A couple of weeks prior to the due date, Thomas and I were given an outline
of the process we would take when we entered the hospital while I was in
labour, and then a very detailed tour of the maternity ward by one of the head
nurses. This was fantastic, as it meant any of the uncertainties we may have
had were addressed… where I would come on arrival, the procedure from admittance to the labour room and onto the delivery room, the room where an emergency caesarean
would be performed, where the neonatal care unit was (should Butterbean need to
be incubated or whatever), and I even had my questions about the drugs involved
in an epidural answered by two members of the anaesthetic staff. Such a boon.
November 29th came and went without much ado. I
suggested to Mum that she call home on her way to Portugal in case we should be
in the unlikely situation of being in the hospital. I had joked that I would be
in labour when Mum was in transit… little did I know that would be the case! On
November 30 I started to have some back spasms that were about 40 minutes apart…
painful, but no worse than previous ones. I went to bed and Thomas slept on the
couch, as had become the custom towards the end of my pregnancy... I was moving
about in bed, which wasn’t conducive to his sleep!
At about 2:30am I started to make a note of how frequent
my contractions were, because they were coming far too often for my liking.
It turns out they were coming 5-7 minutes apart, which is about the time to
head hospital-wards. Thomas, after being (understandably) rather unimpressed with
having been woken at such an inconvenient hour, agreed it was time to get some
medical attention… so it was that by 4:00am we were safely in the expert hands
of the people who would guide us right the way through the labour, birth and after-birth
care.
I gave up pretending to be able to withstand the pain by
about 7:30am and went for an epidural. Brilliant idea. I can’t remember exactly
what it felt like, but I know that the 5-minute contractions became much more
bearable!
It was about 11:30 in the morning of December 1st
when a nurse came to inform us about the hearing checks of a baby… if it is
born before noon the check is done that day; if it is after midday the test is
delayed until the following day. I remember not understanding why this lady was
making such a big deal out of the before/ after noon thing, because clearly I
wasn’t going to be having a baby within the next 30 minutes…
And then just before midday I was sent to the delivery room!
I don’t remember much about the trip there; all I remember is that I had to
push 4 or 5 times and Butterbean was born! Thomas was by my side the whole time
offering support, holding my hand, encouraging me, and – most importantly – not
fainting. J
The only part of the birth plan that I had that didn’t go as
we wished was that Thomas wasn’t able to cut Butterbean’s umbilical cord, as it
was wrapped around her neck. As a result, Thomas was standing by my head when I
delivered Butterbean, so neither of us could see her head. The gynaecologist
took this opportunity to ask, “So, is it a boy or a girl?” I was taken a bit
aback by having a question at that time, but my answer was immediate: “A girl.”
“Yes!” the gynaecologist replied, and handed me the most beautiful creature I’ve
ever seen. “Oh, she’s perfect!” I exclaimed, and promptly burst into tears of
relief, gratitude, exhaustion, joy, and fatigue.
At 12:08 on December 1, 2013, Margaux Emily Bouchery was born in the Descobertes Hospital, Lisbon.
No comments:
Post a Comment