Special Care Unit

I am eternally grateful for the staff and other parents of babies in the Special Care Unit for the love and care that they gave to me and our Baby boy. What they do in there is amazing. I didn't even know what a Special Care Unit was until my baby was taken there. I remember seeing him in the Humie-Crib with all this tubes and wires hanging off him. These photo's to do him any justices in the sense of his size he really is tiny.

These pictures where taken the day he was born.

He was only a few hours old if that

This is my first cuddle on Logan about two hours after he was born.

Big brother having his first cuddle of his new little brother.

From the time he saw his little brother he wanted to give him

a cuddle. This was taken about 2 days after Logan was born.

The next day logan would go back into the Humie-crib and under

UV Lights for his Jaundice.

I practically lived in the special care unit. I was there at every 3 hourly feed except for a few a night. On top of which I was expressing so that Logan could be tube fed my EBM (Express Breast Milk). I became a true dairy cow whilst in hospital. The whole time in the SCU is a blur really... I did make note but until you experience it you can't appreciate the emotional and physical strain it is.

Logan was under the UV lights for about 3 and half days. After which he still had jaundice but the UV lights weren't making any really difference to Logan's belirubin levels. So the took him out. That was a wonderful day I could go and hold my baby anytime I wanted. I could actually start breast feeding my baby like all the other mums in the maternity ward. I have to say the other women in my ward where very nice. Though they did look at me weirdly at first till they found out that my baby was in the SCU. They always apologised for there crying babies... I didn't mind I just wished my baby was there to make just as much noise. Though in the end I did get ear plugs LOL.

I think the hardest part was feeling so useless in the sense that there was so much going on outside the hospital ie. my DH moving us to brisbane with our 2yr old son in toe that I couldn't help with as well as having a baby in the SCU.

I can't praise the staff of Nambour Hospital enough they where all friendly and I received loads of help and encouragement from midwives and lactation consultants. I learnt so much while I was there.

A few days after Logan came out from the lights he was feeding so well that his feeding tube came out. Another great milestone. The day before he came home he was allowed to stay with me in the ward. It felt so surreal.

A New Addition To The Family

It has been a busy last month for our family. First of all we have been moving from the Sunshine Coast back to Brisbane since the beginning of December. My Dad loaned us his trailer so we were taking a trailer load down a week. (For those of you who don't know we have been blessed enough to be able to rent our parents house as Dad got a job in Melbourne so the rentals moved to Melbourne and allowed us to rent the house which we are really grateful for.) So as mum was packing we where taking up any free space to put all our stuff.

Then on the 21st of January I woke up about 7am with this massive cramp in my leg. You know the type that is so painful that for a good time after the intial searing pain there is after pain well that is the one I got. Anyway I left as though due to the pain I had leaked a few drops in my liner... so I laid there for a minute trying to recover as it was only a few drops and I did have a liner on. As I got up out of bed and stood up I felt this little trickle down my leg and thought hold on do I need to go to the loo... that is when I saw the massive wet patch on the bed... so much for my few drops LOL. So I rushed off to the shower thinking that I had had an accident (which I thought was a bit odd cause I don't have accidents) so as my dear darling husband cleared the bed I asked him to bring me the sheets so that I could smell them... gross I know but I wanted to make sure what it was and your wee has a distinct smell... mean while Dear Husband and I where debating if my waters had broken,.. I thought it couldn't be as I still had 6wks to go. Anyway there was no wee smell on the sheets which was a relief but a scary shock at the same time.

So as you do I tried to call my Mum.., (I didn't even think to call the hospital I think I was in to much shock) and for once I couldn't get ahold of Mum. So I called my sister who has had 3 children of her own. She assured me that it was my waters that had broken and that I need to call the hospital... (Ding - should have done that first). As I proceeded to tell her that there was a steady drip down my leg... Well that put us into panic mode I had nothing organised. No hospital bag no baby things (they where all packed and in Brisbane as we where offically moving the following Friday). So there I am standing in the bathroom with a towel between my legs (sorry for the visual) in shock now on the phone to the hospital who are telling me to come in straight away... I think the most unsettling thing was that I had no pain at this stage... the whole time I was waiting for the pain to set in but it never came. I managed to get dressed in a nighty and order my DH around to get a bag together... and get some things together of my DS who was now going to spend the day with Nanna D.

Eventually we got to the hospital about an hour after I first called them... When we got there I still had no pain. So they hooked me up to the monitors and waited and watched... sent in a doctor who did a check and took some test samples and blood and all the yucky stuff. Only to confirm that yes my waters has broken... So after much walking around etc to try and bring it on they eventually admitted me into the ward. So for the next 2 days i just sat and weighted in between visits from doctors, nurses and tests. The doctors said that if I didn't come on my own (go into spontanious labour) that they would have to induce me but they wouldn't do that until the following week so that Logan would be older. The longer they are in the womb the better it is for them. I was not looking forward to waiting that week let alone being induced. I heard that it made labour more painful... like any women wants that.

Fortunately for me Logan decided to come on his own. I had had a few mild labour pains over the 2 days that I was in hospital but nothing consistant or regular. Then after another sleepless night being in the maternity ward with crying babies etc... I was on the laptop playing majong and writing in a journal I had a few pains... nothing major I thought that they where just like all the others so I decided to go for a little work before I would try and get some sleep as my butt was sore from sitting on it in the crappy hospital beds for several hours. Off I went to stretch the legs and get the blood pumping at this time it was about 4.30 or so (The day that my DH was moving yet another load to Brisbane) I started doing laps of the nurses station. As I was walking the mild pains started to be regular and consistant... after about 30mins I flagged one of the nurses and said I think it is happening. They hooked me up to the machine and monited me for another 30mins and sure enough the pains showed up on the machine...

By about 5.45 am the pains started to get intense. So I was breathing and walking to help me through the pain. I called my DH at about this time and said if you are going to go to Brisbane do it now and do it fast because I am in Labour. Actually I suggested that he didn't go by the time I called him again 45mins later but he was already half way to Brisbane. By 7am they moved me to the labour ward. In the mean time I called my Mum and told her to get up to the hospital as I didn't want to be alone. Mum was going to look after DS but he was with DH. So Mum got to the hospital at the same time she got to the hospital for my first DS. I was beginning to panic as the pains where getting more intense and closer together that DH wasn't going to make it. I was talking to my baby saying just hold on till Daddy comes... he must have heard me because he was born an hour after DH arrived. I was actually in the shower when DH arrived at 10.45am. I burst into tears when I saw him as I was so releaved that he had made it as I know he was too... he was destressed at the thought of missing his second sons birth.

So Mum took hold of DS #1 and tried to hang around to be here for the birth... but in the end I was looking so awful as you do in labour that we decided that DS didn't need to see me that way. Mum took him and was going to back to her place so they left... with in 15mins of them leaving DS #2 was born... Mumma was so gutted as she had only just left the car park. So she had to run around and find another one as her one had already been taken. So by the time they made it back Logan was already 1/2 hr old. Mean while DH Mum made it up from Brisbane just in the nick of time she got there about 30mins before he was born, and once he was born she couldn't believe that had happened that fast. She did manage to get a few snaps though.

When I had the urge to push it was different to my first I didn't really have that greater urge to push it was instictual if that makes sense. Anyway about 3 pushes later Logan was born and the peditricans wisked him away. I got to hold him for about 30 seconds before he was taken to the Special Care Unit with Dad and Nanna Parrish in toe.

At 11.14am our second son was born screaming his lungs out...