Lilly's Stay in Hospital
Since leaving hospital, I've been slowly putting together a video for Lilly that captures her time in the Special Care Nursery through photos and clips. It's finally complete and I adore how it turned out — I know she'll treasure it when she's older. Next up: her little photo album!
Labels: birth story, preemie journey, video
Welcome Lilly-anne!
On Tuesday the 27th of May at 1:19am, our baby girl Lilly-anne arrived unexpectedly! After three long weeks of feeling awful — vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, migraines and feverish chills — I decided to go to the hospital a second time. I hadn't felt much movement from the baby either, so I mainly wanted peace of mind. I called my grandparents and they drove me up. The midwives hooked me up to the tracer and bub was moving, though not as much as usual. They kept me for tests and decided to check my blood and urine. I could either wait for the results or go home and get a call — we chose to wait. By then my sister Libby was there too. When we went upstairs for the results, they told me I had to stay overnight for monitoring. They booked more scans because bub wasn't growing well either — she had dropped to the 12th percentile and they estimated her weight at about 1500g. I was a bit upset but knew they'd take good care of me, so I put on a brave face. My grandparents left and Libby stayed until Kurtis came up with clothes. Eventually they both left and I don't remember much of what happened next. I do remember them saying my blood pressure was slightly elevated and that I'd probably need to be induced within the next few weeks to keep bub healthy. Around 11pm they checked again and it had rocketed to about 180/120. They decided I had pre-eclampsia and that I would need to have my baby in the morning. I burst into tears, so they rang Kurtis, who raced back to the hospital. I remember a steroid injection to help develop bub's lungs and a lot of medication that made me horribly sick — I couldn't stop vomiting and shaking. By the time Kurtis arrived, they began preparing me for an emergency cesarean because my blood pressure had reached a point where I could have gone into shock, had a stroke, or worse — I could have lost the baby. I don't remember anything else from that night. Kurtis tells me he rang my Mum, who raced up with James, Hannah and Libby (my siblings) so they could be there for the birth and support Kurtis, who wasn't even allowed in the operating room because I was completely knocked out (apparently due to the risk of bleeding out with an epidural because my liver and kidney were shutting down, or something along those lines). I faintly remember seeing my Mum and sort of remember lying on the table with everyone making jokes to keep me calm. Miss Lilly-anne was born at 1:19am the following morning and weighed a teeny tiny 1590g — she was such a little fighter and came out breathing on her own, needing no oxygen despite only having one steroid injection just two hours before delivery. I still can't believe my scans from two weeks prior were exactly spot on. It makes me sad that my placenta obviously wasn't working at full function for quite some time, which is why I was measuring so far behind at appointments, why Lilly wasn't growing much and why I had felt so ill for weeks before her birth. I sort of remember coming out of surgery and talking to my Mum and Kurtis. Apparently the first thing I said was "Is Lilly okay?" and Kurtis tried to show me photos but I was too out of it to open my eyes. He tells me that once I knew she was okay, all I could talk about was our birth and maternity photography! They transferred me to the ICU, where I stayed for the next few days so they could monitor me closely — I believe I needed oxygen for about 48 hours. I had my very own personal nurse who even managed to sneak Lilly out of the Special Care Nursery so I could see her in person, but I don't really remember it at all. I spent the next four or five days in the ICU and Kurtis didn't leave our sides — he was either with me in the ICU or spending time in the nursery with Lilly. On the second day I had to go under the knife again when I developed a haematoma. This time they gave me an epidural so I was awake for the whole procedure. I remember being terrified but apparently I ended up falling asleep on the table all by myself, haha. Lilly kept kicking butt in the nursery but ended up needing to go under the lights due to some slight jaundice. A few days after her birth I was able to get up with a lot of assistance. My lovely nurse helped me have my first shower and then wheeled me down to the special care nursery so I could touch Lilly for the first time. I remember shedding a tear or two when I saw how absolutely tiny and precious she was — a moment I will never forget. It was definitely not the perfect, natural, calm hypnobirth I had prepared months for, and I think a lot of people were waiting for my baby blues to kick in, but thankfully the hormones didn't seem to get to me. In the end, I am just so incredibly happy to have Lilly in our arms where she belongs. The nurses reminded hubby over and over how lucky he was to have both of us safe and well, as it could have ended with him losing one or both of us if I hadn't been in the hospital when I was. I still can't believe she's here! I'm writing this several weeks after her arrival, so keep an eye out for updates on the rest of our hospital stay — it was certainly a long one!
Labels: birth story, newborn, preemie journey
Leave a comment · Email This · BlogThis! · Share to Twitter · Share to Facebook · Share to Pinterest
About Me
My name is Casey and I am a new mumma to a gorgeous little girl named Lilly. This blog follows my journey into mummahood.
Popular Posts
Labels
Pages
