Slightly more depth than a teaspoon: And then there was Georgie

I was going to wait until her first birthday to write the story of how Georgie came into the world, but I was thinking about it the other day and I can already feel pieces of the day slipping away so I thought I'd write the post now while I can still remember it all well (mostly).

Georgina was born on a cold winter's day. About a week before we traveled down and stayed in the city because we were going to have her there in a private hospital. We went down when I was 38 weeks pregnant. I'd had a pretty good pregnancy, my only real trouble being my back. My pelvis went out a lot so I went to the physio weekly to put it back in... fortunately this is only a pregnancy related condition- I'm so glad it got better afterward!

So yeah, Shane and I went down at 38 weeks and he stayed with me for a few days (and he was sick- poor boy!) and then Mum and Dad came down and stayed with me when Shane had to go back to work. He'd only been back home one day and I had my 39 week appointment on a Tuesday at the Doctor's. We went in and my blood pressure had gone up a fair bit (something that also happened to Mum during her first pregnancy) so I was admitted into the hospital for overnight observation. By that point I was starting to get a little bit worried.... I've never been good with surprises- and that was definitely an unexpected change of plans!

So I spent a horribly uncomfortable night hooked up to the monitor- and I had the light on the whole night.... unfortunately my admitting midwife had turned it on for the first round of nightly obs and I didn't realise I could turn it off! Plus I was a little worried... so that wasn't a great night!

The next morning (Wednesday) the Doctor came to see me, and decided that he wanted to induce me because he wasn't happy with my blood pressure- I was not thrilled! He was talking about inducing me the following Monday, but then he decided, "No, let's get that baby out today!" Cue frantic phone call to Shane to get his behind back here Now!

So they used some inducing Gel- which wasn't terribly nice and discovered that the baby was lying posterior (fun for me!) then Mum and I went for a walk round the hospital. The whole day was spent walking and I started getting little doing-nothing contractions. (apparently you were quite happy in there Miss Georgina!) In the afternoon, Shane arrived and we went to the labour ward to get more gel in with a nasty midwife who told me that I was not in labour even though the contractions were getting closer and stronger and then told me I would probably not have the baby until the next day. (She was very, very nasty) I was a bit stressed and tired by then since I was all set to have the baby- like I said before I'm not a plan changer! However I had to be that night! So then mum stayed the night with me since Shane was a bit knackered and still pretty sick and they ended up giving me a shot of pethadine to help me sleep.

The next morning (Thursday) I went up to the birthing suite and Shane was back up early but he was really sick. So they gave me more induction gel which really started getting the contractions going, but I was not dialating hardly at all, only a measly 2 centimeters! Mum went home to bed and my sister Jenny, (who is a nurse and happened to be up with her family for holidays) came to stay with me while Mum slept and Shane went to the doctors... It was all fun and games my friends- I'm telling you! They gave me more pethadine and I tried to nap, but was feeling pretty exhausted by then and man those contractions were starting to hurt! and my back was getting really bad! and another mean midwife tried to send Jenny home but she didn't get her way :)

Then Shane came back and he had a throat infection and was feeling pretty icky and I was moving around heaps and getting lots of back rubs because I was not happy! and then the Doctor arrived. He wanted to break my waters because I still wasn't doing much dilating and he also wanted to give me an epidural since I was pretty tired by then and he didn't think I'd be able to last that thing out unless I had one... so we decided to go the epidural. So I had a shower (hot water helps lots) and the anesthesiologist came and gave me the shot and oh, was it good!

So then I was feeling much better and rested a while, and I don't even really remember the Dr breaking my waters. Then Mum came back and Mum and Jenny and Shane all talked and I just kinda lay there not feeling too bad compared to my earlier owchies! And then a nice midwife came on with another nice student midwife (Thank you God!) and the midwife announced that I had diallated to 7cm and maybe I was going to have this baby today after all- and we were all woohoo! and the nice midwife let Mum and Jenny and Shane stay which was very nice of her seeing as how I was only supposed to have 2 people at the very most. Then things started getting a bit confused, I think my epidural went funny because my blood pressure dropped and I threw up, but then they fixed it with a bowl-somethingorrather. Then I was at 10cm and things really started happening!

They rang the Doctor and it hurt! and I was sick again, and then I had to start pushing but I didn't think it was time to push yet- but I had to, and apparently I was very quiet during the process but everything seemed so loud in my head and then the Doctor arrived and Georgie was being a little difficult and not in quite the right position and she was kind of stuck and I remember crying out "It's not going to happen! I can't do it! " and I think it must have been taking too long and the Dr decided that the baby might have been in a bit of distress so the he decided the baby needed out Now! So he ended up using the vacuum on her little head.

And then, it was there! The baby was there! And I remember saying "It's a boy!" because all her girl bit were swollen- and mum saying, "No it's a girl!" and I remember holding her for a second and then they took her away to see how she did on the apgar test and I couldn't hear her cry and I was frantically asking "Is she breathing?!" but she was fine! and Shane and I were crying and laughing and looking at each other and it was so amazing and weird and wow! And then I held her and she was My Baby! All mine! And I remember being so in love but so terrified and it was one of the best moments of my life.