I fell pregnant so easily...I fell pregnant so easily. In fact we were shocked at how easy it was! Morning sickness came but I was so excited, I hardly cared. Everything went well until twenty weeks, when we were told the baby had a high chance of having Spina Bifida. After three extremely long and traumatic days, a foetal medicine specialist gave us plenty of reassurance that everything should be alright. ( no guarantees though ). My due date was 14th August, 1997. This day came and went by. My own birthday was 27th August, and I really did not want it to be born on that day. Of course, that was the only day available for an induction! I arrived at hospital at 6.30 am, as instructed. At 7.30am, the first dose of gel was applied. I had wonderful thoughts that that would be enough to kickstart everything. How wrong I was!! At 1.30pm, another dose was applied, and I was told if nothing happened, my waters would be broken at 6.30pm. I did not want this, so I started walking around the grounds. At 5pm, my husband went home to have a shower. I then had my first contraction. I remember being shocked at how quickly it started &endash; from nothing to this amazing pain!! After calling John at home, my Mum showered me, running the water on to my lower back ( the baby was posterior ), and I got great relief. The contractions then became very erratic, from five minutes apart to one minute and then ten minutes. At 7.30pm, I was taken to the delivery suite, where an epidural was administered, due to the terrible backache…it was heavenly. While trying to get some sleep, the midwife saw a dramatic dip in the baby's heartbeat. It was going to 58 beats per minute. My doctor was called, a probe put on the baby's head, and I was surprisingly calm. My wonderful OB then sat on the bed with me, and watched the heart monitor for 2 _ hours. When he realised that the baby was clearly becoming distressed, he decided to perform a caesarean. His caring attitude was evident then, when he told me that I would not necessarily have to have a C- section with any more births. This was most comforting at a difficult time. After a top up epidural, a change of clothes for John, and a kiss for Mum, we were on our way. At 3.55 am, 28th August, our precious, glorious son was born. The most amazing thing had happened &endash; we were parents, such joy. I recovered quite well, but was very surprised at how sore I was. He was well worth it, and being pregnant again, I am keeping my options open. I would dearly love to give birth vaginally, but what is best for baby, and I, is most important.
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