The Delivery
The week before Oliver was born I had been nagging doctors about forming a plan for his delivery.
I was only a few days off of being 34 weeks and I wanted some idea as too how long my little boy had to struggle before the decision would be made for him to come into the world!
On the Friday I met up with a few of my doctors who had finally agreed we would book in a c section! Hooray! A plan! I couldnt wait!
I was told my babies chance of survival was alot higher and that he "should" be ok.
We spoke about delivery being as early as the following week, possibly on the Wednesday.
I would go through the weekend as normal and on Tuesday i would have a few scans and check ups to confirm nothing had changed with Olivers heart and growth and that it was safe for him to be born.
We got through the weekend fine! Sunday was mothers day and i spent a lovely day with my Aunty who was visiting from Adelaide at the time!
She was supposed to fly home Monday night but due to the doctors saying Oliver may be delivered she extended her stay untill Thursday so i would have a support person.
Monday morning started off like all the others, i woke up at 5:30am to start my CTG at 6am.
This is when you wear 2 monitors on your tummy, one measures any contractions and the other tracks the babies heartbeat.
In previous CTG's every now and then Oliver would have whats called a deceleration, this is when the heart rate drops down low.
Generally speaking in a normal baby this could be due to things like the baby grabbing the umbilical cord.
But normally the heart rate would pick up quickly again.
In Olivers case his heart rate would drop to anywhere as low as 50, and instead of coming straight back up, it would take a while to get back to the normal rate.
As long as the monitor picked up accelerations, (this is the opposite, so the heart rate jumps up nice and high and then levels back down to a normal rate) then it would show Oliver was "happy" as such and the monitor would be able to come off!
Usually the monitoring would be on anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours depending on the trace.
On this particular morning Olivers trace showing his heart rate was very flat, it was steady at around 115 bpm, (this was olivers normal while i was pregnant, it was never much higher then 125bpm)
But the difference was that i had felt no movement and he had no accelerations, after an hour of a very flat trace, oliver had a dip is his heart rate, dropping below 80 and taking a while to come back up, it sat steady for a bit and then dropped down again.. and again.. 3 times it had happened and i began to become nervous.
This had happened before but usually only once or twice and in those times, emergency buzzers had been pushed, where doctors run in and i am rushed down to birth suite usually to sit on monitoring for hours on end untill they were sure oliver was ok.
Each time he would have a deceleration i would call the midwives who would come in and move me into different positions which would help bring his heart rate back up.
The doctors finally came in and spoke with me about potentially delivery him that afternoon, i felt calm and excited knowing i might meet my baby and it be organised and "planned."
They went off to call all kinds of baby doctors to make sure they would have everyone they needed for his delivery incase anything didnt go to plan once he was born, and then they were going to get back to me with the go ahead.
Well Oliver had other plans! He had another deceleration for a 4th time and this time it wasnt coming back up with movement, i rolled to one side and then the other, the midwives poked and prodded him to try and bring it back up but it wasnt. The doctors came in and warned me that the emergency button was about to be pushed and a whole team of people would rush in, Oliver needed to be delivered now!
The alarms went off and if i can recall about 10 people were around my bed, so many people trying to talk to me and tell me what was about to happen, all at the same time they were getting me out of my bed and putting a gown on me trying to get me downstairs as soon as possible.
They kept monitoring on to watch his heart rate which slowly came back up to around 110bpm.
I was taken to birth suite and rushed into theatre where i had my spinal block with monitoring still on, they did not take it off untill they were ready to get him out.
I was super scared, ive never shaken so much in my life, i couldnt wait to meet my son but i was so so scared he wasnt going to be ok.
I lied down, the spinal block had worked and my Aunty came in to hold my hand, and within minutes Oliver was born.
They pulled my tiny baby out and he was kicking and screaming!!
I couldnt believe he was here, and he was breathing!
They took him over to get warm and give him a little breathing support untill they new he was ok, his heart rate was perfect from the moment he was born! He wasnt stressed anymore, he was happy and I was relieved!
My aunty cut his umbilical cord and stayed with him the whole time, he was taken up to special care and i was taken to recovery.
I am so grateful that my aunty was with me, she stayed so calm the whole time and i needed that, she supported me and she didnt leave my sons side when he was taken away from me. We share a very special bond and i will never forget how awesome she was!
I finally felt at peace knowing he was out of my belly and in the hands of the best doctors in Australia.
My pregnancy was beyond stressful and i could finally relax a little knowingly that he was here and he was safe!
The doctors and midwives that looked after me and Oliver while i was pregnant, were unbelievable. They are such amazing people who went above and beyond their "jobs."
They should be so proud of the work they do and how they help people the way they do.
Im truly grateful for the "Blue Team."
Now a new journey starts with Oliver and his stay in the NICU and his upcoming surgery. Hes already proven so strong and we will get through whatever is thrown at us!
I was only a few days off of being 34 weeks and I wanted some idea as too how long my little boy had to struggle before the decision would be made for him to come into the world!
On the Friday I met up with a few of my doctors who had finally agreed we would book in a c section! Hooray! A plan! I couldnt wait!
I was told my babies chance of survival was alot higher and that he "should" be ok.
We spoke about delivery being as early as the following week, possibly on the Wednesday.
I would go through the weekend as normal and on Tuesday i would have a few scans and check ups to confirm nothing had changed with Olivers heart and growth and that it was safe for him to be born.
We got through the weekend fine! Sunday was mothers day and i spent a lovely day with my Aunty who was visiting from Adelaide at the time!
She was supposed to fly home Monday night but due to the doctors saying Oliver may be delivered she extended her stay untill Thursday so i would have a support person.
Monday morning started off like all the others, i woke up at 5:30am to start my CTG at 6am.
This is when you wear 2 monitors on your tummy, one measures any contractions and the other tracks the babies heartbeat.
In previous CTG's every now and then Oliver would have whats called a deceleration, this is when the heart rate drops down low.
Generally speaking in a normal baby this could be due to things like the baby grabbing the umbilical cord.
But normally the heart rate would pick up quickly again.
In Olivers case his heart rate would drop to anywhere as low as 50, and instead of coming straight back up, it would take a while to get back to the normal rate.
As long as the monitor picked up accelerations, (this is the opposite, so the heart rate jumps up nice and high and then levels back down to a normal rate) then it would show Oliver was "happy" as such and the monitor would be able to come off!
Usually the monitoring would be on anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours depending on the trace.
On this particular morning Olivers trace showing his heart rate was very flat, it was steady at around 115 bpm, (this was olivers normal while i was pregnant, it was never much higher then 125bpm)
But the difference was that i had felt no movement and he had no accelerations, after an hour of a very flat trace, oliver had a dip is his heart rate, dropping below 80 and taking a while to come back up, it sat steady for a bit and then dropped down again.. and again.. 3 times it had happened and i began to become nervous.
This had happened before but usually only once or twice and in those times, emergency buzzers had been pushed, where doctors run in and i am rushed down to birth suite usually to sit on monitoring for hours on end untill they were sure oliver was ok.
Each time he would have a deceleration i would call the midwives who would come in and move me into different positions which would help bring his heart rate back up.
The doctors finally came in and spoke with me about potentially delivery him that afternoon, i felt calm and excited knowing i might meet my baby and it be organised and "planned."
They went off to call all kinds of baby doctors to make sure they would have everyone they needed for his delivery incase anything didnt go to plan once he was born, and then they were going to get back to me with the go ahead.
Well Oliver had other plans! He had another deceleration for a 4th time and this time it wasnt coming back up with movement, i rolled to one side and then the other, the midwives poked and prodded him to try and bring it back up but it wasnt. The doctors came in and warned me that the emergency button was about to be pushed and a whole team of people would rush in, Oliver needed to be delivered now!
The alarms went off and if i can recall about 10 people were around my bed, so many people trying to talk to me and tell me what was about to happen, all at the same time they were getting me out of my bed and putting a gown on me trying to get me downstairs as soon as possible.
They kept monitoring on to watch his heart rate which slowly came back up to around 110bpm.
I was taken to birth suite and rushed into theatre where i had my spinal block with monitoring still on, they did not take it off untill they were ready to get him out.
I was super scared, ive never shaken so much in my life, i couldnt wait to meet my son but i was so so scared he wasnt going to be ok.
I lied down, the spinal block had worked and my Aunty came in to hold my hand, and within minutes Oliver was born.
They pulled my tiny baby out and he was kicking and screaming!!
I couldnt believe he was here, and he was breathing!
They took him over to get warm and give him a little breathing support untill they new he was ok, his heart rate was perfect from the moment he was born! He wasnt stressed anymore, he was happy and I was relieved!
My aunty cut his umbilical cord and stayed with him the whole time, he was taken up to special care and i was taken to recovery.
I am so grateful that my aunty was with me, she stayed so calm the whole time and i needed that, she supported me and she didnt leave my sons side when he was taken away from me. We share a very special bond and i will never forget how awesome she was!
I finally felt at peace knowing he was out of my belly and in the hands of the best doctors in Australia.
My pregnancy was beyond stressful and i could finally relax a little knowingly that he was here and he was safe!
The doctors and midwives that looked after me and Oliver while i was pregnant, were unbelievable. They are such amazing people who went above and beyond their "jobs."
They should be so proud of the work they do and how they help people the way they do.
Im truly grateful for the "Blue Team."
Now a new journey starts with Oliver and his stay in the NICU and his upcoming surgery. Hes already proven so strong and we will get through whatever is thrown at us!
The image above is a good trace, it shows a steady baseline heart rate, and good accelerations.
This image is of the trace that ultimately decided Olivers delivery. The baseline is very flat, there are no accelerations and a massive deceleration.
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