I was due on Monday 15 August 2012, but our little girl was just to comfortable in mommy's tummy... I bounced around on my birthing ball, went for a walk with the dog every day, went out for a curry, had sex a good couple of times, but no signs of labour.
My induction was to be booked on the following Monday, the 22nd of August but since that was my birthday doctor said that we could do the induction on Friday the 19th instead at 4am. I was glad that I knew for certain now that by Friday I would be holding my little baby in my arms.
We checked into the hospital at 10pm the Thursday night, filled in all the paperwork & I was booked into a normal room. We had requested a private room but there were none available at the time. The nurse hooked me up onto a Doppler monitor and took my blood pressure. She asked me if I had always had high blood pressure during my pregnancy. This was very strange because my blood pressure had always been perfect from day one. She listened to baby's heartbeat and picked up a strange beat on it, almost as if the baby's heart was skipping a beat or faltering a bit every now and then. Dad & I could also hear it clearly. Nurse wasn't happy and said she was just going to phone Dr H to see if he still wanted them to go ahead with the induction. She came back and said Dr confirmed that it was okay. Dad kissed me goodbye & promised to be back first thing in the morning. They gave me sleeping pill as I was stressed and excited & they said I needed to be well rested for the next day.
At 4am I felt very groggy when they came in to do the induction, the nurse did an internal ( I later heard her say my cervix is soft but posterior), and proceeded to insert he gel. Almost immediately I could feel contractions starting. Dad was there at 5am. One of the other gynecologists that checked in on the patient I was sharing a room with came and checked on me and commented on how great my contractions were. Baby's heart rate was happy and healthy. Shortly after a nurse came and administered and enema which was not half as bad as I was expecting. They brought me breakfast around 6am I think, I don't even remember what I ate but after 30 minutes I threw everything up anyway.
We managed to get a private room then and I moved to my relief. I was allowed to walk around freely and hop around on my birthing ball. After several hours, probably just before 11AM I was taken through to the labour ward. A nurse did an internal again and said my cervix was moving forward but I was not dilating. They did a second lot of gel and I could feel my contractions were very strong now. I was in a lot of pain & when asked if I would consider having an epidural I said yes, I think they just wanted to give the anesthetist a heads-up so long as it was way too early progress wise. After about an 45 minutes the nurse noticed that there were deceleration showing on the baby monitor...and went to call the doctor. He came in and did an internal and showed me how much I was dilated - the width of his ring finger. He said he was sorry but that we would need to do an emergency cesarean. I was very disappointed and asked him if there was nothing we could do? He said if I had dilated he could have at least tried to pull baby out but unfortunately this was the only option or we could carry on this way and very well lose baby. Nope, I definitely didn't want that. I consented to having a cesarean. Immediately I was put on a drip to stop the contractions and I was given oxygen. All this time Dad was holding my hand and I was crying. This was all too much for me now & I couldn't hold it together.
They pushed me into the theater and asked Dad to go and 'scrub up'. In the meantime the anesthetist started inserting the spinal block - which I remember was incredibly sore! Dad came in just as he was finishing up, I looked up at him with his silly blue scrubs and silly blue net on his head and told him he looked ridiculous. I was quite upset. I was told to lie down quickly on the operating table. The staff - nurses, anethetist, my gynea, were incredible and supportive, checking that I was okay all the time.
I felt a lot of tugging and pushing at my tummy but I felt no pain. The one assistant doctor (I think?) asked if I would like to see when baby came out. I was very reluctant, I really didn't want to look up and see myself cut open. She said it was nothing to worry about, she would tell me when baby came out. One nurse pushed down very hard on my abdomen and doctor pulled baby's head out. They told me to look and the anesthetist helped my head up so I could see her come out and it was so surreal! Now I was crying with joy and not fear and disappointment anymore. Doctor showed her to me and I asked "Why isn't she crying?" and someone said, either the doctor or anesthetist, that she doesn't have to cry. It was 12:10PM. They took her probably about 5 steps away and I kept looking to try and see her and she started screaming! :-) What a healthy set of lungs. Dad was standing with her all the time & cut the umbilical cord. The pediatrician checked her, weighed her, and then immediately came and put her on my chest. She was not away from me for more than I would guess 2 - 5 minutes. I stared at her in awe. They stitched me up - I still remember on of the girls saying "Look at how flat your tummy is!" - and transferred me to another bed so they could wheel me out.
One of the nurses took a family picture of the three of us there in the theater. They opened up my gown and unwrapped her and put her naked on my chest and she immediately latched and started breastfeeding. As we were wheeled out of the labour ward the first person to see us was Dad's Mom. No one else was there yet. She teared up and I teared up and it was just amazing...but they were trying to get me to the maternity ward quite quickly and before we disappeared through the doors she aksed "What is her name?" Dad looked at her and it was such a special moment and said "Isabella". The doors closed. I don't think I had ever ever seen Dad glowing like he did that day.
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