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The birth of Hollie Patricia Wise (long)

i know that hollie wasnt born in march but thought i would post her birth story anyway



i finally had my baby at 42 weeks last wednesday 8th april by emergency c-section. here is Hollie's birth story, its long as i was in hospital for just under a week.

The birth of Hollie Patricia Wise. Born Wednesday 8th April 2009 at
8:09pm by emergency c-section weighing 8lb 11 ???? oz.



At 42 weeks pregnant I arrived at the hospital for my induction at 8am. We were greeted by Karen, a midwife who is also my partner's oldest friend. She informed us that she would be starting my induction and asked if that was OK. It was, and we couldn't have asked for anyone better to take care of us.

We were taken into a side room where I was put on the monitor to check baby. At this point baby was fine. I then had to have the horrible internal that had hurt me over the last few weeks.

My cervix was still not quite ready so Karen popped in the first pessary and I settled down on my side for half an hour so I had a little snooze. I was then put on the monitor for an hour. About 10 minutes later the pains started and by God did they hurt.

For the next 4 hours I was in agony, couldn't sit down, stand up or get comfy. I would literally get on the bed, then get off it again. Sit on the ball, get off it. Try a chair, etc. Nothing was helping. Now bear in mind that I still wasn't even in labour by this point! They found me a tens machine to see if that would help with the spasms in my back but no joy. So eventually they got me some gas and air and that seemed to ease the pain (or at least made me care much less about it).

Karen came back and did another internal to see if anything had changed and I don't think it had but she was sure that they may just be able to break my waters so she went to get a senior colleague for her opinion. Good news was they said it can be done so off down to the labour ward we went.

Got down to my room and they called the anaesthetist to come and do my epidural. So, whilst I waited, I sucked on the gas and air and randomly talked crap to the midwives. Well, I kept them entertained.

In comes the anaesthetist who explained everything again and then popped in the epidural, the whole time I'm sucking away on my gas and air. Having it put in was such a weird feeling and something I was dreading but it wasn't that bad and I will definitely be having one next time!

They helped me roll onto my back again as my left leg had completely gone numb by this time and I couldn't move it. They also had to be careful how they moved my hips because of the SPD. They had to be moved at the same time.

My legs were put in stirrups and my waters were broken. And the syntosen drip went up to try and start my labour.

They kept losing the baby's heart rate from the monitor that was strapped to my tummy so they put a foetal heart monitor onto the baby's scalp. This was the one thing I had written in my birth plan that I didn't want as I had one when my mum was in labour with me and due to complications I was left with a hole in my head for the first 18 months of my life and needed antibiotics.

Graham and I discussed it and after he pointed out that the techniques were different these days, as well as my own misfortune being 27 years ago, I agreed that if it was necessary for my baby's well being then they should go ahead and do it.

Graham went out to phone the family to tell them to get some sleep as nothing would happen till the morning now as I was still only 1-2 cm dilated. It was around 6-ish now I think.

Whilst Graham was outside they kept moving me into different positions, telling me that they needed me to move slightly so they could pick up the baby's heart rate slightly better.

They then called in the duty consultant because something wasn't quite right with the heart rate. I still wasn't being informed of everything, but maybe they just didn't want to make me panic. I just felt as though I wasn't being kept in the loop at the time.

Then, just as Graham came back into the room, the consultant said she had monitored the heart rate enough and decided that the baby needed to be born now as it was in foetal distress, so an emergency c-section was needed. This is when it all went scary and fast for me.

Consent forms were being passed, my epidural was getting topped up (luckily I had it already in otherwise they would have had to have knocked me out) and medicine was given. My community midwife had seen my name on the board and came in to see me before I went in. it was then time to move.

I was taken in on my own whilst Graham waited in the room until they were ready for him to come in. I got hooked up to all sort of things, more drugs given and then they started to cut. I started to panic as Graham wasn't with me, but then he came in. The sensation of being cut into is horrible. It doesn't hurt but you can feel things. And the fact that I could still move my feet freaked me out a little bit.

Graham made me concentrate on him whilst I was being operated on, because it was almost as if I was imagining pain. Graham kept on telling me that it was just pressure and not pain that I could feel, which made me calm down a bit. All of a sudden, only 4 minutes after they first cut into me (at 8:09pm) I felt a pop and a warm feeling between my legs. I knew the baby was out. Cue the crying parents.

After about the longest 30 seconds of our lives the baby cried. We joined in. It was a sound we were convinced we would never get fed up of. And then the baby was taken off to be checked out. They still hadn't told us the sex and if it was OK. After what felt like 15 minutes we begged the anaesthetist to go find out if baby was OK and to find out the sex for us.

She came back and said baby was absolutely fine and told us we had a little girl. Cue even more crying.

Finally she was brought round to us and given to Graham to hold. It was such a special moment to see the man I loved holding our brand new baby, a moment I will never forget. She was then placed next to me so I could have a good look.

She was taken to get weighed and we were gob smacked to find out she was 8 lb 11 ???? oz. no wonder I was in so much pain towards the end!

After about 15 minutes, Graham and Hollie were taken to the recovery room whilst the surgeons finished stitching me up and then I was taken to my baby. Graham had to leave us for an hour so he went to ring the family with the good news.

After about 2 hours we were taken up to the post surgery bay on the ward. After I got settled in Graham was told it was time for him to go home.

The next few days I would rather forget but here goes.

Hollie kept getting taken away from me during that first night for -checks' cause of the distress she was in. They said she would only be gone for a few minutes but it was hours. In the morning when they finally brought her back to my bed she had a feeding tube in which shocked the hell out of me. They never asked for my permission or at least told me they were going to put one in. I wouldn't have said no but would have liked to have been kept informed.

They put it in because her blood sugars where low. At one point her BM reading was 1.0, which is seriously lower than the required minimum of 2.7. The paediatrician came to see me to say that he wanted Hollie down on the special care baby unit (SCBU) for a lumbar puncture and full septic screening. This scared the hell out of me. I didn't want my baby going through all that pain or finding out that there was something seriously wrong with her. Then they took her away. I'm so glad that Graham was there as I don't think I could have handled the news on my own.

Thankfully the SCBU nurses managed to convince the doctors to just monitor Hollie for a few hours before they went ahead and did the invasive tests. They were convinced that the best course of action was to concentrate on getting her blood sugar levels normal.

I was hoping to breast feed whilst I was in hospital but I never got the chance and they didn't even ask me to express so they just used formula feeds to raise her sugar levels. I'm disappointed that I didn't get that opportunity.

The next few days consisted of going down to SCBU to visit my baby. I could only do short visits twice a day because I was in so much pain and the morphine I was on was wiping me out.

On the Friday whilst we were down there, the nurses said she was doing well and that her bloods were back to normal and they were just waiting for the doctor's review. Great, we thought, we'll have Hollie back with us tonight. However, the doctor decided she wanted Hollie down there for another 24 hours as she now has a slightly raised temperature. They just wanted to keep an eye on it for a bit longer, just in case. We later found out that she'd had a temperature that was only 0.2 degrees above the acceptable level, and that was for only one reading. Over-cautious much?

I didn't know how much more I could take at this point. I just wanted my baby back. I felt like I failed at being a mother already. She was a few days old and yet she wasn't with me. I felt that it was my fault she was like this. I was scared I was heading down the post natal depression route as I've experienced depression before.

Graham and my family were great. Telling me that it was nothing that I had done, that it was just one of those things and she was nearly better.

The turning point...

On Saturday, we had just got me ready and was about to go down to SCBU when the midwife appeared around the corner with Hollie. She was finally back with her mummy and we could start our bonding.

The next few days consisted of getting her feeding sorted. She was not great at feeding, was all over the place with it and kept being sick. But something deep down inside me was telling me to change her formula so I discussed it with one of the midwives who told me to keep on going with the formula that she was on but after her next feed was brought back up I decided that I had to try a different formula and my God the change in her by the next day.

She now goes 4-5 hours between feeds and was taking the whole bottle. She was calmer and just generally happier. I'm so glad I went with my gut instincts.

We finally came home on Tuesday and family life has been great! She's sleeping through, only waking for feeds, and sometimes we have to WAKE her for her food. She is a delight and we couldn't wish for anything better. She is a dream come true for us and we can't stop looking at her. I keep randomly bursting into tears, happy tears, but once I start, I can't stop.

The only bad thing that's come out of this is that I've got to give myself daily blood thinning injections for 6 weeks to make sure I don't develop any blood clots and got to wear my sexy support stockings for 6 weeks too. Ooh the sex appeal!

I've even been out twice with the pram for little walks. Not bad considering it was major surgery only just over a week ago.

Being a mummy is great and even though the end of my pregnancy was hell, housebound and in so much pain, I wouldn't think twice about doing it all again! Hopefully in about 4 years.

This time 4 years ago I thought I would never have any quality of life due to my health but that was a life time ago. I have a wonderful man and a wonderful life and that's all that counts. The health stuff I can deal with.



not long just born
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs028.snc1/3166_184662235172_513590172_6603287_1763174_n.jpg


the moment i got my baby back after being in SCBU
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs028.snc1/3166_184675650172_513590172_6603428_3827279_n.jpg


i just love this one, just about to go home
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs028.snc1/3166_184886695172_513590172_6607093_4676016_n.jpg



well done if you got this far

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