Well, Our little Avie has been with us for over 2 weeks now, so I guess it is time I wrote a little blog about our little princess. So I’ll start at the beginning…

After Crystal’s water breaking on the Sunday, and after a short visit to the hospital, we were booked in for an induction at 8am the following morning (Monday 15th). The nurse that was with Crystal as we started the induction process predicted that we should be ready to go at supper time, which is the same as our tea time for my British readers, around 5-6pm. There was a snow storm forecast for that day, so I was so glad to be in the hospital at that point, much better to get snowed in there than to get snowed in at home. So as the ground outside whited over with the snowfall and the contractions started to steadily build up, we got settled in for a long day.

So the pitocin drip was bringing the contractions on nice and strong and regular, and things seemed to be progressing nicely, but when the doctors checked Crystal for the dilation a few hours into it, it seemed that little Bumpy wasn’t pushing their way down. The pain was starting to build up for poor Crystal too and at around 1.30pm she was given an epidural for the pain, this soon had her feeling more comfortable, but after further checks later on, it seemed that the epidural has slowed things down and there was still no progress on the dilation. When it got to around 5pm our doctor let us know that if there was still no progress by 8pm then we would have to go in for a C-Section. Crystal had said from day one that that was the last thing she wanted, so I was really worried for her. Over the next few hours things started to get more difficult for Crystal, as the pain of the contractions started to come back. She feared that the epidural has slipped out of her back, she kept asking me to check it, now an anesthetist I am not, so I couldn’t really tell what was going on with all the tubes in her spine, but when the nurse checked it she was confident there was nothing wrong. So poor Crystal had to grin and bear it, and the pain continued to build right up to 8PM, when our doctor came back to confirm that there had still been no progress and a C-section was going to be in order

So they came in to wheel Crystal off into the operating room, and provided me with scrubs to change into. Anxious to be by Crystal’s side I quickly got changed, but had to wait until they had her all ready before I could go into the room. They said it would only be 10 minutes but it actually took around 45 minutes before I could go in, it turned out that the epidural had become unattached, just like Crystal had thought, and the anesthetist had to give her a “spinal” I wasn’t sure exactly what that entailed when the nurse was explaining it to me, other than thinking that it sounded painful. So when I finally got into the OR with Crystal, she was pretty dazed and confused, it was pretty scary to see here all wired up to machines and all the doctors prodding and poking at her, but before we knew it there she was, little Avie Elizabeth! It hapened pretty quickly and I just remember the doctor saying “It’s a girl” and feeling so elated to see her scrunchy little face s he held her up, I was so happy for Crystal too (as I knew she secretly wanted a girl).

Poor Crystal couldn’t really see anything as she was still attached to all the machines and was being sewn back together, but I could see our little Avie as the nurses cleaned her up, I just remember telling Crystal how beautiful she looked, even with her poor little cone head. She was born at 20:53 and weighed in at 8 pounds 12 ounces. Crystal got the chance to hold her for few minutes and then the nurses passed her to me and lead me out into the recovery area, to wait for the new mummy while she was cleaned up.

So I got my first chance to bond with Avie on my own, it was amazing just sitting there alone with here, even though it was quite scary the same time, as there didn’t seem to be anyone around at all. But after a couple of minutes it felt really comfortable having her in my arms and it was so exciting when she opened her eyes, it was like she was looking right at me, even though I knew she couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t believe how much I instantly loved her, I just felt so proud.

Eventually they wheeled Crystal into the recovery area, I was pretty weirded out by her shaking, apparently due to the loss of heat from being cut open, but she said she felt good at that point. I eventually wheeled Avie off to meet Nanny Wall and Aunties Sheri and Elizabeth who had been patiently waiting the whole day with us. As poor Crystal had to wait in the recovery room, she got me to film their reaction to finding out the sex, I kept them waiting a few seconds before saying… meet Avie! They were so excited that it was a little girl, the video caught their reaction so well too.

After giving Avie her first little feed, she was taken off to the neonatal unit for the night, where the nurses could keep an eye on here overnight and Crystal and I could get a good nights rest, or at least that was the plan. We were put in a room with another patient, unfortunately we got the ghetto side of the room, and while the other girl enjoyed the window, easy access to the bathroom and plenty of space, we had the delights of a bed that didn’t adjust and being right next to the door opening onto the noisy kitchen area. It soon became apparent that we weren’t going to get the comfortable nights sleep we hoped, particularly when Crystal started to feel more and more uncomfortable. Now some pain after an operation like that is to be expected, but, poor Crystal was starting to shake again, eventually she pressed the buzzer and when the nurse replied on the intercom, Crystal asked if she would receive any pain medication, to which we got no response. I went out to find someone as I was getting pretty worried, I explained that Crystal was experiencing a lot of pain but the nurses on the floor seemed pretty unconcerned, telling me that they did not have the authority to administer any pain medication, and the nurse that could, was in the OR performing a C-section on another patient. After returning to see Crystal almost in tears of pain though, I went back out and asked if they could at least come and check her out and reassure her a little bit, something which they only half heartedly attempted, they seemed unconcerned about Crystal’s uncontrollable shaking too, telling me it was normal. Not being particularly well educated on the C-section process and the after effects of the pain medication, I naively took their word for it and patiently waited it out by Crystal’s side. Eventually a nurse did administer morphine and gave Crystal Tylenol, but it was several hours, and in fact another morphine shot later before Crystal finally felt a little relief. In the morning it was revealed that when Crystal was given her “spinal” she was given one which lasts only a couple of hours and should have been given one that lasts 24 hours, plus regular morphine shots and pain killers from the start.

So after a night of pain for poor Crystal and a night sat in a chair for me, we weren’t as refreshed as we had hoped, but when little Avie was wheeled in, we managed to put all the frustrations aside and just spend the day in awe of our beautiful little girl. Eventually we moved into a private room, where I had a cot to sleep in and things started to get easier for us, poor Avie had some mucus in her belly and wasn’t feeding too well at first, but over the next couple of days she managed to get most of it up and after 2 more nights we were able to leave the hospital. Then it was time for the moment I had been looking forward to since the day we visited the hospital a month or so before… Getting to carry Avie out of the hospital in her car seat, I have to say it was quite simply the proudest moment of my life!