Expect the Unexpected

Thursday 17 April

I slept! I actually slept!

I'm not great at sleeping away from home.

The bed was very comfy though.

Lots of covers and Callista had shown me where there were more.

My phone hadn't rung all night.

I probably got around 3hrs total sleep on and off.

Heard some noises after I'd gone to bed and when I got up to the loo round 1am discovered Callista was doing some work on the computer in their office.

Since having the artificial valve put in her heart she can hear her heart beating in her ears.

All the time. More loudly when it's quiet.

So she has the TV on low when she sleeps.

She'd decided to do some work as she was not sleepy and could hear her heart.

I woke again around 6.30am so got up then.

We were able to go to the hospital any time.

Decided to have breakfast first.

Went to see if Butcher was awake and he was.

By 7am all four kids were up.

Hana, 6yrs; Caia, 5yrs; Akiva, 4yrs; Uriah, 2yrs.

3girls and one wee lad.

Makes for busy days.

I rang the hospital and got through to the Maternity Unit.

Chuckles had slept most of the night.

I asked them to let her know we'd be down soon.

Knowing hospitals I knew not much would be decided before 8am.

Unless there was an urgent reason.

Had some yummy toast.

Discovered it was "Sausage Sizzle Day" at Hana and Caia's school.

$1 in their spare change bag.

I had some small change.

Each sausage was $2 and luckily I had enough spare change to make up the difference.

Found out why Kato gets up at 2am six days a week.

He's delivering the Wairarapa Times Age six mornings a week.

Some income as he hasn't sold any houses yet.

Callista is doing a Business Management course.

She attends night classes once a week.

It is a year long course.

Breakfast eaten, hugs goodbye in case I wasn't back.

Off to the Maternity Unit again.

Obstetrician came in.

He had a lovely manner I thought.

You felt confident that he knew his work well.

He was an older doctor, probably in his mid sixties.

The decision was made to examine again around 10am.

That was done and more prostin needed.

Last dose though.

All this time Chuckles had been having "prostin pains"

Looked like mild contractions to me.

But not really regular enough to kick into labour.

Chuckles had a shower after she came off the monitor.

Helped with the pains a bit.

The prostin seemed to be still helping things to change.

Then all of a sudden around 1pm things changed.

The decision was made to move Chuckles through to Delivery.

Once there she could have some Nitrous Oxide or laughing gas.

With Halfpint she didn't like it.

We encouraged her to try it and this time she found it effective.

During the morning I'd been in contact with Brains.

Jester was busy and not able to take Brains and Locket to the church.

That was the meeting place for camp.

I called Sophia and left a message.

Around 1pm Sophia called me back and said she'd be delighted to help.

She thanked me for asking her to help!

Around 2.20pm it was all on with the labour.

At 4pm Chuckles gave birth to a baby boy.

He took a few minutes to pink up.

He was 2725g/6lbs

A fast and furious labour when she got going.

Welcome to the family Lil Battler

Love you heaps already :)

Your mummy and daddy are pleased you're here safely :)

So are we all.

I was lucky enough to be the one to dress Lil Battler.

Chuckles had a good selection of warm clothes for him.

Around 6.30pm Butcher headed to Featherston to pick up Halfpint.

They decided it would be best to just take Halfpint home for the night.

Sleep in his own home and meet his wee brother in the morning.

I headed off soon after.

Once I knew Chuckles was ok and settled.

Went to Callista and Kato's and had some dinner.

I was feeling pretty tired after only 3hrs sleep.

Births are pretty intense as well.

Once again I'd been asked why I wasn't a midwife!

They all seem to think I'd make a good one.

After some food and a cuppa, and chat of course, I was ready to head off.

Before I left Callista gave me chocolate. . .to keep me awake!

I said I wouldn't text and wake her. . .but she insisted I did so that they would know I was home safely.

The drive home was not too much fun.

Wet, surface flooding.

Light glaring & reflecting off the road.

Hard to see when I had to turn the high beams off.

On the open road I hardly got above 80k.

The Rimutaka Hill Road was open.

There was a sign saying there were slips and to take extra care.

So I crawled like the nana I am over the hill!

Don't thnk I went much above 40k.

Not too much traffic.

Very black when high beams were off.

Made it safely despite a few big rocks.

Was very glad when I had parked in the driveway!

I came inside to find that there was a package from HSNZ

It had obviously been left sticking out of the letterbox.

And was quite damp.

Before I went to bed I separated out all the pages.

Left wet they would stick together.

I also remembered to text Callista.

Then I sought my bed.

I tried to read but put the book down fairly soon as my eyes were closing.

Sleep, sweet sleep, soon descended.