Meeting Grace

It was Saturday, 10th of July, and we were getting ready for our maternity shoot. It was a very cold and frosty morning. Once our photo shoot was finished, we made our way home to get ready for a wedding we had that afternoon. At this point, I was feeling great finally in my pregnancy at 33weeks and 6days.

The best I have felt the whole time. It was 1:30 in the afternoon, and we made our way to drop our daughter off at my sister's house for the night while we attended the wedding. Once we dropped her off, we were excited to have one last night out before having two children in a few weeks. Little did we know what was about to happen that night!

We quite enjoyed our last night out at the wedding; we ate, danced, and spent the night socialising with people. I was feeling off from about 6 o'clock that night. I kept saying to Trent, this is strange. I keep going to the toilet and not this often though I don't feel right. The night kept going on, and this kept happening. The bride's brother came up to us and said, let's get on the dancefloor. Trent made the joke that she might go into labour. We all laughed, and we all got up and danced. We saw dessert coming, and I said to Trent, let's go sit down, have something to eat and then maybe will go home as I'm still not feeling quite right.

After we finish dessert, it was about 9.30 pm, and I said to Trent, we need to go home; I'm tired, and I don't feel well. We hopped in the car and started to make our way home. It was about an hours drive back.

We got back to my sister's house at about 10.30 to pick up our daughter, and I told my husband and sister I need to poop really bad, but I'll wait till I get home. On the way home, I said to Trent, I really need to go to the toilet. There's pressure, and I don't feel right.

I pulled into the driveway, jumped out of the car and grabbed our daughter out of the car seat, put it on our bed and went to get her dummy. On the way back, I went to the bathroom and made it just to the toilet. I sat down, and the pressure had started to disappear. I stood up and looked in the toilet, and there was blood. I called my husband over, and as I was standing up, he started to freak out. He said Kat, you are bleeding. It's dripping out is everything okay?

At this point, I was in a little bit of shock, and I said, we need to call my sister, and you need to call the ambulance. At this point, it was about 11 O'clock. We got a hold of my sister. She came right over, and Trent was on the phone to the ambulance. The ambulance informed Trent that I had to lie down, and Trent had to look to see if a baby was coming out.

Trent began to freak out that he was about to deliver a baby in our bathroom. No baby, just blood. Trent told them. I was told to lie down still and not move, so we made our way to the couch, and in between my legs was a towel to help stop the blood from dripping out everywhere. The ambulance ladies arrived, and they had a trainee on board as well that night ( I felt very sorry for her having to deal with me ).

The Ambos came in and were so bloody amazing going through everything. They got me onto the bed, into the ambulance, and off we drove. Trent and my sister followed and made their way to the hospital as well.

Once we arrived at the hospital at about 11:45 pm, I was taken straight up to the fetal monitoring and met my obstetrician. Everything was happening so fast. Drips going in my arms, monitors on my belly, people talking to me this way, people talking to me that way. My obstetrician told me she wants to have a look to do an ultrasound. It was crazy what felt like a lifetime. But had only been about 45 minutes since we arrived at the hospital.

My obstetrician said that she needed to look to see if we can hold off from delivering and wanted to do an internal ultrasound. I just said, do whatever we have to do to keep my baby safe. My obstetrician began to start the procedure of doing an internal ultrasound, and as she moved the towel from my legs, she said no straight in for an emergency C-section. From this point again, it felt like hours were dragging. I got rushed to have an emergency c-section they wheeled me up to the theatre.

My husband was given scrubs to wear, and we were taken into theatre, where there were at least ten or so medics. We were told this is more than normal just so they could keep an eye on things.

The anaesthetist was really friendly and went through everything he was about to do. I had to perch on the edge of the operating table while the anaesthetist sat behind me and numbed my back before putting the needle in. This was quite difficult as I was very stressed and on edge, so I made it a bit hard for him to try and find a spot, but we eventually got there. I was completely numb from the waist down.

Since I was chatting away to the anaesthetist and my husband, the surgery itself seemed quick, and all I felt was a bit of pressure, tugging and felt quite nauseous while my obstetrician worked behind the cloth.

Around 20 minutes in, I heard a cry, but the nurses took her right away to get checked out with the paediatrician and my husband. My obstetrician was dealing with my bleeding and my placenta. The obstetrician informed me that my placenta had given away from my uterus wall and that I was fortunate and very quick to come straight to the hospital. She was then whisked over for her vitamin K shot and blood tests. It was at least 15 minutes before she was finally brought over to me for a much-needed cuddle.

I'd wanted to do skin-to-skin right away, but it obviously wasn't convenient, as she was born at 33weeks and 7days. So I had to be satisfied with them laying all her on my upper chest/neck while the surgeons worked on stitching me up. This was very quick as they then took her up to the special care nursery. I was wheeled down to Recovery for an hour before heading over to the noisy maternity ward to join all the other new mums. The whole thing had been so organised and stress-free.

It wasn't until that Sunday 11th of July, that I finally got to hold our baby girl, Grace.