Kate Elizabeth's Birth Story
After much umming and ahhing, I decided that if my dearest baby had not made her arrival by the 5th June, I would be induced. Lots of reasons for this, biggest probably being mutterings about a mature placenta and big BIG baby. I still so desperately wanted to go into labour naturally, but I guess this was not to be.
On Sunday, June 4, we had my friends Georgie and Kirsten and their families over for afternoon tea. James decorated a cake for Georgie, since it was her birthday. Kirsten (hi Kirst) has 2 gorgeous kiddies, but James is particularly keen on Leah who will be 2 in September. Kirst also has a 2 month old boy'tjie Thomas and Georgie has 3 month old Benjamin...so it was a lovely introduction to the baby thing. It also took my mind off the next day. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we all decided to go out and buy cod liver oil to help the whole process along. I know castor oil is a definite inducer, but I've also heard it goes hand in hand with terrible stomach pains and diarrhea. Cod liver oil is supposed to be gentler. Well, NO LUCK.... Rein eventually took me into the hospital later that evening as I had to spend the night there. What a whammy!
If I ever had suicidal intentions before, the ward I was in would have pushed me further along the clifftop! One lady, 30-ish, spoke like she was a Grandmother of 14 - long winded stories about her ailments, her bout of flu she was struggling to get over, blah blah blah. Finally at midnight, her sleeping pill kicked in - THANK GOODNESS!! Well, so I thought - then the snorer started. Good grief - it sounded like a combine harvester with problems. Initially I could barely control my giggles, but after 4 or 5 hours of continual snoring, I was not impressed.
Anyway, I'd better hurry the story along, otherwise we'll never get finished. 5am sharp - a rude awakening is an understatement. "Here's your enema, dear. Get up and get moving." I was totally shocked and a bit miserable. I'd never had to endure this in the States. I must admit that it all did feel very clinical at the beginning. I hated that. I had decided to go the epidural route too, because of the induction... but they do the epidural here before you feel any contractions at all - which sucked. They also catheterize you before the epidural, which is also bloody awful. Anyway, besides the moans....everything was hunky dory - epidural in, Rein, darling hubby within an arms reach, magazines aplenty. Oh well, let me just say the EPIDURAL never took!! So, fortunately (and unfortunately) I had the experience of a natural birth sans pain killers. Similarly to James, it took forever to go from 0-5cms (as in from 8am to 2pm), but then within 30 minutes, I went from 5-10cms and in 2 pushes (literally), our little Kate was born. All 4,1 kgs of her. With James I had back labour and I remember vividly the feeling of pressure and pain on my back as he was moving down the birth canal. With Kate, I could feel exactly where she was by the pressure and agony in front. Quite a miracle! Hee hee.
I felt really good after the birth and only had one eensy weensy tear. Even better! I had a really lovely midwife helping me through the whole day. She was great and was very compassionate and competent.
Was totally shocked the first time I saw Kate though. I battled for quite a while to accept that she was my baby. I think I probably had some unconscious expectations that she'd look like James did (fair skin and blonde hair). She looked totally alien to me. The big bruise on her face, which made her skin look so olivey and the dark hair just did not belong to me!
She latched beautifully though and things were looking even rosier when one of the nurses told me that they'd moved me to a private ward and I would not have to endure the snoring for another night!
Stayed in hospital for 2 more nights. I found it to be quite calming, actually. I had had such a tumultuous time leading up to the birth that being able to lie in bed and read magazines while Kate slept was absolutely heaven. One tough part about being in hospital though is that James was not allowed to come into the ward at all. Kids under 12 are expressly forbidden. I was able to go into the waiting room to see him, but Kate had to stay in the nursery. Poor little boy, he didn't really understand that. But he was being spoilt by his 2 Grannies, so it didn't worry him too much.
And that's that. Nothing too extraordinary. We have our completed family and Kate is just adorable. We are very blessed! Looking back at everything from 3 weeks on, I have an almost tangible feeling of relief that my pregnancy is over. I had such an uneventful and healthy pregnancy, I know, but such stressful events surrounding it that it feels like my whole life is settling down into a more relaxed, "normal" state. I'm really looking forward to the next few months.
On Sunday, June 4, we had my friends Georgie and Kirsten and their families over for afternoon tea. James decorated a cake for Georgie, since it was her birthday. Kirsten (hi Kirst) has 2 gorgeous kiddies, but James is particularly keen on Leah who will be 2 in September. Kirst also has a 2 month old boy'tjie Thomas and Georgie has 3 month old Benjamin...so it was a lovely introduction to the baby thing. It also took my mind off the next day. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we all decided to go out and buy cod liver oil to help the whole process along. I know castor oil is a definite inducer, but I've also heard it goes hand in hand with terrible stomach pains and diarrhea. Cod liver oil is supposed to be gentler. Well, NO LUCK.... Rein eventually took me into the hospital later that evening as I had to spend the night there. What a whammy!
If I ever had suicidal intentions before, the ward I was in would have pushed me further along the clifftop! One lady, 30-ish, spoke like she was a Grandmother of 14 - long winded stories about her ailments, her bout of flu she was struggling to get over, blah blah blah. Finally at midnight, her sleeping pill kicked in - THANK GOODNESS!! Well, so I thought - then the snorer started. Good grief - it sounded like a combine harvester with problems. Initially I could barely control my giggles, but after 4 or 5 hours of continual snoring, I was not impressed.
Anyway, I'd better hurry the story along, otherwise we'll never get finished. 5am sharp - a rude awakening is an understatement. "Here's your enema, dear. Get up and get moving." I was totally shocked and a bit miserable. I'd never had to endure this in the States. I must admit that it all did feel very clinical at the beginning. I hated that. I had decided to go the epidural route too, because of the induction... but they do the epidural here before you feel any contractions at all - which sucked. They also catheterize you before the epidural, which is also bloody awful. Anyway, besides the moans....everything was hunky dory - epidural in, Rein, darling hubby within an arms reach, magazines aplenty. Oh well, let me just say the EPIDURAL never took!! So, fortunately (and unfortunately) I had the experience of a natural birth sans pain killers. Similarly to James, it took forever to go from 0-5cms (as in from 8am to 2pm), but then within 30 minutes, I went from 5-10cms and in 2 pushes (literally), our little Kate was born. All 4,1 kgs of her. With James I had back labour and I remember vividly the feeling of pressure and pain on my back as he was moving down the birth canal. With Kate, I could feel exactly where she was by the pressure and agony in front. Quite a miracle! Hee hee.
I felt really good after the birth and only had one eensy weensy tear. Even better! I had a really lovely midwife helping me through the whole day. She was great and was very compassionate and competent.
Was totally shocked the first time I saw Kate though. I battled for quite a while to accept that she was my baby. I think I probably had some unconscious expectations that she'd look like James did (fair skin and blonde hair). She looked totally alien to me. The big bruise on her face, which made her skin look so olivey and the dark hair just did not belong to me!
She latched beautifully though and things were looking even rosier when one of the nurses told me that they'd moved me to a private ward and I would not have to endure the snoring for another night!
Stayed in hospital for 2 more nights. I found it to be quite calming, actually. I had had such a tumultuous time leading up to the birth that being able to lie in bed and read magazines while Kate slept was absolutely heaven. One tough part about being in hospital though is that James was not allowed to come into the ward at all. Kids under 12 are expressly forbidden. I was able to go into the waiting room to see him, but Kate had to stay in the nursery. Poor little boy, he didn't really understand that. But he was being spoilt by his 2 Grannies, so it didn't worry him too much.
And that's that. Nothing too extraordinary. We have our completed family and Kate is just adorable. We are very blessed! Looking back at everything from 3 weeks on, I have an almost tangible feeling of relief that my pregnancy is over. I had such an uneventful and healthy pregnancy, I know, but such stressful events surrounding it that it feels like my whole life is settling down into a more relaxed, "normal" state. I'm really looking forward to the next few months.
posted by Jules@home | 2:18 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home