The arrival of Felicity Mary -28th January 2014

This week is up there with weeks we will never forget. It all started during a routine visit to the midwife to discuss booking in for an induction because I was already 3 days over my due date. During the visit the midwife examined me and said that she thought I might be 1 cm dilated (at 8.50am). For this reason she took Mark and I to the Women’s Assessment Service (WAS). At the Women and Children’s Hospital to check whether I had, from what I reported broken my waters on Thursday 23^rd January 2014. The team from the WAS team began their tests, which they told me could take half an hour. That was until my membranes ruptured sin style half way through the test. Test conclusive it was established that I had been in per labour for the last four days. This could have been dangerous to Felicity, as she had been in broken waters since Thursday night with the risk of infection. For this reason they put a line into my hand to give her and me some penicillin and I was put on a monitor to watch mine and Felicity’s heart beat and to look for contractions. On further examination from the doctor at 11am I was 2cm dilated. By 11.30am I was beginning to feel the contractions. The doctor then admitted me to the labour ward from here as there was blood in my waters and they said that they needed to get the baby out. 

We arrived up at the labour ward at 12.45pm and was told that at 1.30pm once the new shift of midwifes were here I would be given a drug to speed up labour, because they needed to get the baby out. They could only give me the drug once there was a midwife that could stay with me. For this reason I sent Mark off for lunch and to call our student midwife. As they didn’t want me to eat I was given an ice pop, like the ones you were given as a kid (brought all the memories back).

Once up on the labour ward my contractions were getting more and more painful and I was putting my mother’s advice into action. At 2.10pm contractions were becoming more regular and painful and I was told I was now in labour. I smiled and told Mark that I could now open my present from mum. Here I will have to explain for some of you. For my birthday my mother had sent me a labour pack which I was to open once I went into labour. The pack continued 7 small parcels for me and 1 for Mark. For those of you that don’t know my mother is a certified midwife. This kit brought smiles and laughs to all in my delivery sweet. Especial for one doctor when he saw the white and blue flannels with the note that read, when I was training it was white for the face and blue for below. Thanks Mum.

Anyway getting back to the labour, by 5pm the contractions were becoming so painful I needed some pain relief. At this stage I was given the gas and the midwife examined me further to find that I was 5cm delicate. Just after this my student midwife Marie arrived. I was so pleased to see her because my hospital midwife was agency staff and though she was lovely she was a little stress about my situation and not know where things were in the suite. She asked Marie how many deliveries had she been at? Marie answered this is my 36^th. She appeared to relax and gave Marie a leading part in my delivery from there on.

Marie checks Felicity over

By now I had been on the gas for about 30 minutes ( I think, but I think it would be best to ask Mark details from now on) and all I can say is that I was feeling very spaced out and told Mark and Marie that I was experiencing an out of body experience. During this stage I remember Marie and the midwife reporting to me that during each contraction the baby’s heart beat would drop dangerously low, but come back up after the contraction. For this reason I had to do a juggling act with an oxygen mask and the gas.  On further progress the midwife, Mark and Marie told me that I was not handling with the pain (sorry mum I think I let the pain take over and had stopped concentrating on my breathing. My imagery of walking on Rhoscolyn beach with a pushchair and Granny had also stopped working) and with the baby’s heart beat dropping I needed to be given oxygen more and more, which of course would be easier if I was given an epidural. The midwife did ask me if I wanted one but if I’m honest by this stage I didn’t minded what happened I just needed some stronger pain relief and I was worried about the baby. 

The decision was made that I would have an epidural and the doctor was called for. This, may I say, seemed for some reason to take forever. Anyway he arrived and I asked if it was Jason (our friend who works as a consultant anaesthetist, Mark said no but said that the doctor knows him. As far as I was concerned he was called Jason for the rest of my delivery. He also looked like a doctor out of Holby City which Mark and Marie found funny (Marie by the way has been in Australia for 2 years and before that she lived in ManchesterJ). Just before he arrived I remember laughing to myself when I heard my midwife (agency) say to Marie (student Midwife who had not delivered a baby at Women’s and Children’s Hospital before), ‘it’s like the blind leading the blind’. When asked why I was laughing I said I work for Guide Dogs. Mark and Marie seemed to understand my humour, but it was lost on the midwife. 

Once the epidural had been given (it hadn’t even been given time to kick in) the midwife examined me again and I remember shocked voices (I was well out of it by now) saying oh my god she’s fully dilated (10cm). So I got to 10cm on breathing and gas alone (a fact that I am very proud about as I have never hidden the fact that I am not good with pain, which my family know all about).

Now onto the baby, with this entire action Felicity’s heart beat continue to drop and drop and after some pushing on my behalf I was told that we had to get this baby out. Mark remembers hearing conversations about a caesarean or forceps delivery and the doctor saying we don’t have time for theatre. On that note Felicity’s heart beat downed again so it was decided to give me a double block through the epidural and go for forceps delivery. The next thing I remember was Felicity being born at 7.50pm and Mark cut the umbilical cord and she was put under oxygen. In total my labour time was 5 hours and 50 minutes. At delivery Felicity weighted 3.46Kg or 7lbs 8 ounces.

Whilst Felicity was given oxygen my placenta was delivered. On delivery of the placenta it was found that the placenta was a Velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord. The best way I can explain this is by using Wikipedia. Wikipedia explains that a

‘velamentous cord insertion is an abnormal condition during pregnancy. Normally, the umbilical cord inserts into the middle of the placenta as it develops. In velamentous cord insertion, the umbilical cord inserts into the fetal membranes (choriamniotic membranes), then travels within the membranes to the placenta (between the amnion and the chorion). The exposed vessels are not protected by Wharton's jelly and hence are vulnerable to rupture. Rupture is especially likely if the vessels are near the cervix, in which case they may rupture in early labor, likely resulting in a stillbirth. This is a serious condition called vasa previa. Not every pregnancy with a velamentous cord insertion results in vasa previa, only those in which the blood vessels are near the cervix’.

This basically means that if I had bleed at any point during my pregnancy I would have lost her. The labour it’s self could have also killed her, but thank goodness we didn’t. J This and the fact that I had an epidural and forceps delivery were the reason why we were kept in and monitored for three days. Marie took a photo of my placenta as she had never seen it before and wanted to look it up when she got home. So for theses of you that are medical interested (Mum) I can email you the picture. Doing my research on the placenta afterwards I have found that if it had been detected during pregnancy on a scan I would have been given to choice but a caesarean. 

Once the doctors had completed all their checks I finial meet my daughter and we had our first mother and daughter time whilst we waited for the epidural to where off. This took some time as they had given me a double amount. At 1am I sent Mark home and Felicity and I rested until being taken up to the ward at 3am. This is where we stayed until Friday 31^st January. During our stay we received some fantastic care and advice around breast feeding from the staff at the Women and Children’s Hospital.



View from my hospital window




Whilst I remember for those of you in the United Kingdom may be interested in knowing that on the day that I went into labour the weather was very hot in Adelaide at 43°C, all I can say is thank goodness for air conditioning. 

This week has been a roller-coaster of emotions for me and Mark is being a fantastic support and domestic god.  Felicity and I continue to learn the breast feeding skill together and I can say that at the end of her first week, we are slowly getting it. Still a long way to go but we are feeling better about the whole thing.

Mark is loving being a dad and has enjoyed some long hugs with his daughter (once he got over the shock. Thanks for the tissues mum, but I used them in the end). Last night we bathed her for the first time and I showed Mark a technique that I had learnt whilst in hospital. So it will be Mark’s job on Wednesday night. J Mark is making my week by making me all the meals that I have missed during my pregnancy (sea food pasta, runny boiled and poached eggs and tonight I hope for raw steak) and enabling me to enjoy a long hot bath (it’s been 4 months since I was last able to get in the bath), and afternoon and early evening naps, to help me get through the long nights.

I big thank you to everyone for the good wish messages, cards, flowers, ballons and teddy bears and a prompt to put Felicity's birthday in your calendars for 2015. 28th January !!!!!