Meeting Mia

I woke up at 6 am with some mild cramping. I didn’t think much of it at the time. But after about 30 mins I started to pay attention. From 6:30 am onwards, I began to track my cramping. I called Nick to let him know that I think today’s the day. He then started to make his way back home after being in peak hour traffic for one and a half hours. I then called our midwife (who was unavailable, so Sam was my midwife until 6:00 pm). Sam said it sounded like Braxton Hicks; so suggested to take some Panadol and to take it easy. I kept calling as they were still happening after a few hours. She said she would call me back at 1:00 pm, and if they are still happening, she would get me to come in for an assessment.

Sure enough, when she called I was still cramping, so she got me to come down to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at about 1:30 pm when my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. I was 4 cm dilated on arrival.

After a few hours - I had lost all concept of time at this point - Nomes (my best friend) arrived at the hospital. I was laying on my side using the TENS machine as pain relief. And I just remember getting the biggest bear hug and instant comfort when she got there.

After a while, I moved to the ball. I was midway a contraction when I felt a thud in my pelvis. I stopped almost immediately. I asked Nomes if she heard or felt that, as she was holding my hand at the time. She looked confused. The midwife said it was my waters. She asked me to stand up, and sure enough, it was my waters.

I moved around the room a bit before Nick asked if I wanted to get into the bath to try for a water birth.

After a while, I started getting the urge to push. After about an hour of pushing (still seeming as though nothing had happened), I was checked and was fully dilated! I Just needed to push harder to get little miss out. After another 20 minutes, I had to get out of the bath so we could get monitored.

I pushed for another 45 minutes. During a contraction, I did another push, and her head was almost out, but it would go back in as I was getting beyond exhausted. It was at this moment a huge amount of blood squirted out, and my midwife decided that I need to be cut.

She started to numb me up, and at the next contraction she cut, but at the same time, I also tore. The midwife kept telling me to push, and I was trying so hard to push, but nothing was really happening. She then started to pull her out, and at 9:07 pm, Mia Jayde was here, on my chest, and there I became enclosed in my Mia bubble.

The call was then made by my midwife that emergency assistance was needed, where it seemed like 15 people ran into the room. A doctor examined me and determined that the blood I was losing was from my tear. I ended up having extremely bad tearing (grade 3c) and haemorrhaging. The doctor then let Nick know that I would need emergency surgery. I was then put on the surgery list and was next in line.

The next couple of hours was my bliss. Nick and our midwife did all the measurements for Mia. He then dressed and swaddled her. I remember watching him and thinking what a natural he was at his new role.

       

 

At 1:30 am, I was taken down into surgery, where I was given a spinal block. The moment I laid down, I fell asleep. While I was sleeping, they successfully put me back together. They never told me how many stitches there were though. Maybe I didn’t want to know. I was also given two blood transfusions in recovery as I lost 1.8L of blood. I also needed another transfusion two days later due to my levels decreasing while we were still in the hospital.

 

At about 3:30 am, I was reunited with Nick and Mia in the ward. We had a 5-minute changeover; then Nick was told to leave. This broke my heart but knew he wouldn’t be too long between visits.

 

That morning, the nurses were terrific and helped me so much with Mia as I was unable to get her due to the block.

 

A doctor came to explain how the surgery went. She told me that I was given a catheter. I looked under the blanket, and there wasn’t one there. So I was quickly given one.

 

We ended up staying in the hospital for four nights. Usually, it’s only a night, but this was so I could be monitored. On day two, a doctor asked if I was able to go to the toilet. Due to my tearing, they had been giving me laxatives to help soften my stools. I let her know that I was doing a least eight a day, which was so inconvenient because it was a lot of effort to do. She looked surprised and went to try and determine why. A nurse then came in with my pain medication. She left, and I took my tablets. She then came racing back in and asked if I had already taken them. I told her I had. She then explained there had been a mix-up. When I arrived at the hospital, they started a chart, and then when I went down to surgery, they started another chart. So they realised that they had been giving me double dosages of pain medication, as well as laxatives. I was then told I couldn’t take anything more until the next day. This was roughly 12 hours without pain medication. That was the longest night to date.

We were ready to go home by day 4.

 

I want to share, though, that my night nurse was incredible. Her name is Mikaela. She was an actual angel. I don’t think I could have gotten through the nights without her.

 

So this was our birth story. Apart from all the horror, the moment I saw Nick hold Mia, it’s like nothing in the world even mattered. Even still now, with my recovery. I’m just over the moon she is here, and she is healthy. We just love her so very much. We are so lucky.

 

Labour definitely was not straight forward as we hoped, but she is here healthy, and that’s all that matters.