Sunday, Feb 10
3:00am
Robyn starts the show and has her first minor contractions. Drifts off to sleep at 5, can't hold it in and wakes me at 7 to share the exciting news that we'll be having a baby soon!!
The rest of the day
Catching up for brunch with Kadji and Andy, church, Japfest at the Docklands with LJ and Marion, home. Fairly strong contractions, 4-5 an hour.
6:30ish pm
Stronger contractions lasting about 30 seconds every 10 minutes. Robyn has her last supper (shoulda had more carbs!).
8pm
JR starts online work from home.
9:30pm
Contractions every 6-7 minutes, Robyn calls the hospital. They say to wait till contractions are about a minute-minute and a half each.
Monday, Feb 11
12:00am
Contractions long and strong by now. JR logs off work, we get in the car and drive in.
1:00am
Arrive at Royal Women's, wait, get assessed, wait for a bed. All the while having contractions every 5 minutes or so. Robyn is now 4cm.
3:30am
After waiting in the Emergency rooms, get admitted into one of the birthing rooms. A lovely midwife named Heather looks after us. Robyn, intent on delivering without the need for pain relief, labours away naturally. Contractions every 3-4 minutes lasting at least a minute each.
6:30am
Robyn is assessed, 7cm. 3cm to go. Should be fully dilated in 3 hours. Everything going along smoothly. JR takes a 10 minute nap.
9:30am
Reassessed. 8cm. Not much progress. Waters are manually broken, a bit of "encouragement" and the next assessment slated for midday. Robyn is very tired and sore.
11:00am
The poor girl is basically spent. We agree to stick it out till midday and hope and pray that she'll be ready by then. Robyn starts to exhibit feverish symptoms from the punishing her body is taking and the now 30 odd hours of no sleep as well as virtually no food for the last 17 hours. Very weak, hardly present, will broken. And if you know Robyn, it takes a lot to get her to this point!
12:00pm
Robyn loves her showers at the best of times. So during labour, they can work wonders! It's basically what got her through the last hour. Another assessment, and... still 8cm. There's a little bit of cervix still blocking the way. Robyn's got nothing left in the tank. Syntocinon is administered to speed up the contractions and the painkiller options are assessed.
2:00pm
Gas is useless, Pethidine is helping take the edge off (she almost falls asleep between each contraction). There's still hope! Obstetrician assesses.. Still a cm off. Robyn is too tense and because the baby has her head slightly tilted, that bit of cervix won't move. The only way to get it to move is for her to relax her muscles. The only way for her muscles to relax is with... an epidural.
3:30pm
Somehow we ended up with a few newbies doing things for us. The girl who did the epidural wasn't exactly new, but had a big wig overseeing her and took about 40 minutes for the whole thing to happen. Thankfully there are no problems or side-effects, and the Epidural works wonders. Robyn relaxes, has a rest, waits for some hopefully good news. JR sleeps for about 45 minutes.
4:00pm
Lisa (Robyn's sister) and Luke (Robyn's brother) come in to see how the old girl's going. It was a real boost for Robyn and a wonderful moment for us all to share! Especially because Lisa had been at the hospital since 9am (not to mention messaging virtually ever hour from 2am!) and Luke from early arvo!
5:15pm
Doc reassesses, baby's moved and we're ready to launch... Let the Pushing Games begin!
6:15pm
Lovely Irish Doctor Patrick comes in concerned about Eden's heart rate variability. Basically, it's not changing as much as it should. Meaning she might not be getting enough Oxygen and needs to come out fast. Hints at potentially performing a C-section, but we're not really sure because he's Irish and speaks quickly. We both think, "After all this?!?!?!" He checks, can see Eden's head and decides that we should be able to get it out without using a knife. Robyn pushes like she's never pushed before.
6:20pm
Doc starts setting up. We're still not really sure what's happening... Stirrups go up, he does a bit of a clean, they do some other strange setuppy things and I can see on his table a couple of massive steel salad-server looking things.
6:30pm
Before we know it, the forceps have Eden's head, the Doc says, "Next push and she'll be out" and Robyn goes for one last big one!
6:31pm
With a little splutter, a tiny cry and a big pull from Patrick, Eden emerges and is laid upon Robyn's chest. JR bawls and is overwhelmed with joy, Robyn is relieved and Eden just takes it all in without a sound. Eyes open, mouth smiling and everything! A new life begins for all 3 of us...
So 40 hours after her initial sign, 36 hours of no sleep, 24 hours of no food (except for 2 lollies and a piece of dried mango), some serious pain and an emotional roller-coaster of a day, our gorgeous girl arrived. She was a blessing in so many ways. Robyn's mother Leonie, who passed away when she was 12, had 3 C-sections and Robyn is the first to have a child out of her blood siblings. It was a cloud hanging over us. Had we not gone ahead with the Epidural, it would've been a virtual certainty that she would've had one as well. We were so thankful for the abundance of medical options we had and continue to be amazed and thankful at how good we have it in our country.
Mostly, we're thankful to our God for bringing our treasure to us safely, soundly, healthily. He heard our prayers and was gracious in giving us a natural birth. Eden - meaning delight (which she truly is!) and Leonie, named after her Grandmother.
And now... the star of the show!
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| Literally MINUTES after birth... All eyes and smiles! |
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| Love this family! |
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| Dad and Eden share a moment. She's still covered in cottage cheese. |
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| This is a very special moment |
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| One happy Grandad! |
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| The one on the left is still available! So's the one in the middle, but if you're reading this then you're ineligible. |
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| That is a genuine smile, ladies and gentlemen |
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| Robyn spreads the good news! |
