Post by kiwimum on Apr 17, 2011 7:13:44 GMT -5
Serenity Mackay - 12 March 2011
This is the story of the pregnancy, labour, birth and short life of our precious daughter Serenity.
We were excited to find out we were expecting our 8th baby! It was a very easy pregnancy, I had very little morning sickness, unlike my other pregnancies, I never threw up! I was very tired in the early months especially in the evenings. I didn't gain as much weight as I did with the others which I was pleased about.
Prodromal labour kicked in at around 36 weeks when I also lost some of the mucous plug. We thought we were going to have a prem baby! For the next four weeks and four days I have various levels of prodromal labour.
We had many discussions about how and where we should have this baby. Having had five c-section and two natural births we knew any doctor/ob would push for another c-section. We did a lot of praying but didn't get many answers! We felt a peace about a natural birth, labouring at home and going to hospital if time allowed. We phoned and booked into the Maitland hospital that was the closest to Dungog where we were staying.
At around 2am on Saturday 12 March I half woke with the feeling that something had changed, like my waters had broken or something. I sort of felt a pop but was more asleep than awake! When I did fully awaken I realized it was just a stronger than usual contraction. I got up, went to the bathroom and returned to bed. I slept off and on for another hour or so, getting up frequently to visit the bathroom and was now breathing through contractions. The contractions were not regular or long so I just thought, "Oh well, it will probably all go away by sun up like it normally does!"
By around 6am I got the feeling that this was going to be it! Mike got up and started slowly packing up the bus. He did a lot of praying about whether to go to the hospital or stay put. At 7.30am my waters broke! They were clear which was good. Contractions picked up a bit but were still not unbearable. I coped by supporting my weight on the hand rails of the bus! (Glad we hadn't removed them!)(and yes we do live in a house bus).
I started to feel a bit pushy around 8.30am so we made the decision to stay put. At 9am our 9lb 9oz daughter slid silently into the world into the waiting arms of her daddy. The cord was (loosly) round her neck but Mike could easily slip it off. We noniticed too that the cord was already white and not pulsing.
We immediately realised that something was wrong - she was purple, limp and not breathing! I cuddled her close talking to her. Checked her mouth for mucous etc. Meanwhile Mike phoned the ambulance. The lady operator told Mike to start mouth to mouth which he did. Then passed the phone to me as I contined with mouth to mouth. Within five minutes the paramedics arrived, took Serenity from me and together we walked outside to the stretcher. It was a warm sunny morning thankfully!
The paramedics started CPR and she was soon pink! They put the oxygen mask on her as she was still not breathing.
Meanwhile I was sitting on the stretcher (we were still attatched). I delivered the placenter without any trouble. In the busyness it was ignored! A second ambulance arrived and a doctor! They ordered in the helicoptor but the low morning cloud made it impossible for it to land.
As soon as they realised the helicoptor could not land the paramedics transferred Serenity into one ambulance and me into the other! It was all very surreal! Mike and the children who had been watching the whole proceedings were going to follow in the bus when they were ready.
It was a fast trip to the nearest base hospital. An hour by fast ambulance - we had sirens and flashers going most of the way! On arrival I was told that Serenity had a heart beat but was still not breathing properly on her own but had coughed once! They took me up to labour and delivery and the NICU staff set up down in emergency with Serenity.
I was admitted, asked a million questions, and finally left to rest. It took about two hours before a doctor came to check and then stitch me up - ouch!
It was about 3pm before I got to see Serenity again. I was warned that she had tubes coming out all over the place but nothing could really prepare you for the sight of your child lying silently attached to three or four different monitors. While sitting there looking at and touching our perfectly formed daughter I heard the nurse saying that she was a very sick little girl. She said that they had done x-rays and scans and run blood tests that showed there was no activity in her brain, her heart was weak, her liver and kidneys were not working properly and her blood was losing its clotting function. All this was because she was without oxygen for so long!
I spent about an hour with her before Mike arrived. The children were not allowed to come in as yet so Mike left them in the (very small and hot) waiting room watching rugby on TV! I tagged with Mike and went to see the rest of the family whom I hadn't seen since I left in the ambulance! They were happy to see me, but the older ones could tell by the look on my face that something was not right.
I hugged them all and told them that their sister was very sick. They asked lots of questions including the dreaded "she's not going to die is she?" I decided to be honest and tell them that unfortunately, short of a miracle it was a possibility.
When Mike came back, a nurse and social worker came and asked to talk to us privately (read: without the children). They took us to another room (again hot and small) and told us that there was really no hope for our little girl. She would never breathe on her own, would never open her eyes. She was now essentially brain dead and her eyes did not respond to light. Her body was shutting down! They strongly recommended that we take her off the machines. With her heart being as weak as it was it could stop beating at any time and because of her other "problems" it would not be recommended to restart it.
We decided that the it would be the kindest thing for Serenity to let her go! We had brought her back once already! It was an agonizing decision! We called the children in and let the social worker to tell them - Mike and I couldn't do it! She was very gentle and respectful.
While Mike took the kids down for a late dinner I got to be with Serenity while they removed the tubes, wires and monitors. I helped to wash her down and dress her then carried her through to the room to wait for the others to come back. One by one they all got to hold her and get their photo taken with her.
We sang to her, loved on her, told MacGyver jokes to her for the two precious hours that she clung to life unassisted. Slowly and peacefully she slipped from this life to the next. She lived for thirteen hours - thirteen hours that changed our lives forever!
The staff at the John Hunter Hospital (Newcastle, NSW, Australia) were very good. They did all they could to save her. The police and DOCS have cleared us of all negligence saying that it was a cord issue and nothing we could have done differently would have changed the outcome.
What we believe happened the cord prolapesed when my waters broke trapping it between Serenity's head and the cervix. So she was about 1 - 1 1/2 hours without oxygen before she was born.
Having an unassisted homebirth after five c-sections was an awesome experience. It was my easiest labour and birth. I could do whatever felt comfortable with and be in any position.
The girls were wonderful. Jasmine, Chantel and Chana took turns massaging my back (had bruises to prove it!) while Jessica looked after the younger guys as they woke up. When the ambulance was there Jasmine and Jessica took the rest of the children a short distance away to watch. They kept them out of trouble and I never once had to wonder what they were doing or if they were safe. I am proud of my girls (and Jireh)!
This is the story of the pregnancy, labour, birth and short life of our precious daughter Serenity.
We were excited to find out we were expecting our 8th baby! It was a very easy pregnancy, I had very little morning sickness, unlike my other pregnancies, I never threw up! I was very tired in the early months especially in the evenings. I didn't gain as much weight as I did with the others which I was pleased about.
Prodromal labour kicked in at around 36 weeks when I also lost some of the mucous plug. We thought we were going to have a prem baby! For the next four weeks and four days I have various levels of prodromal labour.
We had many discussions about how and where we should have this baby. Having had five c-section and two natural births we knew any doctor/ob would push for another c-section. We did a lot of praying but didn't get many answers! We felt a peace about a natural birth, labouring at home and going to hospital if time allowed. We phoned and booked into the Maitland hospital that was the closest to Dungog where we were staying.
At around 2am on Saturday 12 March I half woke with the feeling that something had changed, like my waters had broken or something. I sort of felt a pop but was more asleep than awake! When I did fully awaken I realized it was just a stronger than usual contraction. I got up, went to the bathroom and returned to bed. I slept off and on for another hour or so, getting up frequently to visit the bathroom and was now breathing through contractions. The contractions were not regular or long so I just thought, "Oh well, it will probably all go away by sun up like it normally does!"
By around 6am I got the feeling that this was going to be it! Mike got up and started slowly packing up the bus. He did a lot of praying about whether to go to the hospital or stay put. At 7.30am my waters broke! They were clear which was good. Contractions picked up a bit but were still not unbearable. I coped by supporting my weight on the hand rails of the bus! (Glad we hadn't removed them!)(and yes we do live in a house bus).
I started to feel a bit pushy around 8.30am so we made the decision to stay put. At 9am our 9lb 9oz daughter slid silently into the world into the waiting arms of her daddy. The cord was (loosly) round her neck but Mike could easily slip it off. We noniticed too that the cord was already white and not pulsing.
We immediately realised that something was wrong - she was purple, limp and not breathing! I cuddled her close talking to her. Checked her mouth for mucous etc. Meanwhile Mike phoned the ambulance. The lady operator told Mike to start mouth to mouth which he did. Then passed the phone to me as I contined with mouth to mouth. Within five minutes the paramedics arrived, took Serenity from me and together we walked outside to the stretcher. It was a warm sunny morning thankfully!
The paramedics started CPR and she was soon pink! They put the oxygen mask on her as she was still not breathing.
Meanwhile I was sitting on the stretcher (we were still attatched). I delivered the placenter without any trouble. In the busyness it was ignored! A second ambulance arrived and a doctor! They ordered in the helicoptor but the low morning cloud made it impossible for it to land.
As soon as they realised the helicoptor could not land the paramedics transferred Serenity into one ambulance and me into the other! It was all very surreal! Mike and the children who had been watching the whole proceedings were going to follow in the bus when they were ready.
It was a fast trip to the nearest base hospital. An hour by fast ambulance - we had sirens and flashers going most of the way! On arrival I was told that Serenity had a heart beat but was still not breathing properly on her own but had coughed once! They took me up to labour and delivery and the NICU staff set up down in emergency with Serenity.
I was admitted, asked a million questions, and finally left to rest. It took about two hours before a doctor came to check and then stitch me up - ouch!
It was about 3pm before I got to see Serenity again. I was warned that she had tubes coming out all over the place but nothing could really prepare you for the sight of your child lying silently attached to three or four different monitors. While sitting there looking at and touching our perfectly formed daughter I heard the nurse saying that she was a very sick little girl. She said that they had done x-rays and scans and run blood tests that showed there was no activity in her brain, her heart was weak, her liver and kidneys were not working properly and her blood was losing its clotting function. All this was because she was without oxygen for so long!
I spent about an hour with her before Mike arrived. The children were not allowed to come in as yet so Mike left them in the (very small and hot) waiting room watching rugby on TV! I tagged with Mike and went to see the rest of the family whom I hadn't seen since I left in the ambulance! They were happy to see me, but the older ones could tell by the look on my face that something was not right.
I hugged them all and told them that their sister was very sick. They asked lots of questions including the dreaded "she's not going to die is she?" I decided to be honest and tell them that unfortunately, short of a miracle it was a possibility.
When Mike came back, a nurse and social worker came and asked to talk to us privately (read: without the children). They took us to another room (again hot and small) and told us that there was really no hope for our little girl. She would never breathe on her own, would never open her eyes. She was now essentially brain dead and her eyes did not respond to light. Her body was shutting down! They strongly recommended that we take her off the machines. With her heart being as weak as it was it could stop beating at any time and because of her other "problems" it would not be recommended to restart it.
We decided that the it would be the kindest thing for Serenity to let her go! We had brought her back once already! It was an agonizing decision! We called the children in and let the social worker to tell them - Mike and I couldn't do it! She was very gentle and respectful.
While Mike took the kids down for a late dinner I got to be with Serenity while they removed the tubes, wires and monitors. I helped to wash her down and dress her then carried her through to the room to wait for the others to come back. One by one they all got to hold her and get their photo taken with her.
We sang to her, loved on her, told MacGyver jokes to her for the two precious hours that she clung to life unassisted. Slowly and peacefully she slipped from this life to the next. She lived for thirteen hours - thirteen hours that changed our lives forever!
The staff at the John Hunter Hospital (Newcastle, NSW, Australia) were very good. They did all they could to save her. The police and DOCS have cleared us of all negligence saying that it was a cord issue and nothing we could have done differently would have changed the outcome.
What we believe happened the cord prolapesed when my waters broke trapping it between Serenity's head and the cervix. So she was about 1 - 1 1/2 hours without oxygen before she was born.
Having an unassisted homebirth after five c-sections was an awesome experience. It was my easiest labour and birth. I could do whatever felt comfortable with and be in any position.
The girls were wonderful. Jasmine, Chantel and Chana took turns massaging my back (had bruises to prove it!) while Jessica looked after the younger guys as they woke up. When the ambulance was there Jasmine and Jessica took the rest of the children a short distance away to watch. They kept them out of trouble and I never once had to wonder what they were doing or if they were safe. I am proud of my girls (and Jireh)!
