A bit of a belated update as my new little girl is now 2.5 weeks old! Despite all hopes, I didn’t start before my induction….I tried to have a sweep at 39+1, but my cervix was still closed; I went in for my scheduled Foley’s balloon induction the Sunday before last, but my cervix was still unfavourable, so I went back home and then came back the following day to have the gel (1ml). Things started slowly, but as things had finally got going, when I had the second dose it was another 1ml dose late on Monday evening. That seemed to do the trick for more regular contractions, although throughout Tuesday I was able to breathe through them. However, by Tuesday evening that was getting trickier, and although they were only every 6 minutes or so, they were long and intense, and from Tuesday night I was struggling not to cry out, which I was really conscious about, as I was in a shared antenatal ward. Late Tuesday I had an examination and was 3cm, but I wasn’t re-examined for another 16 hours or so (partly because the Labour ward was full, so they had nowhere to put me even if I was dilated enough). This pissed me off so much, as the way they described it, although I was on the list for the Labour ward, people coming in with spontaneous labours would be prioritised, even if less dilated, I was seriously worried I’d end up giving birth in the antenatal ward and by that point was desperate for gas and air after two days labouring on paracetamol and codeine which did precisely nothing! Luckily, I finally got reexamined mid Wednesday afternoon and eventually got into the Labour ward at about 4.30, so could use a birthing ball, gas and air, and had an epidural at about 7, which was a huge relief after 2 days of relentless contractions! When I got to the pushing stage, I was reminded how rubbish I am at that bit - ended up with about 6 people in the room urging me on - but I finally managed it, without needing to resort to the instrument tray, and Freya was born on her due date at 22.11!
We were discharged the following afternoon, but then noticed the following day that she was looking a bit yellowy. The MW who did the Day 2 visit was fairly dismissive (just told us to see how she was by Day 5), but by the Saturday her eye whites were also yellow, so back to hospital we went. Sure enough they confirmed she had jaundice and would need blue light therapy, so we were readmitted over the weekend. The nights in particular were pretty horrific as Freya absolutely hated both the blue light and having to wear goggles/a blindfold, but the light did their job and we were discharged again on Monday afternoon. We then went back and forth to hospital all week for bilirubin tests. On the Wednesday it had started to decrease, but then had increased again on the Thursday and Friday, which meant we were readmitted yet again until last Sunday. Freya was particularly furious at the disco cot at night time, but luckily on her second stay they removed the top light first, so she didn’t have to wear the eye mask, which helped a bit. It was so horrible having to keep her in the cot the entire time when she just wanted cuddles.
She’s now 18 days old and hasn’t been gaining weight as quickly as they’d like to see, which is a bit stressful and is meaning having to introduce formula top ups and trying to find time (which I’m failing miserably at…) for regular expressing. I’m just looking forward to things calming down a bit…
On a more positive note, she also had a 90% tongue tie, which we got divided the Friday before last and we didn’t have to fight for it so hard (possibly partly because of the jaundice), which I hope will lead to better feeding 🤞🤞🤞