(no subject)
Asher Riley Canning.
19th March 2008.
6lb9oz, 47cm.
APGAR 9, 10.
Monday: I had my normal appointment Monday afternoon. My blood pressure was fantastic (for once!!), but my fundal height hadn't changed in a fortnight so they sent me off for an ultrasound. We had it that afternoon as it was the only time for weeks the hospital could fit me in and Asher was measuring fine, but the ultrasound tech mentioned I had low amniotic fluid. She told me not to worry and sent me home, saying the doctor would call me if worried. That night I again had numbness in my hand that went up my arm/to my mouth so I couldn't speak properly again.
Tuesday: I rang the BAU and spoke to them at 8am. I mentioned the numbness, that I had seen spots again and what the ultrasound tech had said to me the night before. They told me to come in for yet another day stay. My BP was fine, but I mentioned to the doctor what the ultrasound tech had said. He went to find the results and I waited. For 2 hours. Finally the doctor and another came back, they had spoken to the Professor about my results and said that they wanted to induce me today. I had a paniced a little and asked if I could come home and pack my bags as I hadn’t yet. I was able to and on the way home I rang Paul so he could finish work for the day. The doctor had checked my cervix (1cm dilated) before I went home to decide the best way to induce me. Paul met me at home as I was running around the house, feeling very strange, packing my bag, his bag and Asher's bag as quickly as I could. We called our parents quickly (my mum's in Victoria and his parents in England) to let them know what was going on. When Paul and I got back to the hospital, we settled into our room before the midwife came in. She explained that the doctor had decided to use Cervidil to start the process and then at 6am tomorrow they'd check my progress and, hopefully, break my waters and let my body do it's thing. The doctor came to see me and asked if I had considered any pain medications. I explained that while I would like to try not to use any I’m willing to ask for some if I believe it’s necessary. She then explained that due to the low amniotic fluid the baby could become distressed during contractions as they could squeeze the umbilical cord. If this were to happen she said I could need an emergency c-section. Once that was out of the way they inserted the Cervidil and I had Paul go to get us some TV cards, we were in for a long wait.
A few hours later I started having mild contractions that continued through the night. I used heat packs and warm showers to try and help me sleep, but I didn’t get much at all! Paul managed to sleep well on the fold out sofa though!
Wednesday: At 6:30am the doctor came in to check my cervix and I was only a centimeter dilated still, so the doctor told me they'd check again in 6 hours. My contractions died down during the morning and when I let my midwife know she sent me for a walk around the hospital and told me to keep moving. 6 hours later they checked again. I couldn't relax, so I again was only 1cm, but once they mentioned another 6 hour wait I relaxed and it went to 2cm and the doctor announced she would be able to break my waters. Once that was done, I was put on a drip to speed things up as they had hoped to start my labour much earlier. I had to get put on monitors to keep an eye on how Asher was going in there and they ended up having to put it on his head as the one on my stomach kept losing him. I officially went into labour at 3pm and by this time I was having very regular contractions and I was trying my hardest to keep going without any drugs. After a while Mandy suggested I try the gas, which was horrible. It made me so dizzy and I felt really sick. I can’t remember how long I stuck with that, but in the end I opted for Pethidine. Mandy suggested I try it, but I said I was worried about the affect it would have on the baby and if it would make me sick. She said the way I was going it would probably be worn off by the time Asher was ready to be born and they added anti-nausea drugs into the injection. I ended up sleeping between contractions. When I went through one I would tense my entire body and poor Paul would hear me grunt “water!”. I used the water as a distraction and I believe it worked really well.
Just before 8pm after 5 hours of active labour my body began to push on it’s own. It was such a strange feeling! I remember saying to Paul, “press the button, I need to push!” as my body pushed. I explained this to Mandy, who told me to wait and said she’d need to check my cervix. Between contractions she managed to do just that and had to stretch it another cm so I was ready to push Asher out. Once she have me the all clear, I began to push and it felt like such a relief to be able to do it. I think back now and I can’t believe the grunting noises that came out of me! Paul said he remembers seeing the head a few minutes after I started pushing and thinking (or perhaps even saying!) holy crap! Mandy told Paul that when she said to he needed to push the call button as someone else will need to come into the room, when she had told everyone I was ready to push no one could believe it. They thought I would take much longer, and when she said he was almost out they were even more shocked as it hadn't even been 5 minutes. Mandy at one stage asked me to stop pushing (my response was “I can’t! I don’t know how!”) she told me how to breathe through the feeling so I could stretch that last little bit. I then, on Mandy’s word, pushed again and felt Asher come out of me. I think he was face down and I asked "is he ok?". They lifted him up and he began to cry as they passed him to me. Asher Riley Canning was born March 19th 2008 at 8:05pm. His first APGAR score was 9 as he was a little blue, then 10 5 minutes later. Paul said my first words to him were “hi little man” and I just remember this overwhelming feeling of love for my beautiful boy and shock that I had just gone through that. The midwives suggested I do skin on skin contact with him and I don't think I've ever undone my top so fast infront of strangers! I just felt I HAD to get him touching my skin. Asher was grunting a little, so the girls took him to the warming bed to check him out and told me he weighed 6lb and 9oz and that he was perfectly fine. They took prints of his feet and my finger for security and attached blue bracelets to Asher and myself. Then he was wrapped up and passed him back to me. I couldn’t believe how beautiful and perfect he was, my little man.
19th March 2008.
6lb9oz, 47cm.
APGAR 9, 10.
Monday: I had my normal appointment Monday afternoon. My blood pressure was fantastic (for once!!), but my fundal height hadn't changed in a fortnight so they sent me off for an ultrasound. We had it that afternoon as it was the only time for weeks the hospital could fit me in and Asher was measuring fine, but the ultrasound tech mentioned I had low amniotic fluid. She told me not to worry and sent me home, saying the doctor would call me if worried. That night I again had numbness in my hand that went up my arm/to my mouth so I couldn't speak properly again.
Tuesday: I rang the BAU and spoke to them at 8am. I mentioned the numbness, that I had seen spots again and what the ultrasound tech had said to me the night before. They told me to come in for yet another day stay. My BP was fine, but I mentioned to the doctor what the ultrasound tech had said. He went to find the results and I waited. For 2 hours. Finally the doctor and another came back, they had spoken to the Professor about my results and said that they wanted to induce me today. I had a paniced a little and asked if I could come home and pack my bags as I hadn’t yet. I was able to and on the way home I rang Paul so he could finish work for the day. The doctor had checked my cervix (1cm dilated) before I went home to decide the best way to induce me. Paul met me at home as I was running around the house, feeling very strange, packing my bag, his bag and Asher's bag as quickly as I could. We called our parents quickly (my mum's in Victoria and his parents in England) to let them know what was going on. When Paul and I got back to the hospital, we settled into our room before the midwife came in. She explained that the doctor had decided to use Cervidil to start the process and then at 6am tomorrow they'd check my progress and, hopefully, break my waters and let my body do it's thing. The doctor came to see me and asked if I had considered any pain medications. I explained that while I would like to try not to use any I’m willing to ask for some if I believe it’s necessary. She then explained that due to the low amniotic fluid the baby could become distressed during contractions as they could squeeze the umbilical cord. If this were to happen she said I could need an emergency c-section. Once that was out of the way they inserted the Cervidil and I had Paul go to get us some TV cards, we were in for a long wait.
A few hours later I started having mild contractions that continued through the night. I used heat packs and warm showers to try and help me sleep, but I didn’t get much at all! Paul managed to sleep well on the fold out sofa though!
Wednesday: At 6:30am the doctor came in to check my cervix and I was only a centimeter dilated still, so the doctor told me they'd check again in 6 hours. My contractions died down during the morning and when I let my midwife know she sent me for a walk around the hospital and told me to keep moving. 6 hours later they checked again. I couldn't relax, so I again was only 1cm, but once they mentioned another 6 hour wait I relaxed and it went to 2cm and the doctor announced she would be able to break my waters. Once that was done, I was put on a drip to speed things up as they had hoped to start my labour much earlier. I had to get put on monitors to keep an eye on how Asher was going in there and they ended up having to put it on his head as the one on my stomach kept losing him. I officially went into labour at 3pm and by this time I was having very regular contractions and I was trying my hardest to keep going without any drugs. After a while Mandy suggested I try the gas, which was horrible. It made me so dizzy and I felt really sick. I can’t remember how long I stuck with that, but in the end I opted for Pethidine. Mandy suggested I try it, but I said I was worried about the affect it would have on the baby and if it would make me sick. She said the way I was going it would probably be worn off by the time Asher was ready to be born and they added anti-nausea drugs into the injection. I ended up sleeping between contractions. When I went through one I would tense my entire body and poor Paul would hear me grunt “water!”. I used the water as a distraction and I believe it worked really well.
Just before 8pm after 5 hours of active labour my body began to push on it’s own. It was such a strange feeling! I remember saying to Paul, “press the button, I need to push!” as my body pushed. I explained this to Mandy, who told me to wait and said she’d need to check my cervix. Between contractions she managed to do just that and had to stretch it another cm so I was ready to push Asher out. Once she have me the all clear, I began to push and it felt like such a relief to be able to do it. I think back now and I can’t believe the grunting noises that came out of me! Paul said he remembers seeing the head a few minutes after I started pushing and thinking (or perhaps even saying!) holy crap! Mandy told Paul that when she said to he needed to push the call button as someone else will need to come into the room, when she had told everyone I was ready to push no one could believe it. They thought I would take much longer, and when she said he was almost out they were even more shocked as it hadn't even been 5 minutes. Mandy at one stage asked me to stop pushing (my response was “I can’t! I don’t know how!”) she told me how to breathe through the feeling so I could stretch that last little bit. I then, on Mandy’s word, pushed again and felt Asher come out of me. I think he was face down and I asked "is he ok?". They lifted him up and he began to cry as they passed him to me. Asher Riley Canning was born March 19th 2008 at 8:05pm. His first APGAR score was 9 as he was a little blue, then 10 5 minutes later. Paul said my first words to him were “hi little man” and I just remember this overwhelming feeling of love for my beautiful boy and shock that I had just gone through that. The midwives suggested I do skin on skin contact with him and I don't think I've ever undone my top so fast infront of strangers! I just felt I HAD to get him touching my skin. Asher was grunting a little, so the girls took him to the warming bed to check him out and told me he weighed 6lb and 9oz and that he was perfectly fine. They took prints of his feet and my finger for security and attached blue bracelets to Asher and myself. Then he was wrapped up and passed him back to me. I couldn’t believe how beautiful and perfect he was, my little man.