Zach's birth story

As we approach Zach's 2nd birthday, all the feels of his birth are coming back so I thought i'd actually jot them done for you guys as its something I've only briefly spoken about on my Instagram!

Zach's head poking out by my ribs (weirdest bump ever!)

This is gonna be a long post, I'm sorry!
Zach was due on the 8th September 2017 and was head down until my 20 week scan when he
decided to rebel and go transverse! All the scanners said not to worry because there was still plenty of time and when he was still transverse at my 32 week scan i had to go see the consultant to weigh up my options. The lady was lovely and said they'd try and turn him but if my waters were to break at any point go straight to hospital to reduce the risk of a cord prolapse, which is fairly unlikely but better to be safe than sorry! When I went for my ECV they tried 4 times and it was pretty horrendous but I persevered in the hopes of a NVB and a healthy risk free birth, he however was really stubborn (still is!) and didn't want to move so they had to offer me a c-section at 39 weeks. I was a bit gutted as I wanted a NVB but knew that it was the safest option for both of us!

At 38 weeks, my mum text me out of the blue to say I was going to have Zach that day, when i asked her why, she told me the wish bracelet, she had from my baby shower, had broken at work! I instantly laughed and brushed it off but when Josh came home from work 5 minutes later and I went to tell him Mum's silly prediction, my waters broke! We rang our midwife (as we had an appointment that afternoon) and she sent us straight up to our hospital and she rang ahead, we packed the car and left with 2 towels and a bin liner on my chair!

The midwives were convinced that Zach had turned when I arrived however, after another scan, he was still transverse so they moved me into a ward on pre-natal and told me unless my contractions started, I would be having my c-section in the morning! The contractions started to kick in and within about 15 minutes I could no longer breathe or walk through them so off I wondered to go get a midwife! The midwives from the labour ward arrived really quickly and my bed was all packed with all my stuff and we were ready to go. We both got scrubbed up and ready to surgery and in walked my original consultant who was actually going to perform my surgery, I continued to breathe through my contractions and I felt amazingly in control and then everything changed.

My surgeon wanted to just check to see if I was dilated and thats when the red button was pressed and the room filed up with nurses, she asked me if I felt like i could push which I really couldn't say I did! I was told to turn over and go on all fours and a midwife climbed on the bed behind me, my surgeon told me I was having a cord prolapse and I was going to have surgery right now, the midwife behind me was holding Zach's bum off his cord! I felt terrified being wheeled up to theatre but I knew I was in the safest possible hands, what scared me the most was when I got in there and realised Josh wasn't there, at that stage I knew it was fairly serious and that was it, I was asleep!

Waking up without my bump after nearly 8 months of knowing I was pregnant was the strangest feeling ever, it took me a long time to come around and when I did, I felt very foggy! I remember asking where my bump had gone and feeling very confused, then I realised Zach wasn't there and panic set in, Josh assured me he was doing okay but was on the neonatal ward and the midwife handed me a photo of a really poorly little blue baby. I felt really sick, I had spent the last year dreaming about this perfect little baby and birth and it wasn't the reality! After I had had a drink, I was wheeled to Neonatal to meet my baby, it was a really strange experience and far from what I expected, being told that this baby covered in tubes was my son!

After a bit I went back to my ward because I was in so much pain, it wasn't what I expected at all, I also hadn't prepared myself for the fact that I'm allergic to codeine so I could only have paracetamol and ibuprofen (although after a bit they offered my Oramorph which was the best thing ever!) The Midwife helped me to express some milk for Zach as he was being tube fed and at some point in the night, I was moved down to the post-natal ward which really sucked! I was placed on a ward with lots of other women and their babies but mine was elsewhere, I also couldn't go and see him because I still had my catheter in! After it was all out and I'd got up and walked around a bit, Josh wheeled me up to see Zach (I had to stay in a wheelchair because I was in agony, it was a long walk and I was a bit of a faint risk.)

I was able to hold my baby!!! Although it wasn't as long as some people have to wait, it felt like forever and having him in my arms just felt perfect, he was covered in tubes but was doing a lot better! They informed me that he had suffered Mild Respiratory Distress Syndrome and basically wasn't breathing when he was born and had to have a few breaths and oxygen. He was occasionally needing oxygen when we held him so we had to keep his mask near by and then they did more obs so we went back down ready for the influx of visitors! I don't think I went up with a single visitor including my parents which really kinda sucked but I really wasn't feeling up to anything, we were also eventually moved into a side room as we didn't have Zach which made things slightly easier!





After a couple hours of rest, I was ready to go back up and by this time he was allowed off his oxygen and out of an incubator and just in an open top cot! We were allowed to change his nappy which felt like a little victory and get him dressed and also have more cuddles, they told us that if he kept improving, we would be able to have him down with us the following day! On the way back we bumped into the midwife who looked after me during labour and she had come to find us to see how we were doing so we went back up to see Zach with her. She told me how my labour was one of the scariest labours she had been a part of because she had suffered a cord prolapse with her son, she told me that she took Zach out to josh within 20 minutes of me being in wheeled into theatre, it made everything sink in a bit more and it was all very surreal. I'd never had any other experience of birth as Zach is my first so as much as I knew I didn't have a normal birth, I didn't realise quite how far out it was! Every time we get asked "how was his birth? Normal?" by each doctor that sees Zach and we have to explain what happened, we often get a "oh no" or "wow, he's really lucky" it does really put it into perspective of how lucky we actually are because if if didn't go into hospital straight away after my waters went and waited until I had contractions like most people do, he wouldn't be here now!

With Zach's cord prolapse, my consultant told me when she came to chat to me a couple of days after, when she went to check to see if i was dilated I was 6cm's but my cord was full out and on the bed! The midwife who held Zach's bum up was stopping it touching the umbilical cord because if it gets traps, the blood would stop going to Zach, apparently they have approximately 20 minutes of oxygen and blood in the cord. They did take his cord for analysis and they said it was in pretty good condition considering what had happened which is amazing!

Zach came down with us the following day after about 60 hours in neonatal, he was placed in transitional care as he still had to be tube fed and he also had a cannula in still due to him having a possible infection but it was amazing having him with us! That day we spent trying to get him to breast feed while I expressed between each feed so he could have that for his tube feeds because he was very sleepy and would just fall asleep during feeds. We stayed in till the Friday (day 4) and had lots of visitors, he finally got his tube out of day 3 but still wasn't feeding loads but he was getting something in him, he had multiple jaundice tests but overtime he was just under the line, which was great news but not so great for his poor little heels!






On the Friday we went home, it felt amazing, I was able to have a proper shower (id had one in there but it wasn't the easiest or nicest) I had a nap as I hadn't slept a wink the night before and Josh stayed with Zach. It was very surreal being a home with this little baby who just fitted into our life perfectly, yes we were tired, but it felt like he had always been here!

Leaving the hospital

Back into hospital

During that night Zach hadn't been latching and Josh had ended up giving him a bottle, it broke my heart but I was too tired to even argue about it, I was an emotional wreck at this point (I never deal with hunger and tiredness very well) the paracetamol was barely touching the pain, I just needed to sleep. The following day we had his 5 day review at our doctors, he had lost a lot of weight since his birth and he was also still looking rather yellow so we got sent back in to the hospital baby ward! The did his jaundice test and he was still borderline but we had to stay in for 24 hours to see if we could get more milk in him because he was just not taking anything, after several attempts by multiple docs we got an oz in him and it was just a real struggle (that never really changed) we had to wake him every 3 hours for a bottle and if not, they would have to put his tube back in! We persevered and it was really hard but we managed to get him to drink more and we were eventually allowed home, he was only having 2 oz bottles but it was literately taking an hour each time but it remained that whole way until he weaned! He never liked milk and was always sick, turns out he had a milk allergy that we didn't pick up on until he started weaning and some things he wasn't sick with but some he was (the others with dairy in) He eventually started gaining weight but it was a slow process and one that we had to keep on top of and he never really went up to the percentile he was originally but he just created a new line for himself between the 25th and 50th!

Thank you for reading, please leave any comment to let me know what you think, I'm very new to this so anything would be helpful!

Sophie xo

(Cornish Mama)