Update on Baby Whitbourn #2

I think we’d all agree that 7 weeks early is a little too early to be giving birth. But it seems that Baby Whitbourn#2 might almost have had a different idea…
On Friday night I went into threatened premature labour, admidst the organised chaos of the first night at PY Winter camp being held at Stanwell Tops. After a few hours of lying awake in bed with contractions, I called the hospital at 2:00am and they told us to come straight in. So we quickly half-changed out of our PJ’s whilst we arranged for Cade’s sister Cherryn (who praise God was on camp with us) to come and sleep in our room with Moo. Then we headed off in the cold, dark, and very wet and windy night for the 45 minute drive back to Sydney.
After long sleepless hours lying in a bed in one of the labour rooms, they started the medical process to stop the labour, which involved taking a series of oral drugs to calm everything down and some injections of steroids to help develop the babys lungs – just in case the oral drugs didn’t work.
The contractions stopped around mid morning but the Dr told us that I would be staying in at the hospital overnight as the treatment had to continue for the next 24hrs to ensure that the contractions had completly stopped. Cade and Moo had their first night alone together which, not surprisingly considering the night before, was an early night for both, in bed by 8:20pm.
I have just arrived home. The Dr has ordered bed rest at least until my next Dr appointment on Tuesday. So, we are praying for this Baby to stay where it is and enjoy its mother’s womb for a little while longer. It needs it continues to grow and get stronger and healthier, and the rest of the family needs to get serious about getting organised for it’s arrival! It’s hard to say what comes next as every pregnancy is different and so we really just have to sit back and see how things go.
We are all well. I am still tired from two nights of not much sleep, but the great thing is that Cade has already arranged to take Tuesday off from work, so we are all here for the next few days together to catch up the sleep and rest.
Interesting Fact of the weekend: Labour for Moo started on 8/6/06 almost one year exactly to when the Labour for #2 started 9/6/07. The June long weekend is turning into a St George Private Hospital party for the Whitbourn Family.

A brief rundown of the events leading up to the birth

  • Thursday morning: Lisa’s mum arrives in Sydney
  • Thursday lunchtime: Lisa’s contractions begin (4 days before her due date)
  • Thursday evening: Lisa and I visit the Dr for her scheduled visit. At this stage, contractions are 10min apart and uncomfortable
  • The Dr says to go home and see how things develop. Lisa and I are both expecting to be returning to the hospital to give birth in a matter of hours.
  • Contractions are irregular and intermittent throughout the night. Lisa gets no sleep
  • Early Friday morning: We ring the hospital to let them know what’s going on. They tell us to wait and see how things develop (notice a pattern here?)
  • Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Contractions continue but are irregular and intermittent. Lisa continues to get very little sleep.
  • On several occasions we were minutes away from calling the hospital to tell them we were coming in, only for the contractions to drop off and leave us wondering why our little baby was so determined to be such a big tease
  • On Sunday night they finally picked up regularity and intensity enough that we went into the hospital
  • A long night ensued. Little Maisie was still pretty determined to keep enjoying the 5-star delights of her mothers womb.
  • Monday morning: The hospital staff figure enough is enough and start moving the labour along a bit more.
  • Monday afternoon: Things progress a little quicker than anticipated (for a change) and Maisie is born safe and well in the mid-afternoon, on her due date, in typical efficient and reliable fashion.