Post by doodles on Dec 1, 2007 18:40:30 GMT
I was terrified when i found out i was pregnant with A, i was only just 22, and had only been with my partner for just over a year. I had only graduated the year before and was getting ready to start a second degree. The pregnancy was comletely unplanned and after several pregnancy tests went to a family planning clinic to have it verified. When they told me i was pregnant i didn't know what to feel or think or what we would do. My partner was on a PGCE course and although he was 26 we weren't ready to start a family. We discussed the options but i couldn't face the thought of having an abortion and my partner didn't really want it either. I went to the doctors to discuss my options and went in saying that i wasn't sure what i wanted to do, he asked me how old i was, whether i had a relationship and told me that of course i would have the baby as if my thoughts and opinions didn't matter. WE finally decided to go ahead and slowly began to get used to the idea that we were going to be parents. I was so sick, all the time, i had to have a lot of time off work and i was so tired and felt so ill that i slept for much of the first 22 weeks. We then had to move out of our shared house and in with my parents while we looked for a place of our own as our house mates were making our lives hell. My parents were great and put us up for a couple of months, while i was still being sick and feeling ill, my mum helped out as much as she could.
We moved into our own placewhen i was 6 months pregnant, things were going well, i was working again and feeling a little better, we had changed doctors surgeries and i had a new midwife who was much more helpful than my doctor, and then one night we were sitting in bed and i suddenkly lost all sensation down one side of my body, i had perfect movement and felt fine other than that so we called NHS direct who told us to go straight to the maternity department of our local hospital, i spent the night in hospital, expecting to go home the next day, i was poked and prodded and ignored by doctors from all over the hospital and finally moved to a neurology department in a hospital 40 miles away to await an MRI scan which was prommised for the next day. Three days later and after having to threaten to discharge myself i finally got an MRI scan, which in itself was a scary experience, i still felt fine but still had little sensation at this point. The scan found no problems and the battery of test found an increase in a hormone which was normally increased in pregnancy but was very high, they had no idea what the problem was and so i was discharged, pending further tests after i gave birth. The sensation finally returned after about another week and i felt fine, if a little tired.
After that the pregnancy went well but i became more and more anxious about the birth, i desperately wanted to go to a maternity unit and not our local hospital as i wanted a water birth. After much discussion i finally saw a specialist who said i was fine to go to the maternity unit and didn't need to be in hospital or have a cesarian as was being discussed, i was relieved but still worried about how i would cope with giving birth.
Three days before i gave birth i started to have contractions, they would come and go and eventually began to come regularly, we psyched ourselves up thinking that this was it, the contractions then stopped suddenly, the next night the same thing happened and then the next day while i was chatting on the telephone with my mum my waters broke, i wasn't having any contractions and i hadn't expected it to happen that way. i phoned the maternity unit and they said to stay at home and keep them updated. I went to bed that night and had an uncomfortable nights sleep and when i woke in the morning the contractions started. They came quickly and were very painful and soon they were five minutes apart so we called the materninty unit who told us to come in and get checked over. When i arrived the midwives were really comforting, and tried to make me feel at home. They examined me and said i was barely dilated and that it might be a while but as i had travelled 20 miles to get to the unit i should stay just in case. The labour was really painful and i couldn't stand anyone near me or to touch me, i used my tense machine and had warm baths and tried to move around as much as possible. Ian just tried to stay close and be reassuring. After about 8 hours i felt the urge to push, the midwives were suprised it had happened so quickly and prepared the birthing pool for me. The pool was really soothing and after another hour and a half and a lot of gas and air A was born, fit and healthy. I think the first thing i said was he looks like a little monkey. I delievred the after birth and got out of the pool sore but feeling elated, A fed well the first time i latched him on and once i was sorted he slept while me and his daddy watched him, i watched him all night and couldn't believe he was born, it wasn't until day three when i went home that things started to go down hill, i struggled to get him to feed, he cried all the time and had terrible colic, i couldn't cope with the idea that my partner would be going back to work and was scared of being alone. when Alex was two weeks old my mother in law who is a midwife came to stay for a week and i found it hard to deal with her and felt like she was watching over me and not trusting me. On the morning she went home we had a heart to heart and she asked if i was struggling, she suggested to Ian by phone that evening that he call the health visitor and get me looked at, by the time Alex was three weeks old i had been diagnosed with PNI, he is three years old now and i am still struggelling. I think it is the first time that i have seen the events laid out like this and realised what a big effect they had on me.
Doodles
x
We moved into our own placewhen i was 6 months pregnant, things were going well, i was working again and feeling a little better, we had changed doctors surgeries and i had a new midwife who was much more helpful than my doctor, and then one night we were sitting in bed and i suddenkly lost all sensation down one side of my body, i had perfect movement and felt fine other than that so we called NHS direct who told us to go straight to the maternity department of our local hospital, i spent the night in hospital, expecting to go home the next day, i was poked and prodded and ignored by doctors from all over the hospital and finally moved to a neurology department in a hospital 40 miles away to await an MRI scan which was prommised for the next day. Three days later and after having to threaten to discharge myself i finally got an MRI scan, which in itself was a scary experience, i still felt fine but still had little sensation at this point. The scan found no problems and the battery of test found an increase in a hormone which was normally increased in pregnancy but was very high, they had no idea what the problem was and so i was discharged, pending further tests after i gave birth. The sensation finally returned after about another week and i felt fine, if a little tired.
After that the pregnancy went well but i became more and more anxious about the birth, i desperately wanted to go to a maternity unit and not our local hospital as i wanted a water birth. After much discussion i finally saw a specialist who said i was fine to go to the maternity unit and didn't need to be in hospital or have a cesarian as was being discussed, i was relieved but still worried about how i would cope with giving birth.
Three days before i gave birth i started to have contractions, they would come and go and eventually began to come regularly, we psyched ourselves up thinking that this was it, the contractions then stopped suddenly, the next night the same thing happened and then the next day while i was chatting on the telephone with my mum my waters broke, i wasn't having any contractions and i hadn't expected it to happen that way. i phoned the maternity unit and they said to stay at home and keep them updated. I went to bed that night and had an uncomfortable nights sleep and when i woke in the morning the contractions started. They came quickly and were very painful and soon they were five minutes apart so we called the materninty unit who told us to come in and get checked over. When i arrived the midwives were really comforting, and tried to make me feel at home. They examined me and said i was barely dilated and that it might be a while but as i had travelled 20 miles to get to the unit i should stay just in case. The labour was really painful and i couldn't stand anyone near me or to touch me, i used my tense machine and had warm baths and tried to move around as much as possible. Ian just tried to stay close and be reassuring. After about 8 hours i felt the urge to push, the midwives were suprised it had happened so quickly and prepared the birthing pool for me. The pool was really soothing and after another hour and a half and a lot of gas and air A was born, fit and healthy. I think the first thing i said was he looks like a little monkey. I delievred the after birth and got out of the pool sore but feeling elated, A fed well the first time i latched him on and once i was sorted he slept while me and his daddy watched him, i watched him all night and couldn't believe he was born, it wasn't until day three when i went home that things started to go down hill, i struggled to get him to feed, he cried all the time and had terrible colic, i couldn't cope with the idea that my partner would be going back to work and was scared of being alone. when Alex was two weeks old my mother in law who is a midwife came to stay for a week and i found it hard to deal with her and felt like she was watching over me and not trusting me. On the morning she went home we had a heart to heart and she asked if i was struggling, she suggested to Ian by phone that evening that he call the health visitor and get me looked at, by the time Alex was three weeks old i had been diagnosed with PNI, he is three years old now and i am still struggelling. I think it is the first time that i have seen the events laid out like this and realised what a big effect they had on me.
Doodles
x
