Some Photos

So, the story of Tuesday 20th. I went back in to hospital- Deirdie had stayed the night. She had been having contractions since induction started on Monday afternoon, but had managed to get some sleep over night. As you can tell, it wasn’t enough to really tax her.

There was little progress to show for all this effort so a second intervention was administered. When this kicked in, the contractions were getting stronger – ‘oi ye ba*tard’ apparently! Deirdie found it easier to walk through the contractions, rather than sit in the room, so we spent the afternoon walking round the hospital gounds. Amazingly a passing car stropped and it was a couple from our NCT class with their beautiful baby twins; so Val showed us what we were working for and that was encouraging! We were heading back to the room as Deirdie felt she needed something to help her cope with the pain but as we were making our way back at about 5:30pm, her waters broke – in the corridor outside her sister’s office- sorry Denise!

Then the contractions were really frequent and REALLY hurt. Back in the room the midwife didn’t seem to share our anxiety over the pain and offered paracetamol! Of course she took that and the gas and air. Apparently that was ‘crap’ and only useful for biting down on the tube! So Deirdie resorted to begging for an epidural and ‘whatever you’ve got’! A quick check showed that she was only 4cm dilated so the midwife agreed to move us on to the labour ward and the next stage, the oxytocin drip. It scarred me to watch Deird in so much pain, she just wasn’t able to manage the intensity or frequency.

We had to wait on the relevant personnel to hook up the ventflon and the epidural and that wasn’t easy. Another quick check in the labour room showed that she was back to 3cm dilated! It was all Deirdie could do to keep still for the epidural but Julie the Anaesthstist sorted her out really quickly!

By 7pm the epidural was in and Deird was so relieved- pain free for the first time in hours. She could still feel the contractions but they didn’t hurt.

Unfortunately, the epidural also caused complications. Deirdie spewed all over the lovely midwife who had looked after us most of the day, whilst her blood pressure dropped and Junior’s heartbeat droppped. Following lots of activity (panic over blood pressure and the baby’s neural activity) and moniting from midwives, JHOs, consultants, surgeons and anaesthetists, (standing room only!) – the decision was made to skip the oxytocin and go directly to C-Section.

Bad news? Deirdie was delighted not to face any more contractions after 36 hours in the hospital, with the last 12 being particularly horrible. (Not too posh to push, Sean!)

We were prepped and taken to theatre at 10:30pm (Me too- I got changed into green surgical scrubs, and got to watch). The anaesthetist was great and explained everything he was doing. Oddly, Deird kept saying ‘give me eveything you’ve got’ to the him- I don’t think it was a come-on..

Jane the surgeon, a Belfast girl, talked us through the procedure By 10:45pm junior was out, wrapped in towels and in my arms- blinking and trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Deirdie was awake for it all and desperate to see.

It takes about 10 mintes to get a baby out during Caesarian, and another 30 minutes to stitch everything back together. Yey! Fantactic medical care- thanks all.

  

Here is junior, just a few minutes after the birth.

 

And this one with mum  Here’s the only photo you’ll see of Deirdie on here for now. Let’s face it, after 36 hours in Hospital, contractions and all sorts, she felt she may not look her best. I’m already risking a row having this photo here.

 

Back in the ward, here I am, holding junior. At this point I know she’s a girl, but the midwife hadn’t weighed her yet.

Personally I like the last one most!