A Baby is born!

Wow! It’s finally happened and what an amazing, drama-filled night we just had. The result, a beautiful and healthy little baby girl.



Here is the detailed account (warning, quite gory in places)

The beginning
At 3am Friday morning Cat showed signs of blood. Fresh blood not old blood. This is usually not a good sign so we went to hospital to get it checked out. No worries there. The heartbeat monitor revealed baby was happy and an internal examination showed Cat was actually 1cm dilated and beginning the first stage of labour. Great news and we now knew the crazy rollercoaster ride was about to begin.

For some reason, the doc wanted to make sure Cat’s labour would progress faster than it already was. Perhaps because she was a week over. The doc rather forcefully initiated a ‘sweep’ (manual prodding of the cervix which makes the body release hormones which begin contractions). The procedure itself was very painful and Cat was not pleased, but what it did do, seemingly within minutes, was start her contractions off – and most painful they were too.

We got home about 6am. Of course, any hope of sleep or rest was quickly dashed. These contractions, although erratic, were filling our thoughts. We were told to wait for them to even out to about one every four minutes, and each one lasting about 45 seconds or more.

My Mum was called and she turned up around 9.30am, a backpack full of acupuncture needles. Soon, Cat resembled a poor hedgehog as Mum tried to administer pain relief, Chinese style. The pain was stronger and stronger and by 2pm, the contractions got down to one every three minutes. A panicky call to the hospital and they tried their best to dissuade us from coming in. We had to make sure that the 3 minute contractions continued over the next two hours. Darn! Poor Cat could not stand the pain. But we duly waited. A hot bath did not really help, apart from act as a diversion and give us something to do.

Two hours later, we called and again, they tried their best to make us wait longer but this time I insisted she be taken in. The pain was unbearable. In our minds, we imagined the baby coming very soon. After all, contractions every 3 minutes is surely near the end? Little did we know the drama about to unfold.

The Hospital
We got admitted at 6pm and seen to by a midwife. Bad news. Cat was still only 1cm dilated. Our hearts sank. After 12 hours of contractions and pain, no progress had been made. The reason – her cervix was posterior, which I guess meant it was facing the wrong way. Surely they would not turn us away again? But the midwife could see Cat was in pain and promised she would be kept on ward. Each contraction brought more pain, and with the added suggestion that this whole process could take many many hours if not days, poor Cat was almost defeated before she began.

Suddenly, blood seemed to be oozing out. Each contraction brought an even stronger wave of pain and more blood soaking the pad to saturation. Surely this was not normal. The midwife came in to check. She looked concerned and worried. The doctor on hand was called in, no one knew why Cat was bleeding like this. The stirrups were up and the doc had to break the waters to examine where the bleeding was coming from. Another internal examination (these things are not pleasant at all) and the doc gave Cat the all clear. The blood was due to her cervix suddenly going from 1cm dilation to 5-6cm in the space of an hour or so. Way quicker than normal. And the pressure build up caused the bleeding.

After this little dramatic episode, Cat went back to contracting as normal. The gas and air mouthpiece was taking a battering, but seemed to be doing the trick, despite her obvious pain. Then after about an hour and half, the midwife examined her again. A big smile stretched across her face: yep, she could start pushing.

Blimey, already! Cat in her delirium seemed pleased to be progressing but there was a catch – no laughing gas whilst in the pushing phase. She was upset, but gritted her teeth and pushed with all her might on each contraction. The poor girl’s face blew to Mount Etna proportions of effort and fire. My Mum and my hands were left withered by Cat’s tremendous grip each time. Down, down, push, down, harder, harder. Screeeeeeeeeeeam!

But no, baby head not coming out. Midwife was worried that the contractions were too short for Cat to make the most of her push. So a drip was suggested. This drip is a drug that makes the contractions stronger and longer. Cat, despite being delirious, immediately knew this also meant, more pain, WAY more pain. The threat of the drip seemed to do the trick. On her next push, baby was out!

The aftermath.
It all happened so quickly. Our baby flew out into the midwife’s arms and onto Cat’s belly. A hearty lungful of screaming from the baby and wide stunned eyes meant all was well and healthy. Cat, my Mum and I were overjoyed. All this within 5 hours of first being admitted was very quick indeed. I thought that it was lucky we did not wait any longer at home before coming to hospital. Lucky indeed because what happened next was quite horrible. After the placenta came out, the midwife noticed some excess bleeding and took a look. Maybe a tear in the perineum she thought. And indeed she was right. Not pretty, but standard fare. But I saw her face change and she was panicking. This was way too much blood and it was spurting out – a sign of a ruptured blood vessel. Emergency buttons were pressed, suddenly the room was filled with medical staff and once again, Cat’s legs were unceremoniously thrust up on stirrups and spotlights put on. The doc looked closely, too much blood to see clearly but she counted two major tears of the insides. The one seeping blood needed to be sewn up and fast. Big needles of local anaesthetic and a rather crude suturing ensured Cat was stitched, but the doc warned that she had to rush off to see to an emergency C-section. It was chaos outside. But Cat’s second tear, although much larger, needed an epidural and theatre operation to ensure it was fixed but there was no time now to do it.

What!??? No time? We were left there, helpless like the crying newborn in Cat’s arms. The midwife didn’t know what was happening either. I could not get answers.
Cat seemed stable, but in a lot of pain. My curiosity ensured I got a very good view of the problem and it was not a pretty sight. In fact, it was pretty close to a horror movie special effects workshop. I was suitably horrified.

The anaesthetist came in and talked to Cat about the epi. Cat had always wanted to avoid this procedure but now, after all her hard efforts, it was going to be given anyway. We all prepared for the surgery she was about to have. I was beside myself with worry, and only the little bundle of joy, now in my arms as Cat was too gone, saved me from panicking.

But something strange happened. The room went very quiet. The staff were off elsewhere tending to another emergency. The baby was content and just studying her funny father’s face. Cat was half knocked out but fairly ok. My Mum was just holding Cat. All this time, I was too busy being concerned about all the flapping and commotion to take a break and realise that now, today, I was a father! The room was calm and peaceful.

The doors opened, uh-oh, here we go I thought. Poor Cat was going to be sliced and diced and there was nothing I could do about it. But it was not the surgeon, or the anaesthetist. It was a middle aged woman who swaggered in, cheerful as the morning sun. ‘Hello, I’m a passing consultant obstetrician’ she boldly announced herself. ‘Let ME take a look at you.’

She ummed and arghed. ‘I can sew this up in about ten minutes if you like, no need for an epidural and theatre for this’
Wow, finally, something goes right. The consultant went to work and did her job in speedy and ultra proficient time. A small crowd of staff looked on, amazed at her skills. Clearly this was someone who really knew what they were doing. As she tugged and pulled at bits of flesh and stitching, she looked rather like a concert pianist. Especially as she was a bit posh. I looked on too. My science photo library training meant that I simply had to take a look, and she was happy to show me all the gory, but strangely beautiful inner details or my poor wife. Basically, she explained, the baby came out in such a way that her arm had punched a hole through the insides of Cat’s uterus. I was shown the hole. Yes, there was big tearing, but this doc cleaned it up and although she said it would not ever look the same, she felt she did a pretty good job. And of course, saved Cat from a trip to the theatre to be stitched up by less experienced (and probably overly tired) hands.

So there we were. Exhausted but elated. Our baby was calm and quiet. She alternated between sleeping and wakefulness. But not being too distressed by all the commotion. She has very oriental eyes and light, slight curly brown hair – now which of her parent’s could they possibly be traits of? She weighed either 3kg2 or 7lb2oz depending on which you believe the faulty NHS scale to be telling the truth. Birth time was 11.35pm Friday, 18th November 2005.

Her name is yet to be decided.

At 5am Saturday morning, my Mum and I finally left to go home and get some shuteye. Cat was wheeled to the ward to stay over for several nights. She is happy and well. I am so happy, I cannot think straight suffice to say, it was a big help writing this blog over the past nine months. I hope to carry on revealing the growing pains of baby Yangster.

I would also like to thank the staff at our hospital who gave us much care and attention and ensured Cat was given the best care possible. Despite being manically busy, they dealt with the situations very well.