Our little Angel has Arrived

By now most of you who read my Blog will know our little Angel, Ella Jean Griffin, arrived on 16th October 2009 at 2.43pm weighing in at 7lb 6oz and measuring 51cm.

Nowhere near the doctors prediction of a 10lb monster. It is safe to say nobody won the bet because everyone was in the 9lb range or above.

Things happen for a reason and the Doc scheduling in a C-Section was a blessing in disguise, read more about why later.

We arrived at the Hospital at 12noon, expecting the surgery to be happening around 3pm only to discover I was first for the Doc that day and was actually going in at 1.30pm. By the time I put my bag in the room they were hustling me to gown up and put on my fancy hat and lay back on the bed to be wheeled down the hallway. No time to freak out.

After the Anesthetist doing his, well some call it "magic", I call it "hell", of putting in the Epidural, then the screens went up and it was all systems go, baby arrival is immanent. Jamie was my rock, although he probably didn't think so at the time, I know he wanted to take away my pain and discomfort. After poking and prodding around what felt to me like my guts were spread all over the room, they produced baby. Holding it up over the curtain I asked what we had, "A Little girl" they announced. I burst into "Happy" tears, got a kiss from Jamie as they whisked our little girl away to check her out.

More poking and prodding, I am guessing to put my bits back in, very uncomfortable, a bit of nausea, some tweaking of the medication to stop the nausea, sucking on some ice. Then they brought back my little girl all wrapped up, she was perfect, cute as can be and not at all ugly and monkey-like as I feared.

Recovery was horrific and if someone had asked me at that moment if I would do it all again they would have got a definite NO. Slowly getting feeling back in my legs, pins and needles, unable to move, all very unpleasant. The nurses mentioned that I had lost a lot of blood during the procedure about 1.5 litres apparently, they kept my epidural in my back for the next few days in case I needed to go back into surgery, they also ordered in blood in case I needed it over the weekend. Thankfully my blood pressure was in the normal range so it was not needed.

They placed baby Ella on me for some quality bonding time and what a magical feeling that is, everyone says it is a special moment but it honestly can not be put into words. When your little bundle of joy is stroking her itty bitty fingers on you bare skin, it is crazy the love and emotions that you feel.

The next day the doctor came for his rounds and discussed how the surgery went, he said it was not what he expected, they had cut an artery when he made his incision which was why the major blood loss and they had to get that under control all the while trying to get the baby out, in they end they had to use forceps to get her out. Also my placenta was attached to the Uterus (something doctors refer to as Placenta Concreta), so had I have delivered naturally they would have had to open me up to remove the placenta so the C-section was a blessing.

At least I only had 1 healing process.


My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Nearly Time

It is getting so close now to having this baby, I am getting anxious and excited and scared to death. I was a little emotional after leaving the doctors today, because every other time I went it was 'come back next week', this time it was see you Friday at the Hospital, eeek.

I am scheduled for a Ceasarean on Friday 16th October. I have to call the Hospital admissions to check in tomorrow and go for a blood test and it is all systems go.

My concerns with a Ceasar was the ability to drive, lift, do housework (if I chose to) etc. He said I can do whatever I like, he puts no restrictions on his patients. He said if you do something and it starts to hurt, stop doing it and try again in a few days, he said you will feel the pain before it does any damage, obviously this is after a 7 day rest in hospital, not immediately after giving birth. I asked him nicely if he could mention in front of Jamie that housework, laundry and cooking were all off limits for a month or so, he cracked a smile but I don't think he took me seriously. I mean seriously would it kill him to say it, lol.

I have had a bit of a stressful day, mum and dad are trying to go on Holidays and wanted to leave Thursday or Friday, so dad has been ringing every day asking if there is any movement and telling me old wives tale remedies for bringing on the baby early or had I been to the doctors yet and could he give me an exact time of when he would do the procedure and mum asked if he could schedule me in for Thursday instead of Friday. I know they mean well but sorry this baby will come when it is good and ready or the doctor thinks it is well baked to get it out, so Friday it is.

Last week it was Jamie's parents on holidays telling me to cross my legs til they get back. So according to the grandparents I had a 4 day window to give birth, the Griffin's arriving back from Holidays on 12th Oct and my parents wanting to leave on 16th Oct. No pressure but hello this baby was always due on 18th Oct and they have all known about it for a few months now, better planning required from the Grandparents I think.

Well I am guessing this will be my last post before Baby Peanut makes a grand entrance into this world and the next post I promise will have photos and Peanut will HOPEFULLY have a 'real name'.

Oh last thing, anyone want to place bets on Boy or Girl and how much Peanut will weigh. Leave a comment with your guess I will scrounge up a prize for the person who guesses closest to the weight or email rachael.griffin@mortgagechoice.com.au

Oh The Horror

Just under 2 official weeks til my due date, although I am hoping the "Twat" doc will bring me on a little early as I am getting really uncomfortable, irritable and huffing and puffing around the house. Not to mention the swelling in my feet.

The worst is my snoring, OMG it is so bad I have a shocking nights sleep every second night. I must be that tired the other nights that even I can sleep through it. A few weeks ago I thought I would put earplugs in so I didn't wake myself up, but the sound that resinated through my head was like something out of a horror movie, it was like a Freddie Kruger victim screaming and launching me out of sleep. On top of the noise I sometimes feel like I am choking, no matter what position I get in the snoring never ends.

Now my dear friends who have children should have given me a little more of a friendly warning about an internal examination. I am sure someone mentioned it was unpleasant, I was thinking unpleasant like a Pap Smear, hell no I was so wrong, it was horrific, like a piece of timber being rammed up the clacker, I guess the only positive was that it was reasonably quick. Then I hear on the grapevine that most would prefer to give birth than have an internal examination, information that could have been helpful to know LAST WEEK!!!

After that pleasant visit to the doctors he recommended I go for a couple more tests, another Ultrasound and a CT scan on my pelvis. The Ultrasound was to determine how big Peanut is getting and also check on the position of the Placenta which has been a little low in recent scans, well the podgy little thing is now 9lb, 3.95kg, a bonus is that the lady doing the scan said that baby is not big all over, just has a big belly which is pushing the stats up into the 97% range, I say it takes after its Daddy. The placenta is also moving into a better position. The CT scan of my Pelvis was to see if I am going to be able to naturally birth a monster baby as Peanut potentially could be LARGE.

Enough of my gory baby details I will get the results of both test on Wed, and keep you all posted.