Last week was a busy one, with some "milestones". First of all, Abi began school! I can hardly believe she is old enough to begin - time has passed so quickly.
She is absolutely loving it, and complains when all her work is done (which, of course, does not take long when done one-to-one at home!). Somehow, she thinks she is being deprived when she has finished and no-one else has!! I think iI need to find her some other things to keep her busy, that she thinks of as "school"!
I have the added "fun" of trying to juggle FIVE children now of school age. It went well last week, and we will add a bit more to our schedule this week, and build it all up gradually. I I think an important part of schooling adjusting to your circumstances, and so whilst Abi needs a bit more 1-1 and Susie still needs some extra, I need to be flexible with everyone else. As well as all that, I need to remember I am PREGNANT - just over 34 weeks, no less - and need to cut MYSELF some slack. So, when I had a day on Friday, when ALL the older 4 seemed to struggle with understanding their word problems in Maths, I decided there as not point ME stressing, NOR them, and just took as long as we needed to get it done. At the same time, I made a double batch of chilli, and a massive cottage pie for visitors coming this week. I managed to end the first week back at school, without copious amounts of stress and agro!
Then, it was Abi's birthday on Thursday.
5 years since I had an emergency c-section.
I hear of so many people who find a c-section a traumatic experience. I find it a great blessing that I can say that I did not find mine to be such. It was weird. It was unexpected. Not traumatic. Perfect, in fact.
My labour had seemed to be going ok. In fact, at one point I thought I was going to have her very quickly, at home. After my waters broke, the pressure relieved and we calmly went to hospital. On the way there my contractions actually slowed down, and I was worried we would arrive and labour would have stopped!! Instead, we arrived and I was coping really well. I was so calm, that they took their time just getting me into a room, introducing me to my student midwife, then doing my obs. I pottered off to give them their "sample", and then had them check my temperature, BP and pulse. On went the monitor, to then check the baby. I had probably been there about 15 or 20 minutes by that point. Then, the student MW commented that the baby's heart rate was fast. I pointed out that it was my HR she was hearing - the baby's was too slow. She waited for another contraction, it was the same again. I told her to go and get her supervisor. (Not that I was a knowledgeable mother, who had already had 4 babies, or anything...!!!) The REALLY lovely senior MW came in, and immediately was concerned. She quickly did an internal. I was 7cm (yay!), but there was a limb presenting first, and there were non-recovering decelerations of the baby's heart beat. I knew RIGHT away that I was having a c-section, and I was filled with complete peace. I even said "this is going to be a c-section, isn't it?" People came flooding into the room, and they started, in a very panicked way, to get me out of the room. They got the bed stuck in the doorway, they were rushing so fast!! Robert had gone to the loo, somewhere in all of this, and as he came back, they were wheeling me away!! I had ONE moment of slight concern, when I suddenly thought "will the baby be ok??" With it being such a rush, it was a general anaesthetic. I went into theatre and had LOADS of people doing things all at once. It was kind of amusing, in a weird way! Again, they got the bed stuck, because they pumped one bed up to the theatre table, with one slightly underneath the other!! Then there was one person putting IV access in, one putting on blow-up thingies on my legs, to prevent clots, and one lovely lady saying "we're just going to shave you, darlin'" - they weren't talking about my legs, either...*aherm* The nastiest was the lovely liquid they gave me to drink, to dissolve anything in my stomach (ie, the banana I ate to keep my energy up in early labour at home!!), so I did not aspirate under GA. The next thing, they were putting oxygen on, telling me to breathe deeply. They told me not to let my eyes close, and I knew I would be under shortly. (I was slightly confused about why they were not telling me to count backwards from 10 - I found out later - years later - that they only tell children to do that!!! *chuckles* )
Next thing I knew, I was waking up in quite a bright room, with someone handing me a baby, saying "Here's your baby, Caroline". She was born at 8.40am, and this was after 11am!! I don't know what they did after the surgery, maybe let loads of students practice their stitching on me??
It was not pleasant to recover from. The morphine made me feel icky, and recovery is WAY harder than after a "normal" delivery. However, it transpired that the cord was wrapped around her wrist, a couple of times around her neck, and her arm was coming out first. It was the right thing for her to born that way, and I have always felt a peace about it. It was certainly better than the alternative. I don't know what life would have been like without our Abi-doo.
I had prayer, all through the pregnancy, that I wouldn't have to push when I gave birth. My pushing stage always took ages, and was tiring. I didn't quite expect my prayer to be answered that way!! Now, my prayers are a bit more specific!
Praise God, I have since had 2 successful VBACs, and pray that I have another very soon. VBAC, that is.....
I rejoice as I look back to the day she entered the world.
I rejoice that God gave me peace, in the midst of the storm.
I rejoice that Abi and I were kept safe and well.
I rejoice that God's ways are prefect.
I rejoice that I have been blessed with more babies since then, and that they were able to be delivered without repeating a c-section.
I rejoice that was such a content and happy baby, which aided my recovery no end!
I rejoice that Abi is a happy, fun, smiley and loving little girl, who brings us much joy on a daily basis.
I rejoice that I know that GOD holds the future, and no matter what lies ahead with this baby and delivery, God is in control. I can plan, and be prepared for the best that I can be in labour, humanly speaking - at the end of the day, God has a plan, and it may not be what my plan would be, but it's BEST!
It's a good, daily reminder. We plan, in so many areas. We try and do our best, humanly speaking, to do what we should be doing. Sometimes, however, God changes our "plans", and throws a curve ball into our life. We need to remember that God's ways are perfect, and that our ways are not always HIS ways, but they are the BEST ways.
She is absolutely loving it, and complains when all her work is done (which, of course, does not take long when done one-to-one at home!). Somehow, she thinks she is being deprived when she has finished and no-one else has!! I think iI need to find her some other things to keep her busy, that she thinks of as "school"!
I have the added "fun" of trying to juggle FIVE children now of school age. It went well last week, and we will add a bit more to our schedule this week, and build it all up gradually. I I think an important part of schooling adjusting to your circumstances, and so whilst Abi needs a bit more 1-1 and Susie still needs some extra, I need to be flexible with everyone else. As well as all that, I need to remember I am PREGNANT - just over 34 weeks, no less - and need to cut MYSELF some slack. So, when I had a day on Friday, when ALL the older 4 seemed to struggle with understanding their word problems in Maths, I decided there as not point ME stressing, NOR them, and just took as long as we needed to get it done. At the same time, I made a double batch of chilli, and a massive cottage pie for visitors coming this week. I managed to end the first week back at school, without copious amounts of stress and agro!
Then, it was Abi's birthday on Thursday.
5 years since I had an emergency c-section.
I hear of so many people who find a c-section a traumatic experience. I find it a great blessing that I can say that I did not find mine to be such. It was weird. It was unexpected. Not traumatic. Perfect, in fact.
My labour had seemed to be going ok. In fact, at one point I thought I was going to have her very quickly, at home. After my waters broke, the pressure relieved and we calmly went to hospital. On the way there my contractions actually slowed down, and I was worried we would arrive and labour would have stopped!! Instead, we arrived and I was coping really well. I was so calm, that they took their time just getting me into a room, introducing me to my student midwife, then doing my obs. I pottered off to give them their "sample", and then had them check my temperature, BP and pulse. On went the monitor, to then check the baby. I had probably been there about 15 or 20 minutes by that point. Then, the student MW commented that the baby's heart rate was fast. I pointed out that it was my HR she was hearing - the baby's was too slow. She waited for another contraction, it was the same again. I told her to go and get her supervisor. (Not that I was a knowledgeable mother, who had already had 4 babies, or anything...!!!) The REALLY lovely senior MW came in, and immediately was concerned. She quickly did an internal. I was 7cm (yay!), but there was a limb presenting first, and there were non-recovering decelerations of the baby's heart beat. I knew RIGHT away that I was having a c-section, and I was filled with complete peace. I even said "this is going to be a c-section, isn't it?" People came flooding into the room, and they started, in a very panicked way, to get me out of the room. They got the bed stuck in the doorway, they were rushing so fast!! Robert had gone to the loo, somewhere in all of this, and as he came back, they were wheeling me away!! I had ONE moment of slight concern, when I suddenly thought "will the baby be ok??" With it being such a rush, it was a general anaesthetic. I went into theatre and had LOADS of people doing things all at once. It was kind of amusing, in a weird way! Again, they got the bed stuck, because they pumped one bed up to the theatre table, with one slightly underneath the other!! Then there was one person putting IV access in, one putting on blow-up thingies on my legs, to prevent clots, and one lovely lady saying "we're just going to shave you, darlin'" - they weren't talking about my legs, either...*aherm* The nastiest was the lovely liquid they gave me to drink, to dissolve anything in my stomach (ie, the banana I ate to keep my energy up in early labour at home!!), so I did not aspirate under GA. The next thing, they were putting oxygen on, telling me to breathe deeply. They told me not to let my eyes close, and I knew I would be under shortly. (I was slightly confused about why they were not telling me to count backwards from 10 - I found out later - years later - that they only tell children to do that!!! *chuckles* )
Next thing I knew, I was waking up in quite a bright room, with someone handing me a baby, saying "Here's your baby, Caroline". She was born at 8.40am, and this was after 11am!! I don't know what they did after the surgery, maybe let loads of students practice their stitching on me??
It was not pleasant to recover from. The morphine made me feel icky, and recovery is WAY harder than after a "normal" delivery. However, it transpired that the cord was wrapped around her wrist, a couple of times around her neck, and her arm was coming out first. It was the right thing for her to born that way, and I have always felt a peace about it. It was certainly better than the alternative. I don't know what life would have been like without our Abi-doo.
I had prayer, all through the pregnancy, that I wouldn't have to push when I gave birth. My pushing stage always took ages, and was tiring. I didn't quite expect my prayer to be answered that way!! Now, my prayers are a bit more specific!
Praise God, I have since had 2 successful VBACs, and pray that I have another very soon. VBAC, that is.....
I rejoice as I look back to the day she entered the world.
I rejoice that God gave me peace, in the midst of the storm.
I rejoice that Abi and I were kept safe and well.
I rejoice that God's ways are prefect.
I rejoice that I have been blessed with more babies since then, and that they were able to be delivered without repeating a c-section.
I rejoice that was such a content and happy baby, which aided my recovery no end!
I rejoice that Abi is a happy, fun, smiley and loving little girl, who brings us much joy on a daily basis.
I rejoice that I know that GOD holds the future, and no matter what lies ahead with this baby and delivery, God is in control. I can plan, and be prepared for the best that I can be in labour, humanly speaking - at the end of the day, God has a plan, and it may not be what my plan would be, but it's BEST!
It's a good, daily reminder. We plan, in so many areas. We try and do our best, humanly speaking, to do what we should be doing. Sometimes, however, God changes our "plans", and throws a curve ball into our life. We need to remember that God's ways are perfect, and that our ways are not always HIS ways, but they are the BEST ways.
Happy birthday, lovely girl :)
ReplyDeleteWow - *love* the cake.
And love your story. What I think with so many of these medical interventions is - not, 'oh why did that have to happen?' - but rather, 'How good God is to have allowed these advances so both Abigail and I are alive and well today'.
For most of history, that story would have had a different outcome. God has been very gracious to our generation in so many ways. x
Happy Birthday to your sweet daughter! Her cake is lovely! Do you have a bakers hat to add wear beside all the other hats your wear?
ReplyDeleteI am also grateful for the c-section! I've had two, and both were perfect for us. God had us in the perfect place and mindset. We have 3 babies (the twins were born c-section) that were healthy and happy and ALIVE! because of the procedure.
May the Lord bless your sweet girl as she continues to grow in Him!
And may the stories He has given you in the past births give you the encouragement you need for this upcoming delivery!....Always grateful that the outcome is in His able hands!