The story of our brave little hero
A bit of background ... I've had high BP for some time now (pre-pregnancy), although it wasn't medicated. However, during the last few months of the pregnancy it started to creep up, so they put me on methyldopa to bring it down. It stabilised it and took it to fairly reasonable (still high) levels, but they weren't happy so they added in Atenolol just over 3 weeks ago. He had a scan and everything looked great, lots of fluid, an active baby who was bang on for dates ... all wonderful. Nothing was ever mentioned to me about side-effects of Atenolol so I stupidly assumed it was safe since it was prescribed to me in the maternity hospital.
On Sunday 12th I went to hospital with reduced fetal movements, they monitored me for ages and although there was one deceleration, he seemed to be OK. They would have scanned me but it was a holiday weekend and I had a scan booked for Thursday anyway, and with all seeming well, I went home.
Anyway, on Thursday 16th July I had a scan to check his growth and position (little monkey had been breech for months!). The fluid had completely disappeared (my waters hadn't broken, the fluid had just gone), and our little boy had stopped growing 2 weeks previously. Thankfully there was still a heartbeat but they decided there and then to induce me.
I was put to the assessment unit and they hooked me up to CTG and Finlay was fine. In the evening they decided to give me the pessary to start things off. I was quite tender inside because I had a bit of thrush (sorry!) and the pessary felt extremely sharp - it was in all night and honestly, it hurt like hell! I think if I hadn't had thrush I'd have been fine, but being tender, anything really hurt! Anyway I was on it all night and by morning was beginnng to have tightenings - not contractions, but just mild tightenings. Every time I did, Finlay's heartrate dropped. They tried putting me on oxygen to give Finlay a boost, but it didn't make any difference. The consultant came down and the pessary was removed, and I was transferred to the Labour Ward so that they could take things further.
When I got there, they hooked me up to more monitors and had a look to see how dilated I was - less than 1cm. The said they would be starting me on a hormone drip to try and get things going, but they wanted to make sure theatre was free incase Finlay went into distress again. Once theatre was free they set it all up (but hadn't actually started it) ... then all hell broke loose on the ward - loads of women in labour so we were just monitored for the rest of the night, hubby went home for a sleep and I got to get a few hours too.
On Saturday morning, they monitored him again and he was happy as larry. Loads of accelerations and no decelerations, so they felt he was ready for them to try the hormone drip. After several hours it was up to maximum and although I wasn't feeling a single thing, Finlay was starting to get into distress again. They decided to see how dilated I was but it was very painful so they had to give me gas and air! Still less than 1cm dilated, the doctor decided to see if there was any way my waters could be broken. Honestly, I was now sucking on the gas and air so hard I was starting to go off my face!! It was extremely painful because not only was I barely dilated, but the internal part of the cervix was closed. Nothing doing, and with Finlay in distress, they immediately prepped me for a section.
Within about 20 minutes I was on the table, and at 2:53pm, our beautiful son was born. When they took him out, I heard a cry and the tears just rolled down my face ... what a relief. They didn't say if he was a girl or a boy, just held him up for us to see which was really nice. He was obviously small and they took him away to weigh him (4lbs, 8oz), calculate his apgar score (which was 9 - thank God), then wrapped him up and handed him to me. I've never felt anything like that in my life ... he was the most beautiful thing either of us had ever seen and we were both crying with sheer happiness. They told us that he would have to go to the special nursery because he was small, and took him away. They sewed me up, and told me that the cord had been wrapped around him, although thankfully not his neck. I'd lost just over a litre of blood, but otherwise great.
Finlay is still in the NNU, but he's doing great ... he's been lucky because his issues are fairly minor, he's basically just small and some things are a little immature. As of today it seems pretty much everything has been resolved, apart from his feeding which has been a slow build up with a couple of bumps in the road .. but he's now on my EBM and loving it, scoffing it down like no-one's business! No word of when we'll get him home, but just happy he's doing so well.
Rather worryingly, Finlay's Dad (my hubby) was a really hungry baby - he started off at a small 6lb but was 21lb by the time he was 6 weeks! I'd love for him to put on weight but my poor boobies!!!!
A bit of background ... I've had high BP for some time now (pre-pregnancy), although it wasn't medicated. However, during the last few months of the pregnancy it started to creep up, so they put me on methyldopa to bring it down. It stabilised it and took it to fairly reasonable (still high) levels, but they weren't happy so they added in Atenolol just over 3 weeks ago. He had a scan and everything looked great, lots of fluid, an active baby who was bang on for dates ... all wonderful. Nothing was ever mentioned to me about side-effects of Atenolol so I stupidly assumed it was safe since it was prescribed to me in the maternity hospital.
On Sunday 12th I went to hospital with reduced fetal movements, they monitored me for ages and although there was one deceleration, he seemed to be OK. They would have scanned me but it was a holiday weekend and I had a scan booked for Thursday anyway, and with all seeming well, I went home.
Anyway, on Thursday 16th July I had a scan to check his growth and position (little monkey had been breech for months!). The fluid had completely disappeared (my waters hadn't broken, the fluid had just gone), and our little boy had stopped growing 2 weeks previously. Thankfully there was still a heartbeat but they decided there and then to induce me.
I was put to the assessment unit and they hooked me up to CTG and Finlay was fine. In the evening they decided to give me the pessary to start things off. I was quite tender inside because I had a bit of thrush (sorry!) and the pessary felt extremely sharp - it was in all night and honestly, it hurt like hell! I think if I hadn't had thrush I'd have been fine, but being tender, anything really hurt! Anyway I was on it all night and by morning was beginnng to have tightenings - not contractions, but just mild tightenings. Every time I did, Finlay's heartrate dropped. They tried putting me on oxygen to give Finlay a boost, but it didn't make any difference. The consultant came down and the pessary was removed, and I was transferred to the Labour Ward so that they could take things further.
When I got there, they hooked me up to more monitors and had a look to see how dilated I was - less than 1cm. The said they would be starting me on a hormone drip to try and get things going, but they wanted to make sure theatre was free incase Finlay went into distress again. Once theatre was free they set it all up (but hadn't actually started it) ... then all hell broke loose on the ward - loads of women in labour so we were just monitored for the rest of the night, hubby went home for a sleep and I got to get a few hours too.
On Saturday morning, they monitored him again and he was happy as larry. Loads of accelerations and no decelerations, so they felt he was ready for them to try the hormone drip. After several hours it was up to maximum and although I wasn't feeling a single thing, Finlay was starting to get into distress again. They decided to see how dilated I was but it was very painful so they had to give me gas and air! Still less than 1cm dilated, the doctor decided to see if there was any way my waters could be broken. Honestly, I was now sucking on the gas and air so hard I was starting to go off my face!! It was extremely painful because not only was I barely dilated, but the internal part of the cervix was closed. Nothing doing, and with Finlay in distress, they immediately prepped me for a section.
Within about 20 minutes I was on the table, and at 2:53pm, our beautiful son was born. When they took him out, I heard a cry and the tears just rolled down my face ... what a relief. They didn't say if he was a girl or a boy, just held him up for us to see which was really nice. He was obviously small and they took him away to weigh him (4lbs, 8oz), calculate his apgar score (which was 9 - thank God), then wrapped him up and handed him to me. I've never felt anything like that in my life ... he was the most beautiful thing either of us had ever seen and we were both crying with sheer happiness. They told us that he would have to go to the special nursery because he was small, and took him away. They sewed me up, and told me that the cord had been wrapped around him, although thankfully not his neck. I'd lost just over a litre of blood, but otherwise great.
Finlay is still in the NNU, but he's doing great ... he's been lucky because his issues are fairly minor, he's basically just small and some things are a little immature. As of today it seems pretty much everything has been resolved, apart from his feeding which has been a slow build up with a couple of bumps in the road .. but he's now on my EBM and loving it, scoffing it down like no-one's business! No word of when we'll get him home, but just happy he's doing so well.
Rather worryingly, Finlay's Dad (my hubby) was a really hungry baby - he started off at a small 6lb but was 21lb by the time he was 6 weeks! I'd love for him to put on weight but my poor boobies!!!!
