What an amazing few days it has been for us. After 38 weeks of pregnancy Vicki gave birth to a beautiful baby boy weighing in at a tiny 5 lb 3 oz.
As im sure is pretty common for many women the birthing plan just went out the window completely, in fact we only came in for what we thought was a routine scan.
The midwife was concerned that the baby wasn’t growing enough and this had already prompted a scan earlier in the pregnancy, the conclusion of that was that all was well, but that the baby was a bit small. No worries then we thought however after the next midwife appointment she again referred Vicki in for another scan and that is when everything in our world changed!
Vicki picked me up from work at 1pm lunchtime, im my mind I was going to be back in work around 2:30 but I couldn’t have been further from the truth.
At the end of the scan the nurse concluded that Vicki would probably be induced, slight shock there but ok I thought, inducement takes time! We then met with the Doctor who informed us that the placenta was no longer providing enough nutrition or blood so it had to come asap. She then asked us if we had our stuff with us which was the point I think we both realised it was all going to happen whether we were ready or not. We had 9 months to prepare for this but I immediately felt like I was drowning and simply didn’t feel ready at all!
Initially they were happy to let Vicki come home and sort her stuff but that offer was swiftly retracted as they wanted to get her induced as soon as possible.
They led us off to a room and hooked Vicki up to a baby heart rate monitor, I then headed back to the car making some hasty nervous phone calls to work. I got home and started getting all the stuff together hoping I didn’t miss anything, I managed to fit in a shower figuring I wouldn’t know when my next one would be. I think at this point I was still thinking we were in for a long wait because I knew inducement can take a long long time.
I stopped at the shops on the way and did a mad purchase of wraps, sandwiches, chocolate and pretty much every bottle of lucozade they had!
By the time I bumbled back in the hospital weighed down by enough supplies to last out the month the midwife had just finished administering the pessary to Vicki, needless to say this is not a comfortable procedure and Vicki was left feeling pretty abused.
It wasn’t long after that the contractions began. She was hooked up to the heart rate monitor again because they wanted to see how the babies heart rate would react to the contractions.
The calm before the storm
Please note the smiley face, this was soon to change…….
The contractions started picking up and they looked very painful. Vicki was showing all the classic signs of early labour, moving around constantly trying to get comfortable (and not really succeeding) The NCT training classes had prepared me for this. As a side note I cant recommend the NCT classes highly enough!
I felt a bit useless really, I tried some massaging that went down about as well as a fart in a lift and so just kept reminding her to breathe and reassuring her frequently.
In the back of my mind I was thinking that if this carries on for 24 hours or more it was going to turn ugly! She was already looking like she wanted to throttle me even though my material in my mind was gold :-
“its going to be okay”
“keep breathing”
“is there anything I can do?” (the default response being “no”)
These phrases were clearly wearing pretty thin! Even the offer of a pork pie was doing little to cheers her up but more serious concerns were now afoot. The main one now was that the babies heart rate was dropping as the contractions increased.
The Doctor came in and informed us that we were high risk and that a c section was more than likely. They were concerned that the stress of a natural birth would be too much for the baby but the decision was not made yet.
The monitoring continued but nurses started to filter in a fit a cannula and a drip to Vicki, they were clearly beginning to prep her for theatre All the talk of heart rates dropping were beginning to scare me, Vicki was initially really upset that she may not be having a natural birth, she started crying which broke my heart but getting the baby out safely was now everyone’s primary concern.
The decision was made and it all happened in a whirlwind, we were in theatre before we knew it, I ran into a side room to change into some scrubs and was then sat beside her whilst the anaesthetist prepped her and injected into the spine. There must have been about 10 staff in that room including midwifes and pediatrician, it was completely controlled chaos and I will remain utterly impressed for the rest of my days about how professional everyone in that room was. It made the incidents that I’m used to in work seem utterly insignificant in comparison…..
The operation began, I was sat beside Vicki stroking her hair and trying not to breakdown because I was terrified! I wanted to look but they put a screen up so I couldn’t although when I heard one of them say “there’s a head” I couldn’t help but sneak a peak! What a surreal sight that was! The rest of the baby shortly followed and the words “its a boy” came from somewhere. It was then I caught my first full look at our son! He was also screaming which was good to hear. They placed him down and inspected him and announced that he was all well and he would not need to go to the baby intensive care ward! This was such a huge relief, I had not even begun to consider how I would cope with that.
I also got to cut the rest of the cord and then take him in my arms, this was such a wonderful feeling and I was completely overwhelmed. The fear, relief and elation released from me in a torrent of tears. He was perfect to me, small and vulnerable but perfect.
I took him over to Vicki so she could see him, the Doctors were still working away stitching her back together but before we knew it we were in a side room with the baby being cradled by his mum 🙂
Mummy and un named baby!
One proud Daddy
Amazed by my son!
Our family
Not long after we were taken to the ward and we started to try and breast feed.
There is lots of technique to this but he’s getting better and better at it and is feeding very frequently which is good as he needs to grow before they will let us go home from the hospital.
Its now two days later and i’m just trying to support Vicki and do whatever I can to try and make it easier for her. I’m writing this on the 9th as the baby and Vicki get some much earned rest.
I have to say she has been amazing and I am so proud of how she has handled everything. Even after all the sleep deprivation she looks amazing and hasn’t lost her temper with me once!
She is an amazing mum and I think together we will do well 🙂
The support we have had from all our friend, family and colleagues has been phenomenal and makes us feel so lucky that we have all these wonderful people in our lives.
To get home and find a bunch a flowers from Eduserv and cards and gifts from other friends just filled us with joy.
Finally a massive massive thank you to all the wonderful people at the RUH that have astounded me with their craft and care! We will forever be in your debt.
Our son
portingalesponderings 