Afternoon update from the maternity ward: 39 weeks... Im fine, bub is fine and life is fine for the little waddling mother Swann to be. My little lion king is finally in his head down position but not engaged yet, enjoying taking full liberty of his last God given week divinely prescribed in the womb. I continue to pace the ward, do my yoga at 5.30am, watch the sunrise over the magnificent city of Melbourne and observe the eventful happenings on the maternity ward. My beautiful Kurdish Iranian room mate (room mate no. 3) has now packed her bags and reluctantly gone home. She was discharged this morning as per hospital policy (natural birth 3 days, c section 4 days) however her beautiful little 21 week old baby girl, born 3 days ago weighing 950 grams measuring 37cm remains under 24 hour medical surveillance on the ward downstairs. It seemed so unfair for her to leave to be separated from her little girl but she cant stay here for the next few weeks either. Instead, she will come in each day with her expressed milk to feed her little girl through a syringe as her little fighter (as she calls her) grows stronger. So Ive been in my room again today, alone in peace to contemplate... life from the maternity ward. Just when I thought the ward had gone quiet another code pink was just called. This time it wasnt from my room or a call from one of my room mates, it was from the room next door. The combined sound of a woman in distress and medical staff charging through the ward is becoming slightly more familiar yet you never quite get used to it. This time the sound of a nurse saying to someone, blood transfusion, blood transfusion was muffled by the sound of a bed being moved through the ward and the sound of a girl making a noise that I dont think Ive ever really heard before. I hid in my little room and reflected on how life can literally change within a single second, potentially forever. I have no idea where she has been taken... presumably downstairs to the birthing suite. Room mate no. 4 has just arrived. My masterful maternity ward observation skills so far indicate to me my new roomy is a member of an esteemed family of gangsters... Well, thats according to how they greet each other... hi gangsta, yo gangsta, whatsup gangsta? whadda ya doing in here gangsta? and whats happened to my TV connection, go sort it out gangsta see ya later gangsta... Gangsta mum-to-be is 26 weeks pregnant and having pain, contractions and tightenings so she is in here under observation. Given I have a real genuine talent for taking off comedian Mary Coustas AKA Effie ay, is moy cuzzjjin Jim here?, my new room mate and her gangsta homies prompted me to hunt for some good old fashioned Effie clips on youtube to watch to keep myself amused... Little did I know that Mary Coustas, the talented Effie comedian has had her own incredible story of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood... I came across Marys sobering story of being in her 40s, finally falling pregnant with triplets, having to make the toughest decision with her partner to reduce her twins to save the third baby only to lose her at 22 weeks. With the fierce determination to never give up, Mary and her husband conceived via IVF again and finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Marys story brought me back to the intense reality of life on the maternity ward and the profound and intense experience of pregnancy and child birth. Not a single minute can really go by here on the maternity ward when Im not prompted to reflect on the blessing of life and how grateful I am for my health, my deeply loving partner, the blessing and health of our baby and the gift of this whole experience. Heres a great piece by Mia Freedman on Mary Coustass experience: mamamia.au/social/mary-coustas/
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 05:44:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015