true the people they're describing would sound like snuffling piglets while sleeping!

I will be forever thankful to the lovely midwife who visited us when bub was 2 weeks old (after a blubbering call from me to the local health clinic asking for advice on bub not sleeping!).

She reassured us that the noises were normal, that bub wasn't suffocating or choking, and that we were doing a good job.

Hearing those few sentences turned us around, gave us confidence in what we were trying to do.

I'll admit there were several times (mainly between 1-4am) where I didn't know if I was cutout to be a Mum, where I thought 'what the hell have we done', but I can honestly say that we have been truly blessed to have our daughter arrive into our lives, to look at her in her bassinette each morning when she wakes and have her beam a magic smile at me is just priceless.

We have been lucky really, she started sleeping 8-9 hours overnight at around 10 weeks, and for the past week she has extended her daytime catnaps to an hour here and there, which gives me a chance to get some stuff done.

She's laying in her bassinette beside me now as I type (11pm!), sleeping like a baby, and now that I know her squeals/grunts/snuffles are normal, I delight in every sound.

So that's the story of the birth of our darling daughter!

Happy Bubba :)

Till next time,

PS - The ladies in the Delivery & Maternity Wards were absolutely fantastic, there was a Lactation Nurse available who was great, and one of the midwives was definitely an angel in disguise. She showed me how to change a nappy (laugh away!), grabbed my boob to show me how to get bub to latch on, showed me how to express milk to help my milk come in (after a night where bub fed every 1/2 hour for almost 12 hours!).