The Booger Boy’s birth story

DP had an uneventful pregnancy except for some unexplained spotting that ended at 18 weeks after a colposcopy. At around 36 weeks, after being told repeatedly that the baby was head down we heard the surprising words “I think he might be breech”. Even though it wasn’t my body, my heart just plummeted.

A quick ultrasound was done and confirmed that he was indeed breech. DP was offered an external version but declined immediately in favour of a planned c-section. This surprised me, but of course I supported her in her decision. The hospital only scheduled c-sections on Thursdays, and it was scheduled for 22^nd April 2004, at 40 weeks.

The following week DP requested it be changed to 15^th April as she was feeling very uncomfortable. We met with an anaesthetist who explained the spinal, and signed all of the paperwork.

We were to be at the hospital at 7am on the day. I made DP wait while I took a final photo of her, something she had always hated doing but I insisted upon as you can’t go back later and take them. We arrived at the hospital, along with my mother in law who was the most nervous of all of us.

We checked in on the labour and delivery ward and were shown to a room. DP changed into a gown and I put scrubs on. A doctor did an ultrasound to confirm breech, a midwife checked her vitals and placed an IV. DP isn’t scared of needles like I am, but the way she squeezed my hand and the look on her face when it was done told me it really really hurt.

We had a different anaesthetist on the day and he decided he wasn’t comfortable using a spinal on a person with multiple sclerosis. She was to have an epidural and it was to be removed in the theatre as soon as she was stitched up. I’d never heard of such concerns, and I now believe they were unfounded.

When it was time DP and I walked to the operating theatre. I had to sit near the window while the epidural was administered. DP sat on the table and her back was washed then the local anaesthetic was done. Once that had taken effect it was time for the epidural. The needle went into her back and they fiddled around with it. At one point DP got shooting pains in her legs as they’d touched a nerve or something.

Once that was done, she lay down on the table and I sat by her head. They began checking to see if she was numb by poking her with a pokey thing. She could feel it all, and there was talk of giving her a general, but it was ok in the end.

I had taken a camera and video camera in with me. I ended up handing the camera to the student DP had allowed in and she took photos while I videoed. She was able to be down where the action was and got some good shots.

All of a sudden there was a baby in the air! He was displaying “the sad face” and screaming and pooping. He was taken to a table nearby to be checked over and I went over with him. He was wrapped up into a bundle and given to me, and I returned to my seat by DP’s head. I rested him on her chest but she was distracted because she was feeling sick and had the shakes so I held him near her head.

I asked her if he was Li@m D@niel, the name we’d been leaning towards, and she agreed that he was.

She thought she was going to be sick so they put some drugs in her IV. It didn’t seem to take long at all to stitch her up, and then we were all in recovery.

With the midwife’s help they tried breastfeeding, then TBB was weighed and measured. They took footprints and gave him a vitamin K injection. He was 3.68kg and 50.5cm long and had been born at 11:47am.

DP wanted her mother to meet him so I took him out to the hallway to see her quickly, then returned with him to recovery. A little butterfly needle was put into DP’s chest to deliver morphine for pain relief. After that it was just paracetamol.

After a while DP was allocated a bed on the postnatal floor but it was a shared room. I wasn’t allowed to stay overnight, but I stayed late and returned early.

By morning the lovely midwife was trying to arrange a single room. In the meantime I gave TBB his first bath, and helped DP have a shower. She was terrified that her incision would open and her guts would fall out.

After that she was moved to a single room with a shared bathroom, and I requested a fold up bed so I could stay that night. We didn’t get much sleep that night, just talking, holding and looking at our new baby.