Louise Has Arrived!

25th March 2010

What a busy week we’ve had!! On Wed evening ( St Patrick’s Day) I began to feel very uncomfortable with niggling cramps coming and going. After a few hours they were neither getting better nor worse so I rang the hospital for advice. I said I wasn’t in labour but would be happy to get checked out rather than go to bed and lie awake wondering what I should do. The midwife said come on in so we organised the children and drove up. By the time we arrived every ache and pain had totally disappeared and I felt a bit of a fraud. 

In admissions we overheard the girl on the phone trying to locate a file for a high risk baby who was expected in the next few days…we suspected it might be us so John introduced himself. Sure enough, it was my file which seemed nowhere to be found! She made up a temporary file and we went to the delivery ward to be checked out. The staff there were all familiar with our case; in fact one of the midwives had it as one of her assignments!! After another flurry of searching and telephone calls the file was located…in the delivery ward where it had been sent so it would be immediately to hand when we came in!

Well as I thought, when the midwife examined me of course I wasn’t in labour so she decided to keep me in overnight and review it in the morning. I was sent down to the pre-labour ward which seemed nice and quiet and John went home. You know one should never judge by first impressions because as the night went on the activity heated up. It dawned on me that these were all girls who were undergoing induced labour and it was all kicking in about now. Moans, groans, girls trying unsuccessfully to have controlled breathing, lights on, lights off, fetal heart monitors, nurses coming, nurses going…dear oh dear…it was NOT a quiet ward at all! I had no aches or pains and was kicking myself for my bad judgement...here I was in this unsleepable environment not in labour when I could be fast asleep at home! At 6.30 some of the girls were moved to delivery and silence fell. And I fell too-fast asleep. 

At 7.30 we were woken up for breakfast.

When the doctor came on the ward round he suggested I stay until lunchtime then if nothing happened I could go home. Almost immediately after he’d gone a doctor from my obstetrician’s team came in and told me they’d noticed I was here and considering I was due to be induced shortly, they’d do it today instead. I was delighted and went out in the hall to phone John, but as I was telling him all my fears suddenly came rushing back and it took me a while to transmit my message. John came back up as soon as he could organise the children. The process had been started and before too long I was feeling a few pains. I was so tired though that by mid morning I had to lie down for a nap and everything stopped again. My water was to be broken at 12 noon but the labour ward phoned and told them to wait as they weren’t ready as they suspected that labour would be quick being baby number 6. Eventually they phoned back with the ok around the same time the special care unit were ringing to find out where baby Kehoe was considering they’d been ‘ready’ for her all morning!

As soon as the doctor ruptured the membrane I felt a huge contraction and after a short walk up and down the corridor I was in established labour. I was brought to delivery was soon clutching the gas and air mask with the drowning man’s grip. I’d decided against any other pain relief as it would have compromised my chances of seeing the baby later. The anticipated huge crowd transpired to be two midwives and two very discreet paediatricians, being too late in the evening for any students to be around. The very calm Indian nurse was so unharried and reassuring that I really had no problem keeping in control. Before what seemed like an unrealistically short time I needed to push...the midwife was checking me out and gently saying ‘don’t push, don’t push….do push PUSH’ and out popped this little treasure we’ve been waiting for!!!! Entire labour lasted one hour six minutes!!

The baby was handed straight to me which I couldn’t believe. I’d been expecting a quick look at her before she was rushed away. Louise looked nice and pink and not blue like I’d also been expecting. My only slight concern was that she wasn’t crying but saying that the two doctors were standing there I felt they mustn’t be concerned. They took her then and one puff of oxygen brought the welcome wail. She was wrapped up and the doctor suggested I try giving her a feed. I couldn’t believe my good luck. However, the baby didn’t share my enthusiasm so the doctor said I could try later in special care unit. Time to take her, but she reassured me Louise looked well and it was really to check her out. Her apgar score was 7 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes which was good.

We were in the delivery ward for about another hour getting things finished up and of course enjoying our welcome cup of tea and toast. I never, ever drink tea except for straight after giving birth when nothing else would suffice…so I’ve had 6 cups of tea in my life! There’s always a hushed almost reverend atmosphere in the delivery ward after a baby is born, as if to acknowledge the miracle that has just transpired and even though our baby had been moved upstairs, that atmosphere descended here too. I felt so happy and relieved and of course I thought my little girl was gorgeous. I couldn’t wait to see her again.

I was brought then to a gynae ward where there would be no babies or other mothers and considering the one hour of sleep I’d had the night before I was looking forward to the prospect of an uninterrupted few hours. The ward was practically empty in anticipation of patients who would be arriving for various procedures the next morning. After admitting me to the ward the nurse brought us up to the Special Care Baby Unit to see our little daughter. The staff were happy to see us as we heard her before we saw her. Straight away the paediatrician said ‘I think you can give her a feed’ Louise by now had the expected wires, lines and monitors attached so a nurse helped us lift her out of the open incubator and immediately upon being offered, our little baby whom we had been warned wouldn’t be able to breastfeed launched into her first feed with expertise and enthusiasm.

The cardiologist had been informed as soon as Louise had been born and the doctor in Special Care told us he wanted Louise sent over to the Children’s Hospital straight away. Firstly because there was a bed available which might not be there in the morning and secondly because he himself was on call that night and so would be there to receive her.

The ambulance crew arrived about a half an hour later and we kissed Louise before seeing her off along with a nurse who would be travelling with her. As they were wheeling the huge transportation incubator away one of the men turned to me ’Drive carefully!’ I called ‘That’s a precious cargo.. .’ ‘We will’ he replied.

John went home and I returned to my bed in the ward. The window beside me was ajar and a mild spring breeze and a deep sleep enveloped me.

5 Minutes Old

Hello Daddy!!