Thursday 13th May 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the most amazing 6 year old I have ever met!!
Mama loves you more than you will ever know gorgeous girl ...

Today is Rhian's 6th Birthday.... and because I am such an emotional and sentimental git, I thought I would re-post her birth story....

Cracks me up every time I read it!

Be warned..... IT'S LONG!!!

Rhian's Birth Story...
I was wide awake at about 5.30am, knowing that I didn’t have to get up until 6am, but also knowing that the next few hours were to be the start of the most incredible journey of my life! 6am rolled around so sloooowly, and we got out of bed, had showers, got dressed, ate breakfast and then headed off for the hospital, as we had to be there at 7.30am
The midwife rang to say that she had been caught in traffic and would be slightly late, so the nurse put me onto the foetal heart monitor so that they could get a reading before the specialist came in to see me. Lynne (midwife) turned up shortly after, took my blood pressure and explained what would happen. Then the specialist was there and it was approx 8.30am. He was very matter of fact, and basically got straight to work. Inserted the gel onto my cervix and left again – and I bet he was paid a LOT for doing that! Within 10 minutes I was having major “tightenings” of my tummy, which basically felt like really strong Braxton Hicks but still without pain. It was enough to take my breath away though, so I knew something was happening!
Mum and dad turned up then, and Lynne said that we could go off for a walk around the hospital, and that she would be back at about midday to see if anything had started to happen. Well, we went off for a walk, got down the stairs and out to the front doors and I had my first contraction! Although at the time I didn’t realise it was a contraction, so I just rolled with it. I then suggested that we go to the canteen for a drink as I was damn thirsty! But after sitting for about 5 minutes I realised that there was no way I could sit for any longer, so I had to get up and walk again. So there we were, myself, Chris, mum and dad all walking the corridors of the hospital, stopping every so often for Jo to lean against a wall and breathe! Several times we were asked if I wanted a wheelchair, but I kept on telling everyone that I had to keep walking, so that is what we did.
By 10am I couldn’t walk around any longer, so we went back to my room, and I jumped into a nice warm bath. The water seemed to ease the pains, and I still didn’t realise at that stage that they were real contractions! I put up with the pains by having hot water run onto my lower back, it seemed to take a bit of the discomfort away a little bit.
By 12 noon I was in a lot of pain, and it seemed to be quite often, so I told Chris to go and page Lynne to come back. She had just pulled into the carpark anyway, so was in the room within about 20 minutes. She was quite surprised to see me in the bath, and even more surprised to hear that my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and quite strong.
After she got organised, she did an internal exam and discovered that I was 6cm dilated. And since my contractions were damn strong, she went off to get me the gas to use as pain relief. Well, I’m not sure what was worse, me being in pain, or me being spaced out on the gas! It was so damn funny, as soon as it hit my system it was like I was majorly drunk. Every breath I took, it made my voice deeper, and I was quite happy to tell everyone that would listen that I sounded like a transexual! My God – how embarrassing! Anyway, it kept me entertained for a while, and it certainly helped take my mind off the pain – so that has got to be a good thing! Lynne had decided that the bath was too small for me, so she headed off to get the birthing pool, which she set up next to the bed and filled with lovely warm water, and once I was in there it was even better, as it was a lot deeper and I could spread out more.
Ummm, what next? OK, by about 3pm I was getting pretty damn tired from all the contractions, and Lynne wanted to establish if my waters had actually broken or not, and it was too difficult to do that while I was in the pool. My contractions were so strong, she couldn’t understand why we werent getting anywhere, and why I didn’t yet have the urge to push. I had to get out of the pool so that she could check me out, and it was then that she realised I was still only 6cm dilated!! The realisation then hit that I had just had damn painful contractions for three whole hours, and hadn't got anywhere, so to say that I was a little disappointed about now would be an understatement!
Lynne gave me an option. She could break my waters, and I could leave it for say 2 hours and see how we were doing, or she could break my waters and I could have an epidural, and “get things moving”.
After a lot of soul searching, I chose to have an epidural, as I was unsure if I could handle the pain any more. Believe me, this was a decision that I didn’t take lightly, as the whole way through my pregnancy I had said that there was no way that I was going to have one!!
I got out of the birthing pool and up onto the bed, and Lynne examined me, sure enough my waters were still intact, so out comes the crochet hook and pop goes the waters. Well, it was like Niagra Falls down there I tell ya! I could feel all this water pouring out, it was just gushing. Then I heard lynne say to mum, “quick Jenny, grab that towel”. Then I felt more water gushing, then I heard lynne say “Oh Jenny, grab another towel”. OK, I’m thinking there must be a lot of fluid down there, when another gush comes and Lynne says “Oh heck, grab that sheet Jenny!”
Hmmmmm….. a LOT of fluid came out and by the end of it all, the bed was soaking, the towels were soaking, the sheets were soaking, I was soaking, it was just a bit of a mess, but did I care? Hell no!! I just wanted that baby out!!
Once my waters were broken (at about 4.15pm), I had to stay on the monitor for 30 minutes before I could get my epidural, so there I was, in agony, on the monitor, pleading with Chris to make the pain stop! Because the birthing pool was up in the middle of the room, they needed to get that drained out and packed up, before there was enough room for the epidural trolley to come in. Little did I know that things weren’t as easy as that! Lynne and mum were in charge of getting the pool drained, but couldn’t figure out how to get the drainage pump to work. Finally they figured it all out, but then the hose came off and the bathroom got flooded! Talk about a chapter of errors! It was more like Friday night comedy night, rather than Jo’s labour! Once they got the pool drained and packed up, I thought that I would be getting some wonderful drugs, and all this pain would stop……….. HA HA!!!
At about 5pm, as they were just packing up the last of the birthing pool, I made the silly mistake of telling everyone that I “needed to do poos”. I was promptly told that I should just go ahead and do poos! I remember being absolutely horrified, and responded something along the lines of “I can’t do poos on the bed!!!” To which Lynne replied “Oh yes you can!” I responded, “No, I CAN’T do poos on the bed!! I need to go to the toilet!!!”
Lynne then said “Look Joanna, you’re a big girl, you don’t need to do poos, that is the baby’s head pushing on your bowel that is creating that sensation. The next time you feel the need to push – PUSH!” It’s funny cos I remember those words so vividly!
Well, at this time I was still on my back, and Lynne decided that I needed to be on my knees, so we turned me around so that the end of the bed was upright, and I was hanging over the back of it, on my knees, with Chris beside me taking the brunt of it all, as I had his hands in a death grip!
My God – then came the biggest urge to push in my life!! So I pushed with all my strength, expecting a baby to pop out – nothing. I took another suck of the gas and pushed again, NOTHING! It felt like it was hours and hours before there was any sign of action! And before I did eventually get to that magical stage of relief, I hit the “Ring of Fire” stage! The part where the babies head was crowning, and things couldn’t stretch anymore! Then Voila, RELIEF! The head was out!
More pushing, this time it didn’t seem like too long, and then the most amazing sensation of relief that I have ever felt as the baby slid out and little Rhian Elizabeth made her first appearance in the world at 5.30pm! Now usually what happens here is the baby is handed up to the mother between her legs and there is a bit if bonding that goes on. Well, Jo had to be different didn’t she, and Rhian had the shortest cord that Lynne had ever seen! She had to be clamped and cut straight away and Chris got to do the honours, and he also go to hold her first, as I didn’t have the strength to do so!
Once the cord was cut, I had to turn around onto my back again, and then the placenta was born a short time later. After that Lynne examined me and determined that I needed 1 or 2 stiches, so she told me to keep on sucking on the gas as she wasn’t going to give me a local anaesthetic. SO suck on that gas I did! And even after the pain of the contractions and the pain of the delivery – the pain of the stiches was pretty damn bad! I remember her doing the first one, then saying out loud, “I wonder if I need to put a second one in?”
I said “Nope, no second stich is required thank you very much!” and she actually listened to me! Woohoo! So after I was stitched, and Rhian was placed on my chest, my next question was “So, Lynne, when do I get that epidural?” Hehehehe……. It was then that I realised I had gone through the entire labour with nothing but gas for pain relief, and I have to admit, I was pretty happy about that – even though it hurt like hell while it was happening!

Mum went and got Dad from the waiting room, and he came in and met his grand daughter for the first time when she was about 10 minutes old, so that was pretty damn special I reckon! Then they were all passing her around, when I went to have a shower. I was totally amazed that I could actually bend down to wash my legs etc that I was making all sorts of squeals of delight! Lynne actually told mum to check on me as she was worried that I must have been in pain or something! I Simply replied “I can bend over!! I can see my toes!!! I can TOUCH my toes!!” To which they all laughed!
After my shower I went back into the delivery room, Lynne was just finishing all the checks on Rhian. Then she dressed her and she was put into the little bassinet thingee. I remember just sitting there, feeling totally overwhelmed by it all, and wondering when someone was going to come and take her away from me! She was just too perfect to be mine!
Well, by this stage, I was starving, so I sent Chris off down the road to get Burger King, mum and dad headed off for home, and there I was all alone just staring at my wee girl….. It was a special time, and I’ll never forget the sense of love and devotion that I felt for her, even after just a few minutes of her being in this world! I was transferred into the post natal ward, and Chris came in to settle me and spend a few minutes with his family, before being kicked out the door at 9pm. I was exhausted, so I pretty much went straight to sleep, and was woken by Rhian at about midnight when she was hungry. I tried to get her latched onto the breast, but she just wouldn’t latch on, and the nurse tried to help as well, but still we couldn’t get her on properly. She did settle though, and went back to sleep, and woke again at about 7.30am. The nurse came in and bathed her while I was having a shower, and then by about 9am, Chris appeared. He pretty much stayed most of the day – except the non visiting time of 12 – 2pm, so that was fantastic! Just to have him there was a huge comfort to me.
I had a few other visitors throughout the afternoon as well, and then at about 6pm, Chris’s family arrived and there were presents galore! They all had cuddles and loads of photos were taken, and then they left at about 7.30pm, followed shortly after by Chris at about 9pm.
I was totally knackered by this stage, so I turned my mobile phone off and went to sleep, to be woken at 11pm, then 1am, then 2am, then 3am, then finally I managed to settle her down by 4am, and she slept through until 8am. Although I didn’t realise that she was sleeping, as she makes a heap of little noises, so every time she made a sound, I was wide awake right next to her, ready to cuddle her or try to feed her or whatever! I was quickly told the next morning that babies make loads of sounds while they are sleeping, and it is completely normal – I wish someone had told me that earlier!!
Anyway, Saturday morning dawned and I was up and showered and dressed by 8.30am. Chris arrived at about 10am, and then Lynne arrived at about 12 noon. She checked me over, checked Rhian over and discharged us there and then.
So we were free. We were free to go into the world as a family and learn from each other….. Instead of going straight home, we met up with Chris’s parents and sister at the local mall and had lunch, then after that I made Chris stop off at The Warehouse so that I could buy a few odds and ends for our girl. Then it was home, where Rhian was put into her cot for the very first time, and Chris and I just stood there watching over our precious package, wondering how we could have made something so perfect and wonderful…… and also knowing that our lives would never be the same again!