About Me

My photo
Last year I turned the big 3.0 and got married - I thought that was my milestone year. As it turns out, 2009 quickly overshadowed 2008 when my husband and I found out we were pregnant. I'm going to be experiencing everything for the first time as a woman and an expectant mother which is why I'm calling this my year of firsts. I'm senior editor for Marie Claire South Africa.

Friday, August 21, 2009

PART ONE

Sunday, August 9
It started out like an ordinary easy Sunday morning. And I was still basking in the glory of having made it to my maternity leave without my waters breaking at the office.
And then later that morning I had a show (which all mothers know is the sign that baby's coming). After calling my midwife and letting her know what was happening, I settled in for a day of watching 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians'. Apparently baby could arrive that day, or in two days or even two weeks. Hein had a mutual friend's 30th birthday party to help organise later that evening...
I felt oddly content and wasn't anything out of the ordinary until 6pm that evening, when I started bleeding. I had been watching 'Here Come the Newlyweds' on MNet which I was rather enjoying... I called Xoli who told me I should get to the clinic and then called Hein. Still, I wasn't panicking - I wasn't in pain or experiencing any discomfort. When Hein arrived, we packed my hospital bags just in case and drove to Genesis Clinic. I hated the fact that this could possibly be one of those false alarms I'd read so much about.
The sweet midwife on standby there monitored baby's heart rate which wasn't fluctuating, took my blood pressure, which was high and told us, teamed up with the fact that I was bleeding painted a worrying picture. I hadn't eaten having left home round dinner time, so the midwife suggested I drink a cup of sweet tea and see if baby's heart rate picked up - and it did. He also nipped out to to Woolies to get some supper - even though I wasn't hungry. I could barely swallow that chicken caesar salad even though it's my favourite. A few hours later we decided to settle in - unload my bags and slip on my birth CD.
And just to err on the side of caution, it was decided to call Xoli, who arrived and called my back-up gynae Dr Mia.
After consulting it was decided to move me to Linkwood Hospital where they would break my waters. If there was blood in the water, I would have to give birth via caesarian; if not, they would induce me because my blood pressure was still up. Why wait until it got critical? I was disappointed we had to leave Genesis but Linkwood had been my second choice...


No comments:

Post a Comment