SPRING 2016

I had about staying at home till my waters broke, playing music and birthing balls all seemed a
distant memory – I was giving birth in a rush! Luckily, Matt and I had discussed the ‘pain relief’ part
of our birth plan, so when I was asked if I wanted pethidine I declined and later, when offered gas
and air I also said no. The weird thing is, at no stage did I panic, because it all seemed so surreal
and happened so fast. By 0130, I felt a strange feeling and the midwife asked if I wanted to push.
I wasn’t sure: this was a bit that we hadn’t covered yet in our classes! So I pushed. Matt was
brilliant, holding my hand and telling me how well I was doing. He told me later that he was really
scared that something might go wrong (especially when the baby’s heart beat dropped and they were
talking about doing an episiotomy). However, just then they said they could see the baby’s head, I
pushed once more and she flew out onto the bed with a scream!
We hadn’t decided on a girl’s name, but looking at her we decided on Rebecca. We were allowed to
hold her for just a few minutes and then she was taken to the Special Care Baby Unit. The next
couple of hours were quite strange because we were then left on our own – having had the birth
experience we had no baby! Before Matt left at about 0630, they took us down to the baby unit to
see Rebecca. She looked so tiny in the incubator but we were so lucky – although she was just 4lb
1oz and needed help with temperature control, she was breathing entirely by herself! Matt went
off to tell the grandparents – they were all very surprised but pleased and wanted to come and see
us as soon as possible!
I was transferred to the maternity ward, but this felt very strange, as I was alone without my baby.
The Baby Unit gave me a polaroid of Rebecca for my bedside table, but it still felt a bit like I’d
waited all year for Christmas and then had my presents taken away! I didn’t have time to feel sorry
for myself though, because I had to get on with expressing milk for my Rebecca. She started on
glucose solution, but the nurses said that she could have milk in a couple of days. The midwives had
me on the electric pump every 4 hours. At first, my chart made very boring reading – 10 minutes
each side, 3 drops produced - but by Wednesday, I was producing 30 millilitres in 15 minutes – from
each side! It was great, because I knew my daughter would be having my milk and antibodies, even
though it was through a tube.
The nurses in the Baby Unit were great. They showed me how to change her nappy through the
holes in the incubator and on the second day, they helped me do skin-to-skin contact with her. It is
called ‘Kangaroo Care’ and it helps with bonding because the baby can feel your heartbeat. It was
the most beautiful feeling - they took her out of the incubator and put her down the front of my
nightie! It was amazing - she felt soft, warm and cosy and seemed very happy there!
Rebecca was a fighter and was in a cot after 3 days. At the end of the first week, the nurse put
her to my breast and she had a few sucks. This was brilliant because apparently, usually the suckling
action doesn’t come until 34 weeks. Every day after that we did more and more with tube top-ups of
my breast milk in-between. At the end of three weeks I was doing all but two night feeds, so I
spent a night in the ‘flat’ attached to the Baby Unit, to see if we could breastfeed fully for 24
hours. All went well and we, the proud parents were finally able to take our little bundle home. We
were excited, but rather scared as she was so tiny, but the aftercare support from the Baby Unit
was fantastic and my NCT group were all happy to visit, keep me company and see what was yet to
come for them. It certainly urged them to get their labour bags packed!
Our experience was certainly unexpected, but our beautiful little girl was worth it and it just goes
to show – you can’t plan for everything and your baby will always surprise you!!
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