Rasita

Day 3

With Mercedes now 3 days old, almost, the tiredness is starting to set in, but that could also have to do with the fact that I probably over did it this morning. The next few days will be rest days with only a few necessary tasks to be done. We have a cleaner coming tomorrow as well as my sister, to help around the house. We also have friends arriving both Saturday and Sunday. I have made it clear that I am not going to be doing anything just yet and they will have to be self sufficient, sortof. There will be no extravagant meals or anything that requires a lot of involvement (more then 4 steps) unless someone else is doing it. I will however still be a mum and get little rest during the day but go to bed at the same time as the younger ones. This way I shall ensure that adequate rest is had. (I shall attempt to rest in front of the TV with them at certain times of the day)

Little Mercedes is asleep on the lounge floor behind me, resting after her big morning out (which she mostly slept through anyhow)

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Here is the birth story, unembellished.

Sunday 8th February 2004, 5pm

Roughly about this time I started experiencing slight cramps but put it down to nothing. Later that night I had a little bit of a show but disregarded it, deciding to keep an eye on it.

Monday 9th February 2004 (The Big Day)

I do not know what times that things happened at but here is a rough account of the day.

The show was still present but very light the next morning so I rang the hospital, they weren't concerned and said to ring back if things got worse. The day progressed slowly with a couple of banana cakes being made, ironing done, among other things. The cramps were there but did not concern me as they weren't painful and nor were they close together. Since I had never experienced labor like this before I had no idea what was going on.
Come that evening/late afternoon, things were starting to pick up and starting to get in the way of things. Hubby was meant to go out to a meeting that night and I told him it was ok to go but he felt that he should stay at home. Good decision on his part.
While dinner cooked (just meat pies and mash) hubby and the girls headed over to the next door neighbours place to ask her something. She ended up coming back and bringing her PC for hubby to help fix. We chatted for a little bit while the kids ate and she offered to babysit when I went into the hospital. After she left the cramps started getting annoying and were about 1.5mins apart. Another call to the hospital and we were asked to come in to see what was happening. A quick dash next door for hubby, I completed my bag packing and we were off to the hospital.
At the hospital it wasn't all that exciting until the midwife started prodding my tummy in order to find out where the bubs was and what was happening. With an aching back and a lot of pressure I could have, and did, tell them which position she was in. She was head down, engaged and posterior. If she wasn't posterior the pain would have been a lot more bearable. After prodding around for a while, which stimulated the contractions, I was allowed up to walk around for a bit until they came back with the equipment to monitor what was happening.
During the monitoring (lasted about 5 mins) I let them know I wanted an internal to find out how dilated I was. Upon the internal it was discovered, with the waters still intact, she was about halfway down. With waters burst (by the midwife) it was all action and a lot of pain. At this stage I shall mention that hot packs are wonderful inventions for aching backs. I really do not like it when midwives tell you to slow down so the head comes out slowly. This was a stinging, burning pain which is hard to describe but I do think my description in yesterdays blog was a good one. After the head was out, it was time then for me to stop, which is a hard thing at this stage, and check that the cord was not around the neck before continuing. A few sharp pushes and she came slipping out. This was the only one I really remember what it felt like and it just felt strange
Next I knew she was up on my belly and starting to squeak. She then cried on command when told to do so. Then it was that we remembered to ring mum to tell her to come down. She was meant to be present at the birth.
She had good apgar scores so all was fine (Mercedes that is)

That's it in a nut shell really and I really do need to lay down with my feet up but that is nearly impossible when two little girls want to play with their new sister.