.My pregnancy with Isabella was pretty hard.Morning sickness kicked in at 6 weeks and by 10 weeks had progressed to Hypermesis Gravidarum.At 10 weeks I ended up in hospital on an I.V as I was so dehydrated and kept going the whole way through,so by the time the 1st of February rolled around and contractions started I was more than ready for her to be out!!!More than ready! The contractions started at 12.15pm and started off being 10 minutes apart,so Steve stayed at work to finish his shift (to the non-amusement of me!).By the time he got home at 3.30pm they were 3 minutes apart.I thought for sure I would have Isabella out by midnight that night! (my sisters labours were always extremely short,her 4th being an hour,start to finish).
At 7pm Steve rung my midwife Julie,who did an internal and I was a measly 2cm dilated!!!Was NOT happy camper.Something I was grateful a friend had mentioned was vomiting during labour.For some reason I had thought the sickness would go away as soon as labour started...yeah not.By midnight there was no baby,my contractions were between 1-2 minutes apart and I was vomiting everything up and wasn't able to sleep.This wasn't going at all how I thought.
At 3am on the 2nd February I went into River Ridge (one of the birthing centres in Hamilton) and my midwife gave me a shot of Pethadine to see if it would help with pain so I could get some sleep.I had been planning a drug free,natural birth.It totally threw me that the contractions were so incredibly intense,I was so tired by this point and desperately wanted some rest....It didn't work.Not one iota.My contractions were down to 40 seconds apart,and numerous times throughout the day my midwife did internals and I had only progressed to 3cm dilated!I couldn't believe it.I remember dropping off to sleep for 30 seconds only to be woken up,and trying to waddle around the room,ending up bending over the sink vomiting amidst a contraction.My midwife suggested hopping in the bath as that could have helped,but I don't like hot water on the best of days,the heat in the middle of summer I hated even more (that and being sick in the bathtub while trying to haul my whale like self out didn't sound ideal).
Anyway at 7pm that night we went back to River Ridge for another shot of Pethadine and for Julie to break my waters.I never knew that not only would my waters gush but it would drip for the rest of my labour!There was meconium ,so we were sent up to Waikato Hospital (again a disappointment,I was so looking forward to birthing at River Ridge).
Ok so we are at River Ridge,contractions if anything were getting worse,and at 3am on Sunday morning (the 3rd of February) I finally caved and asked for an epidural.At some point that morning I had a block (I think that's what it is called),where I could still feel the contractions on a section of my stomach.They topped it up,and decided I wasn't dilating fast enough so put me on a I.V drip of Oxytocin.I have to say,I got kind of annoyed that not only did Steve sleep (I get it,he had been up for hours,but during labour I was NOT understanding) but the nurse who was looking after me fell asleep too!At 10am doctors came in,had a look see inside and said I was only 8cm dilated!I couldn't believe it.They said that if by 12pm I wasn't fully dilated they would have to perform an emergency c-section.
12pm rolled around,doctors came back and got me to sign the consent forms and rolled me into theatre.I was told I wouldn't feel anything,but I have to tell you,I couldn't feel it to the full extent obviously but hell it hurt!At one point I wanted to scream at them.Because Isabella was so engaged,they had done the normal j cut but she was stuck in my cervix,so a nurse was pushing up my fanny (fun right?!) while the surgeon was trying to pull Isabella out by her feet.Steve still talks about how freaked out he was with how much the table was shaking and the fact that even the surgeon was swearing!They ended up cutting me more,so the j cut turned into a upside down smiley face,which then tore down both sides.Isabella had a bit of breathing difficulty so they whisked her off to NICU.My last memory of that time was the anaesthetist telling Steve to say goodbye to me Steve kissing me and telling me we had a little girl,and me honestly thinking I was going to die.
Isabella Esther Penelope Wong was born at 1.26pm on the 3rd of February.
I don't remember any of the rest of this,but I was torn up so badly they had to knock me out.Weird thing was that for a few minutes after they knocked me out,I could still hear them.Then I was off on a cloud thinking Satan had stolen my baby (morphine sucks!).Turns out I had to have a blood transfusion of two bags of blood (will mean a bit more later).I woke up in recovery,still not lucid and kept asking where Steve was and where my baby was.The nurse ended up ringing NICU and getting them to let Steve come down with Isabella.Sadly I don't remember the first time I held Isabella.I was vaguely aware she was there,but I guess because of the morphine,I can only remember little snatches.I was pretty out of it for the first 3 days.I was on some pretty crazy pain killers.I didn't get the birth I wanted,and I found breastfeeding super hard,heck everything was hard!But our little long awaited treasure was here!
We went home after 5 days at the hospital (well I discharged myself.The day we came home a nurse had come in and told me I had to go in a room with other women. Wasn't going to happen!I still couldn't breastfeed,was barely able to get out of bed without help and desperately needed Steve there to help me!).So a painful car ride later we got home.
I struggled (I think that's an understatement) to breastfeed for a few weeks,but thankfully Steve was home and helped me so much,and between the 3 of us we got it sorted.Isabella however ate and ate and ate and ate some more.I am not exaggerating when I tell people Isabella fed 20 hours a day.It was the only way I could get her to sleep,and she was extremely hungry. (looking back I now think the pain killers I was on affected my milk,and the fact that all I wanted was to get some sleep,it was easier to let her feed non-stop.I had no help other than Steve and he had to go to work,so during the day I did what I had too).Thankfully after 3 months a lovely friend (whose boy is 6 weeks older than Isabella) just popped in.Before this I had previously asked for help,saying I wasn't coping,only to be told it was just hormones (when you want to leave your baby and never come back,its NOT hormones!).So I didn't ask for help again.Our friend walked in,asked how I was,and I felt like bursting into tears.Thankfully my friend had seen her mum go through Post-natal Depression (PND) so knew the signs.Even though her boy was so young,she stayed for the rest of the day,showed me some tips for feeding and showed us the controlled crying technique...IT WORKED!!!Once we put Isabella on some Farex mixed with breastmilk,hallelujah the girl slept for 2 hour strecthes!!!!!
And then................ (birth story 2)
My first hold with Isabella
The amount of fluid they has to give me was horrible.
Isnt she gorgeous??!!
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