Wow, I don't even know where to start, the past few days have been so chaotic, traumatic almost. But I guess I'll start at the beginning.
I have a friend, a girl I knew in high school, who I recently caught up with again after 10-odd years and discovered she has twins 2 weeks younger than mine. She moved back to NZ from Oz earlier this year and discovered she was 17 weeks pregnant when she got back.
On Wed she rang me to say that she was being induced on Thurs night at 37 weeks due to gestational diabetes, and when I asked who her birth support person was she said she was going by herself.
So I offered, I felt sorry for her, her partner is in Oz and I suspect there are a few issues there, and her family aren't very supportive. And besides, no one should have to give birth alone, especially as her twins were an elective c-sect due to being breech so she had no idea what to expect.
So Thurs night I went to the hospital, we sat in WAU (womens assesment unit) till midnight before being told the induction was being rescheduled for Fri morning, so I went home.
I went back on Fri morning with the gremlins, and they put in the gel at 8.30am. We went for a walk around the domain and spent the rest of the day hanging out in WAU. Willie came and picked the girls up about 6pm, and the doctor came at 8pm to say that if things hadn't started by 8am on Sat morning they would schedule a c-sect as it wasn't safe to do a second gel because of her previous c-sect.At 10pm her waters broke and she started to panic. She started having contractions every 7 or so minutes and she was screaming from pain, got up on all fours on the bed and started vomiting.
The midwife at WAU couldn't get her to keep still for an internal so they transferred her to the delivery unit, pushing the bed with her on all fours. She was holding my hand for dear life, my hands are covered with scratches and finger nail marks.
In DU they did an internal and she was only 1cm dilated and the cervix wasn't at all ready, so they called the anaesthatist to get an epi put in. We must have got the biggest w*nker anaesthatist in the whole hospital (and believe me, I know a few of them and they are for the most part lovely) coz he spent the whole time telling her not to put pressure on him and that it would "take as long as it takes" and that he couldn't wait for her contraction to finish before he started, meanwhile she was howling and writhing in pain and still not coping.
The epi went in, the anaesthatist left, and the duty midwife agreed he was a bit of a w*nk. Then we napped, her in bed and me in the lazy boy till the doctors came at 9am. They did an internal and she was still only 1cm dilated, so the OB decided to try syntocinon and if no progress in 2 hours they would section her. Then he told her she needed to lose weight and that it would be a difficult c-sect because of her size. How the hell is that helpful? Sure, she needs to lose weight, but what can she do about it while she's in labour?
By 11am she was 2cm dilated, so they upped the synto and by 12.30pm she was fully dilated, all pain free as they were regularly topping up the epi. Baby's head was really high tho, and the midwife and registrar were worried that she wouldn't be able to push him down, so they told her to wait for an hour then start pushing.
At 2pm, they checked and baby's head was still up, but his heart rate was dropping with contractions so they told her to start pushing. Problem was they'd had to let the epi wear off so she could feel to push and she was again screaming in pain, I don't know whether she just has a low pain threshold, or whether the fear was making it worse, but she wasn't coping at all. She kept yelling at me "is this normal Emma, did this happen to you?" More scratches and finger nail marks in my hands, but she was pushing really really well.
After an hour of pushing, baby's head hadn't moved down at all so the midwife went to find the registrar and see about either a ventouse or a c-sect as there was a risk of her scar rupturing, and baby's heartrate was getting more erratic. The charge midwife came in to help.
While we were waiting for the registrar, and with my friend still screaming in pain, we saw a peep of baby's head, and eventually, five minutes before the reg arrived to make a decision about a c-sect/ventouse, baby was born at 3.32pm.
He was blue and needed oxygen and his head is really cone shaped from all the pushing, and his APGARs were only 6 and 8. They gave my friend the synto jab to get the placenta out, and it got stuck. She was refusing to hold baby coz she was still having contractions and she was swearing and screaming in pain so they topped up the epi again. An hour and a half later the registrar FINALLY managed to get the placenta out by putting her hand in and scraping it away, but then she started to bleed so they started another drip to stop the bleeding.
Baby hadn't even been weighed at this stage, coz the midwife/registrar were too busy trying to get the placenta out, but when they finally did get round to weighing him we all guessed how big he would be. I guessed 6lb12oz and he was 6lb11.5oz so pretty damn close!
I left them to it at this stage, I had been at the hospital for nearly 36 hours, had about 2 hours interrupted sleep in the lazy boy, and was in desperate need of a shower. I cried my eyes out all the way home from exhaustion, and shock, and relief, and of course happiness that he was finally out in one piece. When I left they were trying to get him to feed as with her having gest diabetes it's important for his blood sugar that he has a decent feed.
I came home, saw the kids for about 1/2 hour, sent my midwife a text to tell her baby had arrived (we had run into her on Fri at the hospital) and thanking her for not letting my births be as horrific as this one, and then went to bed at about 8.30pm. I slept till 12.30pm today, I was sooooo shattered.
One good thing tho, Willie was a legend and coped brilliantly with the kids, which makes me feel a bit more secure about leaving him alone with them when I go to Wellington next month!
It's really changed my perspective on things, I've been incredibly lucky to have had three brilliant births, and three babies born with Apgars of 9 and 10 (Maya's were both 10's). I spoke to my friend today and she is recovering, still in shock I think, baby ended up being born on the twins birthday so she is now a single mum of 2 12-mth olds and a newborn. I suspect I will be seeing a lot more of her in the next couple of months while she gets her head around it.
Oh and a huge thanks to people who've donated to Bundles of Love, we gave her a box of baby clothes and blankets as she had nothing for him (all the twins baby stuff is in Oz still) and my lovely boss gave her a gorgeous Albetta outfit and Mokopuna beanie and booties for him.
Whew, that was long! I am still recovering!
ETA: When I got in the shower, I discovered my shoulders and upper arms are covered in bruises, this birth support stuff is a physical job!
Edited by Maya
Oh boy..... (long!)
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Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
Maya wrote:
