Peter McCoy
May 9th, 2014, 07:20:23 PM
The tag I've used couldn't be more correct! Some of you may recall a thread I posted last September announcing that my wife Christina was pregnant. Well after 3 days of tiredness and pain, on Thursday 8th May at around 1pm, weighing 6lb 15oz, Alyssa McCoy entered the world!
Day 1
Contractions started in the early hours of Tuesday morning. When I got up at around 7:30am Christina was already downstairs with laboured breathing, so I called work and was able to take the day off as paid leave, just in case shit got real. Christina and her mum kept track of the contractions throughout the day and the hospital said to come when they were four in ten minutes. At roughly 11pm that night we went to the Royal Liverpool Women's Hospital to get checked out since the contractions were as such. We didn't wait long before we were checked out as the midwives could see how much pain she was in. But upon inspection the midwives told us that the cervix was still posterior and needed to dilate far far more and sent us home despite the pain she was in. Ce la vie!
Day 2
So of back home we went, at roughly 12:30am Wednesday morning, with Christina's mum staying the night since she'd only worry and I was happy for her to share the bed with Christina while I slept downstairs. With lots of pain and little sleep in the night, she battled through with very small cat naps lasting 5-10 minutes at a time when she could. The prescribed codeine did pretty much nothing, although she did manage a few half-hour naps throughout the morning and early afternoon. I decided not to take another day off work and so did my evening shift. At 9pm I got the bus home, had a quick freshen up and changed clothes before walkimg to Christina's mums where she'd been all afternoon while I was at work. I had some dinner - my favurite chicken curry - and at 11:30pm the contractions were every few minutes and lasting almost 2 minutes. So off back to the Women's we went.
Day 3
This time though, we were going nowhere - the midwife who inspected said we were dilated by 3cm and there for the night. Not long after we were admitted, Christina got on the Gas and Air for pain relief and it seemed to be doing the trick and she was coping very well. Sometimes a particularly big, long contraction cased distress, but she soldiered on, By 5am we were 5cm and there was more waiting and breathing and hand-clenching to be done. But after a rough night and early morning of near constant contractions it was time to start pushing. That pushing started around 11:30am. But in such an exhausted state, Christina was finding it very difficult despite encouragement from myself, her mum and the midwife. At 12:30pm the midwife felt that it was time to start directed labour so we relocated to the Birthing Suite and got cracking. The midwife said that we were now at the point where unless the baby was delivered by Christina within an hour, the doctors would have to step in and get the baby out.
The next 30 minutes were the most stressful but also proud minutes of my life. Despite in tears and telling us that she could not do it and had nothing left to give, Christina (with a tiny bit of help from a small cut to help her along) delivered our gorgeous baby girl (we never knew what we were having!). Ladies and gentlemen, I am very proud to present the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my entire life - my daughter - Alyssa!
2804
More photo's to follow as the days go on. As I type this it's 2:07am on Saturday morning. After the birth on Thursday afternoon, Christina and the baby were kept in for observation due to a common condition called Group b Strep in the mother which can affect the baby once the waters have broken. An antibiotic administered into the vein can counter it but it's standard policy to observe the baby for 12 hours before being allowed to go home. We had a small number of visitors - namely Christina's sister-in-law and my mum, dad and sister but they left at 8pm when visiting hours ended - Christina's mum and myself were also to leave at this time.
At first worried that Christina would not be able to cope a night alone in hospital with her newborn baby in such an exhausted state (next to no sleep for over 48 hours) she was scared, but the awesome midwives at Liverpool Women's allowed me to stay the night with her, which is not usually allowed since we'd be on the normal ward and not in the labour ward. But given the length of time Christina had endured with no sleep they felt she'd need the extra support and I was staying as well! Although we had to spend a few hours in the same small room while Christina slept on a drip to replenish fluid causing high heart rate, we were eventually moved to a larger room on another ward where there was a sofa bed as well as a hospital bed so all three of us could get some rest. We both woke intermittently to check on baby Alyssa, as well as just to see how she was getting on when the midwives visited to make their observations on baby and mummy. I called work at 7am (it was now Friday morning) to request another day's paid leave since I too was exhausted having not slept properly since Tuesday afternoon. Work were very understanding and said there was no problem at all and offered their congratulations. I then managed around 4-5 hours uninterrupted sleep - I'm told I snored through the baby's 2nd proper breastfeeding session in front of the midwife as well! LOL!
It's now 2:20am, mummy and baby are sleeping in the next room. I'm off to join them!
Goodnight all!
Day 1
Contractions started in the early hours of Tuesday morning. When I got up at around 7:30am Christina was already downstairs with laboured breathing, so I called work and was able to take the day off as paid leave, just in case shit got real. Christina and her mum kept track of the contractions throughout the day and the hospital said to come when they were four in ten minutes. At roughly 11pm that night we went to the Royal Liverpool Women's Hospital to get checked out since the contractions were as such. We didn't wait long before we were checked out as the midwives could see how much pain she was in. But upon inspection the midwives told us that the cervix was still posterior and needed to dilate far far more and sent us home despite the pain she was in. Ce la vie!
Day 2
So of back home we went, at roughly 12:30am Wednesday morning, with Christina's mum staying the night since she'd only worry and I was happy for her to share the bed with Christina while I slept downstairs. With lots of pain and little sleep in the night, she battled through with very small cat naps lasting 5-10 minutes at a time when she could. The prescribed codeine did pretty much nothing, although she did manage a few half-hour naps throughout the morning and early afternoon. I decided not to take another day off work and so did my evening shift. At 9pm I got the bus home, had a quick freshen up and changed clothes before walkimg to Christina's mums where she'd been all afternoon while I was at work. I had some dinner - my favurite chicken curry - and at 11:30pm the contractions were every few minutes and lasting almost 2 minutes. So off back to the Women's we went.
Day 3
This time though, we were going nowhere - the midwife who inspected said we were dilated by 3cm and there for the night. Not long after we were admitted, Christina got on the Gas and Air for pain relief and it seemed to be doing the trick and she was coping very well. Sometimes a particularly big, long contraction cased distress, but she soldiered on, By 5am we were 5cm and there was more waiting and breathing and hand-clenching to be done. But after a rough night and early morning of near constant contractions it was time to start pushing. That pushing started around 11:30am. But in such an exhausted state, Christina was finding it very difficult despite encouragement from myself, her mum and the midwife. At 12:30pm the midwife felt that it was time to start directed labour so we relocated to the Birthing Suite and got cracking. The midwife said that we were now at the point where unless the baby was delivered by Christina within an hour, the doctors would have to step in and get the baby out.
The next 30 minutes were the most stressful but also proud minutes of my life. Despite in tears and telling us that she could not do it and had nothing left to give, Christina (with a tiny bit of help from a small cut to help her along) delivered our gorgeous baby girl (we never knew what we were having!). Ladies and gentlemen, I am very proud to present the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my entire life - my daughter - Alyssa!
2804
More photo's to follow as the days go on. As I type this it's 2:07am on Saturday morning. After the birth on Thursday afternoon, Christina and the baby were kept in for observation due to a common condition called Group b Strep in the mother which can affect the baby once the waters have broken. An antibiotic administered into the vein can counter it but it's standard policy to observe the baby for 12 hours before being allowed to go home. We had a small number of visitors - namely Christina's sister-in-law and my mum, dad and sister but they left at 8pm when visiting hours ended - Christina's mum and myself were also to leave at this time.
At first worried that Christina would not be able to cope a night alone in hospital with her newborn baby in such an exhausted state (next to no sleep for over 48 hours) she was scared, but the awesome midwives at Liverpool Women's allowed me to stay the night with her, which is not usually allowed since we'd be on the normal ward and not in the labour ward. But given the length of time Christina had endured with no sleep they felt she'd need the extra support and I was staying as well! Although we had to spend a few hours in the same small room while Christina slept on a drip to replenish fluid causing high heart rate, we were eventually moved to a larger room on another ward where there was a sofa bed as well as a hospital bed so all three of us could get some rest. We both woke intermittently to check on baby Alyssa, as well as just to see how she was getting on when the midwives visited to make their observations on baby and mummy. I called work at 7am (it was now Friday morning) to request another day's paid leave since I too was exhausted having not slept properly since Tuesday afternoon. Work were very understanding and said there was no problem at all and offered their congratulations. I then managed around 4-5 hours uninterrupted sleep - I'm told I snored through the baby's 2nd proper breastfeeding session in front of the midwife as well! LOL!
It's now 2:20am, mummy and baby are sleeping in the next room. I'm off to join them!
Goodnight all!