Possum's Story

On the morning of September 27 I was lying in bed, awake, feeling Possum kicking. I commented to Rusty that Possum was kicking a lot and took his hand to feel my tummy. Right at that moment I felt a warm trickle and jumped out of bed for the toilet. By the time I sat down my pyjama bottoms were soaked and I said to Rusty I thought my waters had broken. We were both in disbelief. I was only 25 weeks pregnant!

I called the hospital and threw a few things in a bag whilst Rusty got the kids some breakfast then I drove myself in to the hospital. When I got out of the car there was a big gush, and at that moment I knew for sure that my waters had really broken. I think I had been in denial up until that point! I made my way into the hospital and found the maternity ward. I spoke to a lovely midwife who was most helpful and got me settled before the Dr arrived. They both made it clear that I had to be transported to our capital ASAP and they would call in the Royal Flying Doctor Service to airlift me. They did not have adequate facilities for a 25 week baby in that hospital and they were very concerned, given my 1 hr 15 min labour with Chicky that I might have the baby there.

I managed to phone Rusty and have him call my Mum and make arrangement for the kids and him to go to the city. Meanwhile I swallowed meds to stop contractions, was swabbed for Step B which I had with Bugsy and Chicky, had blood taken and had an injection of steroids to help Possum's lungs produce sofractin.

A few hours later I was transported via ambulance from the hospital to the airstrip, then flown to the city and again transported by ambulance from the airstrip to the major maternity hospital in our state. I was assessed and admitted on arrival, more blood was taken along with another swab and I was advised I was now on strict bedrest. That night I hardly slept a wink.

The next morning I was taken off for an ultrasound to check on Possum and make sure he was ok. He was ok, but the scan showed there was no amniotic fluid left and that Possum was a footling breech. Later that morning the team of Dr's assigned to me attended and advised that as Possum was a footling breech I would need to have a cesarean when the time came if he remained in that position. Further they advised as he was only 25 weeks it would need to be a classical cesarean as there wouldn't be enough room otherwise. I signed the consent required and asked what the averages were like for women in my position. How long did they normally last before the baby was born? The reality is generally they last not longer than 1 week. I received another injection of steriods to help Possums lungs too.

The following day, we are now at Wednesday 29 September. Rusty and I decided that if I made it to the following Tuesday for another wellness scan on Possum we would find out if we were having a girl or a boy. We also decided that if Possum arrived in the meantime we had a unisex name picked. Just aswell we had that discussion because at 3.45am the following morning I got up to go to the bathroom. When I got back into bed I felt a very strange senation, like there was something there that shouldn't be, then it started flapping about! I pressed the call bell as I was concerned and waited for a midwife. While I was waiting the flapping got worse and I grew more concerned. I hit the emergency bell and immediately half a dozen midwifes flew into the room. I explained that I could feel what I thought by this time must be a foot flapping about where it shouldn't be and they wisked me out and down to theatre in the blink of an eye. When we got to theatre they checked and sure enough there was a little foot prolapsed!

They had just enough time to give me a spinal block which ment I was awake for the operation and Possum was born at 4.04am. He was immediately taken to the Special Care Nursery for attention. His apgar scores were 6 and 8 so he was going ok, but going to need lots of help. He was 25 weeks and 3 days gesdation. Unfortunately Rusty missed his birth and arrived at the hospital as we rang to tell him it was a boy. I was advised later that even if he had of been at the hospital he wouldn't have been admitted to the theatre as it was a classical section.

The balance of Thursday is a complete blur. When they removed the spinal block they gave me a massive dose of morphine which had me fuzzy and asleep until 4pm. At that time I started expressing for my little man and when Rusty came back to the hospital that evening I visited the nursery and got to touch him for the first time.

And a funny note. Possum was due on Bugsy's birthday in January but he arrived on Chicky's birthday in September. He was determined to share!

Edited to add his vitals, oops!
Weight 865g
Length 34cm
Head circumference 23cm