Marvelous Monday at Birth Stories on Demand ❀

 ❀Jey❀  

Belly painting by Arinee of

Purple People Painters!

Arinee Glass-belly painter and owner of:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Purple-People-Painters/128446467260636

 

Our Story!!

We hadn’t really thought to much about having a baby until we had a miscarriage in 2007. Since seeing that little heat beat we had wanted a baby so bad so it was devastating to lose one.  So after my D&C we started trying again and trying and trying only to find out i had polycystic ovaries. All that time we joked about how lucky my partner and i where that i never really got my period and now that lucky was stopping us. So appointments were made and operation booked to make sure there was no scaring from my D&C when in 2009 we found out we were expecting Ella.

So our goal was to get to 12 weeks everything would be fine then less chance of a miscarriage. We did it and everything was perfected we went to our 19 week scan in which we got told that my placenta was low lying no need to worry it will move by 34 weeks otherwise you may need a c section. The next day i started bleeding thinking the worst we rushed to Osborne park hospital. They checked us over and Ella heart was beating strong the bleeding was linked to my placenta being low and i was told to take it easy for a few days then back to work, the next day i was bleeding again. So back to the hospital i went and again Ella was fine and i was told the same thing. This happened on and off for the rest of my pregnancy. I was never told that i need to be on complete bed rest and was always cleared for work within a week.

On Friday i went to the shops for some lunch before heading to work when i felt like i was bleeding so went to the bathroom to find myself bleeding again this time was much heavier. I headed to the car called Osborne park and told them i was coming in and they told me to keep driving to King Edward. I had never been there before and got lost, balling my eye out in a carpark, bleeding and worrying if Ella was ok. My partner was about an hour away so my mum left work and caught a taxi to me and then we went to King Edward.

Up to assessment i went and the staff up there where great in straight away and checked out, and then moved to a room to stay till the bleeding stopped.Well it didn’t take long and it started again that night even heavier i buzzed for the nurse and i was sent to labour ward having mild contractions. Michael came up and we were given steroid and the paediatric doctors came down and warned us of what would happen if Ella were born now, for some reason it never clicked that it would happen and we never really thought about it.  Two days later i was back in my room.Things were good and i was looking like i would be going home on Thursday as the bleeding had almost stopped.

On Wednesday night i had a sore back so the nurse on changed my mattress to a softer one and gave me some panadol. In the morning after not much sleep i was in pain still and buzzed for some more panadol when my doctor came she looked at me and sent me to labour ward. I rang Michael and he said he would come up when he finished work.

The midwife on wasn’t the nicest she didn’t want to listen to me and said i wasn’t in labour and told me to eat my breakfast and unhooked me so i could so to the toilet. I was interrupted by a doctor wanted to do a ultrasound. He said are you sure you have low lying placenta because Ella’s bottom was lower than my placenta and then did an internal  and informed me i was 6cm and would be having my baby. I called Michael but couldn’t finish the call before Ella’s heart rate dropped. The Nurse ripped my clothes off as my room began to fill with people and called Michael and my mum. I was rushed off for a emergency c section under a general. It didn’t take long Michael was called at 9am and Ella was born at 9: 14am. Luckly he made it to the hospital in time to be able to walk with her to SCN3.

When i woke in recovery the staff couldn’t tell me if Ella was alive so they called Michael in. He told me she is alive and a tiny 755grams (1 pound 11oz), 34 cm (13 Inches) long with a head circumference of 30 (12 in) cm she was born at 25+5 weeks. I wasn’t allowed to see her until i could sit up but they sent me up a photo. We i first saw her i couldn’t stop crying or blaming myself how could i have not known sooner and gotten help to stop her from being born so prematurely and still to this day i seem to blame myself.

We went through some ups and downs on our NICU journey ventilated, CPAP, PBF, several blood transfusions, bradys, d stats, thousands of heel pricks, long lines and we even got a staph infection (that was scary ). But we made it after 12 long weeks we took home our little princess Ella Grace Zito at 2.3kg and before her really due date.

Tags: birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand,premature, preemie, micro preemie, born too early, birth stories with pictures, NICU, neo natal intensive care unit,CPAP,transfusion,

Wonderful Wednesday is Here At BSOD

 ❤ Leeann ❤

  

 Laura from striped shirt.

http://stripedshirt.com/

Christina's Birth of Elizabeth Rose

This is my birth story of my daughter, Elizabeth Rose, born at 28 weeks gestation.  I was due to have Elizabeth September 24, 2007.  Everything was going great up until I reached week 28.  Let me explain.

This was my first pregnancy and I didn’t really know what to expect.  I didn’t have any morning sickness with this pregnancy.  I ate right and drank my water.  I drank so much water that I thought I was going to turn into a fish.  Everything was going great.  Aside from having a few bouts of high blood pressure.  I was beginning to feel her move inside of me.  Not much and it was very few and far between, but it was something.  I remember sitting on the couch with my husband watching TV and seeing my belly move up and down from her kicking me.  We were so excited!

Let’s fast forward.  It was a Tuesday night.  July 3rd to be exact and Patrick and I were meeting my parent’s at a local restaurant for All-You-Can-Eat crab legs (my favorite).  We walked into the restaurant and my mother took one look at me and said “I love you but you look like hell”.  I said “gee thanks”!  She told me that I looked very swollen in the face and when I told her that my calves were as hard as a rock she told me that I need to call the dr.  I remember saying to her “Mom, it’s just swelling.  That’s normal”.  Boy was I wrong!

After dinner, my mom and I went to Wal-Mart to try and find me some flip flops that I could maybe, just maybe put on my feet- since mine were getting to be a bit snug.  Well, that idea “flopped” as nothing (not even men’s) fit me.  So we went home.  But not without my mom telling me that I needed to call the doctor.  So, when I got home I asked Patrick what he thought.  He said we might as well since we were both off the next day due to it being the 4th of July and if they wanted us to come in to get checked out we could sleep in the next day.  So, I decided to get in the shower (I somehow knew I was going to the hospital that night) and then call the doctor.  After I took my shower and did my hair and make up (yes, yes I did my hair and make up) I called the on call doc and was advised to come in so they could do a urine test and do some blood work.  We got to the hospital around 11/11:30 pm (it’s a half hour drive from our house) and checked into Triage.  After being on the monitors and getting blood work done and doing a urine test, they decided to admit me to keep an eye on me over night.  I *think* that was around 1 am or so.  The doctor (who I did not know at the time would deliver my baby girl in another 4 hours) came in to tell me that my platelets where *here* and they want them to be *here* so he was going to admit me to see if they changed overnight.

On the way down to my room I remember asking my nurse when I could go home because I was so tired and I just wanted my own bed.  She turned to me and said “I don’t know but you aren’t going home pregnant”.  WHAT?!  You mean to tell me that I am going to be stuck here for another 3 months?!  Great!  What was I going to tell my boss? I was going to get fired.  I couldn’t possibly be here another 3 months!  NO!

After they got me to my room they started me on some drugs.  Magnesium Sulfate to be exact.  This was to prevent me from having seizures because my blood pressure was so high.  All through the night nurses and doctors kept coming in to take my blood pressure and draw more blood out of me.  Up until 4 o’clock in the morning that is.  At 4 am they came and took my last set of blood.  At 5 am what seemed like a SWAT team came exploding into my room.  There were doctors, nurses, neonatologists, you name it they were there!  The doctor that had admitted me was there.  He informed us that we had to deliver this baby and we had to deliver her now.  He said “we have to go and we have to go now.  Is there anyone you need to call”?  I asked “how long do I have to call people”?  He answered “5 minutes”.  I said “nope.  Let’s go”.  A nurse handed me something to drink to neutralize my stomach and then handed me a basin.  I asked her what the basin was for and she told me because the stuff I was drinking could make me vomit. I told her I wasn’t drinking it because I hated getting sick.  She said “you are more scared of throwing up then you are of having an emergency c-section at 28 weeks”?  I replied with “you’re damn right I am!  I’m NOT drinking it”!  Needless to say, I drank it.  They wheeled me down to the OR and started my epidural.  When I got to the OR my blood pressure was 200/100.  I remember the nurse who was there holding me talking to me and kept telling me I was doing a great job.  After they got the epidural started, Patrick was allowed to come in.  He was sitting kind of beside me but kind of behind me.  I remember asking him what that sound was.  He said “it’s a bucket of your blood at my feet”.  The whole time I kept asking him if he was ok.  He kept telling me he was fine and just to relax.  He was my rock!

Then, at 5:49 am on July 4, 2007, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, to be named Elizabeth Rose.  She weighed in at 2 pounds 1 ounce and was 14.5 inches long.  She came out kicking and screaming.  She sounded like a little kitten!  I remember holding my breath waiting to hear her cry.  It was music to my ears!  They wrapped her up and brought her over to me before taking her down to the NICU.  They asked if I wanted to give her a kiss.  I kissed her on her little forehead.  She was just perfect!  They whisked her away to the NICU with her daddy in tow.  Later, while I was in recovery, Patrick took one of my nurses aside and asked her just how serious this was.  She responded with “if you wouldn’t have brought her in here when you did she would have seizured overnight and you would have found them both dead in the morning”.  It turns out that I had something called HELLP syndrome.  Basically it’s the most severe case of Preeclampsia.

Elizabeth Rose spent 61 days in the NICU.  She came home on September 3rd.  Just 21 days shy of her due date.  Today, she is a happy, healthy, and smart little (almost) 4 year old.  I can’t imagine my life without her in it.  And I still can’t believe that my husband and I went through all that we did.

HELLP syndrome, pre eclampsia, eclampsia, birth, birth stories, premature, micro preemie, 28 weeks, birth stories on demand, positive birth stories, cesarean, cesarean section, c-section  

Terrific Tuesday on BSOD ★

♥Ashley♥

 

My cousin Melanie and her website

Mudder Hen Designs

http://www.mudderhendesigns.com/index.html

I love her bags! She makes diaper bags, totes, handbags, just about anything.

A Mom Shares The Birth Story of Her Son After 23 Weeks of Bed Rest

 This birth story was used by permission from:

The good the bad the family

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/

Monday, September 20, 2010

Delivery Day!

After a looooong and suspenseful pregnancy, our sweet baby boy was safely delivered September 7th at 11:01pm! And boy was he ready! Our sweet baby boy arrived at a hearty weight of 9lbs 14oz and stretched out at an amazing 22" long! I guess I am just TOO good at bed rest!

I was scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks and 3 days on Tuesday the 7th. My contractions started on their own the Friday before. They were strong and pretty regular. I almost went in for a labor check by Sunday night but decided to wait and see if my water broke. I mean, it was only a few days until induction. And with my last pregnancy I had the same contractions 3 minutes apart from December 26th until January 3rd when our now 3yr old was born. I went into the hospital 3 times with our 2nd and all 3 times they confirmed I was in labor and sent me home since my water hadn't broken. Therefore when the contractions started this time we decided to wait it out.

The night before I was induced I took a sleeping pill (standard issue by my OB to ensure that mommy & baby are ready for the big day) and hit the sheets. We had to be up at 5:30 to get ready for our 7:30am check in time. But at 4:00am I was awakened by extremely strong back labor. By 4:30am it was time for my hubby to wake up and rub my back! No sleep for mom- no sleep for hubby! But even that didn't help. Induction or not, this baby was coming today! So we got up and started getting ready. We dropped off kids at school & daycare and headed to the hospital.

We checked into St. Francis at 7:30am and got settled in. Our friends arrived and once school was out the children also arrived. In all there were a total of 10 people who joined my husband and I at the hospital just waiting for this baby to make his appearance! Six of those were children ages 1yr to 14yrs and they did an amazing job waiting!

We have an amazing hospital and that extends to the two amazing L&D nurses that joined us that day for our delivery. Yvonne & Evelyn were just amazing and I think we were just as much of a gift to them as they were to us! As I am not a screamer or yeller when I am in labor, we were all able to enjoy the day. We joked, laughed and even watched "Swamp People" while I was pushing! The nurses had a fun day and so did we! The nurses took such amazing care of me while I was in labor and even took care of all of our visitors. At one point one of them delivered Popsicles and Graham crackers to all of the children waiting so patiently in the waiting room!

When it came time to push our 14yr old decided to stay in the room for the delivery which I was so excited about! He was there for the birth of our other boy so it felt complete to me to have them there again. And while I was on bed rest I spent a lot of time prepping our 3yr old for what would take place during delivery as it was my hope that he would also be in the room. We talked about how the baby comes out and even discussed C-sections in case that happened. While he wasn't in the room at the moment that the baby arrived, he did spend a good amount of time in the room while I was pushing. And while my 14yr old chose to stay safely at the headboard of my bed to avoid further mental scarring, our 3yr old bravely chose to be at the business end so he could see what was taking place! At one point I was mid push and I heard my 3yr old say, "I gotta get out of here". I lost it and we all started laughing!

So after an hour of pushing our baby's head emerged! Whew! Hard part's over- right? Nope. Someone has daddy's shoulders. One of his shoulders got stuck and the doctor had to twist and pull and prod to get him free. Finally I looked down and saw this massive hand sticking up. Our baby was here- and he was BIG! When they placed him on my chest I was in a bit of shock. I was amazingly relieved. But I later told my husband that it was like we were on that show "I didn't know I was pregnant"! We spent so many months keeping mental distance from this day just in case it turned out badly. So to be at this moment... to have him in my arms... so see him healthy and big and strong... I can't even explain it. It was surreal. But I couldn't exhale just yet. My husband and I had dreaded a part of delivery. We were scared that when it was time to deliver the placenta, the very thing that was the source of all of our issues, that I would hemorrhage again. So I couldn't totally relax until I knew it was out. Usually new mom's miss that whole part of the delivery because they are so infatuated with their new baby. But I was waiting. And when I felt it pass I asked the doctor if it was out and if I was okay. He confirmed both. At that point I relaxed. Were we really done? Was it really time to be happy?

It's been almost 2 weeks since he arrived and I can't stop looking at him, kissing him, telling him I love him, and thanking God that he is here! He truly is a surprise we never knew we needed! My family is complete. I have 3 healthy boys, an amazing husband and I have made it out healthy and able to enjoy them all.

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****Read more of this mom's remarkable journey through months of bedrest and fear for her unborn baby.  Amazing woman!****

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I wanted to provide everyone with a glimpse into what propmpted me to start this blog.  I had a trip to the ER at 13 weeks and was on bed rest for the next 23 weeks.  That’s almost 6 full months on bed rest.  That’s a lot of stress, worry, adjustment, and ups and downs.  I can look back now and say I’m grateful for it and all it taught me.  But for a while it was a very low period in our lives.  Here are a few of the blogs I wrote during that time.

“That Day” This is the story of the day it all began. 

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/08/that-day.html

“A Princess Locked In A Tower” A cute take on what it’s like to be on bed rest.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/05/princess-locked-in-tower.html

“In Sickness & Health” Appriciating how my husband stepped up and lived his vows while I was on bed rest.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-sickness-health.html

“Bed Wreck” On bad days I called it Bed Wreck- not bed rest!  Here’s one of those days!

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/05/bed-wreck.html

“Secret Baby” Going on bed rest so early I felt like I was having a secret baby that no one knew about.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/05/secret-baby.html

“Coming Back From The Other Side”  This blog deals with the emotional rolloer coaster of what happens when you lose your job while on be drest.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/06/coming-back-from-other-side.html

“Holy Cow!  We’re Having A Baby!” For bed rest moms there is a wall we put up in case the pregnancy doesn’t end well.  This blog is about getting close to the end and realizing that a baby is happening.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/07/holy-cow-were-having-baby.html

“Excitement!  A First In Months!”  Another blog about coming to terms with the possibility of a healthy baby.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/07/excitement-first-in-months.html

“A Place We Never Thought We’d Be”  About getting to the end and reflecting on the experience.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/08/place-we-never-thought-wed-be.html

“The Last Day”  My last day of being pregnant before being induced.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/09/last-day.html

“Delivery Day!” The story of how our family became 5.

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/2010/09/delivery-day.html

For more follow here:

The good the bad the family

http://thegoodthebadthefamily.blogspot.com/

and the bedrest blog:

http://embracebedrestblog.com/

Terrific Tuesday on BSOD ★

 Check out our most recent Radio Show: http://tobtr.com/s/2806359  Our football baby story and a call-in about birth bullying from my bff at Balanced birth ♥

 

Bff Moxie getting plastered! 

 Bad Baby Inc.

Funny baby and maternity wear!  I love these guys!! 

http://www.badbabyinc.com/ 

Plus Size Birth

Providing plus size women resources to have a healthy and empowered pregnancy and beyond!

"Infertile" that's what my chart read. Why? I had one perfect child already but for some reason we just couldn't get pregnant with our 2nd. We tried and tried and before we knew it we were trying for over a year. The almighty Clomid was introduced and we found ourselves on a rollercoaster of medicines and timed sex. On our 3rd and final round of Clomid we had sex ONCE that entire month so I just knew that this was it, we'd have to go into something deeper and more expensive.

On July 4th I woke up and peed on my last stick and walked out of the bathroom. Came back to see a beautiful red cross in the window. OMG I WAS PREGNANT! I swung the door open, scaring my husband, and yelled "WE'RE PREGNANT!" naturally he didn't believe me, you wouldn't believe how many negative tests I knew I saw something in, so I through the test in his face. He was shocked! We were all on Cloud 9.

Our first ultrasound was very anticipated. We sat in the room with our daughter and looked up at the screen. Before she even zoned in on the baby, we both saw two sacs. Sure enough, she gets a clear shot of two bouncing babies, I cried, my husband laughed, my daughter said "What's that?". It was amazingly scary and perfect at the same time. Our #2 turned into our #2 AND #3.

I knew I wanted another vaginal birth and I wanted NO drugs this time. Naturally I went to a midwife. My weight and my weight alone made me too high risk for them to take me on. I was heartbroken, I spent the ride home bawling in the passenger side, I was numb. Finally, I found a doctor that was okay with me delivering vaginally as long as our Baby A was head down. GREAT!

Later we find out we're having another little girl and a little boy; to say we were over the moon is a grand understatement. Baby A was our boy and Baby B was our girl. Fast forward to 29weeks and besides having gestational diabetes this pregnancy is amazing and to my surprise our little boy has been head down this whole time. YES VAGINAL BIRTH FOR ME!!!

Then the labor came, I was in and out of the birth center for pre-term labor almost weekly now. At 31weeks my little boy was no longer head down, I was devestated but my doctor said he had more than enough time to turn. I was on procardia to stop the contractions as well as a shot of terbutalane, neither of which helped.  I went in to my appointment on January 28th for a regular check up and to be put on the non-stress test. After already being in pre-term labor I knew I was having contractions on the way to the appointment so I knew the non-stress test wouldn’t go over well. As soon as I was put on the machine the contractions started showing up. Not painful but pretty close together. My doctor came in and took one look at the strip and immediately sent me to the Birth Center to be admitted.

The plan was to put me on an IV of Magnesium Sulfate to try and stop the contractions, I was already on a dose of Procardia at home which was obviously not working so we had to move on to the strongest medicine possible. When I got to the hospital I was put on the machine right away and my contractions started coming more painful and more frequent. They started the Magnesium Sulfate and I felt like lava was running through my body but I tolerated it well. They gave me my first steroid shot for the babies’ lungs. I was at the lowest dose of 2mg but I was still contracting and they were not slowing down. Just a few days ago my cervix was hard and closed tight by then I was soft, effaced, and dilated to 1cm. They bumped my Magnesium to 3mg and I did okay but I still didn’t stop contracting. I was finally moved to what my doctor told me was the limit at 3.75mg of the Magnesium and I was still doing okay but yet again still contracting and not slowing down.

The doctor came in and checked me and I was at 2cm now, so I was progressing but they still wanted to give the Magnesium time. Finally the contractions started slowing down but then the doctor came in and sat on my bed and said we needed to talk. I was so scared at what I was about to hear. He told me that the NICU at the hospital was full and that if we stayed where we were that the babies would need to be sent to another hospital that is ½ hour away and that’s precious time when it comes to preemies. He told us that parent to parent he didn’t want to separate the family so he was giving us the option of being transferred to the other hospital and to their high risk labor and delivery. We agreed that we didn’t want to be separated. I took an ambulance ride to the new hospital, the whole while contracting like crazy, and way more painful and frequent.

As soon as I got there the new doctor upped my Magnesium to 4mg which shocked me because I knew my doctor didn’t want me to go above 3.75mg. And here is where the problems arrived. I was on way too much Magnesium and had too much and it was beginning to affect me horribly. My heart rate would race so high and then drop so low that I was passing out unconscious literally every 2hours. On top of passing out I was throwing up every 2-3hours as well, just medicine and bile because I wasn’t allowed to eat anything or drink anything. They finally lowered the Magnesium but it wasn’t helping, I was still contracting, still passing out, and still throwing up.

They finally came in and gave me the second and final steroid shot for their lungs. They checked me again and I had no change. I begged them to stop the Magnesium because I honestly felt like I was dying and they agreed to turn it off for 20minutes. For 20minutes my heart was fine and I felt a little better. After that they turned it back on at the lowest setting, 2mg, and all my symptoms came back. I had an EKG done as well as an ultrasound done on my heart to see if there was a serious issue. My heart was perfect; it just couldn’t handle all the Magnesium. I finally declined the Magnesium and demanded it be stopped, period. They turned it off and tried giving me Procardia, the drug I was already on, to stop the labor. I labored throughout the nights and they all strung together into a blur. Finally I was just contracting non-stop, there was no break in between the start of one and the ending of another. The doctor came in and checked me again and I was at 3-4cm, he was not happy that I had progressed and he left to talk to his attendee.

He came back with papers in his hand and told me that I’ll be going for c-section in about 15minutes. I was scared but I knew after all the stress my body was going through that it was the best thing for the babies.

At 4:27p I was in the operating room and at 4:33p I heard the screams of my son, about 30seconds later I heard the cries of my daughter. My twins were born on January 30th 2011 at 33weeks 2days weighing 4lbs 6oz and 3lbs 14oz. The babies were rushed up to the NICU were they were both put on CPAP machines; they both needed no oxygen help and were breathing on their own. I was in recovery when my husband came in and showed me pictures of my beautiful babies, I bawled looking at all the wires and the masks. On my way to my post-partum room we stopped at the NICU and I was able to hold both of the babies and I just cried. By the next day my son was off the CPAP and doing everything on his own. The following day, my daughter followed in her brother’s footsteps and had the CPAP machine off and was doing everything on her own.

Today they are eating via a tube in their noses but are having no troubles digesting the breast milk and they get bumped up on volume after every feeding because they are doing so well. The nurses all have faith that they will be out of the NICU in just a few days and moved downstairs to a less severe newborn care area.

My labor was not at all what I expected it to be or how I wanted it to be, in fact it was a nightmare but without that nightmare my 2 little blessings wouldn’t be here. And when it comes down to it I’d do it a million times over.

For more information and community check out: 

Plus Size Birth

Providing plus size women resources to have a healthy and empowered pregnancy and beyond!

Tags: plus size birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand, premature, Magnesium Sulfate, NICU, clomid, c-section, cesarean section stories, premature labor stories, 33 weeks, premature birth

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Ashley!

So Adorable!

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Madalyn's Birth of Cody

A few days prior to my 20th birthday I found out I was expecting! I had suffered with PCOS formally diagnosed when I was 18 and we were told that falling pregnant without medical intervention would be virtually impossible, as I hadn't had a menstrual cycle in over a year. 

I was 6-7 weeks along when I found out I was expecting, the pregnancy started off fairly smoothly with no complications just the usual morning sickness. At 15 weeks I started bleeding heavily and was admitted into the hospital I was planning on delivering in. After 5 days of monitoring I was sent home and put on bed rest. For the next month I was in and out of hospital with large bleeds, every time not knowing if we were in the process of losing the pregnancy.

Things had been okay from a few weeks until I was 24 weeks pregnant and my waters broke at home at exactly 11am. We called the private hospital my obgyn was at and he said to not bother coming there because they would just transfer me to the public hospital anyway! We got to the hospital at midday, at that point in time I was in a state of shock and emotionless, I don't think I really grasped or understood what was to come. 

I was quickly taken to the labour ward so the doctors could assess what was going on, my boyfriend then arrived. I wasn't contracting but I had lost part of my waters. The neonatal pediatrician then told us what to basically expect if they were to deliver my little man at that gestation the survival rates and asked a question which will stay with me for the rest of my life
" Do you want us to resuscitate him"

After an ultrasound scan showed I still had an acceptable amount of amniotic fluid left, I stayed in the labour ward for 3 days for constant monitoring until I was moved up to the ward.

Over the next 3 months the hospital became my home, nurses became my friends and daytime tv became the highlight of my day! 
We had many labour ward trips during my hospital stay as I had constant contractions and interventions to prevent labour & infection.

At 36 weeks my contractions became regular and I was 2cm dilated, I was taken down to labour ward at 9pm on the 30th October 2009 and given pitocin to help the contractions along. After 3 hard months I was finally going to meet my little boy.

My doctors said their would be no problem delivering 'Cody' at 36 weeks.

After 8 hours of no drugs, my cervix hadn't made any changes and the nurses said it would be best if I agreed to an epidural. After having the epi we had 3 preps for a c-section as my son's heart rate kept dropping. 
They completely broke my water bag just before giving me the epidural.

At roughly 1pm on the 31st October 2009 I was 10cm and ready to push. Just before I commenced pushing my temperature was at 40 degrees, apparently as I was close to birthing they would wait to give me antibiotics after my son was delivered.

At 2:48pm my beautiful little boy was born. He was placed on my chest but he was having breathing difficulties so the neonatologist and pediatricians who were in the room took him and checked him over. I don't recall much of what happened after but I do remember telling them to look after him and my partner went with them to the NICU.

After I had showered and was stitched up from my episiotomy, my partner came and told me that they wanted me to come and breastfeed my son. 
Going through the NICU doors was a frightening experience, as I didn't think at 36 weeks we would be in there.

He was on a heart rate monitor at this stage, I attempted breastfeeding but he turned blue and the nurse called for help and I got up and left. It was a terrible feeling. 
Once up in my room I remember having a panic attack and being terribly upset. This wasn't normal I was meant to have my son there with me.

That evening the nurses in NICU called and said he had been moved to SCN3 and put in a humidicrib and on CPAP (breathing support) I rushed down there and didn't leave his side. 

He spent 1 week in intensive care and was born with chronic pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome from an infection in my waters.
He birth weight was 2665g.

Cody celebrated his 2nd birthday just over a month ago now, to date he has had 16 hospital admissions for respiratory related problems. He is my miracle and I am extremely blessed to have gotten from 24 to 36 weeks.

In the future when I am mentally prepared to have another child I wish for a natural home water birth with no intervention and a fantastic pregnancy!

I hope you enjoyed reading my story.

tags: premature rupture of membranes, PROM, premature, NICU, birth, birth stories, birth stories on demand, Pitocin, epidural, birth stories with pictures, hospital birth, CPAP