One Mum’s Story: Rebecca & Tyler
Tyler at approximately 2 months
old
Well the first seven months of my pregnancy went
great!! No morning sickness or anything wrong with me, until it was Friday
morning and the day of an ultrasound. I went to my appointment with my
husband at 8:30am. At 9am I had my doctor on the phone telling me my baby
wasn’t as big as it should have been and he wanted me to see a specialist.
I was booked into my specialist straight away and
told that my baby was about four weeks behind the size he should have
been. I was told by the doctor that I would probably be admitted to
hospital the next week for two weeks bedrest and then he would deliver
my baby at 35 weeks (five weeks early). This was ok by me.
Monday arrived and I went back to my specialist who
told me to pack my bags and go to hospital for bedrest. I went straight
to the hospital where they did a trace on my stomach. The nurses were
not happy with the trace so called the doctor on duty. I had the trace
on for about two and a half hours when the doctor told me he wasn’t
happy either and he wanted to send me to another better equipped hospital.
An ambulance was ordered and I was sent to RPA hospital
in Sydney 200km away from my home. When I got there they had been waiting
for my arrival and prepped me straight away for an emergency ceasarean.
My beautiful son was born at 00:26 on the Tuesday
morning weighing just 1.326kg. I had to stay with him in Sydney for
three weeks and then he was transferred to our local hospital for 2
weeks, after which I was finally allowed to take him home. This being
my first baby was quite an ordeal. A very worrying and upsetting time
but in the end all has turned out fine and my little man is now 15 weeks
old and doing great!!!!
Tyler with a bear given to him
by a Rebecca’s work manager
- look at the size difference
What went wrong: My placenta stopped feeding
my baby and the blood supply was low to him as well. I also only had 5%
amniotic fluid around him hence me not getting a big belly through my
pregnancy and probably why now he has dry skin. The specific condition
is called IUGR
- Intra Uterine Growth Restriction/Retardation.
I had a lot of help and support from my family and
friends through this time. Although my husband still had to work he
came up to Sydney each weekend with my mum or friends to visit. He was
there for the first week and then had to come home to work.
I lent on my mum a lot. After the first week there
by myself it started taking its toll on me and one day I just broke
down. I rang my mum and she came and spent four days with me just to
let me see outside the hospital and have someone different to speak
to. She took me shopping and to lunch and dinner just so I felt a bit
normal again.
My husband’s family lives in Sydney but because of
work I didn’t see them except on weekends mostly. I had a lot of support
from people at work calling and also phonecalls from extended family
members which helped a lot. It was weird - because Tyler was in the
special care unit of the hospital it was like I hadn’t even had a baby.
Also because I didn’t actually go into labour. It wasn’t real until
I held him each day and until he actually came home.
Looking back on my experience I can now understand
how people feel when their babies are in humidicribs and the detachment
you feel because you can’t hold them or touch them all the time. I feel
sorry for Tyler now because I am always holding him and cuddling him
because I feel he missed out on that a lot when he was born because
of the restrictions.
It was hard being away from home for so long but looking
back it was all for the best and we were both in the best place possible
for everything to happen. The staff at the hospitals were all fantastic
and so nice and helpful and I have a beautiful baby to prove it!
Rebecca Poulter
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