21st april 2008

I woke up at the sound of our alarm. It was 6am on Monday and it was

time to get up and get ready for work and the girls ready for school. I

lay there for a little bit, psyching myself up to roll out of bed. It was

such an effort now to move. Finally at 6.30 I thought I had better make

a move and do the normal morning routine- however this was to be no

normal Monday morning. I went to get out of bed when there was a

huge gush of warm fluid between my legs. I stayed where I was as

every time I moved more came. I nudged Josh and told him my waters

had broken, still half asleep he lifted the doona and saw the sheets

were saturated and could feel it on his leg. I don't think he believed me

until he saw it for himself! He sat up and placed his feet on the floor

and then walked out the room. I didn't quite know what he was doinghe

was so calmtoo calm. Little did I know that he wasn't calm and he

didn't know what to do. He likes to know what he is doing, stick to

plans. Our plans were to go to Adelaide in a few weeks to wait it out

before our caesarean. That was our plans and he was calm about that.

I remained in bed as I was too scared to move for 2 reasons; firstly I

didn't want any more water gushing out and secondly I didn't want this

baby to come out as I didn't want to say goodbye to her yet. I wasn't

ready for this pregnancy to be over. I started talking to our sweet little

girl telling her to hang in there; we will be okay and that we had things

to do together she couldn't leave me.

Whilst I was pleading with our baby girl Josh was outside having his

morning coffee and smoke! He then proceeded to message his mum

in Tassie to find out what to do. She wasn't there- being a teacher

herself she was already in class and Josh forgot about the time

difference! We didn't have the Tennant Creek Hospital number on

hand as our baby was going to be born in Adelaide! Josh called our

friend Mel who was the nurse at our school who told him slowly and

calmly "take Tania to the hospital and I'll ring ahead and let them

know you are coming." I was always amazed at how Josh had to ring

his mum and then our friend to ask what to do- couldn't he have

asked me? Wasn't it fairly obvious what we needed to do? GET ME TO

THE HOSPITAL!!!! Our last child Jordan was overdue and a planned

induction, so I suppose this was a bit out of the norm for Josh.

I was still in bed having regular and intense contractions. I got up and

changed my pj's and waited for Josh to get the kids out to the car. He

then came and helped me out - with a towel between my legs I

walked hunched over to the car, still with water gushing.

We arrived at the Emergency entrance around 7.05am. I was

placed on a bed just inside the door. The kids were taken to watch

TV and later they told me they got breakfast and played the play

station- at least someone was having fun! My contractions were

very intense so I was given gas to suck on. Eventually I was

checked by Molly our midwife and then was given some medication

to slow the contractions and turned on all fours. This was a position

I wasn't too keen about showing the medical staff in a remote part

of Central Australia!!!

The Royal Flying Doctors were called and were on their way and

the Alice Springs Hospital was also notified about the delivery. I had

no idea where Josh was through all this- I was in too much pain,

screaming, sucking on gas, chewing tablets to stop/slow

contractions- nothing was working, our baby was ready to come

into the world.

I remember taking a look at my watch to see it only said 9.15am -

the Flying Doctors were going to be a couple of hours away. I let

out a few expletives and cried that I couldn't do it anymore, I

couldn't last that long.

Josh had met Mel and Monica in the hallway- they had come to take

the kids for us and Mon had given Josh a nice baby blanket for our

precious girl. (They could hear me quite loudly so decided not to

come in to see me!) We were so lucky to have friends like them.

Josh got them up to date of the birth events throughout the

morning. When he came back into me he saw things were really

happening. Molly had now realised that contractions weren't

stopping and this baby would be born in Tennant Creek!

Tennant Creek Hospital doesn't do births - let alone births of babies

with Mylomeningocele and Hydrocephalus.

I was in a lot of pain and then last thing I remember was

holding a nurse's hand and her telling me to grip it as hard

as I liked.

For the next 2 hours I have to rely on Josh's observations:

"I as an interested bystander, watched as a blur of activity went

on around me. I couldn't help but pick up on part of

conversations and observe the actions of the nurses on hand. It

was obvious this was not a situation they were used to. Molly

had her glasses on the top of her nose investigating the

diameter of the cervix she realised that birth was imminent. She

began calling orders for various items, pointing in every

direction and glaring over the frame of her glasses. Someone

tripped over an electrical cord; another reached down to adjust

the bed and a glass sample vile fell out of their pocket and

smashed on the floor.

It was clear from Tania that she was in the full throws of labour.

Pain relieving medication for childbirth was in short supply at

Tennant Creek. They had administered Pethidine; given her the

gas to suck on and finally they gave her a hypnotic drug so she

wouldn't remember what was happening.

It was at this time that I met Terence. I received a pat on the

back and turned to talk to a person who, to my mind looked 18,

but told me he was a doctor- so he may at least be 24. He told me

that the baby's head was too big to fit through the pelvic bone. To

reduce the baby's head they needed to perform a procedure,

inserting a needle into the skull and draining part of the

hydrocephalus. I initially protested against him performing such a

risky procedure, but he assured me it was necessary to save

Tania's life- he conceded that it would lessen the chances of Mia,

which he already rated very low. Tania, I was told, could rupture

her uterus and bleed to death. Eventually I consented to the

procedure.

I began to dwell on the likelihood that Mia wouldn't only be born

in Tennant Creek but may well die there as well- before any of the

doctors and specialists that had seen her in Adelaide inutero had a

chance to do anything.

Molly was waiting at the end of the bed encouraging Tania to push in time

with contractions. She could see the top of Mia's head emerging the Doctor

who came with the RFDS entered the room at 11.00am. Shortly after at

around 11.15am Molly gained enough of a purchase around Mia's head and

then slid her out onto the sheets. Mia lay on her back, breathing for herself,

while Molly attached pegs in preparation for the severing of the umbilical

cord. In her initial haste she attempted to cut with what turned out to be

clamps. Retrieving the scissors she cut Mia free from her mum and for the

first time she was on her own ready to show us what she could do. It was

around this time Tania became more alert with the drug wearing off. A

nurse held Mia up to her between her legs and said," Here is your beautiful

daughter".

Immediately she was whisked away around a corner across the hall where a

heated crib was ready. When they placed her on the crib I caught a glimpse

of her back. It appeared a symmetrical, elliptical shaped wound, about the

size of two 50cent pieces. The inside of the wound looked like dark red

muscle tissue. The outside was just normal skin surrounding it. At first it was

horrific to see because I thought I was looking into the baby's insides- the

back of the lungs perhaps or her heart. Upon closer inspection it didn't

seem that bad. The nurse wrapped Mia's abdomen and back in glad wrap

to cover the lesion.

Mia was breathing well by herself and was proving she was a fighter.

After Tania was stitched up she was flown with Mia to the Alice Springs

Hospital. I collected the kids from Mel and Mon and after dropping in home

to pack bags (and omitting many items) we drove down to Alice to meet

them."

I find it really hard hearing all that happened through the

birth- to lose 2 hours mightn't seem like much but it is

huge, then to find out that you could have died along with

your baby was one of the hardest things I have ever heard.

I can only imagine what Josh went through and the

thoughts that went through his head at that time. My God,

what a decision to have to make! I owe so much to Molly,

Terence and the team who helped us that day in Tennant

Creek, they are somewhat heroes to me. Saving both my

daughter and myself and not giving up on either of us.

Once we arrived in Alice, Mia was taken through to the Special care

nursery and I was taken to a room on the ward. Adelaide was notified of

the situation and they were sending a retrieval team the following day to

collect her. I had a rest until Josh and the girls turned up later that day,

we then went to the nursery to see her.

It was extremely upsetting, I just cried and cried. My poor baby girl with

all these tubes over her. I just kept telling her in my mind to stay with me

and keep fighting. The nursing staff in the special care nursery were

fantastic. They were so caring and did everything they could for her. I

went back to the nursery a few more times that night and had quite a lot

more tears.

I then had a big rest until I heard the door to my room open and a

doctor was standing there at my bed telling me Mia had stopped

breathing for 1 minute- my heart sank, surely she had got through the

birth she could get through anything. A nurse manually 'bagged' her and

so in the end they decided to ventilate Mia automatically. I thanked the

doctor for letting me know and I was just happy she was still alive.

The next day it was all about organising both of us to go to Adelaide.

Josh had spent all night trying to change our tickets we had already

booked to Adelaide. Of course this wasn't simple! I had to make a

decision whether to stay with Mia and risk the chance of getting on the

plane with her or going early with Josh and the girls and meeting Mia

there. If I stayed to see if I could get on the retrieval flight I could have

missed out and not got out until the next day. I couldn't risk that.

I couldn't leave my baby in Adelaide all alone.

So I went with my family in the afternoon and Mia came out that night. I

arrived at the airport with no mascara (one item Josh omitted from

packing) and my drip still in I looked like death warmed up. I was

concerned that I wouldn't be allowed on the plane- perhaps they

thought I was a druggy or something! My eyes were swollen from the

tears and they weren't stopping.

It was the longest flight to Adelaide I have ever had.

We met Beckie at the airport. Beckie saw me and I was crying of course -

she just hugged me and I let even more out.

We made our way to the apartments where we would be staying. We quickly

dropped off our stuff, I packed a bag to take with me to the hospital as I had

to stay on the post natal ward for a couple of nights to make sure I was okay.

Josh and I headed across the road to the hospital to see if Mia was there and

to admit me. She hadn't arrived yet so we went to the cafeteria for coffee

and then back to my room. I was worried that something might have

happened on the flight and I wasn't there for her. We went back to PICU

again but she still hadn't arrived so they said they would contact us when she

got there.

Finally around 8.30pm Mia arrived at PICU. She was placed in an isolation

room incase she bought infections with her from the Alice Springs Hospital.

She was fully ventilated and her vital signs were good. It was so good to see

her again, although sad seeing her hooked up to everything and not knowing

what was going to happen to her.

I just cried whilst I looked at her and touched her ever so gently.

My Mia was finally in Adelaide and she would get the chance to see the

specialists and continue her fight.

Being born in Tennant Creek had proved she was a fighter- Round one

was over but there were many more rounds to come.