Guest
I thought I should post my long birth story. It's copied from Damien's site so bear with it (and told by Mark)!! (The first bit is the run-up to the birth)
I was having contractions from 27 weeks and given steroid injections for his lungs shoud he come early. After being in and out of hospital for 7 weeks he finally made his appearance. I knew it was coming, but I still wasn't prepared.
Damien had a very interesting entry into the world, and one that wasn't quite yet expected! He arrived on the 18th December 2005 at 1
6am and was 6 weeks premature.
Sami was in slow labour for a week before things really got going. Her contractions started 4am Saturday 17th and she was totally convinced this time that it was finally it (after stopping and starting all week)....but they by 11am ish they had started to hurt less so we thought it was another false start. But then at 2:30pm they came back and they were even stronger. We wanted to stay at home as long as possible so Sami just breathed through them and I packed the hospital bag.
At 5:30pm she went to sit on the loo (as you do) and her waters broke!! We telephoned the hospital and the silly midiwfe asked if she was sure it was her waters and that she'd not just wee'd! We confirmed the obvious and she told us to come in straight away because Sami was only 34weeks pregnant...so off we went, towel between her legs.
We arrived at Bedford hospital at 6pm. Her contractions had got very strong now that her waters had gone. They gave her co-codomol to take the edge off the pain but we knew it wouldn't do anything for her and within 15minutes she was on Gas and Air..........'quote Sami "how good is that stuff!!" Kicked in and worked brilliantly.
The hospital had to contact the NeoNatel unit to see if they had space for Damien (when he was born) down in SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit) but they didn't and we found out we would have to be transferred to another hospital miles away from us. Ambulance men arrived to take me, Sami and the midwife to Luton & Dunstable hospital. Before we left, the midwife checked Sami and she was 3-4cm dilated. The midwife was a little concerned that because Sami was progressing quickly that she might have the baby in the ambulance and she wanted to make sure it wasn't going to happen!
On the journey there Sami asked for an epidural as she was really feeling the strain. She was told she could have one when we got to L&D hospital but when we got there they examined her and she was already 7cm!! She was too late for one by this time. So she carried on with the gas and air. Sami's mum Carolyn had arrived at the hospital by this point and was supporting Sami (and me) through it.
(From Sami) "Mark by the way, was the most fantastic birthing partner I could ever have hoped for. He wasn't squeemish at all like he thought he would be. He said the right things when I needed to hear them, he gave me a drink just when he'd know I'd need it, and he put up with me nearly breaking his hand from squeezing it. He was excellent."
Sami started getting the urge to push and the midwife told her to push when she felt ready and we'ed see what happened. She wasn't keen on examining her too many times and said nature would let her know when it was time. So she started to push with her contractions. They had slowed down and got further apart so it was hard work for her pushing against them.
After a good few pushes Damien came into the world at 016am. He weighed in at a very healthy 5lb 13oz (2.635kg) and had apgar scores of 9/1 and 10/5 which is excellent considering he was born at 34 weeks gestation. He didn't need any help with his breathing and was handed back to Sami when his checks were done and he was cleaned up.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Birth date... Me and Damien were taken up to the Transistional Care department after he was born as it was decided he didn't need SCBU help (special care baby unit) but just needed an extra eye on him for a few days at least. His first feed was from a cup as I still wanted to breast feed him eventually. He brought all his first feed back up but they let him settle to sleep. At his next feed they checked his blood sugar levels and they were low, and again he brought up all of his milk. His next feed his blood suger levels were even lower and he had to have a feeding tube put in But even then he was still sick when he had milk so they decided it would be best to take him to the special care baby unit to be monitored and try him on very small feeds frequently or give him IV fluids. I can't tell you how much I cried watching them put that tube in his nose. It was heartbreaking, he was so weak he didn't even cry Down on SCBU he was being fed every 2 hours and having 20mls of formula milk. By 7pm they had upped him to 3 hourly feeds of 30mls because he was keeping it down...progress at last! At his 1am feed we tried him on the bottle and he took it and had his milk that way - we were so proud of him
Monday, December 19, 2005
1 day old! I was told at 7am that they may have space for me and Damien back at Bedford hospital and that we could be being transferred that day! The team arrived to pick him up and put him in an transporting incubator. We were going back into Transitional care too when we got back as he was feeding by a bottle and keeping it down. Yippee! Mark had to drive me seperately to Damien as there wasn't enough room in the ambulance. It was the longest car journey I have ever done and took us an hour till we reached him again. The hospital had decided to feed Damien when he got there (about 20minutes before us) but he brought all of it back up. I had to top-up feed him till 2am to try and get his routine back and try to make sure he'd got his fill. His IV in his arm was taken out when we got there but his feeding tube was left in just incase he started being sick again. They took his SBR blood levels as he was looking a little jandice and they came back just below treatment level, but just to be extra careful they put him on a Biliblanket to help the jaundice levels go down quicker.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
2 days old. NGT finally taken out as it hadn't been used for over 24 hours - yay!! Still on Biliblanket and still not strong enough to breastfeed.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
3 days old. Milk came in this morning - ouch! Damien's feeds upped to 40mls 3 hourly. SBR bloods taken again and they are low enough to take him off the Biliblanket. Started expressing milk for him to have instead of formula but was being sick in the evening again. Finally back into his routine by 4am.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
4 days old. Damien is now on 50mls every 3 hours. He was weighed again today and weighs 5lb 6.5 oz (2.460kg) so he only lost 175g (7oz / 7% of his birth weight). I am so pleased. SBR levels checked again and his jaundice was going down. Tried breastfeeding again and he gave it a little go but still not that interested. He is having expressed milk for most of his feeds but topping up with formula sometimes.
I can't find the bit about going home but he did on day 5. Was a bit scary but he was really good and the midwives and paediatritions were shocked with his how reamarkable he was doing considering he shouldn't have been here for another month!
I was having contractions from 27 weeks and given steroid injections for his lungs shoud he come early. After being in and out of hospital for 7 weeks he finally made his appearance. I knew it was coming, but I still wasn't prepared.
Damien had a very interesting entry into the world, and one that wasn't quite yet expected! He arrived on the 18th December 2005 at 1
6am and was 6 weeks premature. Sami was in slow labour for a week before things really got going. Her contractions started 4am Saturday 17th and she was totally convinced this time that it was finally it (after stopping and starting all week)....but they by 11am ish they had started to hurt less so we thought it was another false start. But then at 2:30pm they came back and they were even stronger. We wanted to stay at home as long as possible so Sami just breathed through them and I packed the hospital bag.
At 5:30pm she went to sit on the loo (as you do) and her waters broke!! We telephoned the hospital and the silly midiwfe asked if she was sure it was her waters and that she'd not just wee'd! We confirmed the obvious and she told us to come in straight away because Sami was only 34weeks pregnant...so off we went, towel between her legs.
We arrived at Bedford hospital at 6pm. Her contractions had got very strong now that her waters had gone. They gave her co-codomol to take the edge off the pain but we knew it wouldn't do anything for her and within 15minutes she was on Gas and Air..........'quote Sami "how good is that stuff!!" Kicked in and worked brilliantly.
The hospital had to contact the NeoNatel unit to see if they had space for Damien (when he was born) down in SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit) but they didn't and we found out we would have to be transferred to another hospital miles away from us. Ambulance men arrived to take me, Sami and the midwife to Luton & Dunstable hospital. Before we left, the midwife checked Sami and she was 3-4cm dilated. The midwife was a little concerned that because Sami was progressing quickly that she might have the baby in the ambulance and she wanted to make sure it wasn't going to happen!
On the journey there Sami asked for an epidural as she was really feeling the strain. She was told she could have one when we got to L&D hospital but when we got there they examined her and she was already 7cm!! She was too late for one by this time. So she carried on with the gas and air. Sami's mum Carolyn had arrived at the hospital by this point and was supporting Sami (and me) through it.
(From Sami) "Mark by the way, was the most fantastic birthing partner I could ever have hoped for. He wasn't squeemish at all like he thought he would be. He said the right things when I needed to hear them, he gave me a drink just when he'd know I'd need it, and he put up with me nearly breaking his hand from squeezing it. He was excellent."
Sami started getting the urge to push and the midwife told her to push when she felt ready and we'ed see what happened. She wasn't keen on examining her too many times and said nature would let her know when it was time. So she started to push with her contractions. They had slowed down and got further apart so it was hard work for her pushing against them.
After a good few pushes Damien came into the world at 01
6am. He weighed in at a very healthy 5lb 13oz (2.635kg) and had apgar scores of 9/1 and 10/5 which is excellent considering he was born at 34 weeks gestation. He didn't need any help with his breathing and was handed back to Sami when his checks were done and he was cleaned up. Sunday, December 18, 2005
Birth date... Me and Damien were taken up to the Transistional Care department after he was born as it was decided he didn't need SCBU help (special care baby unit) but just needed an extra eye on him for a few days at least. His first feed was from a cup as I still wanted to breast feed him eventually. He brought all his first feed back up but they let him settle to sleep. At his next feed they checked his blood sugar levels and they were low, and again he brought up all of his milk. His next feed his blood suger levels were even lower and he had to have a feeding tube put in But even then he was still sick when he had milk so they decided it would be best to take him to the special care baby unit to be monitored and try him on very small feeds frequently or give him IV fluids. I can't tell you how much I cried watching them put that tube in his nose. It was heartbreaking, he was so weak he didn't even cry Down on SCBU he was being fed every 2 hours and having 20mls of formula milk. By 7pm they had upped him to 3 hourly feeds of 30mls because he was keeping it down...progress at last! At his 1am feed we tried him on the bottle and he took it and had his milk that way - we were so proud of him
Monday, December 19, 2005
1 day old! I was told at 7am that they may have space for me and Damien back at Bedford hospital and that we could be being transferred that day! The team arrived to pick him up and put him in an transporting incubator. We were going back into Transitional care too when we got back as he was feeding by a bottle and keeping it down. Yippee! Mark had to drive me seperately to Damien as there wasn't enough room in the ambulance. It was the longest car journey I have ever done and took us an hour till we reached him again. The hospital had decided to feed Damien when he got there (about 20minutes before us) but he brought all of it back up. I had to top-up feed him till 2am to try and get his routine back and try to make sure he'd got his fill. His IV in his arm was taken out when we got there but his feeding tube was left in just incase he started being sick again. They took his SBR blood levels as he was looking a little jandice and they came back just below treatment level, but just to be extra careful they put him on a Biliblanket to help the jaundice levels go down quicker.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
2 days old. NGT finally taken out as it hadn't been used for over 24 hours - yay!! Still on Biliblanket and still not strong enough to breastfeed.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
3 days old. Milk came in this morning - ouch! Damien's feeds upped to 40mls 3 hourly. SBR bloods taken again and they are low enough to take him off the Biliblanket. Started expressing milk for him to have instead of formula but was being sick in the evening again. Finally back into his routine by 4am.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
4 days old. Damien is now on 50mls every 3 hours. He was weighed again today and weighs 5lb 6.5 oz (2.460kg) so he only lost 175g (7oz / 7% of his birth weight). I am so pleased. SBR levels checked again and his jaundice was going down. Tried breastfeeding again and he gave it a little go but still not that interested. He is having expressed milk for most of his feeds but topping up with formula sometimes.
I can't find the bit about going home but he did on day 5. Was a bit scary but he was really good and the midwives and paediatritions were shocked with his how reamarkable he was doing considering he shouldn't have been here for another month!
