Sydney is Born!

Happy Family!

Daddy-to-be

On October 11th at 7:40pm in the evening, our darling bundle of joy, Sydney entered the world!  She was born via C-Section at 7.5 lbs, 20.5 inches long with a full head of hair! 

The lead up to Sydney’s birth was an emotional one.  I was due on October 1st so of course that was the magic day David and I had in our heads.  We knew of course that babies are rarely actually born on their due date so we had prepared ourselves for that, but 11 days is almost too much to bear! 

I started having contractions 2 weeks before she was born.  They were relatively minor (although how was I to know at that stage?!) and were inconsistent but we had a couple of times where they picked up pretty regularly and it sent us to the hospital.  The 10th of October was the second time I was checked out and they told me I was only 1cm dilated.  We were both distraught.  The ups and downs of the waiting, the lack of sleep (due to contractions!) and the sheer anticipation had worn both of us out.  I called Dr. Morris and begged for an appointment the next day.

On the morning of the 11th I went for a walk along the beach and I couldn’t believe what I saw - a mother whale teaching her baby how to breach!!  It was utterly amazing.  I stood and starred for at least 20 minutes as they leapt out of the water one after the other.  I had wished from the time we arrived in Sydney that I would see a whale from shore during our time here.  I’m not sure why exactly, but it was something I really wanted to see.  And to think it happened on the day our little Sydney Girl was born!!  What a miracle! :)

That afternoon, we arrived to Dr. Morris’ Rooms determined to walk out with a date for delivery.  We both HAD to know when she was coming!  He checked me and said I was still less than 2cm dilated but the waiting had gone on long enough.  He sent us straight to the hospital to get induced!  Since the Dr.‘s office was in the city, David promptly hopped on a ferry to go back to the house to get our packed bags and I hopped in a cab to head straight to the hospital.  I arrived there at around 3:30pm and by 4:30 when David arrived with our bags, I was already hooked up to the drip, they had broken my water, and the contractions were about to come on strong. 

I knew I wanted an epidural but they wanted to make sure the medicine was working properly for the induction before giving it to me which meant I endured the hard an strong contractions, every 2 minutes (contractions are a killer no matter how you go through labor but I’m told inductions make them especially painful) for a couple of hours before they gave me the epidural.  Thank God for drugs is all I have to say!  I don’t know how women go through this without an epidural!! 

In Australia they have another pain relief option (which helped a lot actually before the epi kicked in).  It’s laughing gas, like what they give you in the dentist office!  The great thing about it is it only lasts in your system as long as you’re breathing it so you only use it to help take the edge off the contractions while you’re actually having one.  Once you stop breathing it, the effects go away.  It didn’t take the pain away, but it dulled it for sure and made it much more bearable.  The gas isn’t in your system long enough to get into your bloodstream so it’s safe for the baby :)

After the epidural kicked in, Sydney’s (then Ninja) heart rate dropped to the point of “pathological” which is the next step below “abnormal.” Although it came back up again, this made the Midwives and Dr. Morris nervous.  I was still less than 3cm dilated at that stage and Dr. Morris was convinced that I would continue on with labor for another 12 hours and still need to deliver her via Caesarian Section, so we decided it wasn’t worth the gamble.  For David and me it was about making sure she was safe and healthy.  Although I wasn’t keen to ‘jump to cutting’ I wanted to do the right thing for her and in then end it was exactly what we should have done.  The cord was wrapped around her neck and she had passed meconium in the womb since she had been in there so long so it was important that we get her our right away.

I'm FREEZING!!

Everything went very quickly once we decided to do the C.  They rushed me down to the operating room, put up the screen, David scrubbed in and sat by my head holding my hand.  I was awake but they upped my epidural so they could do the surgery.  She was out in 20 minutes!  The hardest part was the uncontrollable shaking I had both from the drugs and the extra cold operating room, and the extreme pressure they had to put on my chest to get her out.  It felt like someone was kneeling on my lungs!  All in all, everyone was very healthy and it couldn’t have gone more smoothly.  Only 4 hours to have a baby.  Pretty hard to believe!  My scar looks great because Dr. Morris is a master with the staple gun and now that I’ve had the experience of birth this way, I suspect I’ll be open to planning for a C the next time around.

We didn’t name her until I got out of recovery that evening.  We had 5-6 names picked out and had decided we would name her once we met her.  David had some quality time with her while she was getting weighed and checked out.  I was pretty delirious when I got upstairs and checked into our room. That was really the first time I got to hold her and try breast feeding.  Amidst the tears and kisses, shock, excitement and exhaustion we knew her name had to be Sydney.  It was so fitting.  It took no conversation - we both just knew. 

Welcome to the world Sydney Girl! :)

~LAA :)

Mommy and Sydney the next morning

Beautiful baby Sydney :)