One Mum's Story: Angie & Monique

Monique - two days old

On Saturday 2nd February, when I was 28 weeks pregnant, my partner Mark and I went to get a 4D ultrasound of our baby girl. The sonographer couldn't get a good shot of her face but confirmed that we were in fact having a girl. Mark and I were delighted and I started getting anxious, nervous and very excited to meet her.

That afternoon, while having coffee, I felt a little bit of discharge. It seemed a little more than normal, so I rang the Birth Unit of my hospital and was advised to go in to get checked out. I was waiting on the hospital bed with the CTG attached to my stomach making sure my baby was ok, and Mark sitting and worrying with me.

Next thing I knew the nurse told me that my waters had broken and that I was there to stay until the baby was born. Within minutes I had a doctor sitting next to me putting a cannula in my hand to start me on antibiotics and a nurse with a needle ready to give me my first of two doses of steroid shots to help mature my baby's lungs.

Within the hour I had a bed waiting for me in the PreNatal Ward of my hospital which is where I first met my wonderful doctor while she did an ultrasound. She said that my baby's head had engaged when my waters broke which was good because I could still have the natural labour I always wanted.

That night all I did was cry. I wanted to go home and be with Mark in my own house in my own bed...

I met a few people in hospital which was a lifesaver otherwise I would have gone insane.

A week later when I was 29 weeks, I started haemorrhaging and was rushed to the birth unit to be monitored. My baby's heartrate was good and consistent with good reactivity, so the doctors weren't too concerned. I was monitored for about nine hours before being sent back to my room.

That week, Mark and I were given a tour of the Neonatal Unit where we saw all the premature babies that were hooked up to machines and in humidicribs. It was very scary to see that my baby could be one of them if she was born too early.

Over the next few weeks I had more heavy bleeding, trips to the birth unit, IV drips for antibiotics and oral antibiotics. My last experience in the Birth Unit was completely horrid with a COMPLETE loss of dignity. I had a bad bleed, I was strapped to the CTG monitor for a total of 16 hours. I wasn't allowed to get out of bed. My blood pressure went low and had to be pumped full of fluids through IV (after having had it taken out only days before). I had to go toilet in a bed pan and was given speculums to check whether I was dilating and where the blood was coming from. They weren't allowed to do an internal exam because of risk of infection. I felt violated and I spent the next two days laying in bed not wanting to move in case I bled some more and had to go through it all again.

Then on Monday 10th March, after five weeks in hospital and 33 weeks pregnant, I went into labour. I started having contractions at 9:30am and started stressing out as I hadn't felt my baby move all morning. I was getting hot and cold flushes and started crying. The nurse came in and put the CTG on my stomach and my baby's heartrate was very high sitting between 180 and 190 beats per minute, when her "normal" heartrate was usually between 125 and 140 bpm.

My wonderful doctor was called into my room and another speculum was done. I was dilated two and a half centimetres and when Mark arrived, I was taken back down to birth unit.

The day was a blur. My temperature went up to nearly 39 degrees and was told I had contracted an infection which is why I went into premature labour. Mark was by my side holding my hand while I was having contractions until all of a sudden my baby's heartrate started slowing down to 60 bpm before very slowly picking back up to 180.

I had four doctors in my room and countless nurses checking my pulse and checking my contractions which were now coming in at three at a time one after another, then 30 seconds break, then another three contractions. I was getting shooting pains around my uterus where my infection was and that pain was much worse than the contractions were.

Then my baby's heartrate dropped to below 60 until they couldn't locate her heartbeat anymore with the CTG. I ended up having a tube put inside me with a wire in it which they attached to my baby's head to get a reading of her pulse that way. The nurses put a catheter in me and prepped me for a caesarean.

Another doctor took my partner aside and explained to him about why I needed a c-section and they gave him the gown to wear for the surgery.

At 5:15pm I was being wheeled to theatre and by the time I got there, the doctors decided they couldn't wait for an epidural to kick in and I was given a general anaesthetic as soon as I got to theatre. Mark wasn't allowed in to watch our daughter being born and I wasn't awake which was extremely disappointing.

At 5:33pm our daughter, Monique Kristi Hayward, was born. We named her after my wonderful doctor who stayed hours after finishing work just to be with me and keep Mark updated during the surgery.

Monique was born with a weight of 1995 grams, 43cm long with a HC of 29.5cm.

At 7:30pm I came out of my anaesthetic and my doctor was still there just to tell me we were both ok and she would see me in the morning. That's dedication.

The first time I saw my little girl, she was already two hours old. I couldn't see her very well as they had her in a humidicrib in the NeoNatal unit and I was laying in my bed still coming out of the anaesthetic.

She did very well. She went to intensive care for that night after she was born, then on the Tuesday was moved to Special Care as she was progressing well and her lungs were ok.

On Wednesday, they found blood in Monique's stools and some tests were done. She had a slight case of twisted bowel loops and was also found that she had bacterial meningitis through a lumbar puncture that was performed. She was put on nil by mouth for two days and a 14 day course of four different kinds of antibiotics. Her weight went down to 1880 grams.

That night, Mark and I got to hold our baby girl for the very first time and it was magical.

Two days later, they started feeding her my milk again but only giving her 1ml every three hours. If she kept her food down ok, they would up the dosage of food 1ml every 24 hours. Once she got to 10ml, they upped it again by giving her an extra ml every 12 hours instead of every 24 hours.

She was progressing well. She had cannulas in both hands, a central line in her arm and little monitors stuck all over her little body.

When she was three weeks old she was taken to the nursery where she was out of her humidicrib, off the photosynthesis lights for the jaundice and only had a feeding tube down her nose and the monitors attached to her.

I was allowed to hold her whenever I wanted which was great and I was allowed to start breastfeeding her. She progressed extremely well and after four weeks in hospital she was aloud to come home.

Monique - eight weeks old

She is my dream come true... Even though my dream didn't happen the way I wanted it to, the outcome is still the same.

Our little girl is now 14 and a half weeks old and weighs 4.8 kilos. Last week she started wearing 0000 clothes (finally) but she's growing so fast now, it won't be long until she's in 000 clothes.

Mark and I are so proud of our baby girl and everything she's achieved.

The doctors couldn't tell me why I got an infection or what caused it but there were so many people in hospital with the same thing. When you're pregnant, always expect the unexpected and know the signs your body shows. Even if there is a slight change in anything you may feel, always be safe and get checked out by your Birthing Unit. You just never know...

Angie Rodriguez

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