a second birth story - part five

The story up to this point 

is on the beautiful girl's birth story page.

My waters had gone two days before my due date
but with what appeared to be meconium in them.
Contractions started kicking in as we made our way to the hospital
to find out what would happen next.

We were sent in the direction of the assessment unit

where we were quickly met by the midwife I had spoken to on the phone.

As my husband dug out my notes to give her

I recapped again the time my waters had broken and exactly what I had seen.

She sent me to go and replace my pad,

asking me to bring out the used one so she could check it.

I know that this sort of thing is just another day at the office for them

but it still blows me away how comfortable medical staff are with these things,

but I felt mortified,

so I carefully wrapped the pad in toilet tissue

before coming out of the bathroom and handing it over.

We were shown into an assessment room

and the midwife quickly joined us with the words;

“We'll now be booking you in Lucy as your labour is now considered high risk.”

I'm not sure if it was the formal way in which she said it

or just the confirmation that things weren't quite going to plan;

but I felt a lump rise in my throat and my eyes start to prickle.

She was explaining about the presence of meconium and what it meant

both for my baby, for my labour and for me,

but I think it was more for my husband's benefit than mine.

It all sort of went over my head

apart from the bit where she said that I would possibly have to stay in for a few daysafter the baby was born so we could be monitored.

The idea filled me with horror

as I was already feeling anxious about wanting to be home as soon as possible.

I just knew I'd fall apart if I had to be away from my little man for that long.

The midwife was pleased to see that I was now having regular contractions

because this meant that I wouldn't need to be induced as she had said on the phone.

I think she sensed that I was a bit scared

and promptly stopped all the medical talk,

put a hand on myshoulder

and said “You are going to be fine.”

I was over the moon that my baby was finally on the way

but the fact that it all seemed to be not quite as straight forward as planned was definitely making me anxious.

The midwife picked upon the fact that I was clearly a bit alarmed

and she assured me that I didn't need to worry.

Meconium in the waters could be a sign of fetal distress

but more than likely my baby and I would be totally fine.

She suggested we go to the ward and get me settled in

so she went to make some calls so they would be ready for me.

Booking in as high risk meant that I would have a midwife with me at all times

so she needed to make sure that a high risk room and midwife were ready for me.

When she came back she said they were ready for me

and that the midwife I would have was pretty no-nonsense but very good.

I wasn't really quite sure what to make of that

and wasn't sure it was the best thing to tell a lady in labour

but we collected our bags and made our way to the labour ward.

You can read the next part of the story here.