A C-section !!

Hi All!

I was called yesterday from my woman to say that she was in labour!

All the time I have been with this woman antenatally she was having some bleeding; which just before I met her was assessed by an Obstetrician. I met the woman at her 32 week ultrasound, which was to confirm the position of the placenta. She was diagnosed with placenta praevia, where the placenta is right down near the cervix. It was unsure at this point whether the placenta would move further away from the cervix, so we were kind of just waiting to see what would happen as things got closer.

At 39+4 the GP advised to go back and have another ultrasound as she had experienced continued bleeding bi-weekly since her last ultrasound (filling up two pads each time), including some clots. I was REALLY worried about this, but every time she rang the birth suite she was told it should be okay. The GP didn't seem all that worried either, so I was concerned that they weren't looking hard enough, or being responsible. At the ultrasound it was confirmed again that the placenta was near the cervix, only 2.5 cms away.

As I was still worried about this, I rang Jenny and had a chat to her about it. She said that actually if the placenta is near the cervix, it can be normal to have bleeding, as the cervix is getting ready to birth it moves a little and can cause the placenta to move a little too...so that should be fine. Next day Michelle rang and re-confirmed what Jenny had said, so I felt better about everything.

On Monday my woman's waters had broken, and everything was fine, until Friday morning when she noticed some green fluid on her pad. So she went into hospital and they said she had a meconium stain in her liquor so they would have to induce her. She rang me around 3pm to say that she was 1cm, so I went in. She was really out of it when I got there as she had just had some morphine...she was hanging out big time for 4cm dilatation when she could get her epidural! I went for dinner with the postgrad students around 6:30. After 3 hours or so the epidural went in, I placed myself in a prime position to watch...that is the grossest thing I have ever seen!! It looked so terribly painful. She had the local so didn't actually feel a thing. The anesthetist was having just a little trouble pushing the massive needle through the ligament (which is apparently what has to happen with every epidural, ewwww!!), but it was all fine, she felt the effect immediately, and we could turn up her sintocinon (induction drip) to speed things up a little.

Around 10:30 she was 5cm, I went for a 1/2 rest. The Midwives were just lovely and so was my woman, they kept asking if I was alright, and did I want to go for a rest. I was amazed at how often my woman asked me that, she was the one who was exhausted!! They are such a lovely couple!

At around 3:30 she was 8 cm, but had a swollen lip of cervix, they gave her a few hours, and even though she came to 9 and a bit cms she never got any further. I and the primary Midwife had an hours lay down, then was called by the other Midwife as they had decided to go to the operating theatre and do a c-section. I didn't have to scrub, just put on the ridiculous clothes, shoe socks and hat, but we all looked ridiculous together so it didn't matter. I put myself in a great position again, and got to see everything as it happened. The woman's epidural didn't work like it should have, so she had heaps of top ups, gas and a few breaks from being opened, but in the end a beautiful baby boy was born!!!! He is such a cutey : )

Poor dad cried so much, it was really emotional for him. He said it was really scary going into theatre, and the poor woman was frightened too. I was nominated photographer, so since the woman was being stitched while baby was weighed and everything I took a million photos! It was just lovely. And the woman got to touch her little one while his dad held him, so I got heaps of photos of that too. It was such a lovely outcome in the end, even though it was a shame that they had to go through a c-section.

So there you go! I am can't wait to go see them, I have developed such a lovely rapport with both the parents, so I just really want to see that poor mum holding and breastfeeding her baby!