Oh my gosh what a crazy week it has been! I have finally gotten a few minutes to sit down and reflect on the all that has happened and put down Carter's birth story.
To put this all in perspective we need to get a few things straight about this pregnancy. Firstly it was a surprise. So while we were planning another baby we were still a little thrown when those 2 little lines showed up on the test. I had no symptoms, I just happened to see a test in the bathroom and took it just for the fun of it. (I had bought a pack of 100 on ebay when we were trying for Ammon).
The initial scan didn't look promising and I was told to be prepared to miscarry in the next few days. However nothing happened. 2nd scan changed up my dates, 3rd scan changed them again. 4th scan told us we were having a girl.
This pregnancy went nothing like my other three. I had terrible morning sickness and didn't leave the house for over a month. Aarahi did everything while I hibernated on the couch under a blanket in the middle of summer. I didn't put on any weight until around 26 weeks. Also for the last few weeks I was really struggling to actually function. I had to get Aarahi to help me to the bathroom in the middle of the night and wake him up to turn me over. When it came to delivery, I went into labour 4 weeks early.
So onto the day it all went down. On Sunday morning I was feeling off and called the hospital and they told me to come in to see what was going on. My doctor showed up to check me, he said I was probably not in labour but he soon changed his mind when he checked and found I was 4cm. I wasn't in proper labour but would likely be back later that night.
Aarahi and I left the hospital and decided to pretend it wasn't Sunday and went to the shopping centre for lunch and to pick up a few last minute things. I was actually really lovely to have that time together without the kids.
We picked up the kids from my cousins house and then contractions started to become for consistent. I wasn't convinced as I had been having contractions for the last 3 days that always stopped. However these were still going at 8pm so I rang the hospital and they said come when I was ready. They then rang back 20mins later saying my doctor wanted me to come straight away given the history of my previous two labours going from zero to baby in a very short period of time. Yey for hypnobirthing.
Aarahi nipped off to the petrol station to get some bread and milk for the kids breakfast, and I waited my for cousins to arrive and finish packing my bag. Now at this point I thought "I should pack some boys clothes just incase" I had always had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that this baby was a boy. Anyway I didn't pack anything boyish and felt sorry for the baby that was going to have boy blankets because I hadn't found the girls ones yet.
Once we arrived at the hospital, the doors were locked and we had to wait about 10mins for the people to open them...okay maybe an exaggeration but when you are in labour things seem much worse. They examined me and I was at 5cm. So not bad considering I still wasn't in too much discomfort.
I got in the shower and Aarahi went to have a sleep since I was fine doing in on my own for now. I knew I would need him more awake at the end. A few hours later my doctor came by to visit and I was 7cm and still not in much pain or discomfort. But I was enjoying some happy gas, I love that stuff, it's my favourite part of giving birth.
I knew I wanted an epidural this time and that if I asked for it when I felt I needed it I wouldn't get it in time, so I asked for in now. But since I was doing "so well" that had me hold off a bit longer. I should have pushed harder to get it. I knew in my head I had missed my opportunity. My reasoning for wanting it is that I lose all control in the last 5 minutes and have never been "present" enough to enjoy or appreciate those first few moments of baby being born. I really really wanted that this time.
A hour or so later my waters broke and I asked for my epidural again and they went and organised it for me. It would take 20mins for the anaesthetist to arrive. I knew I didn't have 20mins. I knew this baby was coming and it was going to come fast. I was in denial though. I was in denial when the head was out and I was still saying it wasn't too late.
The anaesthetist did arrive and I remember telling him he was my best friend (high on happy gas) and that if he wanted to chop my legs off that was fine with me. Aarahi went out of the room while I was getting the epidural but was quickly called for because as I suspected as soon as I sat up the baby came out in 2 pushes just like I had told them it would.
They put him up on my chest and I checked to see if he was a girl....nope a boy, and he was the blondest baby I have ever seen.
They quickly took him though as he was as flat as a pancake when he came out. He only had an apgar of 1. It was all very crazy and he was rushed off to special care for breathing treatments. Aarahi went with him.
After they finished stitching me all up and I had a shower I went down to see him and he was just fine. Although he didn't look anything like one of our kids. He was pretty bruised up too.
Carter and I spent a blissful 5 days in hospital while Aarahi did an amazing job of holding down the fort at home.
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| My favourite time of night is hanging out with these two once Auron and Lili have gone to bed. |
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| Unimpressed by his clothing |
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| Auron is very catious about baby holding, Lili on the other hand has it down to a tee. |
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