My clever child......

6 days old and she is smiling!!! No it's not wind, it's a true blue, dinky -di smile!!! She kind of smirked at me when she was born, but this is a real "we have a connection" smile.

Today we put on her very first cloth nappy. A very kind friend sent me a stack of them, along with all sorts of goodies, including a sling! The nappy does make her look a little bulky - but thats coz she is a skinny chicken!

It's a girl!!! Welcome Ameliah Zara!

Well it's all over folks!! I finally had this baby!!

I am proud to introduce the latest model - Ameliah Zara.

This is how it went down.... (if you don't like birth stories - don't read!)

Monday afternoon - I laid down next to my baby - Sir E, and sang to him and cuddled him until he fell asleep for a nap, and grieved a bit. Tears fell just a tiny bit. This poor little kid was about to have his life turned upside down, and I was going to do this to him.

3pm - rocked up at the hospital a tad late - my midwife, Katie thought I might be piking because I was late. - I was admitted, checked out and the gels were inserted. It all started pretty much straight away. I was aching and felt like a period was coming on. Contractions (mild ones) started around 6pm and were about 4 minutes apart for most of the night. So you can imagine how much sleep I DIDN'T get!! LOL.

We had a few diversions. For example - to watch "Free" to air TV, we had to pay Telstra $15! LMAO!! But we also got Foxtel which was a bit of a novelty... for the first 3 minutes. Then I discovered that I was very glad I don't have Foxtel at home. There was absolutely NOTHING to watch. There was internet connection with it as well, and so I was able to talk to a few friends and give them updates of progress that night and on Tuesday morning. In the end we watched a bit of "The Wedding Crashers" that we hired on the laptop. I love that movie - pretty funny!

Sleep was pretty interrupted - every 4 minutes to be precise, and then every 4 hours I had to be monitored by the midwives. The second lot of gels were cancelled by the Registrar on that shift because "Neonatal Special Care is understaffed" - yeah I really needed that freak out at that moment. Katie wasn't happy about the cancellation - since I was booked to have this induction.

7am Tuesday morning Katie checked out how my cervix was going and she said it was going pretty well - but because I didn't have the second lot of gels, she didn't know what she could do next. So she ran it by the doctors/OBS and they had a big meeting about it. So 9am was when I finally got started. My waters were broken... hehe... I was flooding for AGES. There was sooooo much of the stuff! My drip was put in and antibiotics pumped though. Then came the oxytocin (sp?) - contractions began.

I was pleasantly surprised because bub was no longer posterior - she had turned!! And was facing the right way - so I had mainly tummy pain - not the terrible back pain. I coped relatively well for 2 hours. Daz rubbed my back and I managed my pain well. I was given another examination and my cervix had not dialated since the night before - still 2 cm dialated. I started to feel a bit down about that. All this pain and it was doing what?? Never mind... I still pushed on. The dosage of hormones were put up and up and up - and the intensity of these contractions were going up and up. I hopped in the shower on a gym ball and let the hot water beat on my body. It felt really good. But then the hospital staff came in demanding that Katie fix the monitoring system because the water proof one kept losing signal. So I had to get out the shower and a little hook monitor was inserted into bub's head. The doctor said "Hmmm... this is a big baby" - and I felt that familiar rise of terror.... oh and guess how dialated I was?? 2 cm STILL!! 4 hours and only 2cms.

I felt myself start to crumble. I burst into tears and sobbed and sobbed in the shower. I couldn't cope any longer with the pain - the contractions were very close together and were acheiving nothing. Katie suggested I start thinking about pain relief - the epidural. Progress was too slow, it was likely I was going to need a c-section. So an epidural was booked and I was shifted immediately to the labour ward. I never had any drugs with the other two, so this was going to be a new experience. I was beyond caring..

Contractions were coming thick and fast and I had to listen to the annethesist inbetween and then he began to put it in. He had to keep stopping because every 30 seconds or so I had a contraction. I had to stay perfectly still because needles were going all over the place and Katie had to talk me through them. I thought I was going to die! HURRY UP AND GET THE DRUGS WORKING!!!

Finally it was all in, and I was laying down on my back. Daz warned the man that anesthetics and me took a while to get working. He kept pumping the drugs into me, and they weren't working. Contractions were thick and fast - and the poor man was trying to discuss the next option - I felt that familiar heavy feeling down below... "I CAN'T LISTEN TO YOU RIGHT NOW!!! I need to push!!!"

Then all the action began to happen. Another midwife appeared out of nowhere and held my hand while I began pushing. The professor appeared. Daz said "I can see the head!!" There was lots of shouting and talking and 5 pushes later, I felt the familiar feeling of a body leaving mine and a crying baby was placed on my body! She was crying!!! The Professor was punching the air and grinning - ermm.. what are YOU so happy about buddy?? I'M the one that did all the hard work!! LOL - The poor anethesist who was trapped in a corner emerged and congratulated me - "you don't need me anymore!" Umm.. no thanks. 1 1/2 hours after my last examination I went from 2cm to giving birth!!

Little Ameliah was born perfect. She stayed on my belly, both of us wrapped in a warmed blanket and we had cuddles for an hour. She began to suckle and her big eyes were wide open taking me in.

4 hours later we picked up our bags, our baby and walked out that hospital, and went home! What a very busy day!!

No stitches - I swear I am made out of rubber. 8lb 1oz - smallest baby I have ever had! And a very quick recovery. In fact the sorest part of my body is the epidural site - and I didn't even get the benefits of this! LOL. This is the best labour I have ever had. Even though it was looking dismal. I am so glad it's all over and my baby girl is in my arms!!

I had so many people praying for me and for a good outcome. God came through for me yet again with a coulple of miracles.

PS: You should see my stomach!!!!!! :O 4 days ago I gave birth and I am wearing clothes that were too small for me pre-pregnancy!! YEEEHAAAA!!!