well done Kendra and Matthew! proud parents to Aoife

Hello hello!
And finally I am able to update you on the arrival of Aoife Bethany Byrne, born on Monday 15th November at 7.15 pm - some 3 days after you kindly came over and some 17 days late.
To cut a (very) long story short, she was born by emergency c section.
But the long version:
I had been to the hospital on the Saturday for a check up, and they were happy with all the tests. On the Sunday, I went back again because she had been very quiet, and I was worried. It turned out I was in the very early stages of labour and was having contractions. On some of the contractions, her heart beat was dipping, but nothing of any undue concern. So we decided to give her chance to come out of her own accord, but booked an induction for 1230 the next day just in case things had not progressed.
Contractions continued throughout the day and evening, but stopped at night, or basically whenever I wasn't moving around.
The next morning, M and I got up very early and went for a long walk to get things moving again. I was having much stronger contractions, ones that stopped me from doing anything, but still clearly early labour.
We got to the hosp for 1230, told them we thought I was in labour, and were shown to our room, where my waters promptly broke. HA! So I avoided induction after all! I won! Things then picked up and was I moved to the labour ward. Unfortunately, I was still getting the dips in the heartbeat, even when stood up, and my waters were very very pooey. They started to make concerned noises, but let me carry on to see what happened.
I managed to get to 9cm dilated by tea time without any pain relief at all, not even gas and air! (you would have been proud of the vocalising and breathing!) and the midwife said that she had been a midwife for 10 years and that, as a first time mum, I was the most in control she had ever seen, and that she was very impressed. The consultant came in when I was having a contraction, and asked Matthew what pain relief I had taken - when he said none, she gave a look of total surprise and was equally impressed! Obviously I was oblivious to all this mind you - all I could do was focus on the contractions, as I was not getting that much of a rest in between, and the only place I could be other than on my back (which I had refused to do!) was be stood up leaning on the bed so that they could carry on monitoring.
Sadly, baby's heart beat kept on getting dangerously low after each contraction, and the waters were getting more pooey, so they did the head prick test, which came out unfavourably, so was whipped into theatre before any damage was done. They said that they could have let me carry on labouring for the last 1 cm and pushing, but because they didn't know if that would take 1 hour or 3 hours, it was just too dangerous and risky. I can't really argue with that - I gave it my best shot!
So we are now back home, getting on with coping with a slightly invalid new mum and a new baby! We are starting to get used to each other, and breastfeeding is improving, so I am beginning to settle down and find out what it is I am meant to be doing.
Anyway. Hope thats enough detail for you! Its cathartic to get it all down actually. Having the surgery meant we found out I only have one working ovary and fallopian tube, so I can be more forgiving of myself if/when we try again for another.
Matthew and I would love to come in and tell our story (I'll try to keep it brief) but I have no idea when yet. Matthew has Thomas every other Weds eve, and I now can't drive for at least 6 weeks, so our opportunities are more limited. But I will be in touch and we can sort something out. I want to tell your ladies you can be stubborn and stick to your guns if you want to.
So, thank you thank you thank you for all your guidance and support through this. I am sure had I not been to your class I would have been induced earlier, still had a c-section (due her to her positioning and heart beat issue) and would have felt really shit about the whole episode. I did it my way for as much as I could, and I know that I did my very very best.
I'll shut up now, this is a too-long email!
Many thanks
Kendra xx