The Birth Story

Hi! I'm home from the hospital now and I have a gorgeous little boy who we are so in love with! We are so lucky. And now for the birth story...

We went in for our induction on Monday night, and the procedure was to be identical to Preston's induction so we knew what we were in for. I was given prostaglandin gel to work overnight - with Preston I was given it for 24 hours and spent the latter half of that labouring only to get 1cm dilated, so I wasn't expecting anything to happen this time, since I was only being given it for 12 hours. After a night of mild cramping but nothing too major, I was examined and to my suprise, I was 3-4cm! Hooray! And since I'd had some sleep, I felt pretty normal.

My waters were broken at that point to move things along a bit, which started proper contractions immediately, and I walked to the delivery suite (having several contractions on the way, and feeling very proud of myself). There I had my epidural put in which is a pretty scary experience, and this was in preparation for the hormones I was about to get which brings on a quick and painful labour (so epidural is to make it more comfortable). The epidural seemed to be a bit much for me and it numbed almost my whole body including up to my eye so this caused a bit of drama amongst the anaesthetic team since they couldn't figure out what the problem was. (Anyway, by the time I was ready to push, it was started to wear off a little so that I could sort of feel what was going on. My eye was a bit droopy and wouldn't dilate for the rest of the day but wore off and is fine now.)

The hormones kicked in really fast and when the midwife told Dan to get the baby clothes on the warmer I was really shocked - I thought it would take the rest of the day to have the baby, but no, apparently I was 8cm and fast approaching full dilation and we would have a baby before we knew it! I was still feeling pretty normal (although I'd had quite a few contractions before the epidural kicked in) and had heaps of energy and it all felt a bit surreal that I was about to give birth under such good mental conditions.

And it wasn't long before I was pushing out Maxwell! He had his hand up by his chin so I ended up with a bit of a tear but not as bad as with Preston. I couldn't believe it when I was holding him at last after such a long stressful pregnancy and nothing was wrong with him after all the tests we had to have.

I had told Dan I didn't want any horrible photos of me straight after the birth when I'm all fatigued and sweaty and gross, but I actually look normal and I felt great! It was a fantastic birth experience - really controlled (from all the medical intervention) which I guess is not really the norm of the birth experience, but it was so reassuring to have everything all organised and planned and then feel so full of energy afterwards and ready to be a new mother.

We transferred to Birthcare for 3 nights which was good - I didn't necessarily need to be there that long as I know what I'm doing and Maxwell is the perfect model baby who does everything right - but it was good for us to have some special bonding time together.

We can't believe how much of an easy baby he is compared to Preston - he sleeps a lot (what a novelty!) and doesn't cry much (we will have to buy a baby monitor this time) and then just like Preston, he knew straight away how to latch on and gulp down milk. I have so much milk that yesterday I thought I was going to explode! I've been doing controlled feedings today so now I have the supply under better manufacture which is more comfortable. Although both boys are/were such vigorous feeders that I again have extremely painful bleeding nipples :( A couple more weeks of intense pain and then they should be desensitised hopefully - I managed to feed Preston for a year! He's growing well - he has already put on 100g in 5 days, and comparitively Preston had put on 35g by 7 days. They were only 20g difference at birth, and born on the same day of gestation.

Here's a comparison of them both on about day 3 sleeping at Birthcare:












So now we are adjusting to being a family of 4. Preston is being so lovely to Maxwell - he sings to him when he cries which is soooo cute, and he is really interested in helping with any tasks for him, like getting nappies and things. He's so excited to show him off to people and he explains (with big arm movements for accentuation) how 'Maxwell just popped out of my mummy's tummy!'

Maxwell is so cute and adorable, and we just love him so much :)

Introducing Maxwell ShenJie Too (朱深杰)

At 11:12am this morning, Belinda gave birth to Maxwell! He was induced 12 days late in what turned out to be a relatively easy natural birth - especially compared to Preston's.

Maxwell weighs in at 3.82kg (8 pounds 7), and looks fairly similar to P at the same age. You can see P's birth pics here, and in comparison, I'd say Maxwell has a smaller mouth and a slightly bigger nose.

We had some minor concerns during the birth, mainly to do with Belinda's reaction to the Epidural, but everything seems ok now.

I'm too tired to write much else, so here are some pics

D.

It's eviction day!

Tonight we go into hospital and start the induction procedure to help our baby be born. He should be out by tomorrow afternoon I suspect.

Here is my final pregnancy photo - don't I look ridiculous? I'm surprised I don't topple over, or bash into more things than I do.

Approx 41½ weeks, and I've put on 15kg during this pregnancy, but ONLY in my abdomen! I'm hoping most of it is baby/tissue/fluid/blood and that my tummy springs back ok (doubt it though)...

So, we are just enjoying our last few hours of (relative) freedom before our lives change. Got some movies ready to watch to pass the time while the induction starts to work, and I'm determined to finish my Mr Men alphabet cross stitch that I started when I was pregnant with Preston!

News and photos will follow as soon as there is any :)

Hospital assessment update

Today we went to the hospital for an assessment of the baby's activity and space issues. I had another blood test to check my platelets which have actually dropped a bit which is not great, but i don't know if that is simply due to being overdue and with a larger demand on blood volume etc. I also had a scan to check for amniotic fluid quantity, which is still fine.

I was hooked up to a machine for about half an hour that read the baby's heart beat, movements and my uterine contractions (I apparrently had 2 during that time!). Everything looks amazingly great - I just have a baby who is too happy where he is to bother coming out.

But he can't stay in there forever so we have booked an eviction for Monday night. Same deal as with Preston - time's up Mr, so if he doesn't come out on his own before then, we go through the induction procedure to trigger labour. Should have a baby in our arms by Tuesday (if not sooner!).

Latest update - still no baby

Well, it seems like I'm following the same pattern I did with Preston. My babies are so happy and cosy inside me they don't want to come out on their own!

I'm 6 days overdue. So far this week I've had another blood test to check my platelet levels are increasing so I don't have a hemmorrhage. Still waiting on results, but I'm very curious as I've been taking special supplements that theoretically should improve them and I want to see to what extent. I also had an ultrasound yesterday to check there is still enough amniotic fluid for the baby to survive (there is). The current estimated weight is about 8 pounds! Then today I had a membrane sweep with the midwife which I won't go into the details of, but let's just say it was a very invasive procedure designed to speed things along. So far, no contractions but I do feel a bit strange in the hormonal-change sort of sense so something might happen soon?

We are booked into the hospital at 10am on Friday for a morning of assessments to see where to go next. If nothing has happened by then, I'm hoping they will induce over the weekend.

Preston has been very good lately - he is definitely growing up a lot. One new thing is that he is now quite petrified of noises like alarms. We had some power cuts recently which set off the neighbourhood burglar alarms and he got a huge fright so now anytime we hear a loud noise it upsets him. He is concerned almost daily that a powercut might happen. Co-incidentally, the developmental email I get from babycenter.com this week was all about frights and night terrors so it must be something reasonably normal for his age.

I'm overdue!

Well that's no surprise. I think I've done really well to not get at all impatient before the due date. But now it's time to hatch, come out come out!!

The last few days, I've been getting lots of crazy acrobatics in my tummy that make it go in the most unnatural shapes. Not really any proper contractions or anything that feels like I'm about to start dilating though.

Tomorrow if nothing has happened, we are going to have a nice Preston day at Kelly Tarlton's as it will likely be his last chance for full attention from us....

Induction plan in place for backup!

YIKES - I'm due tomorrow! That is so scary. I have so much to do today that means! But I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go into labour in a hurry, and to be extra prepared, I now have an induction plan in place.

IF nothing happens, I have a scan booked on Tuesday to check there is still enough fluid etc, then a midwife appointment on Wednesday, and then a session at the hospital where they assess everything on Friday. Then I will be induced probably over the weekend or Monday. So that's my backup, now this little guy just has to get himself ready to come out on his own.

Yesterday I felt like things are definitely starting to get going - I had a whole day of fatigue (first tiredness in ages), plus the craziest tummy somersaults and lots of weird pains. It didn't feel like I was going to go into proper labour, but it did feel like some action is taking place. The head has dropped down more as well, and my tummy is pretty big. Not long to go now, either way :)

9 month Swimsuit Edition photo!

Wow, the day you've been waiting for is finally here - my Swimsuit Edition shot of my 9 month/39 week tummy! I can't believe how ridiculous I look, and that I actually went to the pools recently...

The blue togs photo is from today, and the pink togs are from Preston's pregnancy. I seem to have dropped lower this time, although the baby is sitting in a different position to Preston (he's lying with his back to my side, while Preston had his back to my tummy).

Above: February 2009
Below: November 2005

In general, I feel fine - in fact I feel like I'm just carrying on as usual each day and that one day soon my day will be rudely (and painfully) interrupted! I'm not feeling tired (my vitamins are amazing), just super hot and disgustingly sweaty and smelly.

Preston's growing up and being super clever and funny. His most frequent saying at the moment is 'Mummy I've told you THREE TIMES ALREADY' (ie, I should stop trying to ignore him and do what he says), and he also loves to correct people using the word 'actually', eg 'Would you like to do a puzzle?' "ACTUALLY that's called a JIGSAW puzzle". It's pretty funny! And tonight he wanted to show me his new pencil case with his new pencils in it, but I got totally owned when I asked to have a look and he said "Only looking, no touching, it's VERY expensive"... oh dear....

38.5 weeks - there are claims i affect the tides now

Yes, I'm getting rather large now. Preston took this photo of me today so I thought I'd post it. Random people I see in the street comment on how perfectly round my tummy is and how I'm 'ALL BABY' (the standard comment that has run through my two pregnancies).

Hmmm, as far as my comparison photos go, I seem to recall (dread) that my 39 week photo is the swimwear edition....oh dear. Well I suppose you'll have to check back here on Friday to see me in my togs.

Not long to go now. Seeing the midwife tomorrow, and I assume another barrage of blood tests too.

Preston and I had a fun day today - we went for a walk, which after about 10 minutes Preston claimed to be 'tired and needed a piggy back'. Those of you who know Preston know that he does not get tired (in the sleeping sense), so I suspect he was actually being LAZY.

Anyway, after abandoning our walk I decided to properly tire him out by going to a playground. By chance there was another little girl who he knew from his daycare, so they played together for ages which meant i could relax in the shade! Eventually, we left after having a nice picnic lunch, and came home. But unfortunately for Preston, a power cut spoilt our afternoon - he was absolutely petrified of the neighbourhood noise of people's alarms going off that he insisted we both hide in my bed. With his hand firmly over his ears for quite some time, this actually ended up working out quite well as he fell asleep for ages. Eventually I decided to wake him up and in his waking delerium, he asked if the power was all fixed and had the noise all stopped - he was very relieved that it had!

So we ate an afternoon treat and then cut up last year's animal calendar and put up cute posters on his wall. He thought Blu Tack is a pretty cool invention.

Some cute pictures

Here is Preston and Amber being cute - they were running down the path holding hands and turned around to us :) They are still such best friends!
















This is the fairy birthday cake I made for Mia's 1st birthday in the weekend.

It was such a fun morning party at the park! Preston learnt how to use a rope swing which he was very proud about.

Stupid blood test results

Well it seems that this pregnancy has been plagued by fuzzy results from all tests which has been very annoying. Nothing actually wrong has eventuated from these fuzzy results, but they have all been a little stressful while waiting for further clarifications.

So my last round of blood tests revealed two things that may or may not be a problem:

• Group B Strep
• Gestational Thrombocytopenia

What are these strange things? Well, Group B Strep is a normal gut bacteria that about 40% of women have and it doesn't seem to have many symptoms unless you get an actual infection from it, but during labour it can pass on to the baby and if an infection develops it can be quite serious. I haven't been tested for this before, and neither have my friends with children, and apparently it is one of the 'new' maternal tests that are being done now. It is routine in the US and if you don't have the test done, they assume you are positive and treat during labour as a precaution.

So the test shows I am a Group B Strep carrier. I can only assume that I exposed Preston to this when I had him but since I didn't know about it, it wasn't a problem. Now that it is a known factor, I have to have treatment which I'm not very happy about. As soon as I go into labour, I get IV penicillin as a precaution on the off chance that on that day I suddenly develop an infection. Antibiotics during pregnancy and breastfeeding pretty much goes against all my values so I'm in two minds of what to do. I suppose I could risk not taking the treatment and hope for the best, or do I take the medically sensible route to prevent emergency? I'm quite concerned about the effects of antibiotics on the developing baby's digestive system and subsequent risk of allergies and health problems.

The other thing the tests showed is that my platelet levels are dropping and I may be at risk of developing gestational thrombocytopenia which is a blood clotting problem and could lead to haemmorrhage. This is a bit annoying too obviously, but thinking back, every surgery I've had (and Preston's birth) has always been followed with the comment "Oh you lost quite a lot of blood which we weren't expecting". But I think it was manageable and I didn't need a blood transfusion (as far as I know). So I think for me, this risk is fairly normal.

However, I've been doing my research and I've found the supplements that should do the trick for both issues, to prevent any outbreak of the strep b, and also to raise my blood platelet levels. I have to have another blood test this week so I'll be really curious to see how things have changed.

None of this requires you to be worried, it's just the results of over-testing for things and being super-aware of what could potentially happen.