Kai Esmonde, born Monday 23rd April 2012

As it all turns out I ended up having our little baby boy via cesarean section on Monday 23rd April.  What happened was I spent the whole weekend waiting and having random contractions some strong some weak and then come Monday the day before my scheduled induction all signs of labour had stopped and also most of the babies movement as well.  He was a real mover and shaker in my tummy right up until this point so I knew something felt different when he was so still for most of the day.  I ended up driving myself into town to go see my doctor for a quick check just to make sure.  She popped me on the monitors and once I was lying flat on my back he started to move and kick about again, I felt a bit silly but at least relieved that all was OK, or so I thought.  Before my doctor sent me home she did one more internal examination to check dilation and discovered that the umbilical cord was present as the top of the babies head which meant each time he pushed down into the pelvis his oxygen supply would drop and she went on to explain the bigger concern was that if I was to go home and my waters broke the cord would wash out first resulting in what they call a prolapsed cord which is very life threatening to bubs.  So she refused to send me home and advised that I speak to my husband about having a cesarean section that very night, as even if we went ahead with the induction the next morning if the cord was still present it would result in a immediate emergency cesarean anyway.  So of course we agreed and Marcus had to jump in the car and rush home to get my suitcase and then rush into the hospital, he only just made it with about 20 minutes to spare.  So within 2 hours of my examination I was prepped and wheeled into the surgery room and by 6:30pm little Kai Esmonde was born.  All sounds simple, but I must say the surgery procedure itself was quite traumatic for me, I have never had real serious surgery before, I have never even broken so much as a bone.  Having the spinal tap was scary, the mere thought of someone sticking a needle into my spine scared me but having to sit through it naked in a operating theatre was quite something else and to my surprise it didn't really hurt.  The sensation of losing the feelings in my legs was uncomfortable and scary, especially when I could feel them move and poke me about but couldn't feel any pain and I was petrified that once they cut me I would feel it.

I kept asking them for Marcus to come in, I was starting to panic and eventually he arrived and was able to hold my hand but was instructed not to say anything to me about what was happening.  He didn't really watch the gory stuff anyway only when the baby was pulled out.  I had no idea what was happening beyond the curtain, I didn't even know they had made the incision let alone did I know when the baby was actually born.  It wasn't until Marcus said to have a look did I turn my head and see him on the table being attended to by the nurses and to mine and Marcus' surprise he had dark hair!  We were both expecting another boy looking like Judd, pale red or blonde hair and fair skin but this little guy came out looking more like his sister Lillie.

After they cleaned him up they brought him over for a quick kiss and a photo then off he went to the nursery and Marcus was taken away too so I was left all alone in a sea of Thai nurses yabbering and chattering non stop and I was trying to distract myself from what I was imagining happening beyond the curtain.  After what felt like ages was only about 40 minutes they wheeled me into recovery and put a lovely warm plastic blanket filled with warm air over me and there I laid for an hour wondering where Marcus and the baby was.  I think I dosed for a while then they wheeled me upstairs to the 12th floor to my room, I had to keep asking if anyone knew where my husband was.  It turned out he was just in the nursery watching over the baby and he met me in my room, I had to be very clear with the nursing staff that I wanted my baby upstairs with me and after a short while he was wheeled in as well.  Thankfully Marcus was able to stay as I was still numb from the waist down and couldn't move, only just enough onto my side to be able to try and start breast feeding.  I didn't want having a C section prolonging my milk coming in and I wanted to get him started straight away.  So Marcus stayed the night on a little couch and he got up each time for the baby, changed his nappy and brought him to me to feed then put him back to bed again.  He was so good and so attentive and just as tired and exhausted as I was.
I spent 4 days in hospital and it wasn't until the third day that we finally got the pediatrician to check his bilirubin levels for jaundice as he was turning quite yellow and of course we were right and he was taken down to the nursery to spend 24 hours under UV lights.  Thankfully he responded quite quickly and we were both discharged on Thursday 27th. 

Unfortunately I was unaware of certain side affects of the spinal block and the headaches I was having on and off during my stay in the hospital got worse and worse after I got home and after 2 days of being unable to stand for longer than 5 minutes with being crippled with pain in my head Marcus called the doctor and she confirmed that it sounded like I was experiencing a spinal headache which occurs in very rarely, like 1 in 200, when the needle used to insert the anesthetic is too big and the hole it makes in the spine sheath doesn't close up by itself and begins to leak spinal fluid which causes incredible headaches.  I ended up back in hospital on the Saturday to have a procedure called a Blood patch where they run a line from my hand which pumps blood into another insertion in my back in the same place that the spinal block was placed.  I had to lay in the theatre for 2 hours waiting for the blood to clot the hole and the headaches to go away and the whole time I cried as I was all alone, my baby blues hormones had well and truly kicked in and I kept stressing about whether or not this would work or would I be burdened with headaches for the rest of my life.  I couldn't believe my bad luck, I didn't want a spinal block in the first place but when I was faced with the circumstances of needing a emergency cesarean I basically had no choice.  Poor Marcus had to wait in the waiting room for the entire 3 hours it took for me to have this procedure and he had the baby with him too and my mum was home with Lillie and Judd.  Thank goodness I had their help, I was unable to be much of a mother for the first 2 weeks of Kai's birth, all I could do was lay down in my bedroom and only get up to feed and change the baby.  Eventually by the time my mum was due to return to Australia I was starting to feel normal again, the headaches were going away and my stomach was healing well.  I felt sad that I was unable to take my mum on any sight seeing, she basically spent her whole 2 weeks at home babysitting Judd and Lillie, we only got a small amount of shopping done, at least enough for her to get some souvenirs for friends and family back home.  She said she isn't worried about not doing much but I feel I owe her another holiday somewhere to say thanks and make up for it.
So now Kai is 3 weeks old, growing fast and feeding well.  I cannot believe the time has gone by so quickly already.  We are now just waiting on his Thai birth certificate to be translated and certified then once we have those documents we can then apply for his Australian citizenship and then his Australian passport and then after all that and several trips to Bangkok we will book our flights to return us all to Australia.  I cannot wait to get the kids home, even the cold weather they are having in Melbourne isn't putting me off, I am looking forward to it so much I can barely sit still.  So hopefully 3 more weeks and I can bid Thailand farewell.  It has definitely been an adventure but unfortunately not the one I imagined 2 years ago when we were first asked to move here.  But hey, lessons learned and I have definitely discovered new things about myself good and bad and we have made some great friends.