Here is a quick rundown of how it all happened
Wednesday 3:30am - I shifted from a very deep sleep to a light sleep as Clare got up to go to the loo. She came back and was hopping back into bed when she got out again and went back to the wee room, but this time it was tons of really quick charlie chaplin footsteps. I woke from my light sleep to a shallow dosing, still to tired to ask if anything was up, I lay there and focused one ear in her direction. Sure enough the call came that her waters had broken.
She had had one contraction and nothing else really - "Do we call the midwife at 3:30am? or wait till 6am?" we decided to call. The midwife said she would meet us at the hospital in 1/2 an hour and a mad rush of packing ensued.
The midwife confirmed that the baby still hadn't engaged so Clare was given something that made the contractions more established and they started getting stronger and more regular - she started sucking on the gas. We decided to can the tens machine because it hadn't engaged and shortly into the contractions the fetal monitor lost the baby and the midwife couldn't find it - an alarm button was pushed and the registrar came in and they started bustling and discussing emergency caesarians finally they found the baby's beat again - it was somewhere else due to the baby moving (but still not engaging) the pain started kicking in and Clare asked for an epidural - it got all explained to Clare in between contractions and they set it all up. After quite a while boosting doses etc it was clear that the epidural hadn't worked. It is pretty rare for this to happen and the anaethesist who was quite well regarded was most embarassed and kept apologising. In the mean time that stuff that increases the contraction intensity had been stepped up so Clare was really having to gasp in the gas.
All this was taking time and the baby still wasn't engaging. She still only dilated enough for the midwife to get one finger in and the baby's head which originally was "tipped" had actaully got further away.
At 11:30am the choice was put to us to have a caesarian and we both agreed it was best.
The registrar who has to perform all emergency caesars explained it all to Clare (she was only in her late twenties - in fact of the 6 staff in the theater the four most important people would have all been under 35).
I had to sit on a chair in the middle the corridor by myself all gowned up and wait for Clare to get prepared. At this stage I got very emotional - not any emotion in particular but more overwhelmed about what was coming up and I started crying - I didn't really know why.
Eventially I got lead in and felt much better talking to Clare. She was marvelous support for me in my time of need!! Clare had a spinal and that DID work thank god. I didn't see any of the op but I did see them put some big tin snip things in towards her and I did see the baby boy as he was pulled out and up from her.
I was invited over to cut the excess cord after they made a few measurements and checked him over. He was then bundled up and I carried him over to Clare who was being stitched up and we all put our faces together and looked at each other in a timeless moment.
He is:
Oscar Jack Frazer
8lb 1oz 52cm
born 12:45 30/10/02
and apparantly the cord was wrapped around his neck twice! We are just so greatful we made the decision of birth by incision beacuse it could have been disastrous the other way.
We are both besotted with him.