Introducing . . .

Abbigail grace, born at 1.39 pm, 5 pounds 9 ounces. She is feeding
really well given her 36 week birth. I'm sorry but I can't send a
photo with this method of blogging. Be sure it will be the first thing
I do when I get a chance!

Flash back . . .

We were taken up to the prep area in our gowns and scrubs. I got to be
with sarah right up until the birth, which sarah really appreciated.
She was given a spinal block, which according to sarah was the worst
part of her experience. Having to lean forward and hug her knees
(impossible) and not recoil with pain at the injection into the spine.
She felt very nauseous initially as her blood pressure dropped as we
had been warned. With extra fluid on board she felt much better. They
then set her up on the operating table with a screen preventing her
from seeing the drama unfolding beyond. I sat next to her just holding
her hand as the anaesthetist talked with sarah to keep her mind
distracted. Before sarah realised what was going on they announced
that they were half way there! Sarah was surprised that they had even
started! The anaesthesia was very good! I took a look at this stage
with a feeling of mounting anticipation! They must have been looking
to find the best way to cut into the uterus. Not only was placenta
previa a problem but placenta accretia. Sarah had blood vessels that
penetrated uterus. This further complicated things. Several minutes
later I looked again and the doctors were playing tug of war with the
head and body of our daughter. The doctors won and abbigail was put
under heat lamps and poked and prodded, towelled off. My attention was
torn as I took in the awesome sight of my daughter, and looked back to
ensure sarah was still well. They decided to take abbigail away to
neonatal and I was asked if I wanted to go and look after her. After
checking with sarah that she was ok with that, I went with the
paediatrician to neonatal. There they attached probes and monitors to
measure heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and measured blood
glucose. All the time I simply can't take my eyes off my daughter. She
is SO gorgeous! After what seems like only 5 minutes they declared
her well enough to not need to be kept in the neonatal unit. During
the whole time I was quite overcome with emotion, and couldn't stop
the tears. I was so privileged to have the first meaningful hug with
abbigail. She just stared back at me, taking it all in. So about half
an hour after leaving sarah, she was stitched up and waiting in
recovery. Abbigail and I went back to say hi and reintroduce then to
each other. Sarah had a really good session of feeding with abbigail,
and eventually sarah was allowed to return to her room. Sarah has been
in significant pain since then, and so far has been rather unable to
do very much at all. At the moment her speedy recovery and sleep for
the both of us would be our greatest wishes.

Sorry it's taken all day to get this written. I'm not sure where the day went!

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

Introducing . . .

Abbigail grace, born at 1.39 pm, 5 pounds 9 ounces. She is feeding
really well given her 36 week birth. I'm sorry but I can't send a
photo with this method of blogging. Be sure it will be the first thing
I do when I get a chance!

Flash back . . .

We were taken up to the prep area in our gowns and scrubs. I got to be
with sarah right up until the birth, which sarah really appreciated.
She was given a spinal block, which according to sarah was the worst
part of her experience. Having to lean forward and hug her knees
(impossible) and not recoil with pain at the injection into the spine.
She felt very nauseous initially as her blood pressure dropped as we
had been warned. With extra fluid on board she felt much better. They
then set her up on the operating table with a screen preventing her
from seeing the drama unfolding beyond. I sat next to her just holding
her hand as the anaesthetist talked with sarah to keep her mind
distracted. Before sarah realised what was going on they announced
that they were half way there! Sarah was surprised that they had even
started! The anaesthesia was very good! I took a look at this stage
with a feeling of mounting anticipation! They must have been looking
to find the best way to cut into the uterus. Not only was placenta
previa a problem but placenta accretia. Sarah had blood vessels that
penetrated uterus. This further complicated things. Several minutes
later I looked again and the doctors were playing tug of war with the
head and body of our daughter. The doctors won and abbigail was put
under heat lamps and poked and prodded, towelled off. My attention was
torn as I took in the awesome sight of my daughter, and looked back to
ensure sarah was still well. They decided to take abbigail away to
neonatal and I was asked if I wanted to go and look after her. After
checking with sarah that she was ok with that, I went with the
paediatrician to neonatal. There they attached probes and monitors to
measure heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and measured blood
glucose. All the time I simply can't take my eyes off my daughter. She
is SO gorgeous! After what seems like only 5 minutes they declared
her well enough to not need to be kept in the neonatal unit. During
the whole time I was quite overcome with emotion, and couldn't stop
the tears. I was so privileged to have the first meaningful hug with
abbigail. She just stared back at me, taking it all in. So about half
an hour after leaving sarah, she was stitched up and waiting in
recovery. Abbigail and I went back to say hi and reintroduce then to
each other. Sarah had a really good session of feeding with abbigail,
and eventually sarah was allowed to return to her room. Sarah has been
in significant pain since then, and so far has been rather unable to
do very much at all. At the moment her speedy recovery and sleep for
the both of us would be our greatest wishes.

Sorry it's taken all day to get this written. I'm not sure where the day went!

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

6 Hours to go!

Whew! We made it! My only problem with not sleeping was because sarah
couldn't help but snore when she was asleep. I had ear plugs and
everything! I figured she deserted and needed the sleep!

It's such a surreal time. This morning is (apart from the early start)
is just like every other morning ... But we know it will be a day
unlike any other. Head knowledge can only get you so far in a
situation like this. We are about to be added to. Our miracle is about
to be revealed.

After the struggles and heartbreak of the last 4 years, everything
(apart from infertility) is about to change. The agony of 4 long
years of feeling the pain and dealing with the loss of what we never
had is about to come to a close.

Sarah has some nerves, but she describes it as more of a biological
response as she isn't nervous cognitively. I can rationalise that this
is the only course of action that could possibly provide a good
outcome, but I know better than most the possibilities of things that
may go wrong. That is enough negativity for today. Now that i've
thought about it, it won't happen! :)

The next time I blog, i'll be able to tell you about our bundle of joy!

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

One sleep to go ! ! !

Neither sarah or I slept very well last night. Only thought about
tomorrow once, but it's all the other things that come to mind! No
doubt tonight is going to be a write off too! But that's to be
expected. We are going to have the operation at 1 pm nz time. It seems
like a crime to spend this next 24 hours doing things like watching tv
or watching movies... But today will pass so slowly and of course
there is plenty to worry about.

I have dreamed so much of tomorrow. My mind has played through the the
scene so many times. I still find the idea so hard to imagine. I can't
put a face to the name, or a tone to the voice as emby cries that
first cry. This is ridiculous, I can't even type this without tearing
up! Tomorrow is going to be an incredibly emotional day!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Two sleeps to go part 2

Sarah just had here baby shower here in the maternity ward. Iv was a
lot of fun for her, especially considering how long she has been stuck
here! They had games and food and gifts, it was very special! So many
of them have known for a long time of the struggles we have faced over
the last 4 and a quarter years. They even got me a "daddy's diaper
duty" tool belt. Which was very funny, but it was nice to be included.

We will probably find out the time details for the c section tomorrow.
I think I will end up staying here with sarah for the next few days at
least. I'm really looking forward to up all going home! Its been a
long four weeks so far!

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

Two sleeps to go!

grrr... I just deleted what I just spent the last 15 minutes typing on
my mobile phone. So frustrating!

I woke up several times last night with excitement and struggled to
get back to sleep. So i'm a little tired today, I have no idea how i'm
going to sleep in the next 48 hours! It's like a cross between the
night before christmas and the night before an exam that you feel
grossly unprepared for! It's obvious what the excitement is all about,
but the apprehension is due to what could go wrong.

Sarah is having her last baby shower this afternoon. We're going to
have iv in the waiting room of the maternity inpatients clinic here at
the hospital. Should be lots of fun, but I just hope that if anyone is
sick, that they won't come. We have had visitors in the last 4 weeks
who have come despite being unwell and have passed on colds etc and
its just not fair. Do people just not think when they enter a hospital
or do they not care?! Anyway, i'm going to make a point of asking
sick people who turn up not to visit us on tuesday. Especially with
the swine flu being spread through the community as much as it is at
the moment.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Will catch you later.

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

Three sleeps to go!

Woohoo! So close!

Sarah is again allowed to have a couple of hours away from the
hospital, so we will do a little shopping and more organising at home.
So we are looking forward to that.

One really good thing is that sarah is doing really well at expressing
colostrum. She has been producing up to 25ml at a time now, so emby
will not have to have formula at any stage.

Sarah is thoroughly sick of hospital food! Its amazing the types of
foods that get passed off as edible! All this bland heart food and low
fat stuff ~ yuck!

Sarah is otherwise fine, and so is emby. So just hoping iv stays that
way until after emby is born!

Will let you know if anything changes.

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

Four sleeps to go ~ part 2

Hi again, sarah has had her iv replaced. No dramas and little pain,
which she is rather relieved about.

At this stage we are expecting that there will be a best case scenario
after emby's born of a 3 day wait before sarah and emby can in home.
That's probably an overly optimistic best case though. It could be as
long as 10 days though. It entirely depends on the needs of emby after
birth.

So what philosophical topic can I write about now? We have discovered
that we now know what emby's birthday will be! 23rd of june 2009. I
imagine not many parents get to know that kind of thing until
afterwards. It's just something we hadn't processed.

I'm trying real hard not to get too excited because iv makes time pass
too slowly. I know I said I wasn't in too much of a hurry to get
through this time, but i'm starting to wish it away. I just can't
wait! There is so much to do and get used to! Oh, and we've got to get
used to this new person that we've never met! I still can't imagine
what it will be like...

Probably the most amazing experience of our lives!

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

Four sleeps to go!

Sarahs special iv line failed yesterday so they had to pull it out.
The specialist nurse should be in today to put in another one. Sarah
is not looking forward to that.

Sarah has had plenty of visitors. And has put up a sign on two
afternoons to say "sleeping until 4 pm" and at 4:05 on both days
someone knocked at the door to visit sarah. So if anything sarah has
had more visitors than she knows what to do with. In a good sense of
course.

I've got to do some colouring with my niece now so i'll write again after that.

--
Sent from my mobile device

How many days left?

I'm trying to decide how best to count down the time until emby
arrives. Should I count down days, or hours, or as sarah just
quipped, how many iv lines she has to go through...

Sarah has just been told that she has to have her iv changed again.
She's not looking forward to it because it's quite painful. She ran
out of veins before the last iv change so a specialist iv nurse had to
make it work. They have just decided to pull it out. So I don't know
how they will get the next one in without the specialist as he is away
today.

Sarah just decided that the best way to measure time left is that
there is five sleeps left! That sounds good to me !

Sarah just reminded me of how important doing this blog is. One day
emby will be able to read this and hopefully understand some of the
emotions that we have gone through as well as understand just how
special he/she is. I imagine that would be an amazing thing to read 10
years down the track.

That's all for now. We're going to take a nap.

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

Informed consent...

The words are very simple, yet seemingly elusive to certain health professionals in our locality. Sarah was asked to sign an informed consent form when she agreed to have the C section done on Tuesday next week. That was fine and dandy. She figured that really there is no choice regarding how Emby is going to come into this world. But the form says that you have been informed of the risks and possible outcomes of the surgery - and also that you agree that the risk is acceptable to you.

However tonight we had one of the better midwives on who asked if someone had gone through with us what will happen on Tuesday. We reply - no, no one has explained anything to us - which is true. We figured someone would at some point. I guess that time was tonight. Everything was pretty standard, until the midwife explains that if in the worse case scenario that bleeding cannot be stopped, then the uterus may have to be removed. Now, if that's what has to happen in a worst case scenario then fine, that is just what has to happen. Easy to rationalise when you are talking about your wife's life. But I think I would have been pretty annoyed had we got to the day and the worst did happen, if no one had explained to us that it could be a possibility. It wouldn't change the outcome, but that should have been explained prior to the informed consent form being signed!

Forgive me, I'm just a little annoyed about that because it's stuff like that that needs to be explained. I guess I'm the kind of guy that likes to know all the info, the pro's and con's so to speak. It doesn't change the outcome - I'd sign anything that would make sure they both come through the proceedure healthy and happy! But at this point I want to know all the risks.

Anyway, that's just my little rant for tonight. I'm liking being able to blog during the day while I'm with Sarah, because that has been a little frustraiting - there is actually very little to do, but I'm not getting bored. It's actually quite relaxing just sitting back and letting the rest of the world worry about it's own concerns for time. It's really good to let the world pass us by for a change!

The midwives have recommended that Sarah express to have some collostrum on hand should the baby come early. Apparently the usual amount for new mothers to be to express is only 2 or 3 ml daily, Sarah does that without even trying! She can do up to 25ml in a sitting, and she does it twice a day! But anyway the reason I'm mentioning this is because I just talked to her on the phone, and someone has taken the collostrum she expressed this morning - hopefully by accident. But she's real miffed! And fair enough to! It's not that we wouldn't share if someone asked, but people can't just do that. It was properly labeled etc. Anyway, who knows what happened.

Hmmm... Maybe I wasn't finished ranting... Oh well, I am now.
Abe

My first blog from the hospital

Ok, so this is my first real blog from hospital. It's going to be
really going to be great to be able to keep you all informed as to
what is going on! But I fear I may give myself RSI with using my phone
keypad if i'm not careful!

So where are we at right now ┄ well sarah got significantly better
pain wise yesterday. And her tummy just feels tired today. Sarah gave
a fellow inmate a manicure today and now all the nurses and midwives
are lining up for nail painting - well at least I think they would if
they could!

We have watched about 3 seasons of bones, half a season of americas
next top model and a season of project runway. We've still got a
season of bones and NCIS to watch so there is plenty to see!

So how are we doing otherwise? Well, sarah is bored witless which
really is to be expected after three full weeks! But otherwise she is
pretty good. We are both really excited about emby's arrival! But we
know we can't get too excited about it cause it's like the night
before christmas and getting too excited might just mean we explode
with anticipation!

But I guess there is only so much I can tell you can tell you about up
doing nothing but waiting for next tuesday to happen. But i'll try not
to bore everyone in the posts to come.

Abe

--
Sent from my mobile device

Sarah's still in hopsital

HI all,

I'm writing this completely on the run so if there's spelling mistakes, I appologise...

Sarah must stay in hospital until the birth of Emby, the placenta has grown to completely cover the cervix, and as well as that has grown up over the area they would usually make the first incision to do the c section, so I'm fairly certain they will have to cut higher up to avoid cutting the placenta. That's not a real problem I guess. They have set a date for the c section to be done - the 23rd of June. That is 36 weeks for Emby - which again is fine and not really a problem - Emby may need some time in the neonatal care unit, and Sarah will need at least 3 to 5 days of recovery time after the c section - which again isn't really a problem. The problems will start to occur if anything doesn't go to plan. Sarah has had significant lower abdominal pain in the last 24 hours. She describes it as being akin to period pain, and feels like she would just before she would usually start to bleed in a period situation.

Usually with placenta previs the bleeding occurs without warning and is completely painless, so maybe that's not what is about to happen here. Please pray that it's not about to happen that way. We have been told that when that kind of bleeding occurs that it's like a tap turning on - with not off position. One of the nurses in the hospital told us of a situation where one lady lost about a litre of blood as she was on her way to the operating theatre and the doctors were not preped and scrubbed. The nurse didn't tell us the outcome, but I'm presuming she survived. So yeah this is a little scarey. But things at the moment are fine apart from pretty intense abdominal pain. They put it down to the baby being so active on top of the placenta. I'm happy wiht that diagnosis, just hope and pray that it's nothing more.

Basically we need for Emby to make it until the c section date. Because the alternative is quite scarey. I know that God has all things under control - not the least of which is the two most important people in the world to me. But none the less, I think letting you all know will at least mean more people are praying and thinking of us.

Thanks all for your support.
Abe

PS: If anyone knows of a good application for a mobile phone that will let you blog remotely (without having to send sms messages) can you let me know, cause that would be SOOOO much easier! I'll keep you as posted as I can!