Introducing Alexander James

Beanie is a beautiful baby boy! Let me introduce you to Alexander James Noble.
We are so excited to have this gorgeous addition to our family. 

On Tuesday 17th May, 2016, at 7:15am James and I said goodbye to Daniel and Eliza (who were being looked after by Nana J and Boompa) and headed to the SAN hospital to be induced. Unlike the other 2 pregnancies my blood pressure hadn't risen, however, we asked to be induced because of timing. With Mum and Dad being away it was helpful to have a rough idea of when Beanie would come so that Malcolm and Julie could be here, but also so they didn't need to take a lot of time off work. Also, Jens started full time training for work the previous Monday so she wasn't available to look after the kids either so I am very glad that we did organise to have them here and to be induced. Another reason was because I was quite nervous about the thought of going into labour at home. I had been induced the other 2 times so I wasn't confident to know when to head to the hospital, wasn't very keen on contractions in the car, and also having had a friend leave too late and give birth on her driveway and 2 from mums group arrive at the hospital with the head between their legs I was nervous about that possibly happening to me. So getting induced was a good option for me and fortunately Dr Booker could understand my nerves about the whole situation and so was happy to induce.

Last photo of Beanie in my tummy

39.5 weeks

We arrived at the Delivery rooms at 7:35am. I was feeling quite nervous about it all so as I gave the midwife my card, she noted that my hands were shaking. She asked me if it was my first. I replied that it was actually my 3rd but you couldn't tell. I think I was just nervous about the pain I was going to feel, about having a 3rd bub, about how things were going to go. We were guided into the delivery room and told to get comfortable. Then Amanda came in, apparently they were busy on the ward and she had been assisting another midwife before I came in. Then Sue came in, the same midwife who delivered Daniel. She was going to be supervising Amanda and the process. That was pretty cool to see her again. They put the monitor on me to see how Beanie was going and also to check if there were any contractions. My blood pressure was still looking good, Beanie's heart rate was fine and there were no contractions. 

At 8:30am Dr Booker came in and broke my waters. There was a little bit of a gush but not much. They put the monitor back on to make sure that breaking the waters didn't upset Beanie. Fortunately Beanie was all good. While we waited for that monitoring to happen I decided to get out my colouring in for mindfulness book. I felt that this verse might come in handy once contractions started to increase. 'Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.'

Amanda thought it was funny to do colouring in while going into labour but she also said that it was cool. I was impressed that I completed this page through the whole process. 

After being monitored for an hour, Andrew wanted the cannula to be put in for my induction (9:30am). He said that we could wait until lunchtime, however, we came in to get induced so why prolong it? Sue was to put the cannula in because Amanda isn't qualified for it. She started on my left hand, found the vein but as she put the needle in it hit a junction and blew. Sue explained that a junction is like a round-a-bout in my veins so the needle couldn't continue down the vein. She pulled out the needle (which was killing me) and put pressure on with some gauze. After a few minutes she checked and it had flared up. She asked Amanda to go and get some ice because it was going to bruise nicely and was already swelling. She put the ice on my hand and still applied pressure and we joked that Amanda should have tried instead. She then moved to the right hand and managed to get the cannula in. They hooked the oxytocin drip up to me and turned it on at 9:45am. Then it was a waiting game again. I continued doing my colouring in while I waited for contractions to start. James relaxed for a bit, resting on the couch, looking at his phone.

At 10:20am I started to feel some light contractions, tightening particularly at the top of my stomach but also a bit in the lower abdomen. I was able to continue to do my colouring in, although the way that I was sitting on the bed, my back was hurting too. This made me a bit nervous that Beanie might be posterior again, like with Daniel. I really didn't want to experience that pain again. James was convinced that they would have told us that it was posterior so to not worry. At one point Beanie moved and the gush definitely happened from my waters. It felt pretty gross.

At 11:15am I put away the colouring in because the contractions were starting to get stronger. I went to the toilet and then decided to spend some time standing up because my back was hurting. I was breathing through the contractions, counting in for 5 and out for 5. James was great. He would hold me for each contraction and we'd just sway through it as I breathed. Previously the midwives had asked what our plan was for pain relief. We told them that we'd done nothing until an epidural when the pain was too much and we were planning on doing that today. They said that if we wanted an epidural then we'd need to decide early because once active labour starts it will go really quickly, like with Eliza and the epidural won't take affect. This started to stress me out because it meant I had to decide before the pain became too much. I really wanted to try having Beanie naturally, without an epidural, however, I didn't know if I could do it with all the pain. James had confidence in me that I could do it but I wasn't too sure. The midwives believed that I could do it, but I wasn't too sure. As the pain increased I was getting nervous about it all and about whether we should use an epidural or not. 

Just before midday I was having a real battle in my mind as to whether I get an epidural. I was still breathing pretty well through each contraction but they were getting stronger and were being more frequent (around ever 3-5 mins) and I really didn't know how much more I could handle. I asked Sue if I could be checked to see how far along I was. She told me that she didn't want to because she could tell that I wasn't as far along as I would hope and she knew that I would then just give up and get an epidural. I was really amazed at how much confidence she had in me to do this naturally. After a couple more contractions and me still being very uncertain and James having confidence in me Sue said that she would check me. I decided that I didn't want her to and that I could do this without pain relief. Sue suggested that I have a bath to try and relax. This might take the edge off the pain. The bath took forever to fill! Amanda suggested I try using some gas, but I wasn't keen because I remember it wasn't nice with Daniel. Then I again changed my mind and decided to try it because the pain was getting stronger.

At midday I got into the bath and Amanda put a waterproof and bluetooth monitor on me. I was so glad that the technology has improved so that we could use the bath because I wasn't allowed to go in the bath with Eliza. They turned off the oxytocin so that I could try and relax a bit and get into a rhythm in the bath and also the contractions were becoming more frequent so to see what my body was going to do. After a few contractions and deciding that the bath was a good option we decided that I'd try using the gas. Amanda and Sue both explained that you needed to do a deep breath down to where the pain was and then a faster exhale. I had a go without a contraction and then tried with a contraction. I continued doing my counting to 5 as well. The gas made me feel a bit light headed but fortunately not sick. Over the next half an hour my contractions slowed down so they turned the oxytocin back on to encourage the contractions again. Sue asked me if I was feeling any pain in my bottom to which I replied 'No, should I be?'. She said no, not necessarily and left it at that. In between contractions we had a great time chatting and laughing with Amanda. I asked her about her births (she has 2 kids), we spoke about our kids, and about different things. Now in the bath for each contraction I would hold onto James' hand and squeeze it. As the pain increased I would change my grip on his hand and dig my nails into his hand. (I did this because ever since I was little when I went to the dentist or got needles or something that would hurt, I'd dig my nails into my thumb to try and focus the pain on something else). Apparently Amanda was holding back a laugh when watching James during a contraction because he didn't want to say anything about how it hurt him because of the pain I was in, but she could see that I was hurting his hand a lot. Ooops. I saw his hand after it all and you could see a lot of nail marks. Sorry honey! Amanda was very encouraging with breathing through each contraction, deep breaths in, using the gas, focusing on the breathing. I found the gas interesting. It definitely made me more relaxed but very spacey in my head. I didn't feel myself, I felt quite odd. After doing some deep breaths I would find it hard to open my eyes and focus properly. It just made me feel weird but I knew that it was helping with the pain so I continued to use it. The other thing with the gas was that it made me gassy - I needed to burp often after a contraction. Me being me I'd say 'pardon me' or 'excuse me' after burping which Amanda told me that I didn't need to say that, but I couldn't help it. It's a reflex that I have. She laughed at me again.

At 1pm my contractions became quite intense. I was focussed on the fact that a contraction wouldn't last more than a minute (something that we were told back when in the birth classes for Daniel) but when the contractions start to be one ontop of the other, they go for a lot longer than a minute. I continued to use the gas as well as swishing my legs in the water as I counted to 5 however, it did get harder to breath deeply because the pain was just that much more. Some of the pain had also moved to my bottom which I told Amanda because of Sue making the comment previously. At 1:15pm my contractions were basically going on top of each other and there was a pain in my butt. I was telling Amanda that I felt I needed to push. The gas was still helping but I was finding it very hard to breath deeply. Amanda wanted me out of the bath and onto the bed so that they could examine me, however, my legs couldn't move to get me out of the bath. She called for some help and another nurse came in to help lift me out of the bath - 3 people needed. (I didn't know until after but Amelia, who delivered Eliza, was the other person who helped me out of the bath. It was nice to have both my previous midwives involved in my last delivery). I had another contraction which I used the gas for before quickly moving over to the bed. Amanda had also called for Dr Booker to come as she could tell it was all happening pretty quickly. With a few more contractions with me on the bed, me shouting that I needed to push, Dr Booker walked in and told me to push. I responded with 'Really?' and he said 'yep.' So I did. I pushed and oh my word, it hurt! I describe it as pushing a bowling ball out. It sure felt that way. With 1 and a half pushes the head was out and then Dr Booker told me to pant. It sure was hard to pant while feeling contractions and all I wanted to do was keep pushing. As I was panting he told me to look down and what an amazing sight to see my little man being pulled up in front of me. My first words were 'It's a boy!'. He had a little cry and was place on top of me for some skin to skin time. 

So at 1:27pm on Tuesday 17th May, 2012, Alexander James Noble was born and what a big boy he was! James got to cut the umbilical chord, as he had done with the other 2.

They then gave me an injection in my leg and had me push to get the placenta out. Afterwards Amanda asked if we wanted to see the placenta. Both James and I said no but then looked at each other and decided with it being the last time, why not. She showed us the side that was attached to me and the way that it stretched to have Alexander inside it. Pretty amazing to see. We didn't realise that the bub was inside it.

I had some skin to skin time for over an hour which was lovely. Alexander was very content to just lay on me. He didn't really try to feed, he just lay there. He is pretty cute.

I thought he would like to have some milk or atleast try to have some so helped him slide (as he was so slippery) over to try to attach. After a few goes he did eventually start to feed. Such a precious moment having his first breastfeed.

Amanda was concerned about my uterus not contracting properly. She had pushed it a few times but she mentioned that it wasn't as hard as she had hoped. She asked one of the other midwives to come in and check me. The midwife pushed really hard on my stomach and it hurt a lot! I felt a big gush which was the start of it contracting. I did scream when she pushed as it hurt that much. The midwife told Amanda that she needed to use more force next time. Amanda told me that she didn't want to push hard because it would hurt. We agreed that probably after a lot of births you don't mind so much because you know you just need to do it. I'm glad that I was able to help her learn different skills and strategies. After a little while and feeling my uterus again, she went and asked Sue what else needed to happen. Sue told her to turn back on the oxytocin to help it contract. The mantra became 'Sue told me to so blame Sue if it hurts'. James was on board for this. We joked that when the feedback for was filled in we needed to say that Amanda was awesome and kind, Sue was the mean one, but really both were awesome.

Alexander finished having a feed and again was content to just rest on me.

Then it was time to weigh him and measure him. He weighed 3.905kg, was 54cm long and had a head circumference of 36cm. I guessed that he would be 3.8kg so was close. He was a big baby! I told Dr Booker that I was glad he induced me early because I wouldn't have wanted to push him out if he was any bigger!

Then James got to have a cuddle. I do love watching James with our babies. It is a very precious time.

First cuddles

Amanda in the background. She was awesome!

Proud Daddy.

 I got to have a shower which was lovely although the amount of blood was a bit overwhelming. Amanda kept checking on me to make sure I was ok and hadn't fainted or anything. I still had the drip attached so got dressed back into a gown. I was then able to have some lunch and James continued to enjoy his cuddles.

Our new treasure

Love him so

I was then put into a wheelchair and we headed down to the ward, to room 1014. James was chatting with Alexander as we headed down and the person pushing me in the wheelchair commented how she loved hearing the dads talk to the babies. I have to agree.

Once in the room James called his parents to ask them to bring the kids to the hospital to meet their little brother. What a precious moment it was when they came. James met them down in the foyer and brought Daniel and Eliza to the room. When they walked in Daniel whispered 'Where is he? What is his name? Can I have a cuddle?'. Already in love. We had him sit on the couch and he got to have his first hold of Alexander. Eliza was keen to look but was a bit busy moving around the room.

Alexander meeting his brother and sister

Daniel in for first cuddles

And kisses

So much love!

 After Daniel had his cuddle we asked Eliza if she wanted to have a cuddle and she said yes. Hers was much shorter but still very sweet. She liked looking and commenting on his different facial features, much like Daniel did when he met Eliza.

Daniel couldn't stay away for long, which was very sweet.

Kisses for their little brother

Our family is now complete. Since Alexander was born it just felt right, it feels complete. It feels like he just fits in and it's so beautiful to see how the kids have embraced him. I can't describe how much I love this little man. I can't wait to see him grow, to see his personality develop, to see him learn about this amazing world around us. He is a true blessing to me and our family. I am so grateful for God's amazing plan and his blessing of these 3 beautiful children.

Our family of 5