Our Princess Anna - 27/03/2008

A little bit old but thought I would share anyway I had planned for a home birth with Anna but fortunately I had to have a hospital birth at last minute due to anaemia.. Yes, fortunately - because she was not breathing and needed immediate special care after birth, so I believe that is why my haemoglobin levels dropped - because the universe knew Anna would need to be in hospital After all everything happens for a reason

I hope to have a home birth with this pregnancy But for now, here is Anna's birth story:

On Thursday 27th March 2008 I woke up early with indescribable hip pain, and nausea. I had quite a fever and couldn’t stop shivering. However, the idea that I might be in labour never even crossed my mind… until 10.30AM when I felt a kind of ‘gushing/trickling’ down below… I thought it might have been my waters going, but wasn’t sure as I had been so ill and my hips had hurt so much that I hadn’t been able to get to the toilet for a few hours so wondered if it might have been my bladder bursting open!

Nevertheless I had a suspicion that something might not be right and got Dominic to phone the midwife, who wasn’t convinced it was my waters but instructed me to keep an eye on it and see how things went… well, the leaking didn’t stop - in fact it got a lot worse! When an hour later my waters were still leaking, Dominic phoned the midwife again, who this time told him to call an ambulance. I still, for some reason, did not think myself to be in labour - which is odd because looking back on it, it was pretty obvious - so much so that when the paramedic arrived, he took one look at me and said “Yup, you’re in labour” before turning to my husband and saying “Pop the kettle on, would you?” and enjoying a nice cup of coffee!

At about this point I started getting contractions - I never had that ‘first stage’ of labour that I had heard so much about - you know, that bit where you time the contractions, run a bath and potter about the house for as long as you can before calling a taxi and making your way to the maternity ward… My contractions started around mid-day, they never had a break after one and before the next and they never changed in intensity - the first was as strong and as hard as the last.

The Ambulance arrived at about half 12 in the afternoon and took me with Dom to Colchester General Hospital where it was confirmed that I was in labour. I remember laying in the ambulance and every time I coughed or sneezed my waters broke a little more, and I was really panicking about wetting myself in the ambulance - I kept saying, "I'm getting really wet down there..." "It feels really wet... I think I might have wet myself... I'm really getting wet down there" lol

By the time we got to hospital I began to think I really might be in labour; I was getting regular contractions at one minute apart and they were incredibly painful, but still I had my doubts - this wasn’t what I had been expecting labour to be like, and I feared that something might be wrong with our baby… But when we got to there I was wheeled through to a delivery room and the midwife asked me to take my trousers off (so that she could see if my waters had broken) and all this pink water just FELL out of me. This was clearly my waters broken and I settled into the fact that I was indeed in labour and my baby was coming.

It was exciting but I had gotten myself scared and worked up because I hadn’t understood or believed that I was in labour. At that point the contractions seemed so painful that I began to doubt I could cope. I was screaming “I can’t do this!!” which really only made things worse! However by the time my mother arrived a few hours on with my hospital bag, I had calmed down a lot and learned how to deal with the contractions.

I spent the rest of my labour semi-ignoring everybody around me, quietly appreciating the occasional kind words, frozen water and soothing cold face wipes that were offered to me & rocking back and forth on my palms, gently humming through the contractions as they came, and then passed again.

At various points throughout my labour, different health professionals tried to gain my attention; the midwife measuring how dilated I was, the doctor who wanted me to lay on my side, the midwife trying to explain why the doctor was trying to get me to lay on my side (to monitor baby’s heartbeat, which was swinging from too fast to too slow every 5 minutes), the midwife trying to explain why they wanted me to have a cannula fitted, the anaesthetist fitting said cannula… but I was absorbed in my own labour and just quietly dealing with each contraction as it washed over me.

I dilated 8cm between 4.30PM and half 7, and by 8 o’clock I was feeling that pressure that said to me “PUSH!!” (or possibly “you need a poo!” – the fear of which kept me from pushing for a whole half hour, before I decided that enough was enough and I had to start listening to my body.) The birth itself was really quite easy and pain-free; I felt I needed to push and so I did, and within 3 pushes (maximum - more like 2 and a half) she came rushing out – After her head appeared beneath me, the midwife asked me to warn her when I felt my next contraction coming but it followed immediately and there was no time – Anna just slid right on out and I’m still not sure if the midwife even caught her!

The placenta fell out immediately after with no pushing whatsoever, and the cord was cut – I had done it – I had gone through pregnancy, labour & childbirth and now it was over; I had become a mother, and Dominic a Daddy!

I was informed that I’d had a little girl, who was passed up through my legs (I’d been kneeling) and into my arms. I was overjoyed – It was simply, beautifully euphoric – I had done it! And now I had my beautiful, darling daughter.

Dominic just looked at us and asked “Anna?” I nodded and agreed “Anna,” and so she was called Anna. However, euphoric as all this was, as I looked down at my little girl, I knew that something was not quite right. She was tiny, and completely pale; she didn’t respond to me at all and seemed almost completely lifeless – she was floppy, and made no sound whatsoever. I kept asking “Is she alright?” in-between admiring how amazing and perfect she was, which soon turned to “Something’s wrong, what’s wrong with her??” and she was taken off of me to be given some oxygen. It was the most bittersweet moment imaginable – the utter euphoria at having created, carried and delivered a new baby into the world, mixed in with the worst fear imaginable – the fear that that life might be lost. And so my beautiful newborn babe was whisked off to the NICU, with her Daddy, and I was left behind to be checked over for tears and blood loss etc, to get showered and dressed, and to wait for a wheelchair to take me down to see my new family in Special Care.

Anna weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 34cm long

Click to see our video for Anna's journey :-)
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=768bbf1eff30ae5b584286&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

thanks for sharing its a lovely story :aww: i watched the link too what a gorgeous idea! really liked the pic of you both sleeping and the black and white ones are beautiful!

Aww what i story!
I love your montage - especially the last ones - shower sleeping and bed! :lovey:

its great to put a name to a face :aww:

Aw thank you What a friendly place this is

angpixi wrote:thanks for sharing its a lovely story :aww: i watched the link too what a gorgeous idea! really liked the pic of you both sleeping and the black and white ones are beautiful!

You should make one They're easy enough to make and I ordered a copy of mine on DVD - It makes a wonderful keepsake

Thanks for sharing your story and that beautiful montage - agree that the sleeping one is beautiful!!

:aww:

i love the way you wrote your story and your princess is so so very beautiful just like her mummy and daddy xx

TashaAndBump wrote:

angpixi wrote:thanks for sharing its a lovely story :aww: i watched the link too what a gorgeous idea! really liked the pic of you both sleeping and the black and white ones are beautiful!

You should make one They're easy enough to make and I ordered a copy of mine on DVD - It makes a wonderful keepsake

mine is on here i think?? loool

a lovely story and vid x x x x