Since the 18th November life has been rather taken up with false labour alerts and trips to the hospital – there never is a dull moment in the Hope-Mason household! On 19th November (Friday) Massimo had the second half of his flu jab, so hopefully this year he may be a little more protected from the various strains of flu that float around and that last year kept him in hospital nearly all winter. It has to be said that he is a brave little soldier and doesn’t actually cry for very long after a jab, but he did give poor Sara, the nurse, a very dirty look!
On Saturday, Massimo, Justin and I had a lovely day “hanging out” together, aware that this was probably going to be one of the last weekends when it would be just the three of us. As you can see we took some lovely photos of Massimo sitting really well. He is really getting good at it, but we still need to practice! In fact I have so many photos to show you that I’ll probably bore you to tears writing enough to pad them out!
On Saturday night, Verna came as usual, but at about 3 am I was woken by fairly strong contractions. I waited till 4 am before waking J to tell him and then going in to see Verna. I spent the next 5 hours alternately pacing the floor and sitting and resting. The contractions got steadily stronger and more regular and by 8.30 am we decided that the best thing to do was to put one of our (many) plans into action. Our main problem was that Verna had just done a night shift and once she went home, it would just be Justin and I to manage with Massimo. If I went into labour we would have to take Massimo to the delivery suite with us – something they had already said they did not want. However, Verna had extremely kindly offered to accompany Massimo to Christopher’s. A few weeks ago Helen had arranged with London Ambulance Service that, if no other alternative was available, they would take Massimo to Christopher’s. So, the ambulance was called and Verna and Massimo went off at about 9 am. We had left nearly all Massimo’s belongings down at Christopher’s so there was little for them to take. Apparently he arrived strapped to a stretcher and looking as though he was unwell! Jemma joined him by the early afternoon, just to give Christopher’s a helping hand whilst they got the extra staffing organised.
In the meantime, Justin and I went to the delivery suite (visit number 2!). I was examined and told that I was one centimetre dilated but that the head was not engaged and therefore there was a long way to go yet. The midwife also told us that we were doing the right thing coming in as labour is harder to identify second time around as the body starts doing some strong practice contractions but that also second time around labour can be very quick, so it was better to come in and be checked rather than risk delivering in the car park – which seems to happen quite often. She also said that should my waters break we were to come straight back again. As far as Max was concerned we decided not to consider moving him yet as the constant to-ing and fro-ing would be too disruptive. So we spent the afternoon at home, I took regular pain relief and tried to get some rest as my contractions did continue, although again, they had lessened in intensity and become extremely irregular.
At about 8.30 pm my waters broke. This time we took the dogs round to some friends as we didn’t want to leave them alone overnight. We got to the delivery suite where I was swabbed and monitored for half an hour and then sent home again! Again, my contractions started in the early hours of the morning and this time, when we went in at 10 am, we were kept in! It took over 3 hours for me to dilate to 3 centimetres, by which time I had exhausted myself and probably did some lasting damage to Justin’s ear drums! I was then given an epidural – bliss! – but this had the side effect of slowing down all activity. At 8 pm they gave me syntocin, a drug which induces contractions, and by 11.30 pm I was 5-6 centimetres dilated. By 3.30 am I was 9 centimetres dilated and the doctor told me to wait an hour for the epidural to wear off and then we could deliver the baby. That hour felt like a lifetime and at 4.35 am I started pushing. The little boy was born 13 minutes later!
Massimo, down at Christopher’s, decided that he was missing out on the action and his trachy blocked off at 6 am. He went blue for a while but an emergency trachy change later he was already fighting with the ambulance lady when they turned up. Justin got a call at 7 am telling us he was at the Royal Surrey and PICU immediately called them to arrange transfer to them. Massimo arrived at about 2 pm and I happened to be in PICU at the time as I had gone round to find out when he was due to arrive!
That afternoon at about 4 pm we (the new baby and I) were discharged and after a brief visit to see Massimo we came home. Jemma and Marina had come up from Christopher’s to accompany Massimo and we all agreed, PICU nurses and doctors included, that Massimo was absolutely fine but that they would keep him in overnight for observation. Our record therefore stopped at 9 and a half weeks! The following morning, the ENT surgeon visited Max first thing as, in doubt, the nurses at Christopher’s had used a slightly longer trachy tube and its length needed checking. It was deemed to be a little too long and the PICU nurses changed it back to Massimo’s normal trachy tube, then Justin picked him up and brought him home.
Wednesday afternoon Grandpa David came to visit, as did Uncle Toio and his girlfriend Leanne. We were a rather full house! We had a lovely afternoon together and Massimo was on such good form he made us all laugh! He also showed off his sitting skills for his Grandpa. At about 6.30 pm Massimo left with Jemma to return to Christopher’s as had been organised, so that Justin and I could have some time to adjust to the new arrival. He behaved like an angel all the way down to Christopher’s in the car and has, by all accounts, been having a lovely time down there and bestowing smiles on all and sundry. Jemma is due to collect him tomorrow morning and the family will be reunited then. We have missed him and are looking forward to having him at home again.
Justin and I have spent the rest of the week getting used to a crying baby! All the various bits have fallen into place as the breastfeeding has happened relatively easily and I can’t believe how nice it is to have my body back! We have to say that, as well as being a very good baby, he seems to us to be extremely easy to look after. We are, of course, comparing him to looking after Massimo and it brings home to us just how much care and attention Massimo needs. On Thursday Granny came to visit, and then Simona and Tony popped by. On Friday, the electrician came to finish work on our living room (the plan had been for it all to be done before the birth but this little baby had a different idea) and Lizzy and Tommy came round too. On Saturday, Uncle Toio was back in London for a birthday party so he popped in for a cuddle. Otherwise, we have just been settling into life with a newborn. We are far from having a routine but I’m sure that will happen with time.
Lastly, on Wednesday we received a phone call from the Social Services lady who had come to do our income assessment with regards to whether or not we would be getting funding for the stair lift. It has been decided that we are not entitled to any funding at all and we will have to purchase the stair lift ourselves. Although this is only with regard to the stair lift I am absolutely sure that this ruling will eventually apply to all the other services and equipment that Social Services is considering for us.
On a more upbeat note, Justin has updated Massimo’s photo in the header of the page – we hope you like it!