Sunday 20 March 2011

Stand By

I was woken up at about four this morning by one of my cats, as they do if we don't lock them out of the room. I got up to kick him out, and.. my waters broke. A lot.

Actually, reading that back it looks like they broke all over the cat - they didn't, it wasn't until I actually got out of the bedroom!

I then had a complete mental blank and couldn't remember whether I was supposed to ring the hospital or not, so I did anyway. I'm glad I did because they asked me to come in right away. From our place at that time of the morning it only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to get to the hospital so we were there in no time, hooked up to a heart monitor and being generally checked over.

I wasn't aware until today but apparently only about 1 in 10 women have their waters break before labour actually starts. I hadn't had any contractions up until then and even while at the hospital I only had a couple of gentle squeezes. The main risk with the membranes breaking early is infection - without its protective coverings the baby is much more vulnerable. I was told I could either be induced right away or go home and wait for labour to start naturally, so we decided on the latter.

At this stage - three hours later - I have only had a few mild contractions so things are still going slow.  It's going to be a long day.

I'm in good spirits, I had a great nights sleep and am pretty much ready whenever Sproutling is ready to come, but I am also completely terrified.  Not so much for the pain - I know that's coming and I'll take the pain relief if it gets too much, but its more that I realise now that no classes or books have prepared us for what is to come.  I still have no idea what I'm doing, and I am terrified I'll be bad at it.  I know this is something that all new parents go through, so I'm trying not to let it worry me too much and focussing on my excitement about meeting Sprout very soon.

In the meantime, I am trying to keep this generally quiet and not telling our parents just yet - I don't want them to worry and call me all day!

Anyway, stay tuned.  More Sproutling action in the next day or so! Wish me luck :)

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