In the beginning
All started 10am (ish) 7th Nov 2005 with Janet going to the hospital for a routine checkup (it is routine to have regular checkups when the mother is overdue). During the scan the doctor noticed there wasn't enough amniotic fluid. The doctor suspected the presence of meconium (poo) in the fluid. This can turn to infection, so in an attempt to kick start the labour he had Janet admitted to the Labour and Delivery ward (not the Birthing Centre as we had planned) so that her membranes could be ruptured.

The resident doctor tried rupturing Janet's membranes, but was unsuccessful. At this point the resident wanted to use pitocin to kick start the whole process. [pitocin brings on contractions. Under normal conditions the mother produces pitocin naturally to bring on contractions, but in this case they wanted to introduce pitocin via a drip to 'induce' labour]. However, we were a little apprehensive about this, as it didn't fit with our plan for natural child birth. During this time, we had been on the phone with Dr. Rhee (Janet's obstetrician). Being familiar with Janet's intentions, she wanted to use cervidil to 'ripen' the cervix. This seemed a more appropriate approach. Cervidil doesn't gaurantee contractions like pitocin - it is only meant to ripen/soften the cervix - but in 10% of cases it can do enough to kick start the labour process. However, cervidil does need to left in for 12 hours, so we were running the risk that after 12 hours we would be no further down the labour process. We chose to use cervidil.

At this stage I seem to recall Janet was 1-2cm dilated.

Exit Chris, never again.
At this point, with 12 hours to 'spare' I popped home to pick up some things for Janet. I was at home putting things together when I got a call on my cellphone, it was Janet - "get to the hospital NOW!". Even though the cab journey took five minutes, it was the longest five minutes of my life (how could I miss my daughters birth?). The reason for the rush was that Molly's heart rate had dropped momentarily to 60bpm so the Resident wanted to ensure that the reason for this drop wasn't due to an infection from meconium in the waters - she attempted to rupture the membranes again - this time she was susccessful, just as I walked into the room. As it turned out, the waters were clear, so no infection (yet).

Labour starts
Within an hour Janet started to feel the contractions. At this stage we settled down for the early labour stage, listening to music, watching DVDs, walking around the room etc.

The contractions got stronger, and Janet was using all the techniques (other than drugs) at her disposal to relieve the pain: birthing ball, bath, counting, singing, massage etc. She was dilating nicely, 1-2cm, 3-4cm, 5-6cm, 7-8. I don't remember when Dr Rhee turned up, but it was between 10pm-12am.

Dilation had seemed to be progressing nicely, and at 3am, Janet was at 8-9cm. Then nothing. The next 3 hours (and a lot of pain) she remained at 8-9. Enter the anaestheologist. Janet had an epidural. After the epidural was administered Janet was able to rest and relax. She slept for a few hours. At approximately 10am, Dr Rhee did another examination, but Janet was still at 9cm, sigh. But then Dr Rhee was able to push the cervix back to 10cm!!!! Hurray. At this point Dr Rhee said we were having a baby in the next 30 minutes - I felt very excited/apprehensive, it had taken so long to get to this stage. I'd been used to dealing with units of hours and centimetres, not minutes. Have the baby in the next 30 minutes? Are sure Dr. Rhee?

Well, things did take a little longer, but not much longer than Dr Rhee had predicted. In the meantime Janet had requested that the epidural be switch off so that she could feel the contractions, to help detect when she should push. I should mention, that becasue of the epidural Janet was on pitocin, so the doctor was able to control the intensity of the contractions.

At this stage it was noted that the baby's heart rate was slightly high, usually something to worry about by itself, but because Janet was running a slight temperature (indicating a possible infection, more on this later) the doctors weren't worried (there was a reason at least). Now Janet was able push, and relatively speaking, (and in my opinion) was in much better shape than she had been. At 11:19am 8th November Molly was born, delivered by Dr. Playforth. WOW, what an experience. An incredible thing to watch your wife do.

It doesn't end there
Molly came out into the world and was immediately taken to the warm table (don't know what it's called), where the pediatrician and nurses cleared her airways, cleaned her off and ensured that she was breathing properly. I missed out on cutting the ambilical cord as the pediatrician was keen to get the baby to the warm table as quickly as possible. I got my chance later, as I snipped the remaining piece left over from the original cut. Molly will have me to thank for a perfect looking belly button :-).

Molly was given to Janet to bond. Janet tried to breast feed, but Molly seemed uninterested, preferring a cuddle instead. Then came the news. The pediatrician wanted to admit Molly to Intensive Care. WHAT? He reassured us that it was purely precautionary, but becasue of the high heart rate, Mum's high temperature, and Molly's laboured breathing he thought it prudent to give Molly anti-biotics and have her under observation for 48 hours.

Molly was taken away to ICU. After we got over the initial disppointment of Molly going to ICU we started to make phone calls to grandparents, and I started to pack up for our move to the postpartum ward. Janet at this stage seemed very well - for a women who had just spent 17-18 hours labouring.

Once in the postpartum ward Janet wanted to go and see Molly. So I wheeled Janet in a wheel chair, dragging along with us her pitocin drip. Once there Janet tried to breast feed Molly. Good and bad. The good, Molly latched on almost immediately. The bad: Janet started to suffer from horrid upper abdominal pains - so bad in fact that she had to hand Molly to me as she thought she was going to black out from the pain. Back to the ward. During all this, Janet noticed that her right leg was very weak (we thought probably from the epidural). The nurse took her blood pressure and it was high (unusual for Janet, as she usually has low blood pressure). Enter the house doctor. At one stage or another, Janet sufferd from the following symptons: upper abdominal pain, blurred vision, high blood pressure. The doctor started to worry about eclampsia (seizure). Blood was taken for testing. The nurse took Janet off the pitocin, and was given Tylenol and an antacid. Within half an hour Janet was feeling much better. At about 9pm we both went to see Molly, where Janet was able to breast fed - this time all was well. Unfortunately, the doctor turned up with her lab reports - they indicated liver and kidney problems! The doctor wanted to treat her for HELP syndrome, to prevent an episode of eclampsia. This involved complete bed rest for 24 hours, on a magnesium drip. Eclampsia is most dangerous in and around the day of birth. Magnesium is awful - just before, Janet was fine, or at least appeared fine, but during that 24 hours whilst on magnesium she developed severe flu like symptions. Worst of all, she was not allowed to move, and Molly wasn't allowed out of Intensive Care - Janet wasn't allowed to see Molly.

This meant I was able to feed and change Molly - which was nice for me at least. Janet took comfort from this, but I knew she was hurting inside.

After 24 hours she was taken off observation (and the magnesium). This meant she was allowed to see Molly. Yippee. BTW, Janet made an immediate recovery after the magnesium was switched off, although her lab reports still indicated abnormal kidney and liver readings, the doctors didn't appear to be too bothered about this as the readings were descending to their normal levels.

During this time, Molly had been doing very well in the ICU. Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels were all good. Janet breast fed Molly during her remaining time in ICU. We also had a lot of advice about caring for Molly from the ICU nurses (feeding/changing/bathing).

On Thursday 10th November Janet and Molly were finally discharged.

-- ChrisJones
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