Abigail meet the world!

One of the most life-changing events of my twenty one years of life, would have to be the birth of Abigail Olivia.

I know everyone tells you how much life is turned upside down by those small packages, but I don't think anyone ever really comprehends the extensive advice from family and mostly utter strangers. Many people asked whether I found it strange or 'weird' having a baby after Abigail was born, but God really is clever in giving us 9 montsh to get used to the idea.

The long 42 week build-up was brought to an end early Saturday morning on 8 August 2009. As soon as we passed the 40 week due date, our jokes about Abby arriving on the biggest day of Gavin's rugby career this year became actual concerns, well for him anyway. At 41 weeks we went for our last scan which revealed nothing, only that the baby was healthy, which is all we wanted to know. Unfortunately it was less than telling concerning exactly WHEN this baby would decide to leave the comforts of the inside a very uncofortable me. It was decided though, that the latest the midwife would leave me without an induction would be Sunday. So I was booked in, just incase, for Saturday night which would work perfectly because I could go watch Gavin's Rugby finals and we could head over to the hospital and welcome Abby into the world shortly afterwards.

After many prayers for natural labour to start before the induction day, I can't work out why I was surprised when I was woken at 4.30am Sarurday morning to what I thought were the start of contractions. I must have slept through some of them because when I woke up they were a good 3 minutes apart. I eventually woke Gavin after a half an hour of recording each contraction on my phone. I was met by a husband with mixed emotions about Rugby and the eminent birth of his daughter! We both couldn't sleep and tried to pass the time by flicking through all of two channels that our bedroon TV picked up, settling for an episode of 'The Hills'. Grateful for anything at that hour that wasn't home shopping.

After a text to the midwife, a hot bath and trying to sleep a bit more inbetween the contractions that were painfully getting stronger, although bearable, Gavin and I got ready to start the day at around 8am. we decided he would go play Rugby and that his dad wiyld stand by the sidelines with a cellphone and race him through to the hospital as soon as I text. I was goingto wait at mums for the morning and go througfh to the hospital when contractions got closer together and more painful.

The morning passed slowly with mum picking me up and making a stop at New World Albany to pick up 'supplies' before heading home to hang with the family while Abigail made her arrival more and more obvious. At 11am our lovely midwife, Theresa, came to mums house and checked out my progress. Unfortunately my plans of hanging out at home for as long as possible, were thwarted because little Abigail's heartrate dropped a bit too low for the midwife's liking during the frequent contractions. Trying very hard not to scare a first time mother, she assured me it will all be fine, but I'd be best getting mum to take me straight to the hospital and get hooked up to a heart rate monitor to monitor Abigail's heart, not exactly reassuring words.

Arriving at the hospital at around 12pm, mum and I made our way to the maternity suite, me stopping every few minutes to see out a contraction. The next hour was filled with doctor check-up's, and small chit-chat with mum and Theresa as we waited inbetween contractions. We were serenaded by the soft, steady beep of the heart rate monitor and the annoying ticking of the clock opposite my bed. When they were still not 100% convinced Abigail was ok, Theresa let me know she thought we needed to break my water to test the fluid in order to tell more accuralety whether anything was wring with baby. That was my final straw and I had held out as long as I could without Gavin at my side. I text his dad and asked for him to bring him through ASAP and just when I was starting to panic at the quickly rolling contractions that were coming faster and faster and harder. After my waters were broken, Gavin rushed in and I was greeted with a kiss by a very grubby, muddy looking (although very contented) husband.

I can't say I wasn't disappointed that my plans for a labour in the water and drug-free birth, didn't work out. I spent the next 8 hours lying on the bed hooked up to the heart machine. At around 6 o'clock I felt too overwhelmed. the contractions I wished I could handle wracked through my body and I could do little more than breathe, coiled up on my side inbetween the short 3 minute intervals that seemed to give me no mercy. I went against my initial plan, deciding that the pre-birth Bianca had NO idea what she was talking about when she didn't want drugs. I said I would try the gas, which I hoped would relieve the pain enough for me to see the birth through.

I have never touched narcotics in my life and was pleasantly disappointed with the laghing gas they give you. It makes you feel so 'out of it', and although you still feel pain, you feel removed and almost like you're in a bad dream. I felt so out of control even though I could think straight and the contractions were coming so close together that I was sucking the gas almost constantly. In and out of conciousness I heard talk of Abby being breach, then the doctor said they would have to prep me for surgery for a ceasar, then prayers by mum and Gavin, then hands in places hands should never go, then doctors saying she was turned right around again. Phew!

At around 7pm, drowsy and exhausted, I asked how long we would have to go on like this. Expecting the blessed news that I could push any minute, unfortunately was only half way dialated, to my dismay. It was then that I decided to get an epidural. I could not have been happier with the decision. As the contractions got more intense, they got beyond my ability to cope and the gas didn't seem to help much anymore. Finally the anethatist came and administered the epidural, redering almost instant relief.

Final hour was amazing. It seemed like the past 12 hours were all a bad dream and that I could now face anything with the helping hand of anesthetic being pumped into my back. At 8pm I was checked again and finally fully dialated! With one push, the midwide decided I would be pushing for a very short time and prepared the room for the arrival of our baba. Pushing which can take hours in your first birth, only took 30 minutes! And soon, after a few big pushes, my baby girl was out in the big wide world for the first time. I'd love to say she went straightinto my arms, but she had the umbilicle cord wrapped around her neck twice, so as soon as she was out and that was cut, she had to have some oxygen accross the room, but daddy was right there with her and granny was already busy taking lots of photos.



Within 10 minutes she was in my arms and I was able to feed her which she took to with ease, aparently another thing which is uncommon. As I lay there while Theresa and doctors fiddled and bustled around us, it felt like it was just our small family in the room. After what was probably a fairly traumatic experience for Gavin aswell, he looked down at his two girls on the bed and said that I could name Abigail's second name, Olivia (which he had protested against many times).

And so he left that night at around 10pm, after he saw me into my ward which was fitted with a single bed, thank God, which came with the privacy of being able to be alone with my baby. Unfortunately, with the Swine Flu pandemic, the hospital rules said that no one was allowed to visit, so the anxious family that waited outside in the waiting room never got to meet Abigail that night although they were shown photos.

And that was the start of it all! One full-on day, filled with so much waiting and wending in such exhaustion but such surreal joy. And that night as I fell asleep with a tightly wrapped bundle right next to me in my bed, and no real clue of what lay ahead, I couldn't even imagine how much was in store for us with our new baby girl in the world with us. Such a small person that turns life upside down. Our Abigail, 'Father's joy', well in this case, joy to both her parents right from the start.