I think I just had a baby…
I haven’t posted anything in a little while. But hey, I have the perfect excuse: I was too busy. I was having a baby.
And all I can say is wow.
Wow.
Wow like in WOW.
OH MY GOD. I can't believe what just happened recently. On that particular Wednesday. Wednesday the 27th January. Crazy day.
Just WOW.
38 weeks and 3 days pregnant. 27th January 2016: the D day.
Perfect timing, we couldn't have hoped for a better date.
It was all part of the plan to be honest. And it actually happened. I can't believe it, this is just crazy. Incredible. Unbelievable.
How could it be part of the plan, you may be wondering.
Well, Flo had decided that the 27th would be the perfect day for some reason.
The day after Australia Day, so that he could enjoy a nice day off before the festivities. And as we had a very good friend staying with us for a week and leaving two days later, it was perfect, he would be there to take care of Slo while we would be at the hospital. Flo then hadn't planned anything important at work in the next 2 weeks, on purpose. No meeting, no important things to do, nothing.
As for me, I washed my hair the day before, just in case (only those with long hair can understand why this is a significant detail). Almost finished my bag, leaving a couple of things for the last minute. Cleaned up Slo's room, gave some recommendations to our friend in case he would have to babysit her.
We even had our 38 weeks antenatal check-up booked at 9.40am for that day, so we had planned to go to the hospital anyway.
Perfect.
Except that there was something like 1% chance for it to actually happen.
But I don’t know. Slo was born when I was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant, so even if we were aware that every birth was different, we had just assumed that something similar would happen again. Simply because it was the only thing that we knew, the only experience that we’d had. So 38 weeks and 3 days was totally possible.
Unlikely, but possible.
Flo decided to have a talk with my belly to stack all the odds in our favour:
"Ok baby, you let us have a good night sleep, then you let the water break, and we go to the hospital in the morning just as planned. Easy".
Hmmm… Yes, sure. Oh well, why not after all.
We even went to bed much earlier than usually. Just in case. I didn’t really have much hope but once again, it couldn’t do any harm. I always go to bed way too late anyway so it could have been good to sleep a little bit more for a change.
We had our midwife appointment booked at 9.40am then.
And believe it or not: Bubba 2 was born at 9.47am.
Just incredible.
Yes, she had decided to arrive. Just like that. Following our instructions to the letter (God!!! Why Oh Why did my man forget to mention during his talk with my belly that I wanted to have the time to get an Epidural????)
Anyway… Here is my birth story then (in all its saucy details):
It was the 26th. We had just spent a very nice day. Our 9th Australia Day already.
We went to bed, earlier than usually then. Personally, I had lost hope (not that I was ready or in a hurry but as I was starting to be really anxious about the birth, I was thinking that it was probably better to end all this as soon as possible), I was sure it wouldn't happen the next day, it was just impossible. Too easy.
I told Flo to be ready to end up with no baby on that day. And we both felt a bit confused, destabilised. As if we had really planned all that without realising one second that we had barely a chance for it to happen this way. We were a bit lost that evening, thinking what if nothing happens? What are we gonna do in the next couple of days if this is the case?
I could even have 3 weeks left, who knew...
So we went to bed, with no high expectations anymore. Just thinking maybe yes, maybe not, we'll see.
If only we had known...
I woke up in the middle of the night, to go to the toilets. I must have stood up too quickly because I felt some really bad cramping in my tummy. But nothing else. I couldn’t help myself but think that it could be a sign, but then I went back to bed and felt better.
At 5.25am, I woke up again for another wee-wee trip, except that this time: surprise! My water broke all of a sudden. And I started to feel some period pain almost immediately after.
It hit me: that was the beginning of the end.
This is when Slo decided to wake up to pee as well. I let her know that her baby was probably going to come out today as Mummy was feeling really weird and that her tummy was hurting a bit. Her answer was really cute: "Awwwww, Mummy, I am so happy, yippee! Awesome!"
And she went back to sleep.
I, on the other end, never did.
I decided to finish to pack my bag. And sent a couple of emails and text messages to our family and friends.
At 6.30am, Flo woke up. I had preferred to let him sleep and wake up by himself so that he wouldn’t be too tired. Yes, I’m this type of wife.
At this stage, I was feeling exactly like I was after my water had broken with Slo and as it had taken quite a long time, I just thought that it would be kind of similar this time so I didn’t see why we would have to rush more.
If only I had known… Poor naive me…
So I let him know the good news as soon as he opened one eye:
"You want a baby today, don’t you? Great, I'm pretty sure you're gonna get one!"
"… But… Are you sure or what??"
"Yes, 100% sure, I'm finishing my bag right now you see".
Gulp. Little shock. It was perfect but still. It was happening for real, and that was way different than just imagining that it would.
I finally decided to call the hospital at 7am. They told me to come and get checked when I could.
I told Flo to get ready. But we took our time (poor ignorant that we were), just like last time.
I was still feeling exactly the same, the labour seemed to progress in the exact same way so we just followed the same pattern. Flo had breakfast (but not just a quick and easy one. Noooo. No, Mister had eggs and bacon), took a shower, we made the bed, I ironed a couple of things, we took pictures with Slo who woke up at 7.30am saying "Awwww, yippee, my baby sister is gonna come out today!!!! Hurray!!!!!"
And we finally left home at around 8/8.15am.
In the car, I started to struggle a little bit, the contractions were quite close and started to be strong. Still bearable but not really comfortable anymore. Once again, it was just like last time on our way to the hospital.
We arrived at around 8.30am, parked, went to the emergency room, and were sent to the birthing unit that we found pretty easily this time.
They brought me to a room. But when they saw that my contractions were pretty intense and close together, they decided to take me almost directly to the labour ward, just in case (well done, well done…).
It kept feeling like Back to the Future. At this stage, I was still in the same state than with Slo, no more, no less.
I then didn't have any big hope concerning my assessment. With Slo, this is when they had told me that we couldn’t even consider that the labour had started yet. So I assumed that it would be the same.
My midwifery student popped in quickly after our arrival. And they monitored the baby.
It was starting to hurt quite a lot but it was still bearable. It was 8.50am by then.
At around 9am, the midwives left us for a couple of minutes, and this is when all started to accelerate like crazy (with Slo, everything had also started to accelerate all of a sudden but it had been less crazy though as I had had time to get the needle. Those were the days… Good times…).
I felt a really bad contraction while they were away, and it kept hurting a lot after it had stopped in theory.
The midwives came back approximately 2 minutes later and the same thing happened again.
My smile had slightly disappeared by then. They decided to assess me and surprise: I was already 6cm dilated. Awesome. Epidural time then!
"Are you sure? Don't you wanna try the gas first?"
"No"
"Ok then, we'll prepare the epidural for you Darling."
Great.
It was something like 9.10am by then. Except that my pain increased like crazy in the next minutes or so.
Flo went quickly to the toilets. When he came back (once again, approximately 2 minutes later), he didn’t understand what was happening: there were more people in the room, everybody was quite agitated. I couldn't help myself but screaming. Flo begged for the epidural.
"You're gonna have it Sweetie, it's on its way. We are just gonna assess you one more time."
And bang. Just like that, I was already 8cm dilated.
And this is when I understood that my worst nightmare was about to become my next reality:
"Oh, I'm sorry Sweetie (oh no oh no oh no!!!!!) but I think your baby is gonna be here in a minute (craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap…), I'm afraid that we have no time for the Epidural", handing me the bloody gas (no way!!!!!! They got me!!!!!! I’m screwed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Oh my god. OH MY GOD. I couldn't believe it. WHY OH WHY???????
By this time I was in so much pain, it was absolutely horrible. And this dreaded news finished to kill me. I cried. With fear, panic, distress, pain. It was awful. I was totally trapped, nothing anyone could do. Just me, this atrocious pain and myself.
At around 9.40am, I started to feel a big urge to push, so I did.
A friend of mine asked me afterwards how I did to keep focus when I was in such a pain, if it had been easy to concentrate. My guess is that when you are in such a situation, you just push for safety purposes: if you don’t do it, you just die. In a terrible agony.
It basically took me less than 7 minutes, 4 pushes or so and baby was out.
That's it?? Yes, that's it.
But holy moly, the pain!!! That is just INSANE!!! Seriously… Why oh why????? Why??????? WHY????? What is wrong with the universe??????
Anyway... I did it (did I have any choice really??), I pushed this baby out, yelling like crazy (but apparently though, I wasn't noisy at all compared to lots of women...duh!), and I instantly felt better as soon as she was out. No crazy hangover feeling before the delivery of the placenta like last time (at least I got a bit of pity). Just an immensely, enooooormous, humuuuuungous relief.
Oh my god.
OH MY GOD.
This pain is just mad, it’s not even describable.
For those who are wondering what it feels like, well… imagine the worst pain that you have ever endured. And you multiply it by approximately a million.
No, wait, a billion. And you are trapped, there is nothing you can do but facing the fact that you have no choice but to suffer ("Suffer"…what an insignificant word. "To be in your own death throes" would be more appropriate). Alone in your own misery. Urgh.
"Oh, but remember that it’s a good pain, let’s not forget about the positivity of the situation". Yeah, right. When you’re a pain freak like me, you don’t really care about that, all you wish for is a true pain relief, the efficient stuff: Mrs Epidural.
Too bad Missy.
But thank god it went crazily quickly. And the relief was immediate once this baby was out.
They put her on my chest straight away.
With Slo, I cried and cried and cried afterwards, overwhelmed with emotion. But this time I couldn’t. I was in a complete shock.
And Flo too. In such a shock that he had to lie down for a minute. It had all been way too fast. Too dramatic. Too crazy.
We then stayed there for a long time after that. Completely shocked.
They didn't do anything on baby straight away this time. She just stayed on my chest, skin to skin. I kept shaking. It was probably due to the crazy adrenaline.
They delivered the placenta a couple of minutes later, did some stitches. Just like last time, I had a little tear, but nothing major.
And then we stayed like this, shocked. And shocked. And totally shocked too.
In the end, the paperwork took longer than the baby making.
It took us a while to realise.
Not even sure I have realised right now actually.
But strangely enough, I was totally ok afterwards, not even that tired.
I then tried to breastfeed.
I had a shower.
Then they transferred me to a room while Flo went to pick Slo up. I could have gone home straight after but I preferred to stay one night, just in case (it had been quick enough!!). And to get some help to start this breastfeeding thing. Because ok, I did it for 17 months before but to be honest, I can’t really remember. And I had quite a bad start the first time so a bit of help was more than welcome.
So here we are, a couple of days later. Actually, almost two weeks already. Yes, what everybody says is true… Time flies.
My water broke at 5.25am then, we arrived at the hospital at 8.30am, and baby sister was born at 9.47am, after a crazily drug free labour. Who could have guessed... Not me, that for sure!!!
Slo is the happiest big sister in the world. It looked like she had tears in her eyes when she met her baby, she even said that she wanted to cry with joy. Cutest thing ever. She is in absolute love. And this is priceless. She is gonna be the best big sister ever, I have no doubt about that.
Well... I guess it’s time to start our new life as a family of 4 now…
I can't believe it. I have 2 children!!!
Welcome to the world, Third Love Of my life. We love you already so so oh so so much.
Welcome in the Family of Love little baby Tlo.
To be continued…
