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On Monday 10th January I got up at 5.45am so I could have my light breakfast and antacid tablet at 6am. My mum came round to look after Elly at about 8am and Phil and I headed off to the hospital as we had to be there for 8.30am. I was booked in on the ward and reminded them I'd requested an amenity bed. I was quite chuffed when I was shown to a side room and it was one of the 2 en suite ones.
There wasn't really much to do then as I was on the theatre list for the afternoon so Phil and I just watched telly and chilled out. The doctor and anaesthetist came to get me to sign the consent forms and the midwife who was coming down to theatre with us brought Phil his scrubs and a gown for me and said we'd be going down around 3.30pm. We got changed at about 2.45pm and it was 3.50pm when they came to get us.
Down at theatre my spinal was put in whilst Phil waited outside and then I was laid down on the trolley and wheeled through to theatre. It was quite a surreal experience laying there with all the staff around me and Phil sat at the side.
The procedure began and at 16.39 Alex was pulled out by the doctor. As we'd told all the staff beforehand that we'd been told we were having a girl, she announced as she pulled him out 'you've got a lovely girl', shortly followed by one of the theatre nurses saying 'are you sure it's a girl?'. Cue much confusion and surprise and me thinking they were kidding me when they told me it was a boy. One of the first things I said was 'he'll look lovely in the pink fluffy cardigan my mum's knitted!' . Even Phil had thought he was a girl initially but then he said everything seemed to unravel - Alex had been keeping things well hidden.
I suffered a bit of an effect from the anaesthetic and started shaking like mad and felt a little bit sick but it didn't last for long.
Alex's Apgars were 9 and 9 so he was very healthy. Apparently, the cord was twice as long as it normally is and the placenta was huge which caused some discussion amongst the staff. Added to the fact that he was 9lbs 8oz it's no surprise that I'd put on 5 stone during the pregnancy. Luckily 3 stone of that went almost immediately he was born!
Unfortunately, bf hasn't worked out again but both Alex and I are happy bottle feeding and he's been weighed today at 17 days old and is now 10lb 4oz He's very erratic with his feeding though so we're not getting much sleep at night but we know it won't last forever and he's more than worth it.
Elly loves her baby brother and it's far easier to get her to kiss and cuddle him than it is to get her to kiss and cuddle me.
Although a month ago a section was the last thing I wanted, the experience was really good and it meant that we both got through the birth safely and happily without any complications.
I think it's going to take a while to get used to being a mum of two but I think I'm going to like it.