BIRTH STORY PART 1
I went in for monitoring the Saturday before the babies arrived. My body was starting to change, with swelling and other things going on which were all signs of things to come. On Sunday, I noticed an increase in braxton hicks contractions. They were quite intense and some of them were painful. This went on sporadically throughout the day. My belly had dropped significantly to (this photo is from that morning).
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I went to bed at 10pm that night and kept waking overnight with painful braxton hicks (actual contractions) but I would just go back to sleep. Around 430am I asked Lyall what he had on for the day (work wise) and said that he might need a sick day because I was probably going to have to be checked out.
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I ended up having a shower and thought I would give my midwife a call when it hit a decent hour (6am) but by 515am and after an internal debate with myself I decided to call her then. She asked me to meet her at the hospital. At this stage Lyall was just dropping me off and then going to come home and sort the kids out for school, then come back to the hospital if I was still there.
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We got to the hospital at 545am and I had left my phone behind so Lyall went home to get it. He then decided to get dressed and come in for my check up.
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At 6am we finally got into the hospital and I was put onto a machine for monitoring. My midwife did an internal to find I was 7cm dilated and it was all go from there. Kids were sorted. Bloods sent off, IV put in, compression socks and gown on.
BIRTH STORY PART 2
After the internal, the contractions became quite intense. I also had to acknowledge they were actual contractions and not braxton hicks. I had a flurry of people around me trying to prepare me to go to theatre and get all the things done then all of a sudden adrenaline kicked in and I had the major shakes. It was official, the triplets were coming at 33 weeks 6 days.
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I only had a second to message my Mum and tell her I thought I was going in – my message was short enough she didn’t know if I meant to the hospital or theatre. At this point I was kind of freaking out inside, but also having contractions so queue deep breathing and mental preparation.
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I was taken down to the room before theatre and Lyall was taken off to get scrubs. While in this room I was asked all the anaesthetic questions and pre screening. I could hear everyone in theatre beside me getting ready.
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In my head I was telling myself first goal – spinal and second goal – deliver. I had to focus on one thing at a time.
BIRTH STORY PART 3
After the internal, the contractions became quite intense. I also had to acknowledge they were actual contractions and not braxton hicks. I had a flurry of people around me trying to prepare me to go to theatre and get all the things done then all of a sudden adrenaline kicked in and I had the major shakes. It was official, the triplets were coming at 33 weeks 6 days.
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I only had a second to message my Mum and tell her I thought I was going in – my message was short enough she didn’t know if I meant to to hospital or theatre. At this point I was kind of freaking out inside, but also having contractions so queue deep breathing and mental preparation.
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I was taken down to the room before theatre and Lyall was taken off to get scrubs. While in this room I was asked all the anaesthetic questions and pre screening. I could hear everyone in theatre (OR) beside me getting ready.
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In my head I was telling myself first goal – spinal and second goal – deliver. I had to focus on one thing at a time.
BIRTH STORY PART 4
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I had the violent shakes throughout the entire surgery, my jaw was so sore afterwards! When they took Baby A out, he started crying straight away. It made me cry too. Then Baby B, both of them were born at 7.11am (after my 6am internal) and Baby C was 7.12am. I’d been told about how weird it feels being pushed and pulled and not feeling the pain. I could definitely feel it more up under my ribs.
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There was blood all over the floor, I saw Lyall looking down in disbelief at one point and I heard someone come and put towels down. I lost 600 ml of blood and didn’t require an infusion. I think I lost 4-500 ml with my last birth so that didn’t seem so bad.
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Baby A & B didn’t require oxygen but Baby C needed some extra help in that department. They bought Baby A over for me to give him a kiss before he went to SCBU and I think they showed me Baby B too. Baby C was taken straight up. Lyall stayed with me while they cleaned me up. I was surprised to get oxytocin to help the placentas detach. They were huge!
BIRTH STORY PART 5
I went to recovery and while I was there my midwife came and collected 6mls of colostrum by hand. The nurses there were lovely. I was there until about 9.30am and then on my way back to maternity they took me to SCBU (NICU) to see the babies. I was pretty out of it still but I got to hold Baby A & B and Lyall got his first hold of Baby A. I was still shaking on and off and I was so tired so I didn’t stay there long before moving on to the maternity ward. Here I snoozed on and off the rest of the day while I waited for the feeling to come back properly from my spinal.
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Lyall had been between me and SCBU (NICU) throughout the day and went just before 3pm to pick the kids up from school. Their nana had taken them (at their own will) to school that morning. He spent some time with them having dinner and showing them photos and videos for the afternoon (plus baking me cookies with Liv!) and then left them with my Mum (who came to stay at our house) and came back to the hospital around 630pm. At this stage I decided to try standing up. First I sat on the edge of the bed with help, and had a bit of dizziness and then I stood with the help of Lyall and the nurse.
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I still had an IV line and the catheter in but I had a shower which was nice. The cover started coming off my incision so the nurse changed it and I had Lyall take a photo at the same time. I won’t share this photo because my incision is quite low but it’s healing really well.
BIRTH STORY PART 6
I went by wheelchair up to SCBU (NICU) around 730pm for my first real visit with the babies. They were all together in their incubators. Absolutely gorgeous.
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I’d been getting so scared about having a c-section and really wanted to keep them in until my booked date (18 July) but that Monday morning as I had my early morning shower the fear had gone for a moment and the need to get to the 18th had disappeared, I knew that today really might be the day.
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I’m so glad I called my midwife when I did. She said she could feel my waters bulging when she did my internal and had thought if they broke then I would be having atleast one baby on that bed!
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I spoke to the assisting surgeon yesterday who I had seen for clinic post scan a couple of times and she said that the babies were the healthiest multiples she’s ever seen when they came out. They were all crying away and none of them needed serious attention.
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That made me super proud because after having weight loss surgery (gastric sleeve) I’ve been so worried that I wouldn’t be able to give these babies everything they needed to grow well.
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Our bodies can do amazing things!
Story by: @from_lian
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