It’s been three weeks since our precious baby boy, Edward Michael Maroun, was born and we couldn’t be more in love with this little angel. I absolutely loved my pregnancy journey, which you can read all about here, and I’ve been so looking forward sharing his birth story because I love hearing everyone else’s stories and how unique they all are.
I was booked for an induction on 20 December 2021, at 38 weeks, due to my stroke history and the need to manage the time I would not be taking blood thinners to address the bleeding vs clotting risk. I have to admit, having enjoyed my pregnancy so much, I had not been nervous at all until the night we were due to go in to hospital which is when I started feeling a bit anxious about the delivery. I showered, curled my hair, took a few deep breaths and tried to sleep for a few hours before we had to leave. We arrived at the hospital at midnight with our bags packed and ready for this adventure.
I was induced at 2am and the medication worked immediately. Within no time I was experiencing cramping and within an hour or so, the contractions had kicked in. Unfortunately though, they intensified over the next few hours without much dilation taking place. The contractions were happening without any break between them so there was no opportunity to catch my breath and, by the time I was nine hours into the process, it was completely exhausting. As soon as a contraction ended, the next began. At this point, I still felt that I could manage the pain but when the over-stimulated contractions continued, the nurse advised that I take a pethadine injection in order to slow the contractions and prevent baby from becoming stressed, so I accepted.
After the injection, I thought I felt my water break but when we checked, we realised it was blood. Ryan quickly called the nurse who notified my OB and when the blood kept coming, the doctor quickly made the call that we were heading to theatre. In came the anaethetist who was stressing the need for us to hurry. Next thing someone was pulling out my hair clip and removing my jewellery and the bed was being pushed into theatre while Ryan was on the phone to my dad to let him know what was happening.
I’m the type of person that starts seeing black spots in the dentist’s chair so theatre makes me really nervous. If I hadn’t had the pethadine injection when I did, I think I would have been so stressed about having a c-section but I was just going with the flow and trying to remain calm. Within no time, I had received the spinal block, laid back on the theatre table, held Ryan’s hand and the very next moment, our beautiful, healthy baby was held up for us to see and I sobbed. I couldn’t believe my baby boy had arrived into this world. My heart swelled like I’ve never experienced before. I’ll never forget that moment for as long as I live.
By the time I was in post-op recovery, my darling little boy was lying on my chest, suckling away without any need for direction and I couldn’t believe this little baby was mine. He measured 2.7kg and 47cm at birth and this little man was just the sweetest, loving little creature. That first night, I had him in the crib next to the bed and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. If I did dose off to sleep for a few minutes, I kept my hand on this little body to feel his breathing and I fell in love with the tiny cooing noises he makes while he’s sleeping. It’s absolutely adorable. As a mom, all you can do is pray for a healthy child and to have him arrive so perfect and healthy was an answer to all my prayers and I couldn’t be more grateful. You may remember a quoted this passage in my pregnancy announcement, but no words could possibly be more appropriate:
“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him” – 1 Samuel 1:27
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