I have to say, the newest addition to our family is amazing!
My water broke at 4 am on Tuesday the 31st of March. This was the day that I was supposed to go into hospital anyway, so Dylan was already at his nanna's house. We called the hospital, and they told us to come in. I took a nice long shower while Martin went back to sleep for a bit, then we drove in to Scunthorpe.
We spent most of Tuesday walking around the hospital. I would walk until the contractions got so painful that I couldn't walk any more. Then I would lie down, but the contractions kept stopping when I stopped walking. At around 4:30 that afternoon I sent Martin home. I had to stay at the hospital for observation, but there was no point in him being there any more. He had dinner at his mum's house and was there for Dylan's bath and putting him to bed. I stayed at the hospital on my own.
My contractions got steadily worse throughout the night. I was having them every 4 minutes or so, and they were really strong. Finally, at about 2 am, I asked to be checked to see if I was dilating at all. The answer to that was a big fat NO! I had a bath and tried to sleep, but it just didn't happen. I was in horrible pain and completely exhausted by the time Martin came back at 8;30 am. I had been awake and in labor for 28 hours.
After discovering that I still wasn't progressing at all, it was time to make a decision. I knew that when the doctors made their rounds at 9 am they would offer to start me on syntocin to strengthen my contractions and move things along. I also knew that they gave me syntocin with Dylan and I went another 12 hours without dilating at all. After 4 days of the flu and 28 hours of labor with no sleep, I knew that I wouldn't be able to do another 12 hours. I cried like a baby on Martin's shoulder and told him that I couldn't do it. He held me and told me it was ok--he understood. And when the doctor came around, I told her I just wanted the c-section. They scheduled it for 2:30pm.
At 1:00pm on April 1st, the midwife on duty came to tell me that they had moved me up to 1:15. After a mad dash to get me up to the operating theater (I paused to put on concealer and mascara--no way was I going to look as bad as I did in the pictures just after Dylan's birth), I had the most beautiful spinal block in the whole world. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed--not like my emergency c-section at all. The team that did my surgery were wonderful. Martin sat by my side the entire time, hunched over so he couldn't see anything the doctors were doing. It took a little longer than last time to actually cut me open as they had my scar tissue to work around. But we heard a gurgling little cry, and then they lifted out our new baby. I started to cry.
They brought the baby to us to show the sex. Martin and I both went "is that a girl?" ( seriously swollen genitals--very strange looking). They took her away to do all the checks and clean her up. They cut the cord before Martin could get over to do it, which we weren't happy about, but I guess it's ok. They wrapped her up and brought her to Martin to hold, and I got to stroke her little face and marvel in the miracle of a newborn baby--MY newborn baby.
It took longer to stitch me back up than it did last time, too. They actually cut off the old scar tissue and then sewed me up. So there is only one lot of scar tissue even though Ive had two c-sections now, which is good. Martin held Edith next to me the entire time, and she was hungry right from the start. She was sucking her fist, and she was NOISY! We could hear her sucking over the sounds of the doctors finishing up the surgery. I guess she was still feeling the shock of my 4 days with no food!
Martin got changed out of his scrubs while I was in recovery. With Dylan I didn't get to hold him until he was two hours old. With Edith, I got to hold her and feed her in the recovery room. It didn't take her long to figure out the breastfeeding thing. She is a champion at it!
Deciding to have the c-section was hard. It really does make me sad that Martin and I will not be having another child. I know that we were pretty sure we'd stop at 2 already, but knowing for sure that we are is so, well, final. I will never be pregnant again. I will never create another life. Even now, 10 days later, it makes my eyes fill with tears. But I made the decision that I needed to make, and my beautiful daughter got here safely.
4 comments:
Sweetheart, why are you so sure you won't have another baby? Here I am, 11 days from my 3rd c-section and I have been assured over and over that if I want to have yet ANOTHER baby, I can. Is this a decision you and Martin made, or did someone tell you that you could only have 2??
I don't understand why two is the limit either. My sister in law has had 6 children, all by c-section.
Why can't you have another baby if you really want to? Who told you that? I have never heard you can't have more babies after 2 c-sections. I did have a V-back with Jaxon, but I was supposed to have a C. No one ever told me I'd have to stop at 2 babies if I had another C.
did you get your tupes tide while you were in there..i have stories just like the others..i wont bore you just curoius why you have to stop at two.
You really should be a writer..you write very well just a thought:}
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