Melanie Brooke's Birth Story

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything sooner. You might be wondering if everything is ok....how we are holding up....are we getting any sleep?

We are loving life with our new little addition. Sure, Ben is transitioning a bit, I am in pain some, Caleb is sleep-deprived a little....but, really, life.is.good.

I wanted to take the time to write out my birth story. Again, this might not be everyone's favorite kind of post. So, I kindly invite you to STOP reading now. :) I love to read birth stories. I love how each one is so unique. So, I am going to take the time to write Melanie Brooke's birth story out...

Caleb and I woke up at 6am on Wednesday, December14th. We were supposed to get to the hospital by 7am. We were walking through the hospital doors at 6:55am. I went to the front desk and handed them my letter from our organization which would work as proof of payment. If I didn't have this piece of paper (or if they didn't accept it), then I would be required to pay $6000 immediately at check-in. If you are self-funded, then you need to pay upfront for a 4-night hospital stay! Yikes! Thankfully, they immediately accepted the letter and I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was here that Caleb asked, "Do you want to take the elevator or the stairs?" I smiled. Of course I wanted to take the stairs. I could just picture it....my water breaking as I hit the top stair and then my going into labor all on my own. Well....that didn't happen.

Do you know that I am worrier? Surely you have figured that out by now. My next worry was....maybe they were too busy with other moms who came in last night and there would be "no room at the inn". I was afraid they were going to say, "Sorry, we have no rooms available, could you come back tomorrow morning instead for your induction?" (This had happened to another couple from PNG who recently had their baby here.) I don't just "make up" these worries. They usually have something to do with something I have heard. :)

Anyway, I had a room. :) My room even had my name on the wall. Another sigh of relief.

I had my own room....I was having a baby today!

Here are pictures of the room (keep in mind this was about 7:15am).

There is a bathroom to the left and the seat in the picture below opens up to a bed for the dad.
Notice our menus on the little table. We filled out the menu indicating what we wanted to eat for lunch, dinner, breakfast the next morning and lunch the next day. Surely we would need those, right?? (Wrong!)

We got "settled in". Caleb went back out to the car and got our bags. The midwife hooked me up to the fetal heart monitor. We waited around for the doctor to come until about 8:15am. Dr. Wright came in singing "Happy BIRTH-day". I couldn't help but smile. He told me that they were going to insert the gel. As he did that, he noted that (again, continue reading at your own risk....you may not want to know what I am about to write)....ok, back to the birth story. He said that my cervix was already really ready and that I was dilated as well.

He explained the "usual" course of this procedure. Gel at 8am, Gel again at noon, then contractions, stronger contractions, even stronger contractions and baby by 7-8pm at night. He left the room saying, "But, you know, you are ALLOWED to have this baby before lunch!"

At this point, it was 8:30am. I told Caleb that he should drive back to Tree Tops Lodge and pick up his mom and Ben and take them over to Muddy's (an outdoor play place which happens to be REALLY close the hospital). So, Caleb left. I had to sit in the bed with the fetal monitor on me for an hour. No big deal, right? Surely nothing would happen in an hour or two.

Well, as I sat there, I started to have contractions. They weren't extremely painful, but sitting was annoying. They were uncomfortable enough that I wanted to be out of the bed. At about 9:15am, I started getting nervous that Caleb wasn't there. I didn't feel like I was going into hard, active labor at the time. I was just nervous that if labor began, I would think that I was further along than I really was. I felt like I needed Caleb there so that he could read me. When he answered the phone, I asked if he was on his way. He said, "No, we haven't left yet." I then told him that I really needed him there because I was "pretty sure" that I was having contractions.

Caleb dropped off this mom and Ben and arrived back at the hospital around 9:45am. I was SO relieved to see him. I was already up and about and off the fetal monitor when he arrived. The contractions were stronger now that I was walking about the room. A friend came to visit me (she had her baby during the night on the 14th). I remember not wanting to see her because the contractions were strong, but I didn't know what that meant.....was it just the drugs making them worse or was this really the real thing??? Kelly came by to say, "Hi"....and in typical Adrienne-fashion, I apologized for not being more social....but that the contractions were a "bit strong". She had this look like, "Wow! That really worked fast! You are already in pain?" She didn't say these things, but it was what I was feeling myself. I started saying things like, "I'm not going into labor soon." I was in complete denial at this point....I just thought that these painful contractions were intensified only because of the drugs in me.

Caleb suggested that we walk. So, we walked. We walked down the hall, around the corner, down another long hall. At this point, I was stopping at every contraction. I would get three contractions in a row with no break in between until the third one was finished. Then, I could talk and walk for a bit before the cycle of three contractions began again. At some point, I decided that I wanted to go back to the room to lay down.

The walk back was hard. When we got back to the room, I started getting nervous that I wouldn't know when to tell the nurses/midwives that I was ready to change rooms. The idea was that I would labor as long as I wanted/could in my private room....then, I would "know" when to move over to the delivery room. At this point, I was just getting really nervous that I would say that I was ready to go, get over there and then labor would stall. I mean, at this point, it was probably only 10:15am. It seemed impossible to me that this could actually be "it".

Caleb was able to look at me and see that it was time to go. That's when we found out that there was already another person in the delivery room. They went to check out what it would be like for me to be in the room WITH the other person (not MY idea of a good time, mind you). I decided to get in the shower to see if that would help. It helped for all of 5 minutes. I didn't like it and the contractions were getting stronger! I got out of the shower.....and Caleb and the midwives agreed that I needed to move to the other room. They made a comment like, "We are all betting that you will have your baby before the other lady." Again, I still wasn't believing this.

That is when the midwife checked to see if I was dilated. I was under the impression that they didn't check for that in Australia. But, I was relieved to know that she wanted to check!

She told me that I was 8cm dilated. It was probably about 10:20 when she said this. They asked if I wanted to walk or take a wheelchair to the other room. I decided to walk, wrapped only in a sheet (who cared about clothes at this point) and probably transitioned on the walk. When we got to the delivery room, I was there all of 10 minutes. The nurses and midwife frantically started to get all the things necessary for delivering this little girl. They were ignoring me because they saw how fast this little one was coming. I was also asked at one point if I wanted the gas for some pain relief. I started to consider getting it and asked what it was like....then another contraction hit and I never brought it up again.

Two contractions later, I said, "This HAS to be the urge to push." Then I heard a little pop. Next contraction, my water broke and I was pushing. I got on the bed and in 20 minutes, little Mel was out!

All I remember about the pushing part was that I was trying to push even when I wasn't having a contraction. Then, when I would push with the contraction, everyone seemed to cheer me on. I always seem to want to push just to push....now I know that I really need to wait for the contraction.

Anyway, Dr. Wright burst into the room right as I pushed Mel's head out. He was there to help with the shoulders and rest. They immediately put Melanie on my stomach and I was just so relieved and shocked that she was here....so fast!

That is when the midwife told me that there was knot in the cord. She showed it to me. I felt like this was God's confirmation of "See, you were supposed to be induced." Who knows what would have happened if we had waited any longer. It wasn't a very tight knot and could have even happened during the whole delivery part....but it still made me happy that we chose to go the induction route.

Here is a picture of baby Mel with all her "natural juices" (which is what one nurse called it). Yuck! Anyway....more to come about the hospital and overall experience in Australia verses the States. Oh, and I thought I needed to post this picture because everyone was commenting on Facebook about how I didn't look like I had just had a baby. So, here is the "I-just-had-a-baby" shot. Caleb and were just so stunned and happy that it was all over so soon!

Happy Birthday, Baby Mel!

Oh....I forgot to put the rest of the story. After Melanie was born, they put her on me (as seen in the picture above. She and I hung out together (like this) for at least an hour. She took right to feeding during this time.....maybe 30-40 minutes after birth. I ended up re-tearing where I tore with Ben. That was disappointing. But, because she came really fast, we aren't sure how that could have been avoided.

I took a shower and then Melanie and I headed back to our private room. At this point, Caleb went to pick up his mom and Ben from Muddy's and then drove them back to Tree Tops.

I enjoyed lunch around 1pm, a nap from 2-3pm, a visit from the nurse and the pediatrician from 3pm-4pm. Caleb returned at 4pm with his mom and Ben. Ben got to meet his little sister then. :) I took a shower during this time. Then, our dinner came around 5pm. At 5:30pm, we packed our bags and checked OUT of the hospital. :) Again.....fast, fast, fast!