It started out just like any day! We got up quite early to wish Alex and Eva a nice skiing holiday - they had been staying with us overnight on their way to Saalbach - and had a relatively early breakfast. Christine mentioned that she was feeling some discomfort in her stomach - but was not sure what it was, and it didn't seem to be painful.
We knew today was Champs day, so we had stuff to do, additionally it has been snowing like crazy all night, so there was masses of snow to be moved. To top it off, we were visited by the police, who ordered us to move our car as it was blocking the snow plow. As I had already spoken to the snowmobile driver, I didn't see what the problem was, but the policeman was not very polite or caring and I had to go out and move the car as well.
All in all, 3 hours of snow shoveling is not conducive to good Cross Country results – be warned! During all this Christine continued to have these strange stomach twinges and we were just a little concerned, but it wasn’t really hurting, so we continued on with the day. We went off to the cross country, where just about everybody and their dog (well there was only one dog there – Aisha) was asking when we were expected and how it was going. Afterwards it was quite a funny feeling to think back to Saturday, isn’t it wonderful how life just….. well …… changes :)
After getting home from the Cross Country, Christine now realized that the stomach cramps were definitely getting harder and coming faster, so I got the old pen and paper out and started to record the cramps and the length between them. We were not worried, after all we still had three weeks to go. However, they were getting more painful, but Christine wasn’t complaining – she made dinner, I had a shower, we ate but by now I was concerned. If it had been up to Christine we probably would have just carried out wondering what was going on – she just wasn’t having this baby now! I wasn’t so sure, so I phoned Gitte, got Christine to phone the birth course instructor.
Gitte said that we should go to the hospital, Irene said that Christine should have a bath, but I had noticed that the “cramps” were coming at regular 5 minute intervals, that soon dropped to 4 minutes. So at 10 pm I packed Christine into the car we headed off to the hospital.
On arriving we were still not really concerned – the cramps were not painful and we STILL had three weeks to go. The nurse hooked Christine up to the machine that informed us that the baby was doing well, and that the cramps (as we expected) were just pre-cramps to prepare Christine. At this stage she said that I should leave Christine in the hospital for the night, go home and come back tomorrow. No problem. Just before leaving Christine said she needed to go to the toilet so I got the nurse and we started to help her.
At this stage two things happened, first Christine’s water broke and secondly I realized that I would be a Dad before the end of the night. The going home plan was scrapped, Christine was wheeled into the birthing room, and the long wait started. So essentially Christine had been in labour since 6 o’clock in the morning, we just hadn’t realized it.
At this stage there was still no real pain for Christine (unusual) but the cramps were getting harder and were beginning to cause some pain. As we knew, Hanna was still lying head up, but every thing was looking good and Christine decided to have a normal birth. For this she would get a spinal pain killer that would help to relax her muscles, and dampen the pain.
And so the final stretch started – she expanded to 10 cm very quickly and by 5 am we thought that we would soon be parents. Christine was in some discomfit now and the cramps were getting stronger as was the pain. This was end station though. The next two hours Hanna didn’t move any further down. At 7 am the doctor made the decision to operate and then it went super fast.
Suddenly the room was filled with people running round and shouting, bells sounding, a bed was rushed in and Christine was moved onto it and wheeled downstairs to the operating room. I was dragged out kicking and screaming, but they wouldn’t let me stay anymore. Christine was given a full anaesthetic and was put under the knife.
3 minutes later I heard my first scream from Hanna and about 5 minutes after that I had her in my arms. She was so small and wrapped in tinfoil, I didn’t know what the nurse was pointing at until I had her in my hands. She was peaceful and sleepy and I didn’t hear a peep out of her. I carried her into the birthing room were she was cleaned up, measured and dressed. I was mesmorised. She was so small, but a real runner – her legs were longer than the rest of her put together :) So very cute, and although I’m convinced that most babies look very similar at the beginning, due to her size and lack of baby fat, I was able to tell that this was Christine’s daughter. She has her mothers facial features without a doubt.
So at 7:03 Sunday morning the 5th March I became a father. The well wishers have been fantastic, our friends and family a regular pillar of strenght – without Leo and Gitte I would have been lost (and of course Edith) – thank you, you were wonderful. Thank you to all of you who have sent us emails, SMS’s and cards. If anybody wants to send flowers, then please do so to our home address (which I am sure most of you have). I will endeavour to answer as many as possible.
Chrstine will be back on Sunday it seems (and I hope), and we are looking forward to this with immense pride, pleasure and antisipation. I wish you all a fantastic weekend, mine will certainly be great!
Love to you all,
Richard.
No comments:
Post a Comment