Baby is here!

It has been a while since I have written any posts, but the good news is... my baby is here!

It has been a crazy couple of months, which I have no idea where to start.. but for today, I just wanted to note down the arrival of my baby boy!

I finished up at work on Friday 22nd December. As usual, I was rushing to get through some last minute work still, at the eleventh hour! :(

We had a Christmas catch up with my girlfriends that same Friday, which was good fun. The next day, I was booked in for a pregnancy massage at the Intercontinental hotel, a lovely surprise gift from a dear friend. The massage was just perfect. And as I laid down on the massage bed, with the massage therapist, I swear, tears filled up my eyes - feeling so grateful and blessed that I have an amazing support network around me, friends and family caring and always being there for me.

Christmas eve, we were invited to dinner to a friends place, and I noticed my feet were beginning to swell very badly. Apart from the swelling, I developed a mild rash on my face, and also on my baby bump. I started feeling very uncomfortable with the pregnancy - at 37 weeks pregnant.

My brother Dopey arrived Melbourne on Christmas Day, and we picked him up from the airport. Grumpy cooked us a Christmas feast at home, with the most delicious turkey - which he spent at least 2 days prepping.

After Christmas, we take it easy, staying home most of the time. And suddenly, Grumpy decides to have some friends over on Saturday 30th December for lunch. We spent all day Friday food shopping and preparing, but by night time, I started feeling slight tummy cramps - my first sign of contractions! Grumpy and I were thinking, this can't be true, its a bit too early! We are only expecting baby mid-January!

The contractions were not too frequent yet, but there were signs of the mucus plug. At 1am, I rang the hospital, and they said "Take 2 Panadols and try to get some rest". However by 2am, the contractions started to get quite painful, and my water breaks. The hospital said to come in straight away. But first, we had to wait for Dopey to come over to our place and help watch Little Bambi at home. He finally arrives, and at 3am, we make our way up to the birthing suite in the hospital. The pain was severe, and even the walk from the car to the hospital entrance was not easy!

I get hooked up on all sorts of things in the birthing suit, and given laughing gas - which was completely useless. I ask for an epidural immediately, and much to my surprise, the midwife goes "Ok let me organise that for you". The anaesthetist administers the epidural on me, and the pain goes away. What a relief! However in a matter of minutes, baby's heart rate begins to drop, and there were a team of 3 doctors and 3-4 midwives surrounding us, trying to stabilise baby. It was pretty scary. I was only 5cm dilated at that point in time, and my body was shaking vigorously for a good 2 hours - the after effects of the epidural. After they stablised baby's condition, by turning off the epidural... we started noticing that his heart rate drops each time I have a contraction - which again, was quite scary. Doctors kept giving me the option of a C-section, which I just was not prepared for. I had a natural birth with Little Bambi, why would my 2nd baby be any different?

From 3am up to 2.20pm that Saturday, finally baby turned into the right position, and the doctor was able to get him out via forceps. The doctor says the exact same thing when I had Little Bambi, "Good sized baby you have there!" at 3.57kgs and 49 cm. Slightly smaller and lighter than Little Bambi, but he was a week earlier too. He is healthy, and absolutely perfect. I've waited so long for him, he is perfect to me.

I get given a hospital bed, sharing a room with 3 other mums and babies, and spend my first night in hospital. It was not an easy night, with baby being slightly unsettled. My body is sore everywhere, but I struggle with the bleeding the most. Much to my delight, the next morning, I get given the all clear and can go home! Regardless, I still think it was good to spend one night in hospital, the midwives helped me with basic 101s, like swaddling, feeding, changing nappies and even giving baby a bath!

Home time!

Baby at Day 3

My beautiful babies

More thoughts to come.

xx

Jules