Poppy
So, today was the day... Actually, YESTERDAY was the day. It's all a bit of a blur, and I realise it's now half past midnight.
But I digress... I am so pleased, proud and happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful little girl, Poppy.
That is her within minutes of her being born. And wow... My first birth. My other three were all cesarean sections, so this was something altogether new and different.
We went into hospital at 9am, and were fully expecting things to be still ongoing at this time. Examination by ten, postrin gel by eleven. Examination at five. More gel. Examination at nine. Hormone drip. Tadpole to be born in the early hours. Long, boring, hard work.
It seems that fate decided to play another fastball with us. We got in at nine. Examination at ten... But no gel needed. Turns out the Braxton Hicks contractions Kellie has been having are ACTUAL contractions - and she was already three centimetres dilated, plus she was having fairly good - but not very strong - contractions already.
Woop!
So the plan became "break waters at eleven, see what happens by five and if needed, onto the drip"which would have to Tadpole coming out in the late evening.
Fine by us.
After the crotchet hook was used to rupture her membranes, it didn't take long for the contractions to get a bit more grown-up, and after a couple of hours, they were making her gasp and stop what she was doing to squeeze my hand.
By three this afternoon, she opted for the gas & air... In the past, it's made her feel sick, but she was limited to that, diamorphine (that'd be heroin then!), or an epidural. She was adamant, NO epidural, so tried using the gas.
It didn't help much, and it did make her feel sick. But she pushed through. Diamorphine crosses through the placenta and can make baby tired and woozy. She didn't want that. The pains built up and up, but she didn't shout, scream, swear, blame me for doing it, nothing... Just lots of gas, and breathing through the pain..
By four she was really suffering, and by half four decided to go for the diamorphine. At 4.50pm she was given it, and Anna, our midwife, had me getting Kellie to stay focused and do hula hoop movements - it kept Kellie from falling asleep, and kept Tadpole awake.
I chose this time to send a text update to a few people, and said it shouldn't be long, which in hospital talk is a few hours. I spoke to Dom, reassured him Kellie & Tadpole were fine... I put the phone down to him at 5.01pm, and as I did so, Kellie made a really strange noise...
She had started to grunt and push.
Midwife jumped, assistant came running, and it just so happened that this was IT.
By 5.11pm, Tadpole was born. No longer Tadpole, but a beautiful little girl, covered in white vernix, bellowing for all to hear. She went straight onto Kellie for skin to skin, we delayed the cord clamping, and there she lay, whinging and moaning with the occasional little tiny tear.
Once the cord was clipped, she was weighed, coming out at a beautiful 7lb 7oz. Tadpole became Poppy.
A few minutes later, the placenta arrived, but - my American friends from CHD lists will appreciate - we opted to not keep it for cooking up. Sorry and all ;-)
Kellie did an amazing job. She never complained, only really cried when (and I quote) "she's looking at me!" and did everything brilliantly. No tearing, no stitches. She didn't make a fuss, shout, swear, just got on with giving birth.
It's an amazing thing, to see a human being squeezed from inside another... Words can't do it justice, seeing this teeny tiny person slowly emerging.
Tadpole and Kellie will stay in hospital overnight... Due to Kellies diabetes, they want to make sure both her and Poppy have normal blood sugars. Here I lay without wife or baby, just for tonight. Tomorrow, the real fun will start.
A huge, huge, massive thank you to all of you - everyone that commented on the updates, pictures, announcement...Not to mention those of you that have kept me sane over the last nine months. It's been a long time in the making, but Poppy is beautiful and gorgeous - she even has a small birthmark on one shin. No doubt there will be plenty more postings to come, but thank you to everyone that has been there supporting, welcoming and congratulating us today. I will be printing out all the comments for the Baby Journal. Suffice to say, it's been an incredible day.
It's been IMMENSE.
But I digress... I am so pleased, proud and happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful little girl, Poppy.
That is her within minutes of her being born. And wow... My first birth. My other three were all cesarean sections, so this was something altogether new and different.
We went into hospital at 9am, and were fully expecting things to be still ongoing at this time. Examination by ten, postrin gel by eleven. Examination at five. More gel. Examination at nine. Hormone drip. Tadpole to be born in the early hours. Long, boring, hard work.
It seems that fate decided to play another fastball with us. We got in at nine. Examination at ten... But no gel needed. Turns out the Braxton Hicks contractions Kellie has been having are ACTUAL contractions - and she was already three centimetres dilated, plus she was having fairly good - but not very strong - contractions already.
Woop!
So the plan became "break waters at eleven, see what happens by five and if needed, onto the drip"which would have to Tadpole coming out in the late evening.
Fine by us.
After the crotchet hook was used to rupture her membranes, it didn't take long for the contractions to get a bit more grown-up, and after a couple of hours, they were making her gasp and stop what she was doing to squeeze my hand.
By three this afternoon, she opted for the gas & air... In the past, it's made her feel sick, but she was limited to that, diamorphine (that'd be heroin then!), or an epidural. She was adamant, NO epidural, so tried using the gas.
It didn't help much, and it did make her feel sick. But she pushed through. Diamorphine crosses through the placenta and can make baby tired and woozy. She didn't want that. The pains built up and up, but she didn't shout, scream, swear, blame me for doing it, nothing... Just lots of gas, and breathing through the pain..
By four she was really suffering, and by half four decided to go for the diamorphine. At 4.50pm she was given it, and Anna, our midwife, had me getting Kellie to stay focused and do hula hoop movements - it kept Kellie from falling asleep, and kept Tadpole awake.
I chose this time to send a text update to a few people, and said it shouldn't be long, which in hospital talk is a few hours. I spoke to Dom, reassured him Kellie & Tadpole were fine... I put the phone down to him at 5.01pm, and as I did so, Kellie made a really strange noise...
She had started to grunt and push.
Midwife jumped, assistant came running, and it just so happened that this was IT.
By 5.11pm, Tadpole was born. No longer Tadpole, but a beautiful little girl, covered in white vernix, bellowing for all to hear. She went straight onto Kellie for skin to skin, we delayed the cord clamping, and there she lay, whinging and moaning with the occasional little tiny tear.
Once the cord was clipped, she was weighed, coming out at a beautiful 7lb 7oz. Tadpole became Poppy.
A few minutes later, the placenta arrived, but - my American friends from CHD lists will appreciate - we opted to not keep it for cooking up. Sorry and all ;-)
Kellie did an amazing job. She never complained, only really cried when (and I quote) "she's looking at me!" and did everything brilliantly. No tearing, no stitches. She didn't make a fuss, shout, swear, just got on with giving birth.
It's an amazing thing, to see a human being squeezed from inside another... Words can't do it justice, seeing this teeny tiny person slowly emerging.
Tadpole and Kellie will stay in hospital overnight... Due to Kellies diabetes, they want to make sure both her and Poppy have normal blood sugars. Here I lay without wife or baby, just for tonight. Tomorrow, the real fun will start.
A huge, huge, massive thank you to all of you - everyone that commented on the updates, pictures, announcement...Not to mention those of you that have kept me sane over the last nine months. It's been a long time in the making, but Poppy is beautiful and gorgeous - she even has a small birthmark on one shin. No doubt there will be plenty more postings to come, but thank you to everyone that has been there supporting, welcoming and congratulating us today. I will be printing out all the comments for the Baby Journal. Suffice to say, it's been an incredible day.
It's been IMMENSE.
Name: Dan English
One Response to “Poppy”
Oh, wonderful! How wonderful! what a thrill. There really is nothing like it. Congratulations to everyone!!
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