On Sunday evening, while Mike and I watched The Beach, I thought perhaps I felt "something" but wasn't really sure and wasn't that keen on admitting it was "anything" even it it was. I told Mike after a couple of twinges - they were regular but at least 30 minutes apart and hardly worth mentioning, not painful or anything. I hoped they were just Braxton Hicks but had a sneaking suspicion they probably weren't.
The next morning I was still getting the twinges and they were still fairly regular. By lunch time, after another fluid leak, Mike and I decided it was time to call Dr Paul again to see whether we needed to come back to hospital. Of course, being Hari Raya, we had to speak to the after hours people who weren't quite as switched on as the people on the phones the week before. Eventually we decided to jump in a cab and go to hospital without speaking to Dr Paul first. He called as we were getting in the taxi and said definitely come in and he would come in later if needed.
Back to the labour ward where I confused everyone as I was still wearing my ID bracelet from my previous stay, they couldn't work out where I had "escaped" from! I was hooked up to the monitors again and by this stage I was having contractions about 6 minutes apart although they still weren't exactly painful. After being monitored for an hour (and given more ventolin) the contractions slowed again and we were sent home. The idea being that the contractions would continue to slow down and eventually stop and I would continue my bed rest at home.
When we left the hospital my contractions were 10 minutes or so apart. They did continue to slow down but I was noticing them more now and feeling quite paranoid. They eventually slowed to about 15 minutes apart, I think maybe even 20 minutes, but then suddenly they were coming closer together again and MUCH stronger. Still not terribly painful, but a lot more noticeable.
So it was back to the hospital for Mike and I at around 7.30pm. This time they did an internal exam and discovered I was 3cm dilated. I was put on a ventolin drip rather than oral tablets and all we could do was hope that the contractions would slow/stop again and I would be able to go home (or, more likely, return to the maternity ward for more bed pans and milo).
The contractions continued all night, getting more painful but staying about the same frequency (approx 6 minutes or so apart). The ventolin seemed to be stopping me from dilating further but couldn't stop the contractions. Dr Paul did give us the option that night of just letting labour happen as there was no guarantee that the ventolin would be able to stop things. We decided to give it a go and hope Richie could hold on just a bit longer.
By 3am I was tired, Mike was tired and the contractions were really noticeable by then so I opted for gas and air. Great stuff! I think Mike was worried I was OD'ing on the stuff but although it didn't take the pain away it made me care about it a lot less and made getting through each contraction a lot easier! We tried to use some of the relaxtion techniques from our Hypnobirthing classes but after only 2 lessons (out of 6) and considering I was fighting my body rather than working with the contractions we never had a shit show. In the end Mike read to me from Marley and Me while I tried to breath through each contraction (with some help from the gas and air).
The next morning Dr Paul came to check on how we were doing. Still sitting at 3cm dilated but the contractions obviously weren't lessening and it looked like Richie just wanted to be on the outside. The decision was made to stop the ventolin drip and let things happen on their own as long as Richie wasn't distressed. Mike came home to deal with our grocery delivery (impeccable timing!) and grab a shower. Suddenly the contractions seemed much less manageable and by the time he returned the nurses had called Dr Paul and he soon suggested I have an epidural. Up till that point I hadn't really believed Richie was going to arrive so soon, but this made it seem all the more real.
The anaesthetist was fantastic, very reassuring and calm and even told the (one and only) horrible nurse to leave me alone while I was having a contraction! The epidural went well and once that was in I was taken to a delivery room.
The epidural was fabulous! Suddenly I felt a lot more "with it" in terms of being present in the room with everyone else rather than inside my own head dealing with the pain every few minutes. We put the Hypnobirthing relaxation CD in the player and managed to drift off to sleep for an hour or so before Dr Paul came back for another visit. Unfortuntately the ventolin had been doing its job a bit too well and my contractions had slowed up a bit and weren't increasing in intensity any more. We agreed to a syntocin drip to get things moving again as Dr Paul was concerned Richie would get distressed if labour carried on for too long. This was just before lunch time.
After a light lunch (lovely chicken sandwiches! Who said hospital food was gross?!) I spent the next couple of hours chatting on the phone and texting everyone back home to let them know we were doing OK and that Richie was definitely going to be here sooner rather than later.
At around 1pm I was speaking to Ali on the phone when the nurse told me I was now 8cm dilated. Ali told to me get off the bloody phone as I would probably be seeing Dr Paul again very soon - and meeting my baby!
Sure enough, things started happening really quickly after that. The nurse told me to let her know when I felt "pressure." I thought that's what I'd been feeling up to that point now that I'd had the epidural but she assured me I would "know" once things changed and it was almost time to push.
She was right, I did know when things were going to happen! They make a big deal of "breathing the baby down" and out in Hynobirthing, rather than "pushing" and it does make sense that your body would expel the baby on its own rather than all the straining and pushing that the nurses and doctors encourage. Funny thing is though, your body wants to push when it's time - that's how it gets the baby out!
After two or three contractions with the nurses coaching me and getting things sorted, the baby crowned and Dr Paul was on his way as was the paediatrician. Just before 3pm, Dr Paul swans in (back to looking his impeccable best, not a hair out of place), puts on his apron, gloves, mask and gumboots and sits down at the foot of the hospital bed where all the action is about to take place. At 3.06pm, following 1 contraction and 3 or 4 more pushes, baby Callum entered the world at 32 weeks gestation and weighing 1.92kgs. He was immediately give to me to hold for just a minute - he seemed tiny but I had no other just been born babies to compare with so I didn't register just how small he was at that point, just that he was beautiful and mine.
He was then given to the paediatrician, Dr Ang Ai Tin, to check over which she did while explaining everything to Mike. Callum was definitely premature but all seemed well. Once Callum was wrapped up in a towel I was allowed to hold him again before he was taken to the NICU with Mike accompanying him for his first weigh in. Meanwhile, back in the delivery room, the placenta arrived and Dr Paul gave me "one or two" stitches before he went to deliver the next baby and left the nurses to finish cleaning up and getting me ready to go to the maternity ward.
It wasn't the birth I had envisaged -being flat on my back with monitors the entire time, having to have a catheter, epidural, syntocin and all sorts of other tests and drugs to alternately slow and then encourage labour. But I wouldn't change it for the world: Callum arrived safe and well and I felt fantastic throughout the delivery and certainly didn't feel short changed or disappointed with how it all went. I'm sure if Callum had made it to full term it's not the way things would have gone (we chose Dr Paul for his hands off approach and his willingness to let us do things "naturally") but we knew we were in good hands and I trusted Dr Paul completely to help us make the right decisions for Callum. When I was discharged later in the week I realised it was the day of my scheduled "32 week" appointment with Dr Paul: the one where I'd planned to discuss my birth plan and Hypnobirthing and choice of doula. Best laid plans and all that ... ;)
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