Motherhood part one - the days before he arrived...

The days surrounding Samuel’s birth…

Due date : 19th July 2010
Caesarean booked : 15th July
Birth date : 9th July 2010!!

Weds 7th July.... Hint no 1 that Samuel has his own timing in mind!
Have a nesting instinct, and convince Chris that we should turn our bedroom around as planned, but to do it tonight, not leave it any longer. We do so...

Thur 8th July...... Hint no 2
More nesting! Clean the bathroom, clean our bedroom, clean the kitchen. Should be meeting Helen for lunch, but feel very tired and uncomfortable when I drive, so ‘postpone’ our lunch date. Haven't felt the baby move all day, so call the GP around 3pm, who advise I call the midwives. They suggest I drink a pint of iced water, then wait 20mins for the baby to react, then call them back to report of baby's movements. I do so, and call Chris to suggest he comes straight home, then call the midwives to say nothing has happened. They call the Hallamshire Hospital, we call Lucy my sister to tell her the front door key is under the mat, and we head for the hospital. Monitor on tummy, and 30mins of assessment confirms the baby is fine - phew!! Midwife advises "babies in the last days of pregnancy often lie still as a practise for their experience during the contractions and labour that they know is coming soon".

Fri 9th July..... Hint no 3 and the 'punchline' as Samuel chooses his own birthday!
I wake up feeling quite tired and out of sorts. Lucy notices that I am having muscle cramps low down in my stomach during the morning, and begins to time them. They come every 30 minutes! She suggests that they could be contractions, but I put it down to Braxton Hicks as they are a little uncomfortable but not painful. After lunch they are coming every 20 minutes and starting to feel slightly more painful. I go over to church to catch up with Becky, my PA, and feel better for walking over and back, so continue to dismiss my ‘cramps’. Lucy suggests I pack my bag ready for hospital – “I’ll get around to it” I say, breezily. Lucy looks unconvinced! Early evening rolls along, and my ‘cramps’ are now 10 minutes apart, and take my breath away… At 7pm I rouse myself from the sofa where I have been snoozing, and we all start to get ready to go out for dinner – I pop to the loo, and discover my waters have broken! (At first I assume incontinence, then have a growing and speedy realisation as to what is really happening!). I call through the toilet door, “Chris, don’t panic… my waters have broken,” and a controlled panic takes us all over. Lucy calls the restaurant to cancel the booking, Chris calls the hospital to make a booking… “Hi, it’s Chris Tupling here, my wife is booked in for an elective Caesarean next Thursday – only her waters have just broken so we’re on our way to you now.” The bag is quickly packed and into the 2 cars we go – Lucy and Rob following so they know where the hospital is. On arrival I can barely walk as the ‘cramps’ – ok, let’s call them contractions now!! – are too invasive and painful. Chris fetches an NHS wheelchair (only steers if you pull it backwards…) and we all head up to the Triage. Once there, I get the wonderful gas and air, and a succession of questions. When they realise that I am having contractions every 4 minutes and my waters have broken they get permission to open up a second theatre as there is a concern that I am progressing towards labour at a fairly good speed, and we need to head this off and get to the Caesarean. I am finally into theatre at around 10.15/10.30pm and have now discovered where my pain threshold is – the gas and air is having no effect (I have never felt such pain in the whole of my life), the contractions are coming in unbroken waves, the tube is clamped in my teeth, and I am having to keep very still as they put the spinal in – just before it takes effect I have 2 overwhelming desires: one is to shout loudly “kill me now”, and the other is to begin to push…
The spinal is fantastic – the fog of pain clears, I can think again, and now hold a conversation with the theatre staff. They check to ensure that the spinal is working, and discover it has only taken in patches. Unwilling to do it again, we all agree that a general anaesthetic is the only way ahead. Chris will have to remain outside the theatre as this now counts as an emergency Caesarean, and I say goodnight to the staff as I go under… Whilst I ‘sleep’, Samuel (who it turns out is Breech!) arrives at 23:23, 6lb 7oz, safe and well.


Saturday 10th July 2010 – hello baby…
I wake up in the High Dependency Unit at around 12:30am, and am asked if I would like to see my baby son… when I open my eyes he is laid next to me, and I can see his profile. My little son. He’s real, and lying next to me. We stay in the HDU until mid morning, at which point we are moved to Whirlow Ward and our own room. Once there, it is time for me to recover from the trauma of the contractions, a general anaesthetic, a Caesarean, and the shock of everything happening before I was ‘ready’… And the overwhelming realisation that I have a son, a baby, a little boy. I am a mother, Chris is a father, and this is all real. Now the really hard part begins...