A story about an uneventful pregnancy conceived through IVF that turned into an interesting but successful birth.
I had a very uneventful pregnancy after conception anyway, Harmony was conceived via IVF on our first cycle, which was both a shock and a delight.
I had no problems what-so-ever and worked until the week before she was due to arrive. Being my first baby I thought I would be overdue and have a bit more time to prepare everything at home – this was not to be the case.
The day I went into Labour (the day before Harmony was due) – my husband and I went down to our local shopping centre. We wandered around the shops for a couple of hours, and then decided to see a movie. There was nothing that interested us on at the movies, so we ended up in the Time Zone playing video games for an hour or so. When we tried to leave the shopping centre the doors had been locked, which meant a 20 minute waddle (in my case) around the outside of the centre back to the car. We were joking about that fact that our nice walk would bring the baby on – little did we know….
We went to bed early and I slept really well until about 12.30am…. I woke up and went to the toilet, once I got back into bed I felt this sharp pain and then had a popping sensation. I lay perfectly still for a few moments not believing what had just happened. I got out of bed – trying not to leak on the mattress (no I didn’t have any protective sheeting on the bed) and waddled back to the toilet – grabbing a towel as I went. After confirming that my waters had broken I waddled back to the bedroom in tears and woke my husband…
He was happy and excited – although he already had 2 kids from his previous marriage – this was our first baby. I rang the Royal Women’s Hospital and told them my waters had broken – I must have sounded extremely upset – as the midwife I spoke to assured me that it was a good thing. I changed the sheets on the bed and grabbed my bags. Once we got to the hospital I was monitored for 3 hours and once they established I was not in labour nor had I started to dilate that I could go home if I wanted to – which I definitely did.
By the time we drove the 30 minutes home again, I had unknowingly gone into labour. I sent my husband back to bed and suffered through the pains on my own, still not realising I was in labour. I remembered from the birthing classes that sitting on the toilet was the most comfortable – which at the time I thought was very silly – but sure enough – I spent about an hour just sitting there crying. I then got into the shower on my hands and knees and stayed there until the hot water ran out. I could not cope alone – and woke my husband.
As soon as he woke up, he realised my contractions were about 2mins apart. He managed to get me dressed and back into the car. We arrived back at the hospital about 7.15am – and was ushered straight into a birthing suite.
No-one came in for about 5 minutes, which caused my normally laid back husband to go out to the nurses station to demand someone come in to give me some gas.
A midwife and doctor walked in together – the doctor said he could see the babies head, and left. Meanwhile I just kept saying "I’m not ready to be a mum – I have to much to do – I’m not ready to be a mum". I also remember telling them that I didn’t want to tear – but they weren’t allowed to cut me – which by this stage was too late – Harmony had already arrived in 2 pushes at 7.51am on the 28th March 2004 …..
I had a post partum hemorage, and had a lot of stitches – none of which I was really aware of – my poor husband was quite upset and worried because of all the blood, all I could marvel at was our beautiful baby girl.
All we said to each other was – "My god – look at the size of her feet". Harmony was a healthy 8 pound baby, with a shock of blonde hair. I recovered very quickly and took her home the following day. Harmony is a happy bubbly baby and is a constant delight – I can’t wait to do it all over again!!!
Written by Monique Lower.