Race Report

Following is my race report from the birth of baby number 2, Zoe Elise. Photos can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97819&id=571336764&l=256ced0f03.

Things got under way at about 1pm on Thursday when I arrived at Nepean Hospital where Rach was waiting to get settled into a delivery suite. I had received a phone call at work earlier to inform me that Rachel was probably going to be induced that afternoon after an ultrasound had showed little growth of the baby and her heart rate dropped too low a few times.

Things got moving around 4pm when the "Syntocin" (drug used to induce contractions in the uterus) was administered and the waters were broken. Steadily increasing contractions (in number and force) kept Rachel occupied for the next 5 or so hours until the business end of the evening got under way. Only 4 or 5 "big pushes" accompanied by some vocal encouragement from Rach is all it took to get little Zoe out and onto Mum's chest where she cried as she adjusted to breathing (of course "only" and "all it took" may be understatements).

It was another hour until the plumbing had been fixed and Rach was ready to give Zoe some milk. She'd been weighed and measured, coming in at 2.67kg and 47.5cm. A shower and change of clothes and Rachel was feeling much better. We moved up to the Postnatal ward where Rach and Zoe had an empty room for the night. I was given a leave pass to allow me to come home at 2am and catch 5 hours good sleep in my own bed. Early start again and I was back down to the hospital to make sure Rach and Zoe made it through the night. Everyone was doing well, and the morning started with a hearing test for Zoe and some Dr's visits for both to check over all the relevant signs. Once given the all clear we headed home at 6pm Friday evening, 36 hours after all the fun began. A pb for Rach there.

Now at home we have settled in, where we are working on getting some routine into our lives. Thanks to BMMC for the flowers, that literally just arrived. At any rate I might be allowed out to some morning runs as early as Tuesday.

Very little time until W2G now, and very little preparation. After Daddy received a new pair of Kayano's for all his hard work through the labour, a few km's this week are needed to get me up to speed.