Surprise! Surprise!
2003
First baby
Lived in: Okaihau, Northland
WHERE WAS YOUR PLANNED PLACE OF BIRTH?
Didn't get a chance to choose!
WHERE WAS YOUR ACTUAL PLACE OF BIRTH?
Whangarei Hospital
PREMATURE LABOUR AND BIRTH
When I was 23yrs old, I was in the process of enrolling in tertiary education when my partner and I discovered we had a baby on the way. It was a big shock to say the least.
Signs of early labour
I had only just begun to accept the fact that my life was about to take a very different path, when at around 10am on the 17th of October, 2005 and only 7 months gestation, I began to feel cramps very low down in my belly. Thinking nothing of it (I still had two and a half months to go so the thought of being in labour didn’t even occur to me!), I carried on about my day. I was in the process of making a cake when one of my sisters who was staying with us for a few weeks, walked in the door and saw me doubled over in the kitchen. Naturally she asked if I was ok, to which I replied “Ive got these cramps that keep coming on!” Being my big sister, she ordered me to call my midwife and wouldn’t take “no Im fine!” for an answer.
Heading to hospital
After speaking with my midwife and explaining my sensations and that I'd noticed a ‘funny jelly stuff’ earlier that morning, we arranged to meet at Kawakawa hospital, about a 40min drive from our home in Waipapa. The midwife was convinced I was not in pre-term labour as the pain I was experiencing was very sharp, low down, and didn’t involve any sensations on the rest of my belly or my back that she expected I would have if it was labour related. She put me on the monitor, and the cramps showed only as a dark black line – no mountainous peaks! She unhooked me, and went out to get me a panadol and send me on my way home.
Again, enter big sister, who explained that she had noticed my cramps coming at pretty regular 7 minute intervals and that she didn’t mean to undermine the professional decision the midwife had made, but she felt she needed to question the decision to send me home so soon. Again, big sister not taking no for an answer, insisted that I be seen by someone else for a second opinion. The midwife at that point, decided to send me to Whangarei. Still convinced my cramps were from a tummy bug, the midwife told us we would be fine to go down in the car – just my sister and I, so off we went.
Whangarei for a second opinion
The trip to Whangarei took one and a half hours, a lot longer than the usual 40minutes due to lots of major road works. Nearing Whangarei, I started to get worried as my cramps were getting more painful and closer together (about 5mins apart) and I could feel a pressure in my back passage. I hadn’t even had time to look at a pregnancy or birthing book so I had no idea what to expect! Panick started setting in!
My sister and I arrived at Whangarei hospital maternity unit and were greeted by a lovely midwife who took one look at me and quickly ushered me into a suite. Within 5mins I was on the monitor and my first cramp registered as a contraction. It would seem the monitor that had been put on me 2hrs earlier was not quite in the right place to register my contractions accurately.
After a quick discussion of the timeline of events, it was decided I should have an internal examination to assess how dialated I was. 5cm’s was the answer, and at that point frantic phone calls were made to my partner who was still at work in Kerikeri, and to the rescue helicopter. Whangarei did not deliver under 32wks gestation and I was only 30wks gestation. I needed the specialised care of National Womens hospital in Auckland. I was put on a drip to administer drugs to slow my contractions down, and drugs to get my unborn baby producing lung surfactant in the event that he was born.
The helicopter arrived to pick up a very panicked me, and my amazing big sister who was bravely holding it all together for me, for us. Before I could board the helicopter, I was internally examined again. In 30mins I had gone from 5cms dialated to 8cms dialated despite the drugs trying to stop my labour.
Too late! This little baby was coming and nothing was going to stop him!
At 8cms dialated and progressing so fast, it was too risky to fly because baby was likely to be born up in the air! The word went out through the hospital there was a neonatal emergency underway, and before long, there was a team of ten medical professionals literally lined up against the wall in the birthing suite poised for action. Despite the drama unfolding on the outside, our little one on the inside was showing no signs of distress, so the decision was made by the oncall obstetrician to let me birth naturally.
My partner arrived, and my big sister handed over the reins of support to him as she calmly left the room – and fell to pieces out in the corridor!
As scared as I was, knowing without a doubt that I was about to give birth to a tiny little prem baby, I decided I didn’t want to compromise him any furter by having any drugs – though the gas was on standby should I feel I needed it. My contractions still felt like sharp stabbing pains really low down, never any other sensations in my upper belly or back.
Birth
Once baby started crowning, the obstetrician (painfully!) facilitated a speedy delivery by holding me…open while I was siting in a semi upright position. With a shrill scream by me, my mother bursting throught he delivery suite doors like something out of the movies, and a sudden flurry of activity by the ten wall flowers, our little first born came earthside at 7:15pm!
All I could see from my bed was a circle of frantic arms and no sign of my baby yet. Then, they wrapped him in a towel and placed him in my arms for the first time – all 3lb 7oz of him. He was making a strange grunting sound fighting so hard to keep his tiny lungs inflated. Less than one minute later, he was taken from me and disappeared with his entourage through the double doors, and stabilised down in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU). All of a sudden my partner and I were alone, looking at each other in total disbelief. Did that REALLY just happen!!! Then my partner aptly pointed out that the gas was still on…and we chuffed a couple of lungfulls and had a bit of a light hearted giggle after all the stress of the day!
My baby and I spent six weeks in hospital, and on our final day there, we weighed our little fella for the last time on the SCBU scales. Exactly 5lbs! We bundled him into his carseat that he almost got lost in, and off we went home, and life as we never knew it began. 21months later, we gave our little boy a sister – a big fat full-term baby sister!
I am eternally grateful for my sister that day and owe my son’s life to her. Without her instincts, insistence, and amazing strength that pulled us thorough, we would have had a very different and tragic outcome. Amost 10yrs later, we still shed tears together when we remember that unforgetable day. Though our son is small for his age, he has grown into a beautiful, funny, intelligent and loving young man with needle scars on his wrists, ankles and spine to remind us what an amazing little fighter he was!
Things you would do the same?
I am glad we.... I'm glad my sister insisted on a second opinion!
Things you would do differently?
There is nothing I could change have done different really.
What advice would you recommend to other Northland mums / families?
My advice to other mums and families, would be to trust your instincts and never assume, or let anyone else assume your labour will follow the textbook norms. Mine didn’t, and my midwife expected it to, and I almost lost my child because of it.
I didn’t feel the ‘usual’ sensations of labour, even though I was labouring. Even when you think you are doing everything right – I didn’t smoke or drink alcohol and I ate super healthy and exercised moderately, yet I still went into spontaneous preterm labour.
The first rule about parenting, is that NOTHING goes to plan so expect the unexpected and you will make it!
