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Preemie Books
The
Preemie Parents Companion: The Essential Guide to Caring for Your Premature Baby
in the Hospital, at Home, and Through the First Years by Susan L Madden M.S,
William Sears MD, Jane E Stewart MD
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Jason's Story Ben and I conceived our baby shortly after all the excitement of the Sydney 2000 Olympic games had died off. I had a urine test on Friday December 22, the day of our office Christmas party at Sea Level restaurant at Cronulla. It was a stinking hot day and I told a few of the ladies I worked with but had to keep it quiet from my boss until it was confirmed by the doctor. I had a Midori Splice but had to decline a second drink, which everyone thought was odd considering our boss was picking up the tab. Having incredibly sore breasts was the first physical signs of my pregnancy, followed by horrible morning sickness that was more like “24 hour sickness” that I had to endure for 15 weeks and carry plastic bags on the train to work with me. I felt generally well after the morning sickness subsided and really enjoyed the middle part of the pregnancy when my belly began to swell and I felt my babies first movements. At 23 weeks I cracked a rib retching and was in incredible pain for some weeks. I was shocked that at 22 years of age my bones could be so fragile, but they say that your bones are more brittle and your joints susceptible to dislocation throughout pregnancy! [Which did serve as an advantage in one respect.. I already had orthodontic bands on my teeth prior to falling pregnant and they told me the treatment would be accelerated with being pregnant!] I had no high blood pressure and was otherwise in fine health and only gained 9kgs the entire pregnancy. My membranes ruptured on Saturday July 14, 2001 at 5:15am. My husband Ben and I were living at his mother’s place and we sat up drinking tea and waiting for the first contraction…but nothing much happened all day. I went to the delivery suite to confirm that it was indeed amniotic fluid leaking but I had no internal examination to check if I had dilated because of the risk of infection and no contractions had started. As I was only 35 weeks pregnant they wouldn’t induce me straight off, but wanted to wait to see if I would spontaneously go into labour.. (Had I been 34 weeks they would have given me a shot of Ventolin to stop any contractions and sent me home with daily visits to the hospital for monitoring, had I been 36 weeks they would have induced me the next day!) The next night I had painful contractions 30 minutes apart that continued for 5 days! - I paced the labour ward at night, rubbing my back till I had chafing, groaning along with all the other pre-labouring women! Eventually I begged the doctor to give me some indication as to what the plan would be if I didn’t go into labour naturally, because at that point I was tired from the contractions which felt very painful but couldn’t be considered labour as they were too far apart. Five days had taken its toll mentally and I needed hope. On 7/19/01 at 8:00am they put a drip in to induce me, no tablet to soften the cervix, as my waters were broken. It all kicked in fairly quickly after that and soon I was having contractions 2-3 minutes apart. I started with the gas but it made me feel sick, light headed and really did nothing to ease the pain. I didn’t sit or lie down for 8 hours and laboured standing or leaning over cushions on the end of the bed while my mum and Ben’s mum stood by helpless, but trying everything from massage to hot packs. Next I had a shot of Pethadine but that really only took the edge off and made me really drowsy. Until finally I had an epidural which was heaven, but I needed to lie still and curled up which was not easy when you’re 9 months pregnant. I was given a form to read and sign which I couldn’t manage to focus on and finally just scribbled on the dotted line, I could barely manage to hold the pen steady. I had to be informed of all the possibilities of what could go wrong… but I was desperate to be relieved of the pain and couldn’t really think straight anyway to appreciate the weight of what the anaesthetist was obliged to say. I found the gas really helped while I was having the epidural put in, because I had trouble lying during a contraction, let alone completely still. I had an internal exam after the epidural and was told I was 8cm dilated and almost ready to push. The next part is kind of a blur but my baby’s heart rate dropped dramatically as the cord was caught between the cervix and his head which cause fetal distress on every contraction. I was rushed to emergency and had a caesarean section. I had Ventolin to stop the contractions which made me shake uncontrollably and then the epidural was topped up till I had no feeling in my lower half at all. I have nightmares still about being wheeled around the hospital corridors up to the theatre - I couldn't feel the incision but I could feel the push and pull which was a strange sensation. Then my son Jason was born! at 2285 grams and 47cms long. With an Apgar score of [9]. He was put next to me for all of 10 seconds and then whisked away to be weighed etc.. while they stitched me up. I went to the recovery ward for over an hour and complained the whole time that I needed to see my baby, which was very distressing. I felt quite angry and cried a few times until my husband, Ben came in and said how beautiful our son was and that he was doing fine. We cried tears of joy together and he told me he was so proud of me and that he thought I was very brave. That made the wait a little easier. Jason had to go on a drip to moderate his blood sugar but did really well and was on the ward next to me after two days. He had mild level jaundice and had to endure many heel pricks to check the bilirubin levels which peaked and then dropped. Jason did not even have to go under light therapy. The caesarean was not nearly as traumatic as I imagined. I was up the very next day and walking about. I insisted they remove the epidural, which was still pumping me full of drugs and making me too drowsy to hold my baby with confidence and had only Panadol after that. My parents think I am super human but I was not going to lap up false sympathy. I really believe that dental treatment is far worse than recovering from a C-section! So far I am enjoying being a mum immensely and although I have a scar to bear instead of the natural, vaginal birth I had envisaged the end result is what really counts. And when I look into my son’s eyes I know that any amount of pain and suffering is worth it to bring him safely into our arms. Ms. Melanie Kite-Morphy |
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