Its been a long day.. and still no sign of Ella Sanderson!
#164
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Congratulations to the both of you
66 hours cant believe they made ya go Stu,, must of changed in recent years.
I must be so lucky, didnt realise i was in labour at first, went hosp and he was born less than 4 hours later. (I couldnt of lasted any longer after just that .. so god knows how poor Nicole felt)
66 hours cant believe they made ya go Stu,, must of changed in recent years.
I must be so lucky, didnt realise i was in labour at first, went hosp and he was born less than 4 hours later. (I couldnt of lasted any longer after just that .. so god knows how poor Nicole felt)
#175
Wow, thanks everyone for the support and kind words. I feel i should let you know what happened after you have all been so kind, so grab a coffee as its been a long haul for Nicole and she's not over it yet but here is the story and a few pics...
After a troublesome labour, Nicole's waters broke at 5.30am on the Sunday morning and boy did they break, it was like niagra falls and out of curiousity Nicole weighed herself and we were astounded and worried to find she was a whole 5lbs lighter, right or wrong, that equates to a lot of fluid loss!!
The doctors had warned us that Nicole was carrying a lot of fluid but that took the piss. LOL
We rang the hospital pretty excited and they said she had to go in as it was her first baby, so we went in and got checked over. The midwives confirmed that contractions had also definately started and since they were still pretty mild and the cervix was only 1cm dilated we were sent home. All normal procedure. Its easier to labour at home.
At home they soon started to get a lot stronger and closer together and by 4-5pm ish we couldnt stay at home anymore as they were pretty strong and so we went back to the hospital.
When we got there Nicole was dissapointed to find that she was still only 2cm dilated!! :wall But they kept her in due to risk of infection and previous problems that she had experienced with the pregnancy. It was also noted that the scans had predicted a 9lb+ baby at this stage and it was clear that she may need an assisted birth if she came suddenly, so best not to be at home watchin TV.
Sunday night passes in pain and Monday comes along. Nicole has now been awake since 5.30am sunday morning and was in agony but was trying to hold out as long as poss before she gave in to the drugs. I wasnt allowed to stay overnight remember, as she is on a maternity ward, not a birthing room.
Contractions start coming thick and fast and they kept monitoring Ella due to the fact that the waters had been broken over 24 hours now. Ella appeared fine but Nicole still wasn't dilating, even though the monitors showed the contractions to be at full strength, known as established labour. They simply couldn't work it out and said, some women just take a while.
That afternoon Nicoles contractions stopped dead and didn't start again until later that evening, but then they returned thick and fast, continuing all through Monday night, so they said if she still hadn't dilated further by Tuesday at 5.30am that they would use a drip to induce the labour but advised Nicole that she would need an epidural as:
1) She hadn't slept for over 48 hours.
2) The pain would be unbearable as they would have to turn the drip up high as Ella had no fluids for 48 hours and the risk of infection was high.
So Nic agreed and throughout Monday night she dilated to 5cm.
By this time nicole is in agony and totally exhausted and they finally allow her down to the delivery suite... Thank God for that!
Slightly off topic, these rooms inspire confidence, uiltra high tech and brand new here at our hospital.
Once settled in, i guess we all started to feel at least a little safer with our own personal midwife, bathroom & shower. (Oh, and a kettle.. lol)
However, very soon, and after 48hrs of being in labour, bang, the contractions suddenly stopped dead again
To say Nicole was drained and the midwives perplexed is an understatement!! It was a very frustrating and scary time.
Nicole was so pissed off, i felt so useless and powerless to help her!!! So they put her on the dreaded drip and whacked it up full pelt to get ella out as soon as they could and I am sure Nicole has never experienced pain like it in her life . It was horrific to watch. Out came the epidural and after 45 minutes of the anethetist trying to get the damn thing in the right place it started to work and pain relief was hers. I was so glad to see the relief in her face! I cant describe the feeling.
It took far longer than normal to administer it because there was no break between contractions, it was just one long period of pain due to the drips intensity so they struggled to get teh needle in safely past the spinal cord as they have to insert the needle and the tube into the spinal area in between contractions as it's so dangerous.
Well, other than teh pain relief, nothing improved and despite the drip, Nicole still wasn't making any further progress with dilation so they said they would leave her for another hour and if i still hadn't dilated any further that they would have to do a C-section as the risk for infection was too high now as they had gone well over their 48 hour limit.
Another issue was that Ella's heart rate dropped drastically 3 times whilst they were introducing the epidural so each time the crash team came running in and it was really scarey for everyone but it went back up again and she was ok.
During the rest of the day in labour, the epidural mysteriously stopped working randomly, sometimes for hours at a time, even though it was being boosted and she was given manual top ups to ease the pain. She was screaming and i felt so helpless. I had to go to the toilet and cry a couple of times, praying she would be ok, i just didnt know what the hell to do. Screw being a midwife for a job!
6pm comes, she has been in this state, lying on this bed for nearly 10hrs now. She was physically destroyed, starving and struggling to cope. They examined her and she was 8cm dilated, the epidural kept fading off again and everytime they gave a manual boost by needle, Ellas heart rate dropping dangerously low again so they couldn't give her a high enough dose to stop the pain as Ella was reacting badly to it. She was destined to feel a lot of the pain from here on in, the midwife started to give me knowling looks and advise me this opain is to be expected and to try and calm down. I guess i was starting to get a little aggressive with the staff.
It took a painfull 6pm to 10pm to get the cervix fully dilated and then Nicole pushed for a further hour. The midwife called teh doctors in, explained the situation and they decided as Ella was still ok, and so far down the birth canal she would have to push for tes another hour before they would intervene. Their reasoning:
1) Ella is so far down birth canal they dont like to pull them back out during a C section.
2) The drugs not working correctly was obviously a worry if considering major surgery.
Nicole pushed untill 11.30pm and Ella's head was actually visible so she was so nearly there, but Ella was stuch firm and she wasnt going to come out on her own. We think she was just too wide at the shoulders. Everyone was starting to panic a little and Nicole was all but spent. She had nothing left to give. She had been in labour for over 55hrs and hadnt eaten, or slept for days.
Finally, they caled the crash team in and they did an emergency forceps delivery.
Now ive seen this before, in person, twice, and its never nice, but this was quite horrific and shocked me...
The doctor inserted the forceps and ended up having to pull so hard that he had his knee on the bed and he pulled Nicole CLEAN OFF the bed with me and Sam holding her arms.
Had we not been she may have ended up on the floor! We had to drag her back up then bed for him, then he did it AGAIN!
Ella was jammed tight! So he took his scalpel out and quickly did what he had to do to gain the necessary access. One last big pull and after 66 hours of gruelling labour, out popped my beautifull daughter Ella Sanderson, weighing 8lb 6oz On september 3rd at 00:03. She missed our wedding anniversary by 3 mins, obviously wasnt at all keen on sharing all her birthdays with our anniversary, hence she hung on in there for her own special day. ha Ha.
Here she is, only 1 minute old. She looks like she has just done 10 rounds with Apollo Creed!
The team spent a while checking her over and to our relief she is perfect in every way. its amazing what a human baby can take in its stride!!
It wasnt over for Nicole though, she lost a full litre of blood and needed 24 stitches to put her back together again. Yes, 24!.
Surely that was the end of her painfull wedding anniversary? Nope, then she had a bad reaction to the epidural and was shaking violently and vomiting whilst being stitched up.
The stitching took a little over an hour and only then could she have her first food in over 24hrs. She threw it straight back up and cried.
Nicole stayed in the delivery room until 5.30am as she was at risk of needing a blood transfusion due to high blood loss but her blood pressure gradually rose back to safer levels so they transferred her to maternity ward with her own room and i went home about 6am.
She even had to stay in hospital an extra day and a half due to exhaustion, stuck on a poxy fluid drip.
Then they discovered she had developed an infection and was put on some extra antibiotics regularly through another drip!
Nicole is a star, she has gone through hell to bring this baby into the world for us. She was told she probably couldnt have children right at the start, so to concieve at all was a miracle. Then the pregnancy was hell, seeing her in hospital on a drip for sickness and specialists advising that Nicole strongly re-consider carrying the baby full term for the sake of her own health. Then we were advised they had discovered, during routine testing, that Ella had an above average risk of downs syndrome. We were devastated!
The test to find out for 99% certain is called an Amnio Centisis (Spl?) and it involves putting a needle through the stomach wall and directly into the fluid sack carrying the child and drawing fluid from it for testing. The risk, is if baby moves suddenly it could be speared by the needle, or the exit wound from the needle could leak fluid and the baby die. Rare issues, but potential all the same, and its not like this was a happy go lucky pregnancy, we seem to be at risk of suffering any problem available... So the question was, did we risk it and carry on not knowing and take pot luck at birth time, or take the test, but risk killing the baby in doing so? We opted for the test... and then had to wait a week! What a week.
The good news was, it tested fine and they told us we definately have a little girl.
Its been awfull from day one for Nicole, but its been pretty grim for me too as ive not been able to do anything but stand around looking and feeling like a right tool for 9 months while Nicole has gone through this... I hope to do my bit now by making the rest of both their lives as good as they possibly can be.
Ella 3 days old.
Ella 5 days old.
Amazing how she has changed so much in only a few days. She is now 9 days old and i will grab another picture of her later.
All i have left to say is thank you Nicole for giving me a baby daughter and suffering so much in the process, I love you both more than words can say. x
After a troublesome labour, Nicole's waters broke at 5.30am on the Sunday morning and boy did they break, it was like niagra falls and out of curiousity Nicole weighed herself and we were astounded and worried to find she was a whole 5lbs lighter, right or wrong, that equates to a lot of fluid loss!!
The doctors had warned us that Nicole was carrying a lot of fluid but that took the piss. LOL
We rang the hospital pretty excited and they said she had to go in as it was her first baby, so we went in and got checked over. The midwives confirmed that contractions had also definately started and since they were still pretty mild and the cervix was only 1cm dilated we were sent home. All normal procedure. Its easier to labour at home.
At home they soon started to get a lot stronger and closer together and by 4-5pm ish we couldnt stay at home anymore as they were pretty strong and so we went back to the hospital.
When we got there Nicole was dissapointed to find that she was still only 2cm dilated!! :wall But they kept her in due to risk of infection and previous problems that she had experienced with the pregnancy. It was also noted that the scans had predicted a 9lb+ baby at this stage and it was clear that she may need an assisted birth if she came suddenly, so best not to be at home watchin TV.
Sunday night passes in pain and Monday comes along. Nicole has now been awake since 5.30am sunday morning and was in agony but was trying to hold out as long as poss before she gave in to the drugs. I wasnt allowed to stay overnight remember, as she is on a maternity ward, not a birthing room.
Contractions start coming thick and fast and they kept monitoring Ella due to the fact that the waters had been broken over 24 hours now. Ella appeared fine but Nicole still wasn't dilating, even though the monitors showed the contractions to be at full strength, known as established labour. They simply couldn't work it out and said, some women just take a while.
That afternoon Nicoles contractions stopped dead and didn't start again until later that evening, but then they returned thick and fast, continuing all through Monday night, so they said if she still hadn't dilated further by Tuesday at 5.30am that they would use a drip to induce the labour but advised Nicole that she would need an epidural as:
1) She hadn't slept for over 48 hours.
2) The pain would be unbearable as they would have to turn the drip up high as Ella had no fluids for 48 hours and the risk of infection was high.
So Nic agreed and throughout Monday night she dilated to 5cm.
By this time nicole is in agony and totally exhausted and they finally allow her down to the delivery suite... Thank God for that!
Slightly off topic, these rooms inspire confidence, uiltra high tech and brand new here at our hospital.
Once settled in, i guess we all started to feel at least a little safer with our own personal midwife, bathroom & shower. (Oh, and a kettle.. lol)
However, very soon, and after 48hrs of being in labour, bang, the contractions suddenly stopped dead again
To say Nicole was drained and the midwives perplexed is an understatement!! It was a very frustrating and scary time.
Nicole was so pissed off, i felt so useless and powerless to help her!!! So they put her on the dreaded drip and whacked it up full pelt to get ella out as soon as they could and I am sure Nicole has never experienced pain like it in her life . It was horrific to watch. Out came the epidural and after 45 minutes of the anethetist trying to get the damn thing in the right place it started to work and pain relief was hers. I was so glad to see the relief in her face! I cant describe the feeling.
It took far longer than normal to administer it because there was no break between contractions, it was just one long period of pain due to the drips intensity so they struggled to get teh needle in safely past the spinal cord as they have to insert the needle and the tube into the spinal area in between contractions as it's so dangerous.
Well, other than teh pain relief, nothing improved and despite the drip, Nicole still wasn't making any further progress with dilation so they said they would leave her for another hour and if i still hadn't dilated any further that they would have to do a C-section as the risk for infection was too high now as they had gone well over their 48 hour limit.
Another issue was that Ella's heart rate dropped drastically 3 times whilst they were introducing the epidural so each time the crash team came running in and it was really scarey for everyone but it went back up again and she was ok.
During the rest of the day in labour, the epidural mysteriously stopped working randomly, sometimes for hours at a time, even though it was being boosted and she was given manual top ups to ease the pain. She was screaming and i felt so helpless. I had to go to the toilet and cry a couple of times, praying she would be ok, i just didnt know what the hell to do. Screw being a midwife for a job!
6pm comes, she has been in this state, lying on this bed for nearly 10hrs now. She was physically destroyed, starving and struggling to cope. They examined her and she was 8cm dilated, the epidural kept fading off again and everytime they gave a manual boost by needle, Ellas heart rate dropping dangerously low again so they couldn't give her a high enough dose to stop the pain as Ella was reacting badly to it. She was destined to feel a lot of the pain from here on in, the midwife started to give me knowling looks and advise me this opain is to be expected and to try and calm down. I guess i was starting to get a little aggressive with the staff.
It took a painfull 6pm to 10pm to get the cervix fully dilated and then Nicole pushed for a further hour. The midwife called teh doctors in, explained the situation and they decided as Ella was still ok, and so far down the birth canal she would have to push for tes another hour before they would intervene. Their reasoning:
1) Ella is so far down birth canal they dont like to pull them back out during a C section.
2) The drugs not working correctly was obviously a worry if considering major surgery.
Nicole pushed untill 11.30pm and Ella's head was actually visible so she was so nearly there, but Ella was stuch firm and she wasnt going to come out on her own. We think she was just too wide at the shoulders. Everyone was starting to panic a little and Nicole was all but spent. She had nothing left to give. She had been in labour for over 55hrs and hadnt eaten, or slept for days.
Finally, they caled the crash team in and they did an emergency forceps delivery.
Now ive seen this before, in person, twice, and its never nice, but this was quite horrific and shocked me...
The doctor inserted the forceps and ended up having to pull so hard that he had his knee on the bed and he pulled Nicole CLEAN OFF the bed with me and Sam holding her arms.
Had we not been she may have ended up on the floor! We had to drag her back up then bed for him, then he did it AGAIN!
Ella was jammed tight! So he took his scalpel out and quickly did what he had to do to gain the necessary access. One last big pull and after 66 hours of gruelling labour, out popped my beautifull daughter Ella Sanderson, weighing 8lb 6oz On september 3rd at 00:03. She missed our wedding anniversary by 3 mins, obviously wasnt at all keen on sharing all her birthdays with our anniversary, hence she hung on in there for her own special day. ha Ha.
Here she is, only 1 minute old. She looks like she has just done 10 rounds with Apollo Creed!
The team spent a while checking her over and to our relief she is perfect in every way. its amazing what a human baby can take in its stride!!
It wasnt over for Nicole though, she lost a full litre of blood and needed 24 stitches to put her back together again. Yes, 24!.
Surely that was the end of her painfull wedding anniversary? Nope, then she had a bad reaction to the epidural and was shaking violently and vomiting whilst being stitched up.
The stitching took a little over an hour and only then could she have her first food in over 24hrs. She threw it straight back up and cried.
Nicole stayed in the delivery room until 5.30am as she was at risk of needing a blood transfusion due to high blood loss but her blood pressure gradually rose back to safer levels so they transferred her to maternity ward with her own room and i went home about 6am.
She even had to stay in hospital an extra day and a half due to exhaustion, stuck on a poxy fluid drip.
Then they discovered she had developed an infection and was put on some extra antibiotics regularly through another drip!
Nicole is a star, she has gone through hell to bring this baby into the world for us. She was told she probably couldnt have children right at the start, so to concieve at all was a miracle. Then the pregnancy was hell, seeing her in hospital on a drip for sickness and specialists advising that Nicole strongly re-consider carrying the baby full term for the sake of her own health. Then we were advised they had discovered, during routine testing, that Ella had an above average risk of downs syndrome. We were devastated!
The test to find out for 99% certain is called an Amnio Centisis (Spl?) and it involves putting a needle through the stomach wall and directly into the fluid sack carrying the child and drawing fluid from it for testing. The risk, is if baby moves suddenly it could be speared by the needle, or the exit wound from the needle could leak fluid and the baby die. Rare issues, but potential all the same, and its not like this was a happy go lucky pregnancy, we seem to be at risk of suffering any problem available... So the question was, did we risk it and carry on not knowing and take pot luck at birth time, or take the test, but risk killing the baby in doing so? We opted for the test... and then had to wait a week! What a week.
The good news was, it tested fine and they told us we definately have a little girl.
Its been awfull from day one for Nicole, but its been pretty grim for me too as ive not been able to do anything but stand around looking and feeling like a right tool for 9 months while Nicole has gone through this... I hope to do my bit now by making the rest of both their lives as good as they possibly can be.
Ella 3 days old.
Ella 5 days old.
Amazing how she has changed so much in only a few days. She is now 9 days old and i will grab another picture of her later.
All i have left to say is thank you Nicole for giving me a baby daughter and suffering so much in the process, I love you both more than words can say. x
Last edited by Stu @ M Developments; 12-09-2008 at 03:41 AM.
#177
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I can't stop laughing at the Apollo creed joke. She looks battered in the first pic. I love babies and yours is a looker, from what I can see. That's got to be the most horrific birth I've ever heard of though. Nicole really has been through it.
The baby looks like it has a tan! Ha.
Take care, Benni.
The baby looks like it has a tan! Ha.
Take care, Benni.
#178
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fair play to you both and wow sounded a nightmare for you both obviously Nicole going through it but you feeling helpless as there isnt much you can do. but a great ending to it well pleased for you. glad everything is now all ok. and very cute little one all the best for the future for you all.
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Stu you always have a way with words , felt all the emotion reading through that, just so so glad it has all worked out for you and Nicole, and of course Ella
Beers are most definatly on me next time we are out
Beers are most definatly on me next time we are out
#182
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Wow, very similar to my birth experience with Kai, thats why I was so desparate for an easier time with Bethany and thankfully I got what I wished for
She is absolutely gorgeous Stu and Nicole enjoy your precious bundle of joy
She is absolutely gorgeous Stu and Nicole enjoy your precious bundle of joy
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Congrats Stu & Nicole!!
What a story.....your poor wife.
Due to your wife loosing a lot of blood and needing anti-b's I would say she needs a good clean diet for a few weeks. Keep up on all the fruits, veg and meats she likes, no pre-packed meals..... get a good Multi-vit in too.
Regards,
Paul.
What a story.....your poor wife.
Due to your wife loosing a lot of blood and needing anti-b's I would say she needs a good clean diet for a few weeks. Keep up on all the fruits, veg and meats she likes, no pre-packed meals..... get a good Multi-vit in too.
Regards,
Paul.
#184
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Wow, glad everything worked out OK Stu. Can be a scary time, I remember our little un got in trouble, ended up with a quick C-Section as she had the umbilical tube wrapped round her throat! Certainly had me on a rollercoaster of emotions.
Hope you can now enjoy the first few months. It's all good until they start talking back
Congrats Stu and Nicole, and welcome Ella!
Hope you can now enjoy the first few months. It's all good until they start talking back
Congrats Stu and Nicole, and welcome Ella!
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Awesome she looks very nice Stu, congrats to both of you again.
What a story. Your poor wife. As you said now you have to take care of both as much as possible, and as said godzilla, a good diet would be perfect, then your wife will be back in top form again. No McDonald's
What a story. Your poor wife. As you said now you have to take care of both as much as possible, and as said godzilla, a good diet would be perfect, then your wife will be back in top form again. No McDonald's
Last edited by Mad Matt; 12-09-2008 at 05:58 AM.
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my god i was in tears by the end of that!!
just a big huge massive well done to the pair of ya.... hopefully you both, Nicole especially can try and put it all behind you as much as you can.
Ella is absolutely beautiful.
just a big huge massive well done to the pair of ya.... hopefully you both, Nicole especially can try and put it all behind you as much as you can.
Ella is absolutely beautiful.
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I forgot it was your first wedding anniversary whilst you were going through all this! Horrendous
Wonderful pictures, congratulations again to you both
Zo & J
Wonderful pictures, congratulations again to you both
Zo & J
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firstly i want to say congratulations on the birth of Ella, she looks absolutely gorgeous.
secondly, i wanna say well done to nicole, for going through such a horrendous birth and labour. I know how she feels about reacting to the epidural as this happened to me but all the way through the labour, and the stitches too which is worse than the birth sometimes
Hope she is resting and feeling a lot better, and hope you are looking after her well
Labour can be horrendous but also exciting meeting your baby. Even reading that, i still want to be a midwife
Sarah
secondly, i wanna say well done to nicole, for going through such a horrendous birth and labour. I know how she feels about reacting to the epidural as this happened to me but all the way through the labour, and the stitches too which is worse than the birth sometimes
Hope she is resting and feeling a lot better, and hope you are looking after her well
Labour can be horrendous but also exciting meeting your baby. Even reading that, i still want to be a midwife
Sarah
#199
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great news....
just reading your story and i`m thinking this is so the same as my o/h had with her labour,,
all the waiting, long labour, epidurals, and being "pulled out....
must be the name ELLA...
Well 12 weeks to go till we go through this all again....
just reading your story and i`m thinking this is so the same as my o/h had with her labour,,
all the waiting, long labour, epidurals, and being "pulled out....
must be the name ELLA...
Well 12 weeks to go till we go through this all again....