21st November is a day that will live with me forever, my princess was born.
conception
Shortly after marriage (in the summer of 2018), the discussion of family planning commenced and we were ready to bring someone into the world! To increase our chances of the BFP (Big Fat Positive) we bought zinc and folic acid to help aid the process. In addition, we used OPK sticks and tracked the ovulation cycle apps.
We started in December 2018, hoping for an instant result…but her “time of the month” came in January. We tried again in January 2019; my wife mentioned during this month that her body felt weird; there was me thinking this is it! The result…negative, her “time of the month” came again in February 2019. At this point I started to get a little bit worried, ignoring the fact that everyone’s conception rate is different. My thoughts were going wild:
- Are the supplements working?
- Are the OPK sticks and ovulation trackers wrong?
- Is the sperm count insufficient?
- Are the eggs good quality?
In March 2019, I was at a friends stag in Essex and my wife picked me up. On our way home she mentioned that we may be having a baby because 1) she had been having an upset stomach for a couple of weeks (on and off) and 2) she saw a faint line on a cheap pregnancy test that she took before leaving the house. I chuckled, still in disbelieve at this point. The next day we bought an early detection pregnancy test. At this point she hadn’t missed “her time of the month” yet which is the key indicator (well at least we thought). When we got home, Mrs locked herself in the toilet.. radio silent… I had a hunch that she was pregnant but kept my cool, waiting for her to pop out of the toilet..
The result..
pregnancy scans
The hospital we went to offered three scans:
- Week 12: To confirm the pregnancy, and check the health of the foetus. They say it’s safe to announce the pregnancy from this point.
- Week 20: To check the growth of the baby and determine the gender (We chose to find out ours)
- Week 36: To see the positioning of the baby
Happiness was an understatement at this point; I couldn’t sit down during the scans, was so keen to see how the baby looked and developed each time.
I attended all of the scans, antenatal classes and all but two midwife appointments to track how wifey and baby girl were developing. I really wanted to be a hands-on dad to be and alleviate any pressure from my wife. I would certainly recommend that all future dads attend as many of these classes and appointments as possible, after all it’s your baby too!. It helped me become more aware and prepare me mentally.
labour
At Approximately 4am on the November 21st, the waters broke! only that it wasn’t clear. It looked like blood! We called the emergency hospital line a few times but there was no answer. Panic mode kicked so we called the ambulance. As we waited for them to arrive, the colour of the water turned green, at that moment we knew that the baby had done a poo inside! We knew this from all the classes we went to (you see why it’s important to attend those classes?). The ambulance took us to the nearest hospital, but this wasn’t our hospital choice. After being in labour for approximately 14 hours, we eventually had to go to the theatre for an emergency C-section as the baby’s heart rate dropped. Baby girl finally arrived! I heard the scream from her, what a beautiful moment. I had the privilege of cutting her cord and doing skin to skin with her (after her and her mum). What a surreal experience! This is where fatherhood became a reality for me.
Until next time.
K.
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