Tiny Little Bubbles: My Little Munchkin

I finally figured that I'd get back into the blogging world again ... and yes I'm starting with an essay, sorry in advance....

For those of you who didn't know .. I found out that I was pregnant the day after Anzac Day last year. I was amazed at how fast it happened as I was expecting to wait at least a year before the pill got out of my system as I had been on it for years, and it certainly shocked me when those two little lines showed up on the stick.

I had blood tests taken and it showed that I was about three weeks pregnant, and didn't want to tell anyone just in case something happened but due to my work (emergency nurse), I had to let some of the people know that I worked with i.e with the heavy lifting, xrays etc.

I hit twelve weeks and we went back home to NZ to tell my family who were rather excited, especially my sister as she would have a little neice or nephew/cousins for her and her kids.

We got to 20 weeks and all was going well, the scan showed a little girl which my hubby was so happy with, I secretly wanted a boy but fell in love with my little 'moo' as I called her.

30 weeks came and went and my hubby was down in Melbourne for two months, we had settled on three names .... Crazy Chloe, Princess Sophie and Mia Monster. She alternated through these names depending on the severity of her kicks and how I was feeling each day.

Looking back now, I thought I had a rough pregnancy as I didn't like what it did to my body, making me feel sick and not being able to eat my favourite meat (lamb) as just a whiff of it made me want to chunder, but by 30 weeks I was beginning to appreciate what was growing inside me. The little nudges, boots under my ribs and the shortness of breath when walking up the stairs made me realise that I was going to have a little me as she was due on January the 8th, 7 days before my own birthday.

I was working a late shift on December 4th, 2013 and was sitting in the tea room feeling rather uncomfortable as she had shoved herself right up under my ribs and was making life hard for me during my dinner. Had so much yummy stuff to eat but wasn't able to due to where she was sitting. Little Monster! One of the nurses I was working with was joking that I'd go into labour soon. I warned him that he better not jinx me as I was 35 weeks and hadn't got anything sorted at home as my hubby was still in melbourne and due to come home in two days.

I finished work for the day and headed home, wrapped up some xmas pressies while Little Moo gave me a belting in the ribs and I started to get some back pain which I thought was work related so I finished up and tucked myself up in bed.

A little while later, I rolled over and went why do I feel like I'm wetting myself, got up went to the toilet and found that I'd soaked myself, so changed everything and went back to bed. This happened a few more times and I was going through my underwear draw quite quickly so I thought I'd better call the Maternity Ward to see if they had any advice. The girl I spoke to said that I needed to work out whether I was wetting myself or if my waters had broken. I had no idea, so she recommended that I have a bath, see whether I feel better after that and then go to bed again if all resolved. She also said that I had better get some maternity pads the next day as I had nothing at home, didn't actual need them until then.

It was 1am at this time, I had no pain, my back pain had gone, I ran myself a bath, flipped myself so I was floating on my tummy with my chin on the edge of the bath and relaxed. I stayed there for a little while till I felt better and then hauled myself out of the bath, a rather funny sight I reckon and then climbed back into bed.

Not long after that I started to get pain in my front and it felt like period pain, by now I was pretty buggered from work and just wanted to sleep but the pain kept coming and going and then started in my back. I thought 'Oh crap', something is definitely not right now and rang the maternity ward. They advised me to come in to get checked out. The pain wasn't severe but it was quite uncomfortable so I took some panadol to see if that would help. Tried to pack what I thought I'd need if they kept me in overnight and then drove myself to hospital.

YES I DID DRIVE MYSELF TO HOSPITAL, no that wasn't a figment of your imagination. It was raining and I remember crying and going pull yourself together, you need to go to hospital but you aren't calling an ambulance, as I thought I'd be wasting their time. Stupid emergency nurse haha.

I got to the emergency department at 4am and was bawling, the receptionist was like your in labour, I'm going no I'm not in labour, I'm only 35 weeks pregnant, she's like yes you are. And this just made me worse as I was so worried. My husband was still in Melbourne!

I was taken up to the Maternity ward and the midwife said that we were expecting you to come in sooner an I said 'I didn't think that I needed to come in'. Typical me. They called the doctor on call and he turned out to be someone that I'd worked with before which was a bit of a laugh. Turns out that I was already 2-3cm dilated. Oh shit, I thought and this just freaked me out even more. I rang my husband at 4.30am and told him that I was in labour and my waters had broken. He'd been at a work do that night so I was surprised that he even answered the phone but told me later that it had instantly sobered him up.

He was working on getting himself home which wasn't an easy feat as there were rules on the course for leaving, luckily he was given leave and tried to get the earliest flight back to sydney.

I called my sister in law at this time as well just to let her know what was going on. I got a text message later on saying that she was on her way as I was like no its ok, just come when you can.

I was taken into a room and had an IV inserted, given antibiotics to prevent against infection and then the pain started for sure, it must of been about 5am by this time and it hurt. I asked for some pain relief and was given happy gas, boy if you can work that stuff out it is brillant to use. She had me over the head of the bed and when I felt like I needed to poo (it was the head pushing down) I sucked on the happy gas, gripped the head of the bed with both hands and continued this way till it passed. It seemed like ages but it actually all went in a blur, the midwife was soon telling me that I had to turn around and lie on the bed cause the baby was going to be coming out.

My husband rang just before I turned over and the first thing I said to him was 'I want to poo', glorious aye, what a wonderful thing to be told by your wife, he was just getting into a taxi to go to the airport.

I can sympathise with the feeling of the burning ring of fire which is what the crowning of the head feels like, I felt like i'd been rubbed with a cut chilli, it was insane! But at least I knew that it was going to be over soon.

My sister in law arrived at 6.05 am and my little baby girl was born at 6.25 am, and I was in shock.

I hadn't really got to the stage of yes I'm going to be a mum yet, I hadn't had a baby shower, yes I knew I was pregnant but hadn't completely accepted it yet. I know that sounds strange, but boy was I in shock. My bub was placed on my chest and all I could think was 'oh my god, I'm a mum'.

My husband rang again and my sister in law answered the phone and told him that he was a Dad, he was just about to get on the plane.

The midwife took her away as she had to go to special care due to the 5 weeks prematurity and potential for breathing problems. I don't really like the photos that I had taken with her on my chest as all you could see is the shock on my face and I sort of feel cheated when I see all the lovely photos of other mums with their bubs just born. But I quickly got over that.

The midwife asked what I was going to call her and I decided instantly that she was going to be 'Mia' as I had found the name from the last movie of the fast and furious series. Paul Walker's wife in the movie was called Mia and I loved the name. I figured it was quite fitting as she came out fast and furious.

Mia was born on December 5th, 2013 at 6.25am, weighing 2.5kgs and was 47cm long.