The 'Other' Birth Story...

The Real Birth Story

As Told by Dad

 

On the 29^th of April 3013 I was woken at about 3:30am by Bec who was having a lot of pains which she thought might be early labour she had been up for the last hour trying to time both duration and time between contractions and it seemed to be all over the place.  She had woken me because she wanted me to call the hospital and check with them about if we should be coming down.  The midwife that I spoke to said for Bec to have a hot shower which should help her body relax and the pain to ease. She said Bec should then try and go back to sleep. As I relayed the info to Bec she was less than impressed because it seemed that the midwife was ignoring the fact that we lived an hour and a half away from the hospital but we decided to try what she had said. Bec went and had a nice hot shower while I lay back down in bed for a couple of minutes.  When Bec came back out of the shower the pain had not eased but rather intensified so I called the hospital again. Again I got the same midwife. After explaining the situation to her she reluctantly suggested that if we really wanted we could start heading down to the hospital and get checked out but added that the indications were that things were a long way off yet and hinted that we should just stay home for a while longer yet and see if it really was labour or not. So I told her we were on our way!

After going through a few more details and getting an ETA off me I was off the phone and we were a go.  I quickly made two more phone calls. One to Bec’s parents so they could get ready (they were coming to the hospital with us) and the other to my parents to give them a heads up as well.  Once off the phone things moved at a snails pace.  Our bags were already packed and in the car (as they had been for the last week or two) so I have no idea what took us so long but 40 minutes later we were finally driving down the hill to Bec’s parent’s house.

Although Bruce & Wendy were coming down with us they had an errand to run on the way. They were taking Pepper in to Amamoor to stay with Rach while we were heading straight to hospital. All we needed to do at Bruce & Wendy’s was drop Pepper of with her bedding, food and some toys but as at home somehow we ended up being their for a lot longer(20-30 minutes). Bec’s contractions continuing the whole time.

Finally we were off!  As we headed out the gate I was thinking to myself ‘Nothing to worry about. We’re on our way, the hospital knows when to expect us and it’s a good hospital. They will take good care of us.’ It was about this time as we drive out the gate that Bec turned to me and said ‘I think we left it to long.’ Talk about pressure because then she adds ‘I’m not having this baby in the car’ (i.e. Get us to the hospital NOW).

The trip down wasn’t too bad I was trying to drive, make sure I didn’t take a wrong turn (which I had done once or twice on previous visits), comfort Bec and time contractions all at the same time which for a guy used to only doing one thing at a time was stressful. We were just travelling past Cooroy when all of a sudden Bec had about 5 or 6 contractions in a row almost without break which were more painful than she had previously experienced. After that we were both worried again that Bec wouldn’t make it to the hospital but luckily nothing that bad happened for the rest of the trip. When we were about a ½ hour out I called the hospital again to update them as to what time we would be arriving.  As we were approaching the overpass on Maroochydore Road Bec mentioned that she was starving so we talked briefly about stopping for Maccas but decided against it in the end because of time.

We Finally arrived at the hospital and I pulled up in the ambulance zone right in front of the ramp leading up to the main hospital entrance were I was planning to leave Bec on the seat at the foot of the ramp while I found a park but a wonderful nurse walking past saw the difficulty Bec was having just getting out of the car and she came straight over to help.  She told us to stay right their and not to worry about where the car was parked while she would go inside quickly and get an orderly with a wheelchair.  This was a good plan until Bec saw a good park open up. Quick! Bec said go and move the car! But I was worried they would come for her while I was parking the car so I tried to tell Bec that it was okay, that once she was settled I could move it.  Boy was that the wrong thing to say!  Let’s just say I was told in no uncertain terms to move the car…So I moved the car.

It was a minute or two after I parked the car, and as I was coming back with all the luggage that the nurse came back with the orderly and a wheelchair and we headed in to the hospital.  We arrived in the maternity ward and we were taken to birthing suite number 3 and we were assigned Tracy as our midwife.  Tracy was absolutely fantastic. Tracey sat us down in the birthing suite and talked to us about what to expect. About what she would be doing, about what she would be asking Bec to do, and generally what we could or couldn’t do during the labour. This talk went on for about 15 minutes during which time (unbeknown to us) Bruce and Wendy had arrived. By the time we had been taken back to the room, they had settled themselves in for the long haul. We had been sent back to our room by Tracey because she felt that we were only in the very early stages of labour. By this time it was probably around 8am, and Kirsten was due to make her rounds in about half an hour. In the meantime we updated Bec’s parents about what had happened to us, and they assured us that Pep had been dropped off safely, and was happily playing with Sarah.

In due course, Kirsten arrived and Bruce and Wendy were asked to leave the room while she checked Bec over. During Kirsten’s examination she discovered that Bec was already 9cms dilated – much to everyone’s surprise! At this point things happened fairly quickly. Bruce and Wendy and Tracey were all updated as to what was going on, and Bec and I were hustled back over to the birthing suite by Tracey.

Bec’s contractions were starting to get more regular and they were definitely getting stronger. Tracey suggested that Bec try hopping in the shower, which Bec did. The shower was fantastic. It had two heads, one mounted on each wall. The heads were mounted on rails so that they could be moved up or down. This meant that Bec could have one jet of water on her front, and one on her back at the same time, which she appreciated but would have appreciated more if she wasn’t in so much pain. At this point, I was feeling a little bit useless because there wasn’t a great deal I could do to ease Bec’s discomfit. Bec stayed in the shower for at least an hour, and Tracey would come and check on her every 10 minutes or so. Near the end, I was sent back to our room to bring Wendy into the birthing suite. Wendy followed me back, and after yelling a quick hello she went and sat on the chair at the far end of the birthing suite (near the birthing pond) to give Bec some privacy. Sometime near the end of Bec’s shower time, she asked me if I would ask Tracey for some Panadol to help with the pain. Tracey sort of laughed at me and explained that at this point, Panadol would do absolutely nothing so there was no point in having any. I went back and told Bec the news, and Bec’s face fell. She’d really been counting on some Panadol. After a minute, Bec said she really didn’t care. She really wanted some Panadol. So I went back to Tracey and asked again, explaining that we understood that it wouldn’t do much, but I said it was more of a placebo effect than anything. So, Tracey got some Panadol, I gave it to Bec and Bec was happier. After a while, it was suggested that we might like to change positions, and would Bec like to try the bath. Bec said she would, so Tracey went and ran it for her. When Bec came out of the shower to hop in the bath (across the birthing suite, near Wendy) Wendy made a big deal about the fact that she wasn’t wearing her glasses, so she couldn’t really see Bec (or much of anything else!) This became more apparent later on in the day, as you’ll hear later.

The bath was a lovely big thing again with unlimited hot water. It also had a shower rose above it which could be detached and held in your hand so while Bec was in the tub I had the shower rose directed onto her back which was out of the water. This meant that the water stayed hot because of a continual stream of hot from the shower but somebody had to reach in and pull the plug occasionally to stop the bath from overflowing. As the morning wore on Bec wasn’t progressing which had Tracy a little concerned.  We went back and forward between the shower and the bath several time sometimes stoping to try something new on the bed or a chair etc.

At about 10:45 – 11:00  Kirsten Morrow came in doing her rounds and found that baby’s head was on its side and couldn’t engage properly because of it which was why labour had been stalled for the last hour or two.  For the next couple of hours Tracy had Bec standing at the base of the bed while she ran Bec through exercises she needed to do to try and straighten baby’s head.  This involved me on one side of Bec and Wendy on the other helping Bec to move her legs one at a time up and out before bringing them back down. 

I can’t remember exactly how long we kept that up but it seemed like ages.  I digress now to fill you in on a few other things from that day.  Through this whole thing Bruce sat back in the room waiting for news.  Several time I or Wendy went back to update him. I’m sure his back must have been killing him but even though he was offered the bed to lie down on several times he declined (maybe because he didn’t feel right laying down when Bec was in so much pain).

Leading up to the birth Bec and I as well as Wendy had stockpiled supplies to see us through the day.  We had Pringles, jelly beans, dried apricots, Raspberry cream lollies, Chikos among other things and throughout the day we would partake of these snacks to keep our strength up.  Jelly beans are a favourite for Bec and I would often bring a couple over to her.  Unbeknown to us however both Tracy and Wendy like the black jelly beans best so when we opened a pack one of them would quickly eat the black ones and the other would comment on how there were no black jelly beans until the same thing happened when the second pack was opened it finally clicked to them both and gave us all a good laugh.

Another funny thing that happened was when at one stage I was doing something else and asked Wendy to keep the shower on Bec’s back in the bath while
I was busy. This worked fine for about a minute until Wendy started spraying water up near Bec’s head. It turns out Wendy really can’t see much without her glasses just a general shape that was Bec. Again this caused a bit of a laugh for the four of us in the room.

At some stage Tracy (who was on the phone to Kirsten a lot throughout the whole thing) broke Bec’s waters although now that I think about it I’m not really sure when that was. Tracy got an instrument that looked a lot like a cross between a long knitting needle and a crochet hook which would snag and tear the amniotic sac therefore braking Bec’s waters.  When it happened Bec described it as the most disgusting thing she had ever felt.  If memory serves me right I think this happened a couple of hours after arrival in the birthing suite but a little before Kirsten came and found baby’s head on its side.

As the day wore on things started to get a bit more serious. Bec was wearing out and the baby wasn’t coming.  Eventually Kirsten came back (about 1pm) and decided Bec needed some help to get baby out. She explained that there were a couple of ways to help baby out. First she was going to try suction.  This involved attaching a small suction cap to the baby’s head. Then creating a vacuum (suction) so when Bec pushed Kirsten would pull and working together the baby would be delivered.  This was the theory.  As we were about to find out things don’t always go to plan. 

First of all Bec had to be put in the stirrups which isn’t the most comfortable way to give birth.  Secondly, the suction cap came off.  That’s right. Bec pushed, Kirsten pulled, and the cap came off.  This was tried once more with the same result – possibly because Saphira had a decent amount of hair on her head making it hard to really get good suction. Having said that it must have made some suction because Saphira had several spots where her scalp was broken because of when the suction ripped off. It took literally weeks for her head to heal fully. She still has a scar on her head from it.

Because suction didn’t work we had to move to the next option which was forceps.  By this stage Bec had already been through a lot and was nearing the end of her tether. The forceps were not going to help her feel better.  They were approx a metre long with cup shaped wire ends and curls in the neck near the cups.  The idea being that the cup ends would be inserted and encircle the baby’s head while the two forceps would lock together at the curly parts. Four different times Kirsten tried to get the forceps locked together but every time Kirsten tried to get the second half of the forceps in and locked in place it would scrap on something internally and Bec would literally be leaping out of the bed in agony and Kirsten would have to stop the procedure.  Eventually Kirsten decided that forceps were not going to work. 

The new game plan was that she would try suction one more time and if that didn’t work she would take Bec up to surgery for an emergency c-section.  Kirsten also said she would make a small incision to help but Bec must have missed that part.  The small incision turned out to be an episiotomy after which Kirsten attached the suction cap again and got ready.  Bec was almost hysterical by this time but Kirsten talked to her about the need for her to push as well because it wouldn’t work if she didn’t.  So Bec geared up for the final few pushes.  Five minutes later Saphira’s head arrived into the world.  Again at the point Bec was ready to collapse as she had thought that that was it.  When she was told that she needed to push again, that the Baby was only halfway out it almost crushed her. I have no idea where she mustered the strength from but she did and two pushes later Saphira was born at 2:22pm 29-4-13.

 

I am now a Dad :)