Day 1-8. The emotional rollercoaster.

So, for my first blog entry I thought I would give a blow-by-blow account of what has been happening for the last eight days... this may be a little repetitive for some but I know a few people aren't sure of the full details. (I am going to try and keep the female details to a minimum so as not to gross the guys - and Karen - out too much!)

Up until very recently the pregnancy had been going really well - no morning sickness and no troubles at all (some of you are probably recalling the bragging I have been doing about this - how annoying). I was planning on working right up as late as possible (seriously, I wasn't quite sure what all this finishing work a month early for some 'me time' was all about.. what the hell would I do with myself?) and of course, the baby was going to arrive on its due date (just like Cam and I - perfect babies), it would be a natural delivery and drug free.

I have learnt a big lesson the last week... you can't plan for babies!

On the Sunday of Auckland Anniversary weekend I started getting a few tightenings (small contractions) and cramps during the day. Cam suggested a few times I call my midwife but I was sure it was just Braxton Hicks false labour pains and didn't want to seem like a nuisance. We went out for dinner that evening and between courses the cramping was getting a bit uncomfortable so I put in a call to my midwife to put my mind at ease.. I still thought I was being a drama queen! After telling her my symptoms I was advised to get my butt down to North Shore Hospital for a check up.

After a night at North Shore Hospital I was discharged the following morning, told to go home and get some bed rest for a few days and take it easy. If the symptoms got worse I was to come back in. I had a few days in bed and the symptoms pretty much went away... all seemed good until I woke up the following morning (Thursday 4th Feb) to my waters breaking! Eeeekkk!!!

What a weird sensation by the way.

At 6.45am Cam and I were frantically running around the house grabbing the hospital bag (now pre-packed after the previous weekend), putting the dogs outside and calling worried parents with the news... Cam also had the hindsight to throw a few towels on the front passenger seat... nice touch.

We arrived at North Shore Hospital where I was hooked up to a monitor to measure baby gee's heart beat and the contractions I was having, they also did a quick ultrasound to establish how much amniotic fluid I had lost when my membranes ruptured (at this point I was quickly learning the lingo). I was put on meds to stop the contractions and given some steroids to speed up baby gee's lung development. I was also started on a 10 day course of antibiotics to fight off infection (high risk after the membranes have ruptured).

Seeing as I was only 27 1/2 weeks when all this took place it was decided that I needed to be sent immediately to Auckland Hospital (via ambulance!) as they have a NICU (newborn intensive care unit) for prem babies born under 33 weeks. I arrived around 8.30am last Thursday and have been here ever since.

Initially we thought baby would be born within the first 72 hours of arriving at hospital, but the meds they gave me to stop the contractions worked and baby gee has made no more signs that he/she is ready to come out (I think it was Paul that commented that baby gee must be a girl as it can't make up its mind!). I have since learnt that after your membranes have ruptured it is possible for babies to stay inside up until 34 weeks - they are taken out at this point as they start to get a little squashed without the protective fluid around them as they grow.

So the current situation is: baby could come tonight, it could come next week, it could hold on for another six weeks. Baby Gee is also lying in the wrong position - sideways with elbow presenting in my cervix (sounds uncomfortable for both of us huh?). Geeze, this kid is going to be trouble! Definitely taking after Cam already I think. Because of baby being breeched it does mean I will be going in for a cesarean, which I was quite gutted about! As there is no fluid left around the baby, there is no opportunity to turn him/her.

On the bright side, baby is doing well and every extra day that it spends inside me is one less day it will spend in an incubator at NICU. When baby does eventually decide to come out in to the world it will be spending some time at NICU - they say to expect baby to be there until its due date (1st may). We were shown a DVD of prem babies born at NICU and I gotta say... some of them look a little 'ET' like! Cam and I always thought our baby would come out looking like a little hairy monkey (those Gee genes!) but it is probably going to be completely hairless and missing its fingernails! Poor baby...

So, to wrap up this very long first post... Mum and baby are both doing well. Not sure when baby will arrive but expect to be in hospital myself for a maximum of another 6 weeks, followed by daily visits to NICU to visit baby gee where he/she will be until term. Every 6 hours I am getting poked and prodded (temperature, pulse, blood pressure etc), and pumped full of antibiotics. The staff here are all excellent and although we felt quite anxious the first few days, are now feeling positive about the outlook.

Thank you so much to everyone for your emails, phone calls, text messages, gifts, flowers and visits! The support has been really overwhelming and I am absolutely going to milk this for as long as possible :-)