The glory of birth

Hi Everyone,

They say that parenthood is like being thrown in the deep end, you learn quickly on your feet...

Well, I believe we were lucky in some areas, and thrown in the deep end in others.

For those that want the gory details, here's what happened during birth:

The weekend before, I decided to induce birth by going on a bumpy car ride with my parents to the local wine region of Masterton.  By Sunday evening, I was tired,  totally over being pregnant and unable to fall asleep.  So after much tossing and turning, I removed myself to the couch when lo and behold, I started getting contractions at 10pm.  I fell asleep for a bit, but by 12am, it was clear I was going into labour.  So I had a shower (more on this later), woke Andrew up so he can have a shower, and we double checked our hospital bags and were on our way by 1am.  The irony is that while my face was contorted with pain, Andrew's was creased with worry, both my parents' faces were ecstatic with the barely contained excitement of soon-to-be-grandparents.

By the time I was checked in to Wellington Hospital's Delivery Suite, I was already 4 cm dilated.  I was relieved not to be turned away and told to go home from false alarm.  An hour later, Andrew was given a lazy boy with a fold out make shift bed, so he settled down to wait, while I contracted diligently (and quietly) by breathing a great deal.  Jo, our night shift midwife was an absolute superstar, looking after me, encouraging and supporting me from 1am till 7am.

By the time the day shift midwives came on board, I was completely exhausted (having stayed awake for over 24 hours, and last eaten over 34 hours at this point), and when told that I have stopped dilating, decided that natural birth is all good, but pain relief would make the time go faster.  So four attempts at putting an epidural in later, I was 'comfortably' labouring into a full dilation with Andrew now very much rested and supportive by the bedside.

Along the way we were taking bets on the time of delivery.  I missed out on 6am and 12pm.  Andrew put his money on 1pm and won (still don't know what he got as a prize...definitely not nappy duty!) for being the closest to the actual delivery.

By 1pm, I was given the countdown to start pushing, so Andrew became a drill sergeant and cajoled me along with the midwives to get me to push the baby down the U bend that's my birth cannel.  May I just say...that that U bend is both very long and lacked any sensitivity.  Its kind of like trying to push without knowing why or which body part to push.  But eventually we got the baby's head down far enough where all three (midwife, training midwife and Andrew) started exclaiming about how much hair the baby has.  This is where I had a better idea what I was doing, but beyond caring cos I was just too exhausted!

The head popped out with a wet plop, and it was surreal to feel that.  Then a few deep breaths and the whole body just slipped right out.  A few towel rubs and Sophie was put on my chest while everyone gushed some more about her full head of hair.  Andrew proudly announcing that he's so proud of his two girls while I tried to process this massive weight of meowling exquisiteness that's peeing in my arms.  Bewildering is putting my emotions mildly.

While I was getting my lady bits seen to (in the end I had to get some stitches done), I handed Sophie over to Andrew so he could have some skin to skin with her and help bond with her.  My epidural wore off before the pushing started, so I didn't want to accidentally hurt her while my body was writhing in pain from being sewn up cold turkey (they eventually worked it out and gave me some local instead).

After pooping on her daddy, Sophie suckled for a little and Andrew started firing off the good news on the phone (and getting lots of well wishes and congratulations back).  It was a happy time, but we were both very tired.

We managed to get a single room ward, so both sets of grand parents were shown in and had their little visit.  Andrew's parents flew in from Auckland first thing in the morning so they could meet Sophie and flew out again the next morning (thank you mum and dad for making the trip!).  It wasn't enough time, but she stayed alert and did not cry once from being handed around and cooed over by both grand mothers.

Everyone cleared out by 8pm, and Sophie and I started getting acquainted once they have left.  I still haven't eaten (having missed out on meals on wheels run by that time, I stuffed some biscuits down my throat for dinner instead), and haven't slept in over 48 hours, but I sat there in bed, admiring the 3.4 kgs of miracle Andrew and I have just produced that afternoon, and my heart and brain stopped trying to make sense and just tried to take it all in and remember everything as they happen.

They say having a child changes your whole perspective... 

Amen to that!