He came almost 3 weeks early. I was in denial during labour, I still hadn’t finished reading the instruction books & I had a baby shower to have, the new section of the Mater Mothers hospital was to open in a few days, not to mention our shipment of 60 boxes from India was to arrive.
After a day and a half of contractions (which I still didn't believe were real contractions) we went to the hospital early in the morning of Wed 28 May. It was confirmed by a midwife I was in labour and 4cm dilated, so off to the Birth Suite we went. My waters hadn’t broken and the Doctor had told the midwife that they would break them asap, the midwife was quite happy for it to be left a little bit, knowing we wanted to keep the birth as natural as possible. We used the fact that Mark had to race home and get, (or finish packing..) my labour bag to delay the process.
By 7 cm dilated, the midwife did another cervix check, holding a big look crochet hook ready now to break my waters. She hesitated and said she thought she felt a foot or a hand instead of the head. I needed a scan quickly. The scan determined what we hoped wasn’t true, our baby was breech, an emergency Cesarean was needed.
Our midwife explained, although she understood our wishes for a natural birth, this was pretty serious. We were incredibly disappointed, the last scan in India showed a breech bub, but all the check up’s here confirmed – abdominally - that the head was in position. The scan showed one little leg ready to be pushed out first and the other over the shoulder, it could have meant he suffocated and I could have been torn to shreds, much better to come out bum first if delivering a breech baby.
A few tears, but it wasn’t long when the disappointed was overshadowed by pure joy.
Before I knew it, I was being wheeled away, brought into a room with bright lights and a lot of – young people – with one older man. Mark disappeared and came back looking as though he was on the set of Gray’s Anatomy (with the other young funky doctors). I had another contraction before receiving an epidural then another final one. I remember thinking this is the last one I’ll have for this little baby, how sad. Nick Cave & James were playing throughout which was lovely and now our baby has his own Ipod playlist.
In 20 minutes from the time we were told the need for a Caesar, I was being cut, and the baby was being lifted out. It felt as though someone was washing up in my stomach, no pain just lots of movement. The baby was lifted out, as the screen was lowered, Mark took photo’s as it was announced he was a boy. The whole process was totally surreal, a total out of body experience. He was snatched away and taken by the pediatrician and his team, Mark was taken in too and took more photo’s , but soon came out to enjoy our first few moments with our baby together.
It is so surreal, I can't believe how much love one can feel for this squirmy little being. This is our purpose - so hurry up everyone and give Alex some playmates.
