I pretty much jumped out of the wheelchair, put Leo in the cot and got onto the bed. They checked the name tags etc and they did the usual, blood pressure, pulse, tummy checks.
A lovely lady brought me a cuppa with 2 huge bowls of cereal and we set about sorting out the bags and unpacking a few things for the night, or so we thought.
The midwife noticed that Leo was making a funny sound which they call grunting. She asked if he had been doing it before and I said that he had been doing it since we were in the delivery suite.
The midwife did a set of observations - temperature, heart rate and respiration. She said his temperature was a bit low and that I should do skin-on-skin for a while and encourage him to feed. We stayed skin-on-skin, feeding for quite a while and his temperature came back up.
Leo
didn’t stop grunting for the afternoon so he was referred to a paediatrician. His blood sugar was checked, which was fine, and they said he probably just had a bit of mucus on his lungs that would be absorbed naturally.
Later in the afternoon, the doctor took Leo to the
NICU to perform some blood tests. He was gone for nearly an hour, which was very strange.
The midwife then came to see me and told me that Leo had an infection of some sort and would have to have antibiotics. I
didn’t know what that meant to start with, I just thought they would give him a dose and we could go home tomorrow. I said this to the midwife and she informed me that Leo would have a cannula in his hand and would need to stay in for a minimum of 3 days, the start of the 3 days being 5pm on the 26
th May. I was a bit surprised and obviously worried about Leo.
Leo arrived back by 5:30pm and I
didn’t like the big cannula in his hand. I hid it using a sock which actually did a very good job.
Seeing as we would be staying in for a bit, I asked to move beds to be by the window, which they thankfully did. I was now in room 5, bed 4.
6:15pm arrived and so did some of my visitors. First up were Rob and Ellis who was brilliant when he met Leo. I was a bit worried to start with but he was fine. I
couldn’t believe how big and heavy Ellis was. He suddenly grew up!
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The Grandparents arrived shortly after and it was so nice to see everyone and I know it takes a long time to get to the hospital, find parking, and get through the reception etc, all for just under an hour of quick cuddles and pictures. I felt a bit sorry for everyone as I had to kind of kick them out so that I could concentrate on feeding Leo, who
hadn’t had a feed since 12:30pm - the midwife was on my case.
Everyone left, including Rob and Ellis, and I had a shower and did some diary.
By the end of the day, I was feeling rather drained and I was experiencing after-pains like I
hadn’t felt with Ellis. They are just like very strong period pains. I had some Paracetamol to help.
My pelvis, which I thought would be much better after Leo was out, was killing me! The midwife, who inspected my stomach on arrival at the ward, had noticed my bad stomach muscles and I was referred to the physio. She also said the pelvis pain would take a couple of days to settle down as the hormones were still changing.
Sat alone, apart from Leo, on my bed, I received hundreds of texts and e-mails. I
couldn’t have done without my iPhone which really kept me going. I was in touch with so many people, all the time and I was able to see Rob and Ellis on the web cam at home.
The midwives had been lovely. I also bumped into Vivien’s (my active birth teacher) daughter, Rachel, who is a midwife at the hospital. We had a quick chat and she said she was with her Mum when I sent the text to say I was in labour, and here I was with the baby!
I
didn’t do much in the evening, just tried to get some rest like Leo.
Leo had his cannula flushed at 11pm, which just involves 2 midwives, one to do, one to check, putting some saline solution down it. No problems.
At 5am on day 2, I had to walk down to the
NICU so that Leo could get his antibiotics. It
wasn’t a pleasant experience but made me thankful that he
wasn’t in there. He
didn’t mind the injection of the drugs and he seemed to love the anti thrush stuff they put in his mouth.
I had my post natal check first thing in the morning. The midwife had a look at my tear and said that it was going to heal wonky! What?! I
wasn’t expecting it to look perfect down there again but to have wonky bits! Ah well, the joys of childbirth. It was stinging too so I accepted some pain killers.
Leo had his flush done at 11am. Again no problems.
I spent the morning relaxing and arranging visitors with Rob and giving him lists of stuff to bring in for me. He was coping so well and
didn’t seem flustered by anything, which is just what I needed.
After lunch, Mum and my sister Katie came in to see me. They had some lovely cuddles and Leo actually opened his eyes.
They also bought in a heap of birthday cards and gifts for me, and some cards and gifts for Leo. It took me ages to get through it all but it was really nice. I had some great stuff and Leo was spoilt rotten.
We moved into the dining room so that we could have some tea and then Rob and Ellis arrived. Rob had brought in my 30
th birthday cake which he had bought for me. Mum and Kate sang happy birthday (unfortunately not caught on camera) and we were soon tucking in to the yummy cake.
Mum and Kate watched the video of the birth. I’m not quite sure what they thought of it to be honest as they
didn’t say. To us it is amazing that we captured the emotional moment of when our second son arrived.
We were then left on our own and I looked after Ellis while Rob had some cuddles.
We had bought a few gifts for Ellis, from Leo and he was allowed to open his first one which was a set of Thomas The Tank Engine books. He loved it and I later heard from Mum and Rob that they had read them about 100 times over.
Rob and Ellis
didn’t stay too long as Ellis was rather hectic in the hospital. He would run around trying to get away from you. It was a game that he found funny but it was very tiring for us and
didn’t really allow much time for Rob to sit and chill with his new baby. I tried to get him to arrange for someone to have Ellis the following day so that he could come in and relax for a bit.
5pm and Leo and I went to the
NICU for the usual jabs. Leo and I then had a short rest before Uncle Dave arrived for his visit.
Then it was Tilly’s turn. Her husband Simon was sat in the car with Ethan who was too young to come into the hospital. We sat chatting for a while and then she made a run for it back to the car so that they could swap over. Unfortunately visiting time was over by the time Simon arrived, so I showed him Leo through the window and had a quick chat. It was really funny.
Had a lovely shower and tidied up my little area that I called home. I was really tired after such a busy day but Leo decided to wake up at 10:30pm and then we were then disturbed at 11pm so they could flush his cannula.
Day 3
Feeding was going well and my milk had just started to come in. It
didn’t feel that bad really, just a bit sore around the edges, which was hugely different from my first experience. With Ellis I had to express and feed so the demand for the milk was high, hence I was over stimulated and therefore over-engorged which was extremely painful.
I spent the first part of the morning taking pictures of Leo using the digital macro setting. It seemed to work quite well I thought.
Thankfully Rob had arranged for Nanny
Rennolds to have Ellis for the afternoon so he was able to relax and bond with his new son.
After taking some pictures and video of me with Leo, as I am usually behind the camera, Rob had some skin on skin time.
Soon the paediatrician arrived to give us the news regarding Leo's blood tests. She had been so sure that things were going to be fine, that when she came around the corner, pulling the curtain behind her and I saw her face, I knew something was up. She said his infection levels had risen to 14 from 2 (on a scale of 0-20) which wasn't good news. She had asked the lab to run the test twice as she was really surprised by the result. This would mean that Leo would now need the full 5 days of antibitics, followed by 24 hours of observations, which would mean we could potentially go home Monday afternoon depending on the results of later blood tests that would be done. The doctor explained that if the levels rise above 20, they would need to do a lumbar puncture and maybe a chest x-ray to try to find out more. I was obviously upset by this news, as potentially he could have a chest infection or even meningitis!
Vivien arrived just after we had received the news regarding the extra stay and further tests. She did her best to console me.
For the rest of the afternoon I relaxed as much as possible until the second visiting time. I had Wayne and Nic coming in and I saw them through my window as they arrived. It was really nice to have a bit of a distraction as we chatted about loads of different things.
I had another shower in the evening and went to bed. The ward was very noisy and one baby just wouldn't stop screaming! It wasn't a normal cry, it was so high pitched that it woke up all the other babies, including Leo, so not much sleep was had by anyone.
Day 4
Leo fed a lot obviously as he was so disturbed through the night and then we had to go to the NICU at 5am. While we were there, one of the nurses said Leo looked jaundiced and asked if he had been tested yet or not. I had no idea, and when I got back to the ward the midwife had a look and said there was nothing to worry about and that Leo looked normal.
Between the hours of 5:30 - 7 ish seemed to be sleepy time. The ward always seemed really quiet at this time and so Leo and I used this to our advantage and had a nap.
I had breakfast at 8 and then Leo had his eye swabbed at it was still gooey and then he had his routine observations done. They were all fine.
Rob had again arranged for someone to have Ellis, this time it was our friend Naomi and her son Iestyn and so he was able to come in first thing in the morning. It was great to have him there and although I missed Ellis, I was glad he was at home.
Rob and I gave Leo his first ever bath. I'm sorry but we had to video the whole thing as it was his first, so long video coming right up!
Leo was weighed and he had lost a little bit of weight. He was about 7lb 9oz, down from 8lb 1.5oz. Ellis, on the other hand, went down to 6lb 13oz from 7lb 13.5oz.
We relaxed until lunchtime and then it was soon time for Rob to go home. I was sad.
The doctor came for Leo so that she could take some more blood samples. I'm sure I could hear him screaming but the doctor came back saying he was really good. Not sure she was telling the whole truth. She did manage, however, to get blood all over his clean vest and grow that we had put on after his bath! Not pleased.
After another bit of a rest and some dinner, my folks arrived for a surprise visit.
Leighton and Jaidan also came for a visit but with 2 young children in the car they had to take it in turns. Mum and Dad went and sat in the dining room while I caught up with my other guests. They didn't stay much longer.
Down at the NICU at 5pm, Leo was really upset by the injection and I said that it had hurt him this time and I wondered if it had worked properly. They said it had gone in fine but I wasn't so sure. Leo had reacted so differently to any other time that I knew something wasn't right. Mothers do know best sometimes and I only wished they had listened to me. It upset me seeing him so upset.
Opposite my bed was a very large family with 2 young children, plus the new baby, plus the sister who managed to sit with them all day. One of the children who was only 15 months old was being sick all the time and making groaning noises. The midwives eventually had enough and basically sent them all home and said they weren't allowed in the following day. Harsh but fair. I complained about the sick being spread everywhere by people walking through it and so housekeeping was called for the floor to be mopped.
Visitors for the evening slot were my Mummy friends, Charlotte and Naomi. It was great to see them and I really enjoyed telling my birthing story and just sharing my experience. They knew how much it meant to me to have a normal labour and birth.
In the evening I had a shower and then watched the final of Britains Got Talent with all the midwives and other members of staff. It was really good fun and there was lots of cheering, booing and general chit chat. Being a lifer on the ward I had got to know a lot of the staff members and so I was able to join in with banter etc.
The ward was nice and quiet so we were able to get more sleep, but Leo was still up for quite a long time around midnight.
Day 5
5am was the usual trip to the NICU. There was a lovely nurse dishing out the meds and she really reminded me of my history teacher, Mrs C, who I still meet up with from time to time.
Back on the ward, Leo's observations were done, and they were all fine again, the same as they had been the whole way through so far. How could a baby have an infection but no outward sign that anything was wrong?! Even the grunting had stopped.
For safety reasons you have to change your baby in their cot. I had been quite successful at this but not today. I pulled the nappy out and lifted his legs to put the new one under when suddenly a huge projectile poo shot out and hit the end of the cot. It went everywhere! All I could do for the first minute was laugh my head off! I didn't know where to start on cleaning up. I was still holding Leo's legs up and trying to get him clean. A midwife ran to my rescue and we were soon back in one piece with clean bedding, blankets, clothes etc.
Leo and I had a lovely lazy morning just feeding and dozing. I was feeling rather groggy, like I had a cold coming, so it was quite nice not to have to do anything.
Then, around lunch time, Rob brought Ellis in, and I actually got to go outside! The weather was really nice - ideal for a picnic in the shade - so that's what we did.
Ellis kept running off though, and wanting his Daddy, so we didn't stay outside for too long. While we were outside, I heard a tap on the window and when I looked up, there was my yoga friend, Maura. I later went to see her and we shared birthing stories. We hadn't realised that we were 2 doors away from each other and had been for a couple of days! It was nice to catch up.
I had a rather boring afternoon and evening. I had no visitors and so I just sat around staring at Leo and gazing out of my window. That was about it.
There was a huge queue down at the NICU so we didn't get back to the ward until quite late. We chilled out together and I had a shower before crying down the phone to Rob and trying to get some sleep.
We didn't have too bad a night as Leo slept in with me for the most part. The midwives had stopped checking up on me by now so we were left in peace. They did come in at 11pm to do his flush though.
Day 6
At 5am we went for what we were hoping would be his last antibiotics.
The morning was taken up with breakfast, lots of feeds and just watching Leo while he was asleep and awake.
Rob couldn't find anyone to have Ellis on the Sunday so I was quite upset for most of the day. I was feeling a bit delicate though, fortunately, I had visitors to keep my mind off things.
First visitor of the day was Sally, another Mummy friend. Again I really enjoyed talking through my birth story. Sally will be in the same position as me when she has another baby as she had a c-section first time around too, for the same reason as me! I was hoping that my story my inspire her to go the natural route but I understand that the decision is made harder by the fact that you are actually given a choice the second time around.
I then decided to get on with some blogging, or at least to write up some notes as the days were ticking by and I was aware that I would forget so much. Plus the added fact that I would have less time when I eventually got home to write it all up and to post it. The time is taken up by re-sizing photos and videos and then uploading and processing them. It takes forever to do one video!
The doctor came around again to take Leo for some blood, but this time I had to go too for some reason. I didn't like it at all. First of all she pulled the cannula out and noticed that it didn't bleed. She was hoping to get the blood sample from there but advised me that it had been in tissue all along and hadn't worked properly. I told her that I had thought that had happened a few days ago. She said it would have been hurting him! Great! So she then had to put a hole in his heel and squeeze like mad to get enough blood out for a test pot and to do the heel prick test. Poor Leo was really distressed and I tried my best to calm him down but nothing worked. The doctor said Leo did well but that I did better.
Not long after dinner my best mate Lucy arrived for a visit. She had flown back from Portugal that morning and I was very pleased that she had made it in to see me.
The evening was spent blogging and having a shower and just chatting with the staff in the dining room.
The ward was busy again so loads of noise. One lady had had a home birth that had gone really well but her little girl had decided to stop eating and so wasn't putting on weight. She had to do what I did with Ellis, which was to feed for 20 minutes and then top her up with expressed milk from a cup. You would then need to express again for the next feed. She wasn't very pleasant with the staff as she was very unhappy to be in hospital. I could understand how she felt but the staff on that ward were amazing and I think she should have given them a chance.
Another girl on the ward was Chinese and could barely speak any English. I had to keep telling the staff that although she was saying yes to their questions, she didn't understand them. At one point they got her Dad on the phone to translate!
Day 7
I managed to sleep okay even though the ward was really busy. I was really excited about going home but also really nervous. I didn't dare pack my bags just in case the blood test results were bad.
I knew I was on the disharge list as they checked my address. I was going home! Also, my midwife Bonny, who had also been my midwife with Ellis, had gone through all the going home questions etc and said she would complete the paperwork.
Towards lunchtime I packed my bags and did a video diary.
Eventually the doctor gave the all clear and we were then free to go! Yay!
Rob arrived with the car seat at the same time my lunch arrived. We scoffed as much as we could and gave some away to my neighbours. We then took a few final pictures of Leo in his going home outfit before exiting the building and walking to the car.
It was very strange to be a free woman and I didn't feel that fuzzy feeling like last time. I actually felt quite normal and really fancied a McDonald's. When I left the hospital after having Ellis, I was a complete zombie. I didn't really know where I was or what was going on. I cried on the way home too. Not a very nice memory really but this time was very, very different.
We were held up in heavy traffic and stopped off for my McDonalds (which was yummy by the way). We then phoned home to find out that Ellis was still sleeping. I didn't want to get home with him still in bed so we went to Sainsbury's and did a quick food shop before going home.
When we arrived Ellis and Nanny were sat on the front doorstep. I quickly grabbed the camera and tried to video the moment.
The next installment will be life at home. I'm really not sure how long that is going to take me to do as I really want to update TopFlumps too. There are only so many hours in the day. I hope the above all makes sense. I think it is a bit choppy in places but I have just tried to get as many facts down as I can. Please feel free to comment on any suggestions etc for the site.
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