Pregnancy And Parenting

[Nick_BCFC]

"Jaundice"? It's a medical condition extremely common in newborn babies. Wiki. Our first was jaundiced for about a week and needed kept in sunlight as much as possible for that time until it went away. Our second had a touch of it but it went away within a day or so of its own accord.

"gypoarmy" referred to it as "jondis" in his post. Mine was a mild correction in a congratulations post (since it was miles wrong).

Right ok cheers. I thought at first it was some sort of condition (i've never heard of it before in my life) then I feared for a moment someone had called it their little girl!

[gypoarmy]

Right ok cheers. I thought at first it was some sort of condition (i've never heard of it before in my life) then I feared for a moment someone had called it their little girl!

Nah we stuck with the name Eva

[RH33]

Congratualtions Gypo!

LM-your pic adds more weight to my decision not to give chocolate

[Adam_Wee]

Congrats mate! They are great at that age, all they do is sleep. Enjoy it while you can.

Nice name too.

[Lisa Cuddy]

Congratualtions Gypo!

LM-your pic adds more weight to my decision not to give chocolate

Ah, it's fun. Really! Thank god it's only cheap magnolia paint. It'll be getting painted again soon anyway. Our chocolate policy is subject to change.

[MB]

For those of a nervous disposition or the soon to be parents for the first time, I've hidden the details in a spoiler.

Bloody hell. The worst thing is that feeling of helplessness and the fear that someone you love so much is really suffering, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. I hope everything is much better now - good luck with the new arrival.

My Baby was born on Friday

she weighed 6/7 and is a wee cracker. A wee bit on jondis but other than that shes perfect. Still not totally sunk in. Its such an amazing feeling!

and i have even learned how to change her my self (sometimes)

Congratulations. There is not another feeling like it. Be prepared for little sleep in the next three or four months, but it'll all be worth it.

[savagecabbage]

For those of a nervous disposition or the soon to be parents for the first time, I've hidden the details in a spoiler.

I'll start by saying that the wife probably had unreal expectations of a few hours in a birthing pool a couple of pushes and hey presto here comes the new bairn but I don't think anything could have prepared her for the trauma we eventually went through. Possibly it was just because it was happening to someone I love and I could do very little to help or maybe I'm being a pussy and you'll think it was par for the course when giving birth. I'll have to find out.

Here goes. We did what we'd been told and waited for the contractions to get to the stage of 1 minute long and 3 minutes apart before we were told to come in. We'd phoned earlier a couple of times just to make sure we were doing the right thing. Once we arrived they could see that she was in labour and a quick check showed a 4cm dilation so on to the pool we went. About 12.30 on Monday morning or so. Relaxing and soothing with our own music supplied by my mp3 player. The pool was meant to be at 37 degrees but very soon after she got in she was complaining about the heat and had to keep getting in and out of it to cool down a bit. The contractions were a bit irregular but still mostly as they were meant to be. Her blood pressure had been fine all through but now it was starting to rise and they were also expressing concern about her swelling legs and feet. Sure signs of possible pre-eclampsia.

Her contractions then seemed to stop and her urine was almost non existant and a muddy brown colour. nobody had seen this before so we were visited by the head midwife and doctor who asked questions and did some tests but seemed a bit perplexed by it all. They said then that she couldn't get in the pool and another check showed no further dilation in 7 hours. Shift change then she was checked and told that she would have to be induced so put on a couple of drips.

All fairly easy though.

This is when it started to go a bit unpleasant. A cathater was installed to see if she could pass any urine and it showed only about a few millilitres even though she'd been drinking 4 jugs of iced water. Her legs were swelling even more. Can you guess where the water was going? Now the staff were telling us tht her kidneys weren't working properly but it was OK so far. Nothing to worry about!

The inducing was causing very strong contractions and the wife was in agony trying to control them only on gas and air so they then decide that the dilation would be helped if she wasn't producing adrenaline by the bucketload because of her anxiety and pain. An epidural doesn't sound too bad even if it involves an injection into your back but the explanation of the 'risks' involved doesn't help the wife's blood pressure and they become more worried about pre-eclampsia. This is tempered by the fact that she calms down a lot when she can't feel a bit of pain from the contractions and the dilation eventually gets to fully dilated.

By this time we'd been in the hospital for 19 hours but awake for about 39. From 9 at night is when she is told to start pushing. Not the easiest thing to do in her state. I was completely spaced and all I had to do was hold her hand and try to clam her down. After 2 hours of pushing with every contraction, the head was still nowhere near low enough to show and they were starting to talk of forceps, suction caps and c-section. Just the kind of thing to pump up the wife's blood pressure even more. After various doctors and midwifes had had their hands up the wifes chuff, they decided that we had to go to theatre for a forceps pull or a c-section. I go along and get dressed in my theatre gown to watch 5 people around the wife whos's got all sorts of wires and tubes coming out of her. She is dead from the waist down but is still aware of the feeling like a tractor pull down below which si trying to 'ease' the baby's head out with forceps while she pushes with each contraction. She's pushing but can't feel a thing. truly a bizarre experience I would guess even though I cannot possibly have any thing to compare it with. Every time there is a pull from the doctors down at the business end we can hear a cry of a baby. Surely that means the head is out? No unfortunately not. After 15 minutes of pulling at the baby's head (with every pull making me think of the possibilities of brain damage) they finally give up and tell me to leave the theatre while they prepare her for the section. This was the worst part of the whole day because am alone with my thoughts in the theatre locker room. You can imagine the multitude of possible outcomes that went through my head with very few being pleasant. Eventually back in to the theatre and I again try to keep my wife calm who seems to be having palpatations (although I was told that the 'spinal' caused this shaking effect) while all the time thinking that one or both of my loved ones may be taken from me here. Trying to stay calm yourself is hard enough. Trying to calm a very frightened woman when you really think you are lying to her saying that everything is going to be OK is possibly the hardest thing I have ever done. I generally don't lie which is one of my very few good points.

After they sliced her open they showed a very blue looking (to me) baby to us then immediately took her away to be given oxygen. Whatever happened to the lying skin on skin bonding shite you hear about at ante natal classes? I then get hauled over to be told that there is a slight problem with the baby's breathing and she will have to be taken to the neo natal ward for observation. Now slight and observation are very benign words and looking back with the benefit of hindsight this should have meant that everything was fine but they were being cautious. To me slight meant major and observation meant high intensity care. Still light headed from lack of sleep I just nodded not really comprehending. I then turn around to catch sight of my wife lying on an operating table with waht seemed like most of her stomach sliced open and more blood than your average slasher movie all over the sheets. Now generally I'm not squeamish. I remember watching a very interesting documentary about a knee cap replacement operation on a farmer while I was eating a jam piece but something about seeing your wife being stitched up while crying uncontrollably makes my squeamishness rise ever so slightly but again I've to sit down and tell her that everything was fine. The bairn was under observation. She couldn't have it lying on her bonding like is 'meant to happen'. I then have to g home on my own not really knowing what was in store the next day. This might explain my trauma thread when I got in too tired to sleep so logging onto the interent simply for something to do to fill the time until I actually felt i could sleep.

The good news is that Nesta (that's her name - it is Bob marley's middle name but also a Welsh name derived from Agnes which is Greek for lamb) is now breathing well and is really too well to be in the neo natal ward but has to be fed before she is allowed to leave. Box ticking at it's best.

The wife is less well but only because of the amount of drugs she is getting making her very woosy, drifting in and out of sleep. Her blood pressure is down and her kidneys are back working because (as I was told) the placenta is out and her body is returning to normal. Supposedly the placenta is a bit of a villain of the piece but pretty necessary in the whole thing.

Not the most pleasant of tales but with a happy ending.

Glad to hear they are doing better.

Note to self if anybody else posts something like this pre our second child DONT FECKING READ IT

Now im kacking myself again..........I thought our first was aa bit of a mare but your experience beats it hands down.

[savagecabbage]

I never had any problem going home on my own for either birth. Although the timing was relatively normal for both in that I left the hospital about 10pm. First time around I called in to my local to have a quick pint, went to my parent's to show them a couple of pictures and then went home got a bite to eat and turned the pc on to report on this thread!

Second time round I knew they'd be getting out the next day (first time I knew they wouldn't and I'd get a few beers the Friday night) so I went to the pub for 3 or 4 drinks before home. I knew I wouldn't be getting a chance again for a long time! In fact that was mid February and I've only had one night since when I managed a drink (and that because it was an organised dinner), although I am getting out to play on Saturday night if I want because the kids are going to granny's and the wife is out with her pals.

I have to concur with the others it was the wierdest high ever. I didnt want to go and remember driving back home with a huge smile on my face and driving back through plean of all places when over the rainbow played o some random CD that was in the car. Got the old heart stings going i'll tell you Sat in the house and thought how different things were going to be and to get stuff ready. had a beer and text loads of folk. COuldnt sleep at all and picking up the wife and the wee man the next day was fantastic

[Skyline Drifter]

I have to concur with the others it was the wierdest high ever. I didnt want to go and remember driving back home with a huge smile on my face and driving back through plean of all places when over the rainbow played o some random CD that was in the car. Got the old heart stings going i'll tell you Sat in the house and thought how different things were going to be and to get stuff ready. had a beer and text loads of folk. COuldnt sleep at all and picking up the wife and the wee man the next day was fantastic

Snow Patrol's "Crack The Sutters" seemed to crop up a lot on my car cd when our first was born. The lyrics really hit home with me.

[Thundermonkey]

Soppy b*****ds

Having said that, Katie has a toy pony that plays Here Comes The Sun which will always put me in mind of bringing her home from the hospital.

[gypoarmy]

Party Hard by Andrew WK

It was the only CD in the car!

[Ayrgirl]

Congratulations everyone

SD - Your experience was an absolutely horrendous one, glad that everything appears to be moving in the right direction now. I will confess to having a tear in my eye reading your post.

[AndyM]

At week 28 in her pregnancy my wife developed gestational diabetes and had to watch everything and I do mean everything that she ate but we carried on ok until week 36 with no real incidents beyond noticing that the baby went nuts when she took drinks with caffeine in it. We knew the baby was a 'big' baby though and breathing became difficult the bigger my wife got. She was also constantly tired and in front of her pals who were mums managed to horrify them by saying ' I HATE BEING PREGNANT'.

We went in for a check up at week 36 and my wife was told that the baby was sitting in the breach position. The Forth park doctors wanted to turn the baby. Checking up on this procedure my wife considered and then refused the procedure despite considerable pressure from the doctors who due to the size and position of the baby reluctantly booked her in for an elective C Section.

We then had another appointment just before the birth where one doctor insisted that the baby had turned. The midwife told him he was talking shite and the 2 of them had a spectacular stand up row about this. Another scan later showed that the midwife was spot on.

Strangely I found the whole C Section passed in an almost trance like state for me and then this wee person was plucked out of my wife and promptly peed all over her legs. Kirsty Eryn was born in Forth Park Kirkcaldy last month weighing in at a thumping 9lb and 4 oz..Baby was healthy but was taken up to Observation. The staff in the theatre were great but the senior nurse then marched in and gave my wife all of 2 minutes with her new baby.

Wife was then wheeled up to recovery where she started to get some rest.I was promptly booted out of the hospital at 8pm and told to come back in the morning.

Upon arriving the next morning I found my wife in a distressed state. She still had not been taken up to see her baby and no nurse had changed her pads, I found her in lying in a pool of blood as she was too sore to move . Her catheter was also at the point of bursting. The senior nurse who came on duty turned up and went apeshit at this. The nurses who had been on nightshift said 'Sorry it was a bad night'. Another much older woman who had been to one of the foreign IVF clinics had given birth to triplets and had taken up pretty much all the nurses time leaving my wife and another lady to pretty much fend for themselves as the 'call nurse' buttons were not working either. By 2 pm she still had not seen her baby and proceeded to go absolutely nuts. This did the trick and our daughter was brought down to my wife.

What we found with Forth park was that many of the staff just did not talk to each other which resulted in much frustration for the families. 'You're getting out today' we were told 2 days afterwards so I made arrangements to get my girls home and this was then vetoed an hour later by another doctor who decided we weren't. An utter shambles.

But my daughter is absolutely beautiful and a fabulous wee baby and my wife is an incredible mother. However I have been told that if we were to have another baby that my wife would prefer to give birth at the Burger King at the side of the M8 than head back to Forth Park so at the moment we have no plans for another child!

Edited April 15, 2010 by AndyM

[Suspect Device]

My Baby was born on Friday

she weighed 6/7 and is a wee cracker. A wee bit on jondis but other than that shes perfect. Still not totally sunk in. Its such an amazing feeling!

and i have even learned how to change her my self (sometimes)

Congratulations. 6/7 would have been a lot better for my wife but I guess you can't choose these things.

Nah we stuck with the name Eva

We were going for Eva for the girl's name but she'd have a cousin called Keeva and that would just cause confusion.

at the side of the M8 than head back to Forth Park so at the moment we have no plans for another child!

Strangely, we have absolutely no plans either but I am making plans to make sure we don't have any other little accidents.

And an update on my girls.

Yesterday the wee one got out off neo natal and onto a normal ward with the wife. She was obviously over themoon to get the chance to bond properly with her now.

Once whe's feeding properly and regularly, they will get home. Probably Sunday.

So even after the horror story, everything is good now.

Best of luck to anyone who's due soon.

[Whistle Blower]

Whistle Blower junior mark II is due in September

[Reina]

Good going WB!

Also, congrats to all the births (and stories - good grief Suspect Device, I thought my labour was traumatic!!) that I missed when I was on my holibobs!

An update on my wee mannie: he's almost 9 months now and has progressed on to walking with a bit of support (he's been crawling since 5½ months, so he was obviously getting bored ) - he has been pushing along a walker by himself for a couple of weeks now and in the last few days has started to try to stand independently. He stands for about 2 seconds before falling on his bum and giggling. It's very funny, but having a baby who's almost walking at the age of 9 months is NOT easy. It's cracking me up - I'm shattered when he goes to bed. He loves his food and is eating us out of house and home already... Fun and games!

[Whistle Blower]

Recent photo of the lad and his dad

[Homer Thompson]

Recent photo of the lad and his dad

Nice of you to take that for them

[Ayrgirl]

Whistle Blower junior mark II is due in September

Congratulations

[RH33]

Whistle Blower junior mark II is due in September

Excellent news! Congratulations.