The story of the premature birth of my little princess. (Pregnancy Complications)

Member Name: Kelly2719

Product:	Pregnancy Complications
Date:	23/02/09 (335 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: too many to list, see below.

I have decided to share my experience of premature birth as I hope it could help others going through the same thing or help prepare parents to be if it does happen to them. I wish I hadn't skipped the section in all my pregnancy books about premature birth thinking oh that wont happen to me!

My first 2 pregnancies went without a hitch and my first son was born 2 days after my due date and my second son 3 weeks early but perfectly healthy and a great weight. My first birth was an uncomplicated water birth lasting 7 hours and my second lasted only 45 minutes with no pain relief! How was I to know my third would be so different!

The minute I became pregnant with my third child the problems began! I suffered with severe sickness and was very unwell. This passed at around 5 months and this is when I found out I was expecting a baby girl, we were overjoyed! From around 4 months I started experiencing very strong Braxton hicks, these are pain free contractions which are very common in pregnancy. I was experiencing these every day throughout the day and they were not really painful but very uncomfortable. My pregnancy continued and we were planning to have a home birth, I wanted my family around me and a birthing pool with candles and soft music! I wanted everything to be perfect for my little princess's entry into the world.

The nightmare began when I woke up on the morning of the 25th January 2008 with tightening that were slightly more uncomfortable than usual. I was 32 weeks pregnant and still had 8 weeks to go. I just put it down to me being tired and Braxton hicks and dropped my children off at school like usual. I was standing in the playschool talking to one of the teachers when I doubled up in pain. The tightening were starting to hurt. I tried to ignore it and pushed any thoughts of being in labour to the back of my mind as it was too early. After leaving the playschool I told my husband we best go to the hospital just to get everything checked out to be on the safe side. I went home first and picked up my hospital bags (I have no idea why I had already packed them so early, maybe subconsciously?) and phoned up my family to sort out getting the children picked up from school just in case we weren't out by then. At this point I didn't think for a second I was in labour.

We arrived at the hospital around lunchtime and I was taken into a room on the labour ward. After speaking to the midwife for a while she told me it was most likely I had a urine infection which can set off 'fake' contractions. I had all the normal tests - blood pressure, urine dip, etc. but everything seemed normal. By this time the contractions were becoming more painful and the midwife decided to give me an internal examination. Her face dropped and she told me I was 4cm dilated and the baby was definitely on its way. I went into shock at this point. After a scan to check baby was head down and not breech I received an injection to try and stop the labour and more to mature the baby's lungs, I was told I would need another one 6 hours later for them to actually work. I never got to have the next injection.

The labour progressed quickly and was nothing like any of my others. I was strapped to monitors and had to sit up on the bed and keep still! This was impossible for me as I had birthed both my previous babies on my hands and knees and had very active labours. I refused any pain relief including gas and air and just concentrated on getting through each contraction, I sang, screamed, counted backwards from 100 and god knows what else! My husband had called my Mum to be there with us as she has been all my children's births and I couldn't do it without her.

After two and a half hours I was fully dilated and the midwife broke my waters. I had 2 midwives in the room and 2 doctors from the neonatal unit set up around the resuscitator which was scary. I pushed for 10/15 minutes until, my baby girl was born onto the bed. She was absolutely beautiful with a mop of dark hair and lovely olive skin. She let out a loud hearty scream to tell us all she was here! The first thing I asked was is it definitely a girl as I had been so worried the scan had been wrong and everything I bought was pink! She weighed 4lb 3oz which is actually a good weight for a baby born at 32 weeks. She looked very tiny and vunerable though. Just like a little dolly!

They took my beautiful baby over to the resuscitator and checked her all over before wrapping her up and putting a little yellow hat on her head. I was allowed to hold her for less than a minute and have a precious photo taken before the put her in an incubator and rushed her off to the neonatal unit. All I wanted to do was hold my baby close to me like it should be. My heart felt like it had been ripped out of my chest and taken with them. I was still in shock and no tears fell.

After a shower I was taken up to the ward full of mums and newborn babies which was so hard. I just kept thinking I should be sat here with my little bundle of joy surrounded by visitors. My first visit down to NNU to see my baby was so scary and she was needing help with her breathing and having to be fed via a tube. She was covered in wires and monitors and shut away in a little incubator surrounded by machines. I was sent home the next morning but continues to visit my baby in NNU every day until she was 4 weeks old and we were finally allowed to take her home! I have decided to write all about our experience of the neonatal unit in a different review as this one is getting a bit long!

My baby girl is now one years old and doing well, she has got asthma and suffers from a lot of coughs and colds all of which is very common in prem babies. I wouldn't change her for the world but my plans for a big family have been destroyed as I could never risk having another premature baby and putting myself, my family and my baby through that again. I know I am lucky as she is alive and healthy and I am grateful for that every day but I will never forget the fear, pain and emptiness I felt.

Summary: An awful start to life but she is worth every second.