| Niamh Annabelle | Pronounced: Neeve | Meaning: Meaning | niamh "radiance, lustre, brightness." The daughter of the sea god Manannan she was known as "Niamh of the Golden Hair," a beautiful princess riding on a white horse. She fell in love with Fionn's son Oisin (read the legend of Niamh and Oisin) and lived with him in Tir-na-nOg ("Land of the Young") (read the legend) where 300 years passed in what seemed like three weeks. In 2003 it was the eleventh most popular baby girl's name in Ireland. Lovable |
Wednesday 6th February I woke up with a very crampy feeling. I stayed in bed for as long as possible, but when I got up I felt my waters had broken. The pain increased so I got a hot pack and had some panadol and was feeling quite panicky. Tony was in the shower and by the time he came out I was in tears.
We phoned Calvary Hospital where I was booked in and they said to come straight in for assessment so off we went. Luckily my good friend, Kate phoned just as we were leaving and offered to have Bailey for us so we readily accepted and dropped him off on the way.
We arrived at Calvary at 9.30am. It was the longest half hour car ride ever and I was having contractions four minutes apart which then heated up to 2 minutes apart. I was really worried and knew that Niamh was on her way.
As soon as we got there I was taken into the delivery suite where they immediately gave me Nifedipine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nifedipine) to slow down the contractions, they also gave me a shot of a steroids to try and mature her lungs faster. They used the doppler to monitor her heartbeat which never skipped a beat, she was still moving around. When my obstetrician arrived, she checked me using the speculum and saw that I was already 4cms dilated and she could feel her head! She was still in her membranes/sack/caul so it was important that I stay still and rest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caul
She also took some swabs which later came back positive for Strep B infection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strep_b
It felt like a short amount of time before my ob was driving me over to Womens and Childrens Hospital. They are equipped to deal with babies born this early and it was important for us to be there if Niamh was going to make her appearance. They have four levels of infant intensive care, 1 being the highest level. The babies move from one level to the next as they improve and need less intensive care though it could be weeks before they move up to the next level.
Tony had to go and move the car, and met us up in the labour suite. I was instructed to have complete bedrest, only to go the the toilet which was right next to my bed. After a short while they brought in an ultrasound machine and scanned me. We found that Niamh had actually turned breech and her tiny little feet were poking through my cervix and into the birth canal. This was not the most comfortable position for her to be in and it was now precarious so I was further told not to leave the bed at all and just lay down. I had to use a bedpan if I needed the toilet which was a whole new, unpleasant experience.
Tony had left at about 3.20pm that afternoon and things had settled down well.
I had been put on an IV drip and given penicillin and antibiotics. Every 3 hours I was given Nifedipine to slow down the contractions. I couldn't have any more steroids to mature her lungs for another 24 hours after the first shot. The plan of action (or inaction) was to remain in bed, still, doing nothing and to keep this baby in as long as possible. They were hoping to keep me like this until Friday. That way I would have had 3 shots of steroids and Niamh would have had a really good chance to develop her lungs and get ready for the birth. 3 extra days in the womb would have made a really big difference to her at this early stage.
It was suggested that if I hadnt gone into natural spontaneous labour by Friday I would have a caesarian. Tony and I didnt really have a chance to discuss this, but the implications of that was that I may never carry another child due to my womb being so small at this stage and the cut would be made into my muscle rather than fibrous tissue. This hadnt had a chance to develop yet. Thankfully it didnt come to that.
The pains had eased although I did have a mild period pain that sometimes seemed to constrict like contractions. They were very random though, sometimes ten minutes apart, sometimes half an hour.
I was given some temazepam to help me sleep, and eventually at midnight, I fell asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment