Zara Maxine Snow

 On Saturday the 16th of January the weather looked calm and we decided to take the boat out for a spin. However, once on the boat the wind picked up and the conditions were pretty rough. I was sitting at the front of the boat with Sienna and Alissa and after being bounced around for a good ten to fifteen minutes I moved to the middle of the boat where it's a smoother ride. I joked to my Dad that the boat trip could put me into labour! When we got back to my parent's house I felt incredibly overheated and exhausted and decided to have a quick lay down under a fan. As I lay there I had what I thought was another Braxton Hicks contraction...the difference was that this one was quite painful. I told Clinton and we excitedly hoped that this could be it! Nothing happened again for 20 minutes or so and then another painful contraction. After on and off painful contractions (not neatly timed together) I decided to ring Joondalup Private Hospital and just see what they thought. The midwife was lovely and after hearing that this was my fourth pregnancy she suggested that I should come to the hospital if I felt like I was in labour as it might be a quicker experience this time around. I said I'd wait until the contractions were a little closer together but that I'd be in touch once we were on our way to the hospital. 

After that, the contractions seemed to have stopped and I was feeling frustrated. I looked online and read that women often have 'false labours' with painful contractions that stop and start and then go away. Clinton wanted to get our kids out of the house that afternoon so we decided to take them to Aqua - the WA aquarium at Hillarys. I had another contraction walking to the car and then another as we drove around trying in vain to find a parking spot in the packed Sorrento Quay parking lot. We gave up on Aqua and drove to Whitfords Shopping Centre instead with the idea of going to the movies. I had another contraction and thought the better of going to a movie and thought we should just walk around the shops for a while instead. Clinton took this photo of me on his phone (38 weeks pregnant) I wasn't happy about him taking photos of me at the time but I'm grateful now because they help tell the story! We walked around the shops with the kids and I had no contractions and started feeling frustrated again and wondered if these contractions were a figment of my hopeful imagination! Then as the kids were buying some craft supplies I had a particularly painful contraction and had to stop to breathe through it. I decided it was time to head home...I didn't want my waters to break at the shops!

Once home, we got the kids ready and went back to Sorrento Quay to buy some dinner with Kate and her kids, Jarom, Monique and Ava and Lisa and her kids. I was still not having regular contractions until we arrived there...they were timing at 10 minutes apart. Clinton took another sneaky photo of me at the table at Grilled...I was then having contractions that were 5 minutes apart and very painful...time to head to the hospital! I was starting to feel a bit nervous. We said goodbye to the kids and Lisa drove them home with her. We had my hospital bag in Dad's Tesla all ready to go just in case. Harrison cried when he said goodbye to me, he was worried about me being in pain. He's such a sweetheart! 

 Clinton took the opportunity to speed in the Tesla on the way to the hospital. I was worried I'd go into labour in that lovely car so I sat on a picnic blanket - just in case! We arrived at the hospital safe and sound and I had another contraction at the desk waiting for the midwife. She took us through to a room she'd prepared and hooked me up (Clinton took another sneaky photo!). I was 4cm dilated at that point...it was around 6.30pm. We found out my doctor, Dr Neppe, wasn't back from holidays yet (he would be back in two more days) and that the doctor 'on call' that weekend was Dr McGee. I thought that Dr Neppe had a different doctor filling in for him and didn't know Dr McGee. The first midwife I had was a bit young and obviously still learning, I was a bit relieved when a very experienced midwife took over. At around 8.30pm my contractions were very painful and close together. Dr McGee came by and said I was nearly fully dilated and then told the midwives she was going home and to call her when I was ready. I thought that was strange as I knew this baby was coming fast! The anaesthetist arrived and inserted an epidural to help with the pain...unfortunately it didn't work - they tried topping it up three times and then the anaesthetist said, "oh well, at least you can tell your friends you gave birth naturally - good luck" and then she left! I wasn't impressed and with my next contraction my waters broke. 

 The contractions were coming hard and fast, the baby's heart rate was fairly fast and I was worried about that. I also had terrible hay fever that day which had blocked my nose and made it harder to breathe through the contractions! I remembered this pain from Alissa's birth (the epidural hadn't worked in that labour either) and it wasn't pleasant. The midwives called Dr McGee who had just pulled her car into her driveway and had to turn around and come back to the hospital! By the time she arrived I was nearly ready to push and the baby's head was already engaged. Dr McGee told us the baby was posterior and that she would try to turn her...she told me to push with each contraction and then she put a vacuum on the baby's head to try to turn her. She used it a few times and it kept popping off the baby's head. Then she tried a different vacuum and managed to half turn the baby but she kept turning back again! She then said, "I'm going to use forceps" and I said, "I'd rather you didn't" and she said, "I'm sorry, she's face up and it's the only way we'll get her out." The baby's heart rate was still a bit rapid and they needed to move fast. During the contraction where I pushed with the forceps inserted I screamed...it was a pain I'd never experienced before and I hope I never have to again. Clinton told me later that he was crying a little at that point, it was hard for him to watch. The baby was born and I was exhausted! This is a picture of my first cuddles with her...look at the bruising on her head from the vacuum and forceps. She wasn't able to open her left eye for a couple of hours as she was so swollen on the left side of her head. To say I was worried about her head is an understatement. While the doctor gave me stitches (this really hurt with no pain killers) she told me the baby would probably be pretty jaundiced from all the bruising being absorbed by her body. As you can imagine I am not this doctor's biggest fan...I think the baby's bruised head was unnecessary and I think my chosen doctor would have handled the whole situation differently. 

Clinton snapped these photos to send to family and friends - it kind of hides how bad the bruising was...we didn't want everyone to see it and freak out!

 We didn't have a name then...it was a toss up between Zara, Ashley and Isabelle. She was born 2.845kg (6 pounds 4 ounces), and 50cm long with a head  circumference of 33.5cm. She was born at 10.21pm. Our midwife was Denise and she was wonderful during and after the baby was born. While she was measuring the baby etc I started to vomit...I couldn't stop vomiting and couldn't even keep a sip of water down. I vomited several times and felt nauseous until the following morning. The nurse said the vomiting could have been caused by of all the epidural drugs that had been (unsuccessfully) pumped into me or the shock of a traumatic birth. I then got up and had a wobbly shower and afterwards I looked in the mirror and didn't recognise my own face. It was very surreal to not recognise the face that was staring back at me. It looked like I was covered in freckles - a strange pigmentation had broken out on my skin and I was an odd pale, yellow colour. Hence the lack of pictures of me! Clinton kept coming in to see me over the following days and commenting on how different I looked. I didn't start to look normal for a least two weeks! A nurse commented that you can look like that when you're in shock. 

An iPhone photo I snapped of Clinton's first cuddles. I was then moved to a private room and Denise managed to get us a double bed room. Clinton was very kind and stayed over night with me...I really appreciated having him next to me that first night. The baby spent most of the night cuddling and sleeping on my chest, I didn't want to put her down...we had both been through a lot.  

 An iPhone photo of all our FOUR children together the next day. Mum and Lisa wanted to come visit me the night I had the baby but I was so exhausted that they waited until the next day. They brought my kids and Lisa's kids to visit the baby in the morning. 

Harrison was in love with his little sister straight away

Sienna was equally enamoured with her new baby sister 

This photo shows her poor little bruised head in the light of day 

Alissa liked the baby too but was more excited to see Mummy again and was sad to leave me 

Cuddles with Aunty Lisa 

I love cool little Charlie photo bombing in this one! 

Grandma's first cuddles 

Mum and Lisa took the kids home and Papa came to visit after some church meetings 

Dad and Clinton then gave the baby a beautiful Priesthood blessing - with promises that her head would heal and she would be ok 

Later that afternoon a paediatrician visited me and checked the baby over. She saw that the baby was a little yellow and ordered a blood test to check her jaundice levels. It turned out the baby's jaundice levels were higher than the paediatrician suspected and too high for the first 24hours of life. They took her straight to the Special Care Nursery. It was a first for me to have my baby sent to Special Care and not be with me in my room. She was a LONG walk from the private ward and I walked there and back several times until my stitches started to ache too much. A nurse noticed my swelling was getting worse and made an orderly wheel me in a wheelchair to visit the baby. She had light therapy for two days and was given what colostrum I could pump out and formula. Her jaundice levels remained high the whole time we were in hospital but the levels become more acceptable with how many days old the baby is, if that makes sense. She was eventually moved to my room but remained in an incubator under lights for a couple more days. It was hard for her because she couldn't be wrapped or have a blanket (the temperature was kept warm in there however) and this made her startle easily and wake herself up. It was also really bright in my room all night, making it hard for me to catch any sleep.   

Baby with her cool eye protectors 

In Daddy's safe hands 

It was hard to get a good photo to put on Facebook where her bruising didn't look too bad...this is the best we could do! 

First bath...

Uncle Trent visited with Renz and Nate 

Aunty Kate visited a couple of times too with Jack and Lucy...unfortunately I didn't get photos of her with the baby! More photos of Sienna and Alissa with their baby sister. 

By the end of my stay in hospital we decided on a name and called our baby Zara Maxine Snow. Sienna's middle name is Ellen (my middle name)- a name passed down through a few generations in the Meurs family. Alissa's middle name is Corinne which is Theone's middle name. I knew I wanted this baby to have my Mum's name as her middle name and my Mum was named after her father Max so in a way she's named after my grandfather too!

On the day I was to be discharged another paediatrician assessed Zara and decided to have more blood tests done (she had at least one blood test a day) and an ultrasound of her head to check for any cracks in her skull and brain damage. You can imagine how worried this made me feel but he assured me that many babies have small cracks in their skulls from birth and they heal fine on their own. I took Zara for the ultrasound and thankfully they found no cracks or brain damage - just swelling from the bruising. We were finally able to leave the hospital at around 1pm! I was glad to go home by then and take my beautiful baby home with me.