Alexander's Birth
I'll never forget waving goodbye to
Paulette (Eric's sister) and her children as they stood
on our veranda just after 8am on 8 July 1999. It felt
rather strange taking a sedate trip into hospital at a
pre-determined time and day.
I was pleased to see our midwife,
Raewyn, at the hospital and to find out that I was one
centimetre dilated! I was then examined by Mr McLean
(specialist) and his team. It felt odd to be in the
hospital bed rather than in an O.T uniform with the rest
of the team.
At 9am the hormonal gels were
inserted to help speed up the dilation of the cervix. I
was hooked up to the machine I was relieved to see that
the niggling pain was indeed small but definite
contractions. Things started to speed up after lunch so
I had a soak in the bath. Then at about 2.15pm Raewyn
hooked me up to the machine and confirmed that I was
definitely in labour. By the time Eric had the water
pool set up I was ready to get in and ease the
increasing pain. Time passed quickly in the pool and
before I knew it my body was wanting to 'bear down' and
it was hard to resist that urge. I got out of the pool
(as per the obstetric registrar's instructions as there
was concern about my low platelet count and potential
for haemorrhage).
The next 1 1/2 hours of pushing with
lots of encouragement from Raewyn and Eric weren't quite
enough to push our baby out. However, the mere mention
of forceps was enough for me to give an extra push
forward and with the aid of an episiotomy our son,
Alexander Paul McKenzie EDWARDS was born at 7.16pm. We
were amazed at the size of him, a hearty 9lb 10oz (4610
grams). After giving our hungry lad his first feed I
then enjoyed watching Eric give Alex his first bath.
My thanks to a great support team
of Raewyn and Eric.
A Letter to Hamish
Somehow we must have known that our
second baby’s birth was close because on the 12th of
March, the E.D.D (estimated date of delivery) I washed
out all the baby clothes. They fluttered in the warm
Southland breeze while Eric, assembled the birth pool
eagerly assisted by ‘big brother’, Alex (20 months).
While this was happening Pamela, our midwife, arrived
with a midwife who could cover for her the following
weekend when Pamela was away.
That evening when Eric was in at work for several hours
I began to get crampy feelings when going to bed around
10.15pm. I tried not to get too excited but could not
sleep hoping that I was going into labour. By 1 am when
Eric arrived home I was having mild and regular
contractions about 10 minutes apart. Mild, yet enough to
keep me awake. I dozed for an hour but was up for the
rest of the time getting linen and other items ready for
the birth. At about 4.30 am I had a small blood tinged
mucus show. I was very excited! Then at 6 am I had a
larger show. I left Eric sleeping until 7am when I woke
him and we agreed to give Pamela a ring. Pamela said to
let her know when the contractions got stronger. So we
rang my sister, Robyn, who lived next door, and my
mother who lived 30 minutes away. Mum said she’d come in
at about 10 am and take Alex out to “the farm” with her
for a holiday.
Eric filled the pool after breakfast then went for a
snooze while Mum and I chatted for an hour or so. Around
11.20 am things started to hot up. I was getting sick of
being inside and decided to go for a walk down the road
with Eric but quickly changed my mind at the gateway
when a was gripped by a stronger contraction. By 11.30
when I was doing some weeding in the garden I felt very
pleased knowing that Pamela was due around noon. When
she examined me I was rapt to learn than I was already 5
cm dilated (halfway!!!).
After lunch I got in the birth pool to carry on
labouring. At this stage the contractions were not that
intense. Pamela said that I might experience a forceful
popping sensation when my waters broke and not long
after this was exactly what happened. Soon after this I
moved into a rapid transition period of pushing. Pamela
and Eric were almost caught out at how quick it was
before your head was crowning. I think it was four or
five pushes before your head emerged then another two or
three pushes before our baby slithered into the water. I
turned onto my front and gave our baby boy his first
cuddle while Eric cut the umbilical cord. Hamish didn’t
make sound but just looked around intently at his
surroundings.
Raewyn (our second midwife) made a mercy dash to her
home several kilometres down the road to get a
replacement for the Syntometrine (used to speed up
expulsion of the placenta) lost in our fridge. I was
amazed at how quickly I expelled the placenta after this
drug was administered. Prior to this Robyn arrived to
say that she could look after our Singaporean friends
who were due to arrive “some time after lunch” and stay
for a night or so! Robyn was rather surprised to be able
to give Hamish one of his first cuddles. Three quarters
of an hour later I was sitting on the sofa in my
dressing gown with our baby in my arms when our friends
arrived. To their delight were able to hold a newborn
babe before heading into Invercargill to find
alternative accommodation! At 5.30pm I was tucked up in
bed with Hamish’s bassinet beside me and Pamela went
home to organize herself for her trip to Australia.
A Letter to our daughter Tesca
This is the story of your birth. Long before you were
conceived your father, Eric, had a name in waiting.
Tesca, the name of a small alpine plant -meaning wild
place.
A week late and I’d done all the jobs I’d wanted to do,
the birth pool was gathering dust in the garage, I had
even bought a big pile of videos and tried to think of
things other than “when was this baby boy or girl going
to arrive?” Saturday (23 August) and Mum-to-be was
grumpy and needed to get out of the house. So I packed a
picnic lunch and Dad plus two sons grabbed coats and
gumboots for a ‘wee stroll’ up Forest Hill (a local
walking track). Our ‘wee stroll’ to the summit lookout
and back lasted over 2 hours with Hamish (nearly 2 ½ )
and Alex (4 years old) setting the pace.
As we pulled in the drive at home we saw my sister,
Robyn, and I commented that if that walk didn’t put me
into labour then nothing would! I went and had a hot
bath and lay down for a while. It wasn’t until I got up
at 5.30pm that I started having cramping sensations. So
I sent Eric and the boys off to get fish and chips. Eric
finally detected my state as we were picnicking on the
floor. Eric said “are you okay?” I said “no, let’s get
the kids into bed A.S.A.P and get the P-O-O-L up “. The
boys suspected nothing and went to bed happily after a
few stories.
Eric’s next job was to fill the birth pool while we both
timed the ‘contractions’. I was a bit thrown by the fact
that I was getting my labour pains in the front of my
thighs and having pressure on my lower bowel. So when I
rang Raewyn (our midwife for the weekend) for the second
time my contractions were only two minutes apart. Maree
(student midwife) and Raewyn raced around immediately.
Raewyn hadn’t been in the door for more than a couple of
minutes when my waters broke. From then on things went
very quickly. Raewyn forgot the paperwork and checked
the baby’s heart beat which was strong. I barely made it
into the pool before I was pushing. And I couldn’t
believe it but I’d just started pushing and the baby’s
head was already crowning. I didn’t realize it at the
time but the cord was wrapped twice around its neck. But
it was only another push and our baby was born. Several
weeks before your birth a friend had prayed for a safe
delivery and that the umbilical cord would not be a
problem. Already God had his hand upon you little Tesca.
As Raewyn lifted our baby out of the pool I was amazed
to discover that we had a wee girl. Tesca was born at
9.21 p.m. Initially she was a bit stunned from the
delivery but recovered quickly and tested her lungs!
Already she showed strength in holding her head up.
A few minutes later we woke up big brothers, Alex and
Hamish, so they could meet their wee sister and see Dad
cut the cord “with a really big pair of scissors” (as
Alex said!). After I delivered the placenta I gave Tesca
her first feed and she latched on straight away for a
big drink. In the glow of the fire and with the midwives
composing medical poetry at our kitchen table. We rang
our family to tell them the good news and your Auntie
Robyn came over from next door to meet wee Tesca.
Then we all had a hot drink and biscuits. By midnight we
were all tucked up in bed our new family of five. And
Tesca you slept on your fathers chest like a wee possum
(or not so wee at 8lb 13oz!). The next morning I woke
with a smile on my face thinking ‘I have a daughter.’
Thank you to my absolutely fantastic support team of
Eric, Raewyn, Maree, Auntie Robyn,our family and of
course Pamela, my midwife but for a weekend when it all
happened (sorry about the surprise, Pam, it just shows
what a walk up Forest Hill can do!)
