Timing is everything

and it is SO lucky i took a "mummy only" day on Friday. Because on Sunday, Lucy's lurgy came back. We spent 5.5 hours at the hospital with Lucy on Sunday night. Remember she was violently sick a week and a bit ago? Remember we took her to the doctor? Remember that doctor gave us antibiotics? She took the antibiotics. The full course. She finished them on Friday night. All Good. Wonderful, great, happy toddler.

And then Sunday afternoon, disaster struck. She started screaming. Her fever spiked again, she went pale and listless. And we went to hospital.

Diagnosis. Urinary tract infection. Again. Not even 2 full days after completing the course of antibiotics. More antibiotics and the most horrendous catheter insertion i have ever seen performed (picture 20 minutes of hysterical screaming, arching up the bed (4 of us holding her down) and vomiting fits from hysteria) and we headed home utterly exhausted, at 4.00am.

Lucy was asleep before we got out of the car park, Matt and I fell into bed as soon as we got home.

2.5 hours later, my phone rang.

"Lisa's waters just broke, we're coming to get you, labour is starting."

Ever thought God has a sense of humour?!!

So on 2.5 hours sleep, i started the first stint i have ever done of helping someone else have a baby. We made a trip to the hospital to get her checked over, and make sure her waters had fully broken (which they totally had!), and decided to wait on labour to start naturally as opposed to inducing, and to come back 7am Tuesday for inducement if nothing progressed.

By 6pm, the contractions were starting to hurt, not regular or very long, but painful.

We started timing at 9.30pm.

At 12.30 we called the hospital for advice. They said 3 contractions in 10 minutes, 1 minute long.

At 1.30am, they were coming every three minutes, but still only lasting 40 seconds at the most, and i made an executive decision and off to hospital we went.

Baby Maddison Jade Rettke made her entrance into the world after a lot of hard work by her amazing mummy at 4.44pm on 30th June 2009 after 23 very long, very painful hours of labour.

I got home at 11pm last night, and absolutely fell into bed for 14 hours of blissful, unaware sleep.

Thank GOD i had that day of rest on Friday, because I can honestly say i would not have survived being awake for 55 hours straight without having had that day.

Tomorrow Matt and Lucy are coming to meet Maddison. I can honestly say, after having been there through her birth, that i could never be a midwife. But I'm pretty sure I'd do it all again, to meet the worlds newest little person. It was a moment i will NEVER forget.

Oh and Lucy seems to be much better again, we can only hope that this time the antibiotics actually work.