Welcoming Flicker Earthside.....

  

I was up early on Thursday 30th of September, I came downstairs and left Roy and Nakita peacefully sleeping, hoping to have just a little more time to myself, I jumped on my computer and made my final post to my blog and did a final check of my emails as my work laptop was going to be off for the next week or so... a short time later I heard noises from upstairs and it was time to get organised. It was so bizarre to be getting ready to go, nothing at all like the arrival of Nakita, my waters had broken and we made our way into the hospital in the early evening... this time I prepared breakfast for Roy and Nakita, made sure that Nakita's day care bag was packed for the day, we had decided that rather than getting anyone to look after her, that we would make her day as normal as possible, at 7:20 am we headed off, dropped Nakita at day care, I struggled to hold it together, I couldn't help by cry when I dropped Nakita off, I had to walk out of the room because she was starting to get upset as well, Roy stayed and made sure she was happy and settled and we made our way to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at 8am, made our way up to maternity and we were taken to our room, on the way the MW yelled out Mon! Victoria is here! I was absolutely thrilled!! Mon was one of the MW's I saw nearly every week at my OB's office, she was supposed to be on night shift that day but was trying to switch to day shift and I was so excited to hear that she was on, she would be coming into surgery with us.

Our room was lovely, it had a large bay window and balcony, I set about unpacking my bags, remembering things I had read on various CS threads on the forums, about making sure that you have everything you need at waist height or higher, it was a bit like unpacking when arriving at a holiday destination except I was getting more than a holiday I was having a baby!!!!! Mon came in a short time later and took my BP was up, still contracting away, we listened to Flickers heart thumping away.... so precious to hear it for the last time... We then chatted about what we were hoping to do with Flicker once delivered, it was all dependant on how well Flicker was doing, if all was well I would be able to keep Flicker with me in Theatre and in recovery if I wished. I wanted the opportunity to hold Flicker in all that newborn gooey goodness if possible, to try and breast feed as soon as possible, and to make sure we got lots of photos which we didn't get with Nakita, we only have photos of her in the humidicrib and our first family photo was when she was a few days old and we were doing a gavage feed.... I then took my final tablet Nifedipine, 13 weeks these small round tablets had kept me going, it was going to be weird not taking them every few hours..... I then handed over to Mon my left over Nifedipine and Progesterone, I had spoken with my OB on Tuesday asking if she would be able to use my left over meds... she was blown away by my offer, but I couldn't bear to see them be wasted sitting in our medicine box, and they weren't exactly cheap either..... She had given me some of my early doses of Nifedipine from her "stash" so that we could start the meds straight away rather than any delays of waiting for prescriptions, and for that I was so grateful. They were no use to me now and I know that they will go to another mother or a few mothers who found themselves in similar circumstances.... it was like a final cleansing....

We were then visited by the Anaesthetist, who went through the procedure for the Spinal and the local to be done after the CS, it all seemed pretty straight forward and I didn't have any questions.

Then our Paediatrician came in, he was Nakita's Paediatrician when she was transferred out to the same hospital, he is a bit old school, but he is brilliant, he really listens to the mother. I explained what I was hoping to achieve, that we wanted to really have a positive breast feeding relationship from the start, he was very supportive of this and we were confident that he was "on our side".

Finally our OB came in, it was so lovely to see her, she had been there for us every step of this rollercoaster and I was just so happy that she was the one who would be bringing our little miracle earthside. She said they were running about 1/2 hour behind so it looked as though we would be heading in at about 11:30am, which was fine, she went over the procedure again, and we were happy with it all, the screen would be dropped so that we would be able to see our baby arriving and I would get the first touch after she was delivered... so that was it....

Roy took my final belly shots, we chose out a couple of outfits for Flicker to wear at 00000 and a 0000, depending on how big our little one was going to be, and they were taken and placed in the warming box... we sat down and I tried to read a book I had started a few weeks earlier, but as I hadn't let a bookmark in I couldn't remember for the life of me where I was up to so I just sat and looked out the window, thinking wow we are about to have a baby!

      

Before we knew it a MW came in and said well we are off in 5 minutes... crap we still had the laptop out, neither of us had gotten changed, we thought we had more time! So Roy bolted the laptop out to the boot of the car, I quickly got changed, Roy ran back in a got changed and I hopped on the bed and we were off. The excitement was building as we made our way down the brightly lit corridors to the theatre suite, after fighting for so long it would soon be all over.... when we arrived at the theatre I hopped off the bed and walked into theatre, it was good to take those final steps, walking in to deliver my baby....

At 11:10am I hoped onto the table and the anaesthetist began the preparations for the spinal, my OB and Paediatrician and Mon all said hello and everyone else was introduced to us. It was a stark comparison to the environment in which Nakita was born, a dimly lit relatively quiet birth suite, even with a room full of people it was much more gentle.. the theatre was bright, clinical and sterile, there was music playing and everyone was talking jovially about a conference that most of them were heading to interstate later that day....

Just as the anaesthetist was putting in the spinal, I experienced what was to be my last contraction, it was my body putting in its last ditch effort, in so many ways I am glad that is when it happened as I will never forget that moment. I focussed on holding the second anaesthetists and Roy's hands, trying not to move as the contraction rose, I should have said something but the words would not escape me. It wasn't long and it was over, the Spinal was in and working, I was then assisted to lie down, the table was then tilted, the catheter put in (so glad I couldn't feel that happening!). The BP monitor strapped around my arm, gel put in my hand, monitors attached to my finger and an oxygen mask, the screen was then put up and the drapes put in place.

Roy and I chatted about the upcoming grand final rematch, and some other completely unexciting topics, and before I knew it I felt as though a live was being drawn below my tummy, I knew that she had just made the first incision, this was it.....

There was pressure and pulling and tugging, not at all uncomfortable, just a little bizarre, my OB said I hope that your little one is going to be a lot easier to get out than they little boy she had just delivered a short time earlier who was a bit stubborn and got stuck. Soon after my OB announced ok are we ready, I told Roy make sure the camera is ready I want lots of photos! The screen was then dropped, Roy started snapping and our precious little baby GIRL arrive earthside, she made a small cry, my OB then brought her over where the screen had been dropped and I was able to touch her :cry: we were asked if she has a name and we said no we hadn't decided, we wanted to get to know her first. She was then taken over to resus to get checked out by our Paed. Roy went over and took more photos and then cut the cord, "Flicker" was give some oxygen to help her get going, she was wrapped up and then brought over to me and I was able to hold her, we then got the family photos that we didn't get with Nakita and we just soaked in all her newborn goodness for a minute or two.

 

It took us a week to name "Flicker" approximately the same amount of time it took us to name her big sister give or take a few hours!

Anastasia Natalia Juliette

Weight: 2720grams / 6lb

HC: 34cm

Length 48cm

Apgars: 7 (1min) and 9 (5min)

She was blowing bubbles and there were significant pauses in her breathing, her Paed became concerned as did we, so she was taken back over to resus and the decision was made that she needed to go to the nursery now. I sent Roy to go with her, I was fine just needed to be stitched up and go through recovery. Mon said that if she is ok with will bring her down to recovery. I said it doesn't matter, just make sure that she is ok, I can have all the cuddles I like later on.

So once again I was left behind to be stitched up and my baby taken away... but this time it was easier, I had expected that it could happen and after all we had been through I just wanted her to be safe.

My OB was able to have a good look at my uterus and at that stage my septum was 4cm long, but it was not able to be removed, it is was she would have done it then so that if we tried again in the future hopefully we would be able to avoid some of the complications we experienced this time. The placenta was small, which was to be expected so no surprises there either, but it had done a a pretty good job considering! There was also a large blood clot behind the placenta, which is most likely the culprit for the many bleeds that I experienced throughout the pregnancy, we were lucky it didn't result in anything more sinister.

The stitching was then completed and the anaesthetist brought in the ultrasound and placed a local in either side of my stomach and then I was off to recovery. Anastasia's Paediatrician came down to let me know that he was concerned about her developing Hyaline Membrane Disease (Respiratory Distress of the Premature Infant), if she did she would need to be transferred to the NICU at the WCH, so he was keeping a close eye on her for the next few hours and if she stabilised with the O2 in the humidicrib within a couple of hours she should be able to stay, but if they left her that things could change rapidly so they put into place extra precautions to ensure that we had the best chance of keeping her with us.

A short while later I was taken up to the SCN to see her, the wheeled my bed up as close as we could get to the isolette, Mon turned her head over so I could see her face and she got really grumpy and upset so I said to switch it back so she was happy again. After a short stay I then was taken back to my room to settle into bed to start my recovery....