Ava arrived at 1.40pm on the 12th August 2008 weighing 5.5 and a quarter, 44.5cm at 34+1 WEEKS!
i was getting strange pains on Monday and thought it was wind or BH
on Monday night me and OH went to bed about 11pm and i was in agony, didnt think much of it, tried to get some sleep but my constant trips to the loo were taking over my life! at 2.15am i thought i needed yet another pee but felt a popping sensation when i was lying down, thought i was away to pee myself 
(sorry!) but when i stood up warm water covered my legs and soaked my pj's! I ran to the bathroom and realised it was my waters, stood there is shock! noticed my waters were green in colour and rang the maternity hospital straight away. they said to come in.
luckily my bag was packed as im super organised so OH grabbed it while i ran to the car. i just kept saying please let her be ok, please be ok for the 30 min car journey to hospital. i didnt have any pains at this point, just a few tightning feelings. I remember a black cat running out in front of us and i said please be luck
got to the hospital where i had to wait for about 15 mins at reception as the lady had my details wrong
got through to the labour ward at 3am where they asked to see the pad i had on and confirmed it was stage 2 menoconium (i dont know what is meant by stage 2) then she said you wont be leaving here until you have delivered the baby
they strapped me to monitors, one for LO's heartrate and one fort he contractions. the monitor showed i was having contractions but i wasnt really in pain and thought to myself oh i can handle this
a lady came in and took a swab to see if i had an infection which may have caused me to go into labour early, she also examined me and i was 2cm's dialated, this was at 3.30am.
for the next few hours i just lay there, mixed emotions from being petrified that something was wrong and being excited as they reassured me everything will be ok.
at 7.30am they examined me again and i was a measly 3cm dialated! i couldnt take anymore so asked for gas and air. this did nothing for me! so at 9.30am i asked for an epidural! this was the one thing i said i didnt want but all my plans had gone out of the window of what i wanted and i felt so unprepared!
they started me on a drip that helped speed things up, the aneathist (sp) came in at 10am and i got the epidural, from the minute it kicked in i was in heaven! i felt normal again, i felt in control of what was happening. before the epidural i didnt find the contractions painful but frustrating. i hated the feeling and not being able to move about through them as i was strapped to monitors and the drip but once i had the epidural i felt totally fine. OH felt helpless as i was lying there and he thought he should be doing something but there was nothing i needed.
at about 12 the midwife examined me and asked do i want the good news or bad news, i said good - i was 10cm so ready to push and the bad news was Ava was lying the wrong way. a consultant came and and examined me and thank god i couldnt feel anything, she was trying to turn Ava and i cant express how embarrased i was with the noises that i heard coming from down below, like squelching sounds!!!!!!!
anyway she managed to turn her so she was the right way and said to the midwife to buzz straight away if baby seemed distressed or if the pushing wasnt successful!
so i started pushing, could feel my belly tighening with contractions so knew when to push but it was completely pain free. my OH kept saying i can see her head, keep going! i had a feel with my hand (was really weird, something i didnt think id do) but i could feel her head which made me more determined to push! after pushing for what seemed like forever Ava arrived, OH cut the cord.
the midwife warned me that the peodotricians (sp) were outside as Ava may be taken away straight away, but she arrived and was breathing ok, a little grunty but they let me have skin to skin for about 10 mins then OH got a quick hold and a doctor came in and took her to neonatal. it was a horrible feeling having her taken away. but i was delighted she was here and in good hands.
anyway i had no stiches, only a small tear!
i was cleaned up and put on a ward in my own room, which was fine as if id been put near mummys and babies i would have cried!!!
we got to go and see Ava at 4pm and she was all strapped to a CPAP, a drip and a monitor, it was horrible, we just stood there staring at her, didnt have a clue what to do!
the next morning her CPAP was taking off as her breathing was ok, she had a tube fitted for feeding and she started on 6ml feeds. over the next 10 days she did brilliantly, we are so proud of her. she was taken off the drip, monitor and put into a cot but she developed jaundice so needed to lights for 24 hours. once the treatment was over she was back in a cot and all we were working on was her feeding. she began taking bottles every 2nd feed but one day we went in and we were allowed to try her with bottles for every feed, so it was 70mls every 4 hours. it was like she had picked it up over night. she did fantastic! so 24 hours later she was on the ward with me and another 24 hours later we came home!
iv missed out lots of things but this is the main bits to my birth story! i cant describe how it feels to have Ava here and knowing she is healthy. i was so worked up the week before she arrived about the OC! and here's 2 pics of our gorgeous daughter Ava, first one was her first day in neonatal and the 2nd one is on sat at home
i can see such a difference in her already! she is gorgeous and makes us smile a million times a day!
PICS REMOVED
i was getting strange pains on Monday and thought it was wind or BH
on Monday night me and OH went to bed about 11pm and i was in agony, didnt think much of it, tried to get some sleep but my constant trips to the loo were taking over my life! at 2.15am i thought i needed yet another pee but felt a popping sensation when i was lying down, thought i was away to pee myself (sorry!) but when i stood up warm water covered my legs and soaked my pj's! I ran to the bathroom and realised it was my waters, stood there is shock! noticed my waters were green in colour and rang the maternity hospital straight away. they said to come in.luckily my bag was packed as im super organised so OH grabbed it while i ran to the car. i just kept saying please let her be ok, please be ok for the 30 min car journey to hospital. i didnt have any pains at this point, just a few tightning feelings. I remember a black cat running out in front of us and i said please be luck
got to the hospital where i had to wait for about 15 mins at reception as the lady had my details wrong
got through to the labour ward at 3am where they asked to see the pad i had on and confirmed it was stage 2 menoconium (i dont know what is meant by stage 2) then she said you wont be leaving here until you have delivered the baby
they strapped me to monitors, one for LO's heartrate and one fort he contractions. the monitor showed i was having contractions but i wasnt really in pain and thought to myself oh i can handle this
a lady came in and took a swab to see if i had an infection which may have caused me to go into labour early, she also examined me and i was 2cm's dialated, this was at 3.30am.
for the next few hours i just lay there, mixed emotions from being petrified that something was wrong and being excited as they reassured me everything will be ok.
at 7.30am they examined me again and i was a measly 3cm dialated! i couldnt take anymore so asked for gas and air. this did nothing for me! so at 9.30am i asked for an epidural! this was the one thing i said i didnt want but all my plans had gone out of the window of what i wanted and i felt so unprepared!
they started me on a drip that helped speed things up, the aneathist (sp) came in at 10am and i got the epidural, from the minute it kicked in i was in heaven! i felt normal again, i felt in control of what was happening. before the epidural i didnt find the contractions painful but frustrating. i hated the feeling and not being able to move about through them as i was strapped to monitors and the drip but once i had the epidural i felt totally fine. OH felt helpless as i was lying there and he thought he should be doing something but there was nothing i needed.
at about 12 the midwife examined me and asked do i want the good news or bad news, i said good - i was 10cm so ready to push and the bad news was Ava was lying the wrong way. a consultant came and and examined me and thank god i couldnt feel anything, she was trying to turn Ava and i cant express how embarrased i was with the noises that i heard coming from down below, like squelching sounds!!!!!!!
anyway she managed to turn her so she was the right way and said to the midwife to buzz straight away if baby seemed distressed or if the pushing wasnt successful!
so i started pushing, could feel my belly tighening with contractions so knew when to push but it was completely pain free. my OH kept saying i can see her head, keep going! i had a feel with my hand (was really weird, something i didnt think id do) but i could feel her head which made me more determined to push! after pushing for what seemed like forever Ava arrived, OH cut the cord.
the midwife warned me that the peodotricians (sp) were outside as Ava may be taken away straight away, but she arrived and was breathing ok, a little grunty but they let me have skin to skin for about 10 mins then OH got a quick hold and a doctor came in and took her to neonatal. it was a horrible feeling having her taken away. but i was delighted she was here and in good hands.
anyway i had no stiches, only a small tear!
i was cleaned up and put on a ward in my own room, which was fine as if id been put near mummys and babies i would have cried!!!
we got to go and see Ava at 4pm and she was all strapped to a CPAP, a drip and a monitor, it was horrible, we just stood there staring at her, didnt have a clue what to do!
the next morning her CPAP was taking off as her breathing was ok, she had a tube fitted for feeding and she started on 6ml feeds. over the next 10 days she did brilliantly, we are so proud of her. she was taken off the drip, monitor and put into a cot but she developed jaundice so needed to lights for 24 hours. once the treatment was over she was back in a cot and all we were working on was her feeding. she began taking bottles every 2nd feed but one day we went in and we were allowed to try her with bottles for every feed, so it was 70mls every 4 hours. it was like she had picked it up over night. she did fantastic! so 24 hours later she was on the ward with me and another 24 hours later we came home!
iv missed out lots of things but this is the main bits to my birth story! i cant describe how it feels to have Ava here and knowing she is healthy. i was so worked up the week before she arrived about the OC! and here's 2 pics of our gorgeous daughter Ava, first one was her first day in neonatal and the 2nd one is on sat at home
i can see such a difference in her already! she is gorgeous and makes us smile a million times a day!
PICS REMOVED
