Friday 14th May 2004

What started off as a normal Friday morning, didn't last that way for long. We had an ultrasound scan booked for 10am this Friday morning, just a routine scan to make sure everything was as it should be in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy.

Everything started off nicely, with views of the heart, lungs, head and face being shown. We could see her moving around and waving at us on the screen, then the operator moved on to measurements, and this is where things went a little awry - oh ok - a lot awry!

None of the bones in Cailee's legs or arms measured what they should be for a baby of 38.5 weeks gestation. She was only measuring 35 weeks at most, and this despite me having gestational diabetes. Not a good sign.

I had to wait for the scan pix to take tot he doc's appt the following Monday, so once I got home, I did the most natural thing in the world and opened up the pix and searched through for the report. The last line of the report, sent cold shivers through me - it mentioned that there was no discernible diastolic pressure for the placenta.

*Diastolic Pressure!?!?!* - That couldn't be good.

I called the gynaecologists office, and asked to speak to the Doctor I was seeing whilst my own gynaecologist was on holidays -- it was the doctors day off!!!!!

Thankfully there is a third partner in the practice, and he was in. I explained to the secretary what was wrong, and after placing me on hold for what seemed like an eternity, she finally came back and told me not to go too far, and the doctor would call me back as soon as he received the faxed report from the radiology department.

After all of two seconds thought, I called Mark and begged him to come home as I was losing the plot just a little.

After a quick explanation, Mark was on his way home. He walked in the door about thirty minutes later - just as the phone rang. The gynaecologist told me to meet him at the hospital as soon as possble - the word 'induction' followed by - with the possibility of an emergency c-section - unnerved me completely.

Thank God Mark was home!

We arrived at the hospital within ten minutes, but I was now panicking that I couldn't contact my mum, who was supposed to be bringing the older kids in for the delivery. A quick call to my friend, Chelle, and she left her shop to go and find mum and let her know what was happening. For this I will be eternally grateful.

By the time Mum arrived at the hospital, the doctor had already been in and organised for the pitocin drip and (unbeknownst to me) booked the operating theatre. Within a few minutes, my waters had been broken and the drip inserted, all we could do now was wait, and hope that I dilated quickly.

When the waters had been ruptured, they were filled with merconium which meant Cailee had suffered fetal distress at some point - so her lungs could have been affected. I had the baby heart monitor affixed to my belly, and we watched over the course of an hour, the babies heart fluctuate between 118 and 95 beats a minute. It didn't look good.

The induction was working and the contractions had increased to less than three minutes apart. I had called both schools to let them know Mum was on her way to collect the older kids.

I called Melanie on her mobile, not caring if she was caught with it ringing in class. It did, and the teacher started to reprimand her, until Mel stood up and exclaimed "Really?" She gathered her books together before she had even asked the teacher for permission to leave. By the time she hung up on me, the whole class had figured out that I was in labour, and Mel would be leaving.

She raced to Aimee's class and gabbled out an explanation, before grabbing Aimee and heading to the school office to wait for my mum.

We were lucky with Bobbie, that he hadn't been at another school that afternoon, as he had sports on, and fortunately that Friday they were the host school, instead of the visitors. His Vice Principal couldn't believe I was calling her in the middle of my labour pains - until she heard me moan. LOL

While we were waiting for mum to get back with the kids, the doctor had been back in, and after an examination had told Mark and I that I would be having the c-section, because even after approximately two hours in labour, I was only a little over 2cm dilated.

The kids were bitterly disappointed that they wouldn't be in with us for the arrival of their baby sister. But thankfully one of the interns promised to take plenty of photo's of the delivery for them.

Down in the operating theatre, while I was being prepped Mark was led of to be gowned and scrubbed and whatever else was needed. He was lucky - he has an aversion to needles, and the four attempts it took to get my spinal block in, would have meant he'd have missed the birth - after he'd have passed out.

While I loved the effect of the block - no pain with the contractions - I wasn't too keen on the process.

One the first attempt, the syringe malfunctioned and I had a shower of cold spray over my back - the anaesthetic went everywhere.

The second attempt I knew something was wrong, when I felt like I'd had lightning shoot through every nerve in my body. That this happened right in the middle of a contraction didn't help either.

The third attempt, the same thing happened.

On the last attempt, I didn't even feel a thing. When they said it was over, the attendant told me he was going to move my legs up onto the narrow bed. I laughed and said, it was okay I could still do that myself, but within a few seconds my legs had lost all sensation. That was a weird experience!

It seemed to take forever for the rest of the operating theatre staff to arrive, then I discovered the paediatrician they needed there, was stuck in traffic - it took another 20 minutes for Anne to arrive.

Finally everyone was there, and we had all been introduced - but if you ask me their names now, I couldn't tell you. Everything had happened in such a rush to that point, that I was only half concentrating on what they were doing. All I was thinking about was whether they had worked quickly enough that the baby would be alright.

I was told they had made the incision, and that I would feel a little pulling and tugging while they tried to pull the baby back up out of the birth canal. Even though my labour hadn't progressed very far, her head was well down into the cervix by the time they actually opened me up.

Finally I could see movement beyond the privacy curtain they had up near my head. And one of the doctors nodded at me and then gave Mark and I the thumbs up sign. That was all well and good, but we couldn't hear any noises from the baby, so what the hell did he think was good about that???

It seemed to take an eternity for the baby to make a sound, it was probably only thirty seconds or so at the most, but it really did give Mark and I cause for concern. We were both holding our breath so tight.

I don't remember ever crying at the births of my older three children, but the pent up emotions over the speed which everything happened that day, all came tumbling out when Cailee made that first mewling baby cry. I had never heard a sweeter sound in my whole life.

Mark got up from the little stool they had given him, and went to watch them doing the meaasurements and everything else. The paediatrician had to suction Cailee to remove all the mucus she had swallowed before delivery. But we were both pleased to hear that Cailee's score for the APGAR was 7 in the first minute and then a perfect 10 five minutes later.

She was wrapped up tightly and given to Mark to carry over to my head. I couldn't move a thing from the neck down, so all I could do was look from him to the baby in amazement - and cry! LOL

She was so perfect - her head was completely round, not squashed or pointed like some babies are after delivery, thanks mainly to the caesarian. And her skin was perfect, no wrinkles just very smooth and a healthy pink. And she was alert - her eyes open and quinting every now and then, as if to try and see a little better.

She was also so very tiny! She weighed 4lb 15oz when delivered and her head fitted perfectly in the palm of my hand - it wasn't any bigger than a tennis ball. And it was covered with a soft downy coating of hair. We didn't discover until the next day after her first bath that her hair style resembled Franks - from "Everybody Loves Raymond"!

Mark, Cailee and the midwives headed back to the ward as I was wheeled out to recovery. The kids and grandparents got to ogle over her before I returned to the ward an hour and a half later. It took that long for the block to start to wear off and I was dying to get back and see my little miracle baby and actually hold her. That was the longest hour and a half I've ever spent!

For the first hour after I returned to the ward, I don't think my oldest, Melanie, let go of my hand for a moment. It had taken me so long to come back up that she was worried something had gone wrong, it overshadowed the happiness she felt having Cailee finally with us. But once she was reassured that I was fine, she allowed herself to relax and enjoy the fact she had another little sister.

The grandparents, meanwhile, had been busy taking snaps of Cailee while they each took turns in holding her. I think the kids were scared for a while there, that they would drop her because she was so small, but things have changed a lot since then. LOL Now they fight over who's going to hold her next!

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