The Beginning...

Well... this is my very first attempt at a blog! I wanted it as 'keepsake' of Jorja's growing up, I'm only almost 2 years behind... but at least it's a start.

I guess the best place to start would be... the beginning... the day she came into our lives!! Then I'll continue to update from today...

Friday 18th June, 2004

I was 1 day away from my due date… well kind of, I was due anywhere between the 19th and 23rd of June, 2004 - depending on which scan you looked at!!

Being on maternity leave was nice, but it could get a little boring being at home on my own every day so at around 2.00pm I decided to walk around and visit a friend, it’s a 5 minute walk and not strenuous at all. After a good old chat and a cup of coffee I walked home again and just waited for hubby to come home from work.

At around 4.00pm I had what I thought was a bit of an ‘accident’… I thought I’d lost control of my bladder!! This kept happening every 15 minutes or so and I thought ‘this isn’t right; my bladder has given up on me!’ It didn’t really occur to me that my waters had ruptured.

Anyway, when hubby arrived home I told him that I thought my waters might have broken but I didn’t have any pain. He suggested I call the hospital. I called St Vincent’s Private and spoke to Sue which was great as she was the midwife who worked in my obstetricians office, so that made me feel much more relaxed. I told her that I thought my waters had ruptured but I wasn’t feeling any pain and that I was happy to stay home. She said that she would have to call my OB and fill him in and then get back to me.

After about 15 minutes Sue called me back and said that if I was happy to stay home I could, but I had to be in the hospital by 6am the next morning to be put on an oxytocin drip. I was happy with that decision so settled in with hubby at home for the night.

At around 8.00pm I started to get some niggling pains but nothing too intense, so I stayed put in the beanie bag and watched TV. These niggling pains were definitely contractions and were occurring about every 15 minutes or so.

We thought it might be a good idea to get some sleep because we knew that the next day was going to be a BIG one – we were finally going to meet our baby!

During the night the contractions were getting a little more intense and I was finding it increasingly difficult to sleep or get comfortable in bed. I was also conscious of keeping hubby awake so I got out of bed and slept on the beanie bag in front of the wood fire.

Saturday 19th June, 2004

At around 3.00am I noticed some bleeding and got a little scared about it. I woke hubby to tell him and ask if he thought I should call the hospital again. Once again I called the maternity unit and got Sue and she said that it was normal and that it was probably just my cervix starting to open up. For the next 2 hours I cat napped through my contractions and eventually got up and had a shower at around 5.00am.

We left home at around 5.30am and got to the hospital in good time. At that hour of the morning there was hardly any traffic, so that helped! We checked in and made our way up to the Birthing Unit where we were greeted by the midwives (Sue had finished her shift) and shown into our room. I had to undress, put on a lovely hospital gown and go through all the hospital / patient administration rigmarole. Then it was just a matter of waiting!

The nurse checked how far dilated I was and to my horror I was only 3cm… a whole 7cm to go!! She then got me set up on the oxytocin drip which kicked my contractions into gear… then it was more of the waiting game.

My OB came to check on my progress at around 7.30am. He made sure that my water’s had actually broken and that it wasn’t just the forewaters. He was happy with the situation so left me to labour.

Time went by and my contractions weren’t really getting any stronger so they increased the drip. After that the contractions started hard & fast. By about 10.30am I wanted some relief so accepted the nitrous oxide, which really did nothing except take my mind off the contractions while I was trying to suck as much as possible in!! Hubby decided to take the mouth piece off me because I wouldn’t take it away from my face at all – party pooper!

I continued to labour and was feeling the pain more and more so at lunch time opted to have a half shot of pethidine (this is someone who was hoping for a drug free labour!!) My OB came by again and said that I was doing fine and to just keep going – easy for him to say!

The pethidine did absolutely NOTHING to help the pain and by 2.00pm I was really getting the urge to push. Unfortunately I was only 7cm dilated and wasn’t allowed to push so then I begged for an epidural… or an elective caesarean!!

By the time they found an anaesthetist to perform the epidural it was about 3.00pm. I received a spinal block (which lasts an hour) backed up by the epidural which was pure heaven! They bumped the drip up even more after that and even though I could see that I was having contractions I couldn’t feel them – what better way to give birth!

My OB walked into my room at around 4.00pm and said ‘so, are we gonna have this baby or what?’ My OB and Sue (she was back for her next shift) monitored my contractions and told me when to push and when to stop. In between contractions hubby and OB were watching some car show that was on the TV while I just laid there waiting!!

It seemed my baby was a little stuck, so it was decided to use the ventouse to get her out. When hubby saw it he said that they actually used those things at work, a scary thought considering he is a mechanic… obviously they’re used for very different things! The ventouse was attached to the baby's head to help guide her out while I pushed.

When the head was crowning hubby let me know that there was a head of hair. I was paranoid about having a baby that was as bald as a badger!!

When her head was born it was the most amazing thing. She turned and looked at hubby with her eyes wide open and gave a little squeak, it was like she recognised her Daddy. My OB worked on getting the shoulders out. Once they were out he told me to reach down, put my hands under her arms, and pull her out. It was amazing; I grabbed hold of my little baby and placed her on my chest to meet her for the first time. She was so alert, it was almost like she’d been here before.

Of course, at this stage I didn’t know I had a little girl. Hubby said ‘it’s a little girl’. I didn’t believe him because I was convinced we were having a little boy so said ‘no, it can’t be!’ His response… ‘I’m looking at a crack and it goes all the way around!’ - Charming!!

So… at 4.36pm on Saturday 19th June our beautiful little girl, Jorja Mae, was born. She weighed a healthy 8lb 5oz, was 50cm long and had a head circumference of 36cm. Her APGAR test was 8 after 1 minute and then 10 after 5 minutes. Our beautiful little girl had arrived… safe & healthy.

"When a child is born… so too, is a mother!"