Say Hello to Baby Poppy!

So, just to fill in some blanks, we'd been to see the consultant on Thursday 2nd Feb, been told that there were no free slots to be booked in for any sort of induction process for at least 2 weeks, made a (slightly exaggerated) impassioned plea for special treatment due to a slight case of reduced fetal movement, went to the Antenatal Day Unit for the resultant 40 minute scan (which was absolutely fine) -

- and been told to come back on Friday. So we sulkily headed home where within about 20 minutes of shutting the front door - the waters abruptly broke (conveniently close to the bathroom)!

So, wayback machines set to 3rd of February - the Friday - (last few days have been just a *bit* busy) as Flyingpops, Janet and I walk calmly back into the "Waiting Room" in the Antenatal Day Unit for some *further* monitoring...

...we were allocated a bed and Flyingpops was plugged back in - which showed a very happy baby, but a completely flat line for contractions...so, and yes, you guessed it, we had to walk and wait...So -

- we walked the hallways and stairways -

- we walked up to Royal Earlswood Estate (a fairly big hill) -

- we walked to the little shop and got tea and cakes and things, and then finally we got to see our consultant again, who said she wasn't sure if the waters had *really* broken (something about hind-water leakage) and then she announced that it was time for this baby to pop out and transferred us to the labor ward where we got allocated this nice little holiday apartment (room 5) -

- complete with a nice little bathroom -

- a slightly nastily-labelled up bin (which I, none-the-less, hoped had been obeyed by the previous resident) -

- and an antique stereo -

- we settled down (unpacking sweets and drinks), booted up the Shinco and watched Carry on Matron (the one where Kenneth Cope has to infiltrate a maternity unit dressed up as a female nurse - it just seemed appropriate somehow... ;)

Anyway, after about an hour, Flyingpops got annoyed at the further sitting around and went to the front reception desk, where it turned out we had (in fact) managed to walk in (through the locked security doors, past the infra-red security cameras) presented our maternity notes at the front desk and been allocated a room all without anyone actually managing to notice! So, all of a sudden there was a flurry of (familiar) activity...Yes - Flyingpops was put back on the monitor-

- where we witnessed another completely flat line scrolling slowly along, and so, we went for *another* walk -

- to the staff restaurant and back (with chips and things) - wondering if surgeons really did turn up in blood soaked surgical scrubs requesting cottage pie and chips from horrified canteen staff on occasion-

- then Flyingpops had a canula inserted (on the second try - the first try made her swear quite loudly and the midwife responsible leave the room blushing) and the waters were finally broken (by midwife number two), we went for yet another little walk (this time for tea and biscuits) as the sun set below the horizon -


- then back to the room for a bit of ball bouncing -

- luckily they had a few in the store room to borrow, before it was decided to try just a little bit of the hormone drip that is supposed to help hurry things along.

From there on in, things were a bit of a blur...contractions started pretty much immediately, we tried using the TENS machine (but it made Flyingpops jump out of her skin, so that got unplugged pretty much straight away), she had a go at the gas and air, but that made her so dizzy she decided she didn't want that either, and by the time she admitted "Okay, I think I need some pain relief now" the midwife turned around (biting her lower lip) and said "Sorry, I think it's too late, the baby is coming now"...!

From start to finish, Poppy took exactly 2 hours 30 minutes to go from Mummy's tummy to Daddy holding a pair of scissors snipping the cord (I hid behind a towel with the midwife this time after getting sprayed by Thomas's cord-blood last time)...and the most amazing thing about it - Flyingpops did the entire thing without *any* pain relief...

...and you know what? All those things they said in the NCT classes about the baby hunting around for food (literally almost crawling around the body snuffling) are true when there aren't any drugs involved - baby Poppy came out of Mummy's tummy and cuddled and snuffled and fed *right* away...

Anyway, once the adrenaline had started to subside, a colossal fatigue overcame Janet and myself - Flyingpops was full of beans (somehow!), but, after seeing her to the postnatal ward and a comfy bed, we retired to ours (exhausted)!

Lots and lots more pictures from the day are over here on Flickr...or as a slideshow here...