I couldn't sleep,

It was 4.00am and I couldn't breath, hardly catch my breath, I felt sick and dizzy, I wanted to throw up but couldn't. The sweat was dripping off me and still I couldn't breath, worse, I couldn't feel the baby moving. We decided to go to the hospital, usually a 40 minute drive away but the roads were clear, we made it in 20, even with a couple of 'maybe I will vomit stops'. As soon as we got there they monitored the baby, it was OK, I was still having problems breathing, the doctor came and they ran some tests. They told me to relax, how can I relax? I can hardly catch my breath and I feel so dizzy. Soon the results were back, I had HELLP syndrome, it was serious, they would prep me for surgery straight away. I had no idea what HELLP was, something about elevated liver enzymes and low platelets, but they had to get the baby out and there was a risk of not being able to stop the bleeding when they operated. The anaesthetist spoke excellent English, he had studied & worked in the States for several years and looked somewhat like Sadsack.

He put me at easy, until it came to the spinal tap, it took 7 attempts to get the needle in, I wasn't that surprised since I have the same problem when they try and take blood. The final attempt I was sat up, crouched over as he tried to get the right spot, I looked over to the other side of the theatre only to see a row of 10 students all lined up with clipboards, Celine Dion was playing in the background, if there is one artist I can't be doing with, it is Celine (well, her and Whitney and J-lo), eventually Celine finally shut up and left me in peace, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole ~ Somewhere over the Rainbow came on, I relaxed, there was some tugging and then out came a little body, it's a boy! I looked over to the clock, it was 10.10am (10.10 is a standing joke between my friends, so it only seemed apt he should be born at that time).

We had already chosen his name, he would most likely had the same name if he was a girl since we couldn't agree on a girls name. He was born a week early, weighed 2526g and was 47cm long.

My stay in the hospital was not very pleasant, the spinal headaches that lasted a week didn't help, the food was awful and the ward noisy. They did let me sleep with baby and they would take him off to the nursery so I could try and get some sleep. They constantly ran tests to see if my blood and platelets were returning to normal, thankfully we were allowed home a week later.

Newborn BabyEbi

at one

at two

I'm not sure if I will get time to post later, we are going to the train museum with some friends then heading home after lunch then we are having a couple of friends round for birthday tea and we have to fit in a video chat with all the grandparents too!