Team Newman / Ferme

Unbeknownst to me, labour started early in the morning of Easter Sunday (08/04/2007) when I was just 29 weeks pregnant. I woke early feeling a little unwell with a sore back, but in spite of this we continued with our plans and had brunch with Richard’s parents. I was starting to get worried at lunch time when the soreness hadn’t abated, and decided to call my obstetrician when we got home. Unfortunately, he wasn’t on call, and I didn’t want to call his partner on Easter Sunday so I spoke to a midwife at the hospital instead. She suggested I lie down for a bit and then see if I felt a bit better. I thought I did, so I spent the rest of the afternoon snoozing in bed. After a couple of hours I realised that I was waking with the back ache every 10 minutes or so and decided that we’d better go to the hospital. I still thought we’d be home for dinner, so I didn’t take anything with me.

During the car ride to the hospital things deteriorated a fair bit, with the pain increasing and the frequency of the pains varying wildly. Sometimes there’d be a 10 minute break and sometimes a three minute break in between. We parked the car in the car park and walked into the emergency room where we were directed to fill out paperwork. I had to get Richard to do the forms because I was in too much pain. We were seen very quickly however, and were directed to a room where I was placed on a monitor. They struggled for some time to locate the boys and ended up having to get an ultrasound to find out how they were lying. They continued to reassure me that I wasn’t necessarily in labour and they had called the obstetrician who was on his way to examine me. When he arrived a short time later, he informed me that I was four centimetres dilated and that Richard and I would be parents within the next 24 to 48 hours. Well, I was devastated to say the least and was extremely worried about the boys. They didn’t seem too worried though as they had strong heartbeats during the whole process and were kicking up a storm all night!

We were moved up to the antenatal ward where I was placed on another monitor and given drugs to try and slow the labour, along with steroids for the boys’ lung development. I was also given a hot pack and pethidine for the pain. The hot pack provided instant relief and the pethidine made the room spin. The boys reacted well to the pethidine however, and finally settled down, making them easier to monitor. I was then introduced to doctors, nurses, anaesthetists and I signed a lot of forms I probably wasn’t legally competent to sign. Finally, I was left alone for a while and actually managed to snooze a little. The pain was far away and if I kept my eyes closed the spinning room didn’t bother me. It wasn’t until about 11pm that the action started. Richard’s mother had come by to visit and right after the contractions started to come harder again. The nurse waited about half an hour to see if they’d settle down before she did another exam and found I was almost five centimetres dilated. It was decided that the caesarean was going to have to go ahead right away, and the obstetrician, anaesthetist and paediatricians were all called while I was prepared for theatre. Richard was taken away to get dressed.

I was taken into the operating room, blind without my contact lenses, where I was introduced to nurses and assistants that I couldn’t see. I didn’t care much and was a little bit numb and probably in a bit of shock by this time. The epidural was inserted, but I don’t remember much about it. The obstetrician was then made to wait while the anaesthetic took effect and the anaesthetist determined that I was ready. It was only after she declared I was okay to go that it hit me and I started crying. I couldn’t stop and I didn’t stop until the whole thing was over. There was no pain during the operation, and I can’t remember how long it took before Danny was born. I do remember them all exclaiming over his birth and I was struggling to see him for the first time. It took them a couple of attempts before they were able to drop the sheet dividing me from the proceedings so I think I was the last person in the room to see him. Luckily, I had brought our camera and one of the nurses was able to capture the whole thing.

Daniel was whisked away to the other side of the room by the paediatricians and the curtain was raised again while Lachlan was extracted. He was the one I was really worried about, as I knew he was smaller, and I thought, weaker. This time they were quicker in dropping the sheet and I was able to see him immediately. He gave a little cry when he was born, which started me sobbing even more. Again he was taken away immediately and Richard went to cut the umbilical cord. The boys were returned to me shortly before they were taken to intensive care, and I was able to touch them and give them a little kiss. Richard went with them to intensive care, and I was left to be sewn back up and to recover. I remember it was quite surreal, because the once noisy operating theatre was now mostly deserted and very quiet. I lay there listening to the obstetrician and his assistant chatting about something or another. I was then taken to recovery where I was cleaned up ready to go upstairs. Apparently I recovered from the anaesthetic pretty quickly and the nurses were impressed with how much my stomach had already deflated.

I was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to see the boys before being taken to my room, but without my glasses/contact lenses, I wasn’t able to see anything. Richard and I then went to our room on the postnatal ward, where we tried to sleep for the rest of the night.

To summarise the details, Daniel Christopher Newman Ferme was born at 12:36am on Monday, 9 April 2007, weighing just 1.48kg, and Lachlan John Newman Ferme was born a minute later, weighing only 1.3kg.