Day 3 with Kien

I love being a mother to my little baby boy whom we have named Kien, meaning knowledge. He has been so laid back while I fumble around trying to learn what to do. I guess we learn how to adapt in this brave new world together.

Dressing him has been interesting. His clothes don't fit him yet since he is so little, so he wriggles out of everything.

New adventures - definitely good times!

Happy birthday!

I can't believe this time yesterday we were on our way to Auckland Hospital in anticipation of an imminent delivery. Now I am at Birthcare basking in the afterglow of having gone through one of the most traumatising experiences imaginable.

The adventure went like this:

28th Dec

3am - woke up to find membranes had ruptured.

8am - the show.

3:30pm - went to Birthcare and spent 45 mins monitoring baby's heart rate and my contractions - or rather lack thereof. Midwife advised that if contractions do not come more regularly by 7:30pm there was a good possibility of having to be induced.

7pm - midwife called, Dr wants me to go to hospital for monitoring and antibiotics.

8pm - good contractions.

11:30pm - 5cm dilated. Contractions much more powerful.

29th Dec

midnight to 2am - contractions very strong and painful - at that time I rated the pain at 8 out of 10.

2am - still only 5cm dilated, meaning it induction time. Dr said once the medication kicks in the contractions are going be much stronger, and was happy to give me an epidural. At this point I really debated whether to just take this pain relief option. I was tittering on the edge...

2:15am - Induction medication provided intravenously. Contractions immediately became so rapid and so intense; midwife offered entonox which I immediately accepted and proceeded to inhale like it was going out of fashion. The next 41 minutes played out like a lucid dream. If at 2am I rated the pain at 8/10 then I didn't know what pain really meant. I moaned so loudly I'm sure the entire ward could hear it.

When they took the entonox away and told me to start pushing I thought I was going to die.

2:56am - as soon as that baby came out the relief was instantaneous. He wailed gently, and Jef was offered the scissors and cut the cord. I then held him against my body. He was small, warm and soft.

His birth weight was 2.865kg or 6 pounds & 5 ounces, and his length was 48cm.

Our baby boy has finally arrived into the world. We have yet to name him, and will do so very soon.

Waters have broken

Just woke up to go and empty my bladder and felt a distinct trickling of water. Yes, one of the first signs of labour - membranes rupturing. I will deliver a baby in the next 24-48 hours!

500g in 2 weeks

Scan today went swimmingly. The baby has grown from estimated weight of 2.65kg a couple of weeks ago to 3.16kg today. This is such good news as we have been monitoring the baby's growth since it was a little on the small side. I am very pleased with myself for keeping up with eating every 2-3 hours. This has been a very difficult exercise since that constant feeling of fullness is so overwhelming, and the heart burn doesn't help with the appetite either.

So the baby has dropped and now in a good position to go into labour. All that needs to happen now is to actually go into labour!

Ready whenever you are

I'm now 38 weeks and 3 days with child and feeling over ripe. Come on baby, it must be mighty cramped inside this womb of mine and its time to get out of there!

Baby has been particularly active in the last couple of days; wriggling around, legs and arms and body vigorously pushing my inner cavity wall. Braxton Hicks have been strong too, which fools me into thinking that each big one is the real one (it kind of sounds like dialog from a seismologist).

Birth plan...be on time!

Yesterday I saw one of my midwives at Birthcare and we discussed a birthing plan. The ideal scenario is this:
27th Dec
19:00 - the show
28th Dec
07:00 - waters break, and soon after the latent phase of labour
15:00 - active labour phase, off to Birthcare and into the spa
21:00 - transition to second stage of labour
22:00 - baby pops out
22:15 - placenta is expelled
23:00 - feed baby
23:30 - feed myself!

Of course the birth plan that the midwife put together looks nothing like the aforementioned. In fact the only word that appears both in my scenario and the birth plan is "water". I have now been informed I cannot actually deliver in the water if I choose to have the umbilical cord blood collected for stem cells banking. So I'm already on plan B before the whole thing has even begun.

Today I went to a morning tea at Birthcare and met some mothers who have just had their babies. It was very nice to have heard 3 stories of babies coming on time and pretty much according to plan. That gives me a certain level of comfort. Now I need to run off to a homeopath and get some remedies that will help with delivery on or close to the due date.

Preoccupancy

As the rays of sunshine peak through the gray clouds on what has been a drizzly Auckland day I find myself calculating how many hours of line drying the swaddling cloths would need. I've already spent the last hour and a half assembling the 8 perfectly washed/dried nappies (that I had diligently soaked in water for 24 hours to enable the fibres to relax for maximum absorbency), and a good majority of that time was consumed by an expectation of how well they were going to fit a newborn, and how cute they will look on the wearer.

OK, who is this person I have become? Even six months ago I would not have predicted my thought processes would be invaded by an over zealous preoccupation regarding babies! And yet here I am, in countdown mode, intoxicated by the excitement of the indefinite time yet to come.

First video

Gone are the days of waiting it out for 9 months before seeing what the baby looks like. Here is our first glimpse at 28 weeks.

Journey thus far

What a blast this journey has been so far! T minus 5 weeks & 1 day to go....that is of course if the baby arrives on the EDD of 28th December 2009. I have been informed the first time babies are invariably unpredictable, but then again (unless one is booked in for an elective caesarean) aren't all births indeterminable anyway?

I have had the easiest pregnancy thus far; no sickness, strange cravings or any other common conditionally associated symptoms. My only ailment has been back pain, which has recently intensified. Up until last week I was walking 6-8km 4 days a week, and I've had to park the exercise for now.

As I tap on my laptop at 3:30am most nights/mornings now I have realised that from here on in the lack of sleep will become a permanent fixture for the foreseeable future.

I have been fortunate with having 7 weeks off work in preparation for the new arrival, and am looking forward to 1 whole year at home harnessing my nurturing skills. Perhaps I will be climbing the walls after 6 months, and desperate for some other form of interaction ;-P

These are exciting times for us, and I am savouring each day, and each kick.