Juliette had been complaining of back pain since Sunday afternoon, but we'd put it down to Logan being posterior position, or possibly his head banging on Juliette's bladder. At 8:30 pm last night, just as we were sitting down to eat dinner and watch The Mentalist, Juliette thought she needed to go to the loo, so she rushed to the bathroom. Shortly thereafter followed a quick discussion on what pee looked and smelt like, followed by the conclusion that it wasn't pee that was leaking out of Juliette. We called the delivery suite at Hutt Hospital, advising that Juliette was having this discharge but no contractions.
The nurse, Helen, told us to come in any way. Pretty much as soon as we'd hung up the phone, Juliette experienced her first contraction.
We managed to get packed up and on our way across Haywoods by 9 pm, arriving at Hutt Hospital by 9:30. Juliette got bundled into delivery room 4, where Helen confirmed that Juliette was in labour. Meera, who was already at the hospital delivering another baby, confirmed that Juliette was in labour, and 3 cm dilated.
By 10, just as Meera was about to go, Juliette was 4 cm dilated. By 11 -- just an hour later -- she was 8 cm dilated. This baby was coming!
At 1:30 am this morning (17 November 2009), Logan Stuart Anderton was born, weighing in at 2.69 kg (5 lb 15 oz). If you're keeping track, that's only five hours after Juliette's waters broke. After a quick snuggle, the paediatrician wasn't happy with Logan's breathing. Because he was premature (3 weeks 3 days before his due date of 11 December) and the labour was so fast, his lungs were still wet, and he was having to really work to breathe.
Logan was whisked into neo-nates, and had tubes put in his nose (to supply extra O2 and increase the pressure in his lungs, making it easier to breather) and throat (to remove excess 02 from his stomach), as well as an IV line to provide glucose. I didn't get a chance to hold him, and he was nil by mouth so Juliette couldn't feed him.
I finally went home around 5 am, after getting Juliette tucked in for the night. Got home at 5:30 am, gave the dogs breakfast and crashed until I called work at 8 am to advise that I wasn't coming in due to our son's early arrival. I got back to the hospital to find that Logan was now breathing well on his own, but was still in an incubator in neo-nates.
He's had two good feeds from Juliette now, and I've had a chance to hold him. I've even changed his nappy once (which is one more time than Juliette!). Mother and baby are doing well, and I'll be back to the hospital tomorrow afternoon to see them both.
Logan, meet the world. The world, meet Logan.
3 comments:
Congratulations Guys!
We're surprised by the early delivery as it sounds like you were too.....Relieved that Juliette and Logan are doing well.
We're really looking forward to meeting Logan in person when we're in New Zealand mid-December.
Lots of Love (Hugs and Kisses),
Diana, Aidan and Emily O'Riley
Congrats again guys. So glad that all went smoothly if unexpectedly quickly.... Really looking forward ot meeting logan.
Offer of help still stands - sing out if anything needed
Congratulations to all three of you! Sorry this is such a late post. At least little Logan decided to come into the world after exams Crispin! Sorry you didn't get time to get over study before parenthood hit. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying being three, despite the irregular sleep and all the other things going on. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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