Pregnancy: Ps and Cs may apply (Part 1)

The P-word – part 1

I did not have an easy pregnancy. I moved countries, moved homes, was over-diagnosed (more on this later) and finally, when I was on the right path and enjoying my pregnancy in my third trimester, I was diagnosed with the big P. Preeclampsia. For those of you, who don’t know, preeclampsia, according to the Mayo Clinic, is a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, most often the liver and kidneys.

After a relaxing babymoon in the mother city, I returned to Johannesburg with swelling in my feet, which simply did not subside. A trip to my gynae confirmed I had it and that I would be admitted that very same day to the hospital. The thing with preeclampsia is that there are no real symptoms and that bed rest, being constantly monitored and some oral meds were the only real treatments I could take. I was admitted to hospital seven weeks before my due date.

The hospital stay was unpleasant, to say the least. A few days after my baby shower, I felt more alone than ever. I was constantly feeling stressed out. Nurses, my gynae and some friends made sure to tell I would be in there until I was due to give birth in December! And it was only the end of October. I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. When I should have been home, nesting, shopping for baby and taking long relaxing walks, I was cooped up in a hospital trying to make sense of being a first-time mom while stressing about not having a stroller, medical bills, and my baby.

For the first few days, the baby seemed to be doing fine, according to the tests I was doing. With the meds, the protein in my urine, a clear indication of preeclampsia, had gone back to their levels and everything seemed fine. I even had hopes of being discharged. On my seventh day of being in hospital, the baby’s heart rate began to decelerate.

The big C word

Caesarian section, that is.

When baby’s heart rate began to decelerate, my gynae delivered the scariest yet somehow exciting news… I would need to deliver on that seventh day, at 33 weeks… six weeks ahead of my due date. Now, being an editor, I am all about deadlines but we’re pushing it here (excuse the pun).

This is the part where things get icky and hazy for me.

After a final check-up with the gynae, it was confirmed the little one would arrive by C-section TODAY. I was scared. I’d never been to hospital before – not since I was born!

But oddly enough, I felt brave. I was having an out-of-body experience and something else was taking over.

By the time I made it back to my hospital bed, it was time to prep me.

Hospital scrubs.

Drip.

Catheter – OUCH.

A visit from my anaesthetist reassured me that the most pain I would feel was the one from the drip and not the huge needle he was going to put into my spine to numb the lower half of my body. I smiled. He smiled. I thought: “Yeah right.”

And before I knew it I was being wheeled in.

While I was anxious, I was totally in the moment as well, which kept me from overly thinking about what was happening next.

I sat there in the theatre in my gown as my husband put on his scrubs thinking he was a character from Grey’s Anatomy and I kept focusing on the moment as it was happening.

With some work, the anaesthetist managed to inject me with my epidural and THANKFULLY he was right, I didn’t feel much except for my legs going numb like I’d been sitting on them for too long.

The C-section didn’t last long. And I felt nothing!

As my husband took a seat next to me just as I was being cut, the nurses and doctors said: “Get ready to take a pic, daddy.” And in a flash, it was over. She was here. As they showed her little face to me, I screamed: “It’s a little mouse.”

They all laughed.

She looked like a mouse perched over her blanket.

I cried as I laid eyes on her as she was being taken away to the neonatal ICU.

Stay tuned for more…

If you found this article useful or interesting, why not subscribe to Parenty’s weekly newsletter for a wrap up of that week’s best content.