My Birth Story

My Birth Story
Baby Nylah ~ 17/01/2011 ~ 4pounds 15 ounces ~ 8.42pm

So as promised, here is my birth story, it’s probably going to be long, so make a drink and take a seat :).

My pregnancy was hard from the start; I had bleeding up to week 18 and for those first 18 weeks I did not know how my pregnancy was going to progress, if at all. However the weeks went by and my pregnancy progressed normally...

On the 14th of January at 1.30am my waters broke, I waited for contractions to start, but nothing... I waited until the girls went to school to phone the hospital... I was 34 weeks and 1 day!!
I was admitted straight away (given that I had already had a baby early 24 weeks in 2008 sadly he was stillborn) I cannot put into words the emotion I was feeling, but throughout I tried to remain strong and had to have faith that this time the outcome would be good...

I was monitored, baby was fine... still no contractions, it was decided that I would stay in hospital for the next 48hours just in case my labour progressed....
Nothing happened over the weekend, and it was a long weekend, I missed being at home, my partner and my girls...

Monday 17th January, still nothing, until lunch time, I started bleeding, my consultant came and reviewed me, I really wanted to just get my labour started, thankfully my consultant agreed and I was moved into the delivery suit it was 5pm.
By the time I moved to the delivery suit, my contractions had started, the consultant visited me to make sure everything was ok, the labour progressed well and my contractions become closer together and the pain started to become intense...
8.30pm, labour was still progressing and baby was happy, or so I thought... the next thing I remember is knowing that something wasn’t quite right, I looked at my partner... within the next minute the midwife had pressed the emergency buzzer, I was being laid down and moved into theatre, tears streamed down my face, I was helpless, scared and very afraid....
12 midnight was the next thing I remember, I was in the recovery room, dazed and in pain.... I tried to speak, but nothing came out, my throat was really sore... I did not know if my baby was alive and healthy...

My partner showed me a picture of our beautiful baby girl, she was alive and healthy, she was born at 8.42pm and weighed 4 pounds 15ounces, she was 6 weeks early...
I finally got to meet her at 2.30am and the tears carried on flowing, this time with joy, my baby girl was tiny but perfect in every way.

That night was hard, the emotional and physical pain was overwhelming, I still did not understand what had gone so wrong for things to happen in the way that it did, my baby was in the Special Care Baby Unit and I missed her...

6am some of the medication had started to ease and I longed to see her......

10am , the consultant came to explain why I had to be rushed into theatre, the baby’s heart rate had dropped and my placenta was coming away before the baby... so I ended up having to have a Emergency Caesarean...

Over the next few days Baby was being brought to me for demand feeding, which seemed to help us both recover and I knew that it was the best thing for her..

19th January 9am, the nurses on the Special Care Unit decided that she was doing that well that she would be allowed to stay with me on the ward....

The next few days consisted of blood tests, medication and recovery...

22nd January, finally we were allowed to come home :)

The emotional pain has definitely been a lot worse than the physical, I still think about everything that happened, even writing this made me cry, but I wanted to share with you my experience and in some way I think it might be the start of the healing process..

I named her Nylah , which means “gift” after everything she is definitely a gift, she is doing really well and weighs 6 pounds, I am feeling better and life is getting back to normal, with the bonus of another beautiful girl...

Claire xox