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It's a girl!

 
  

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Sax
13:59 / 07.12.04
For those interested in such things (and I did hesitate from posting this in case I ended up in Mordant's "eeeeugh" thread, Mrs Sax has finally had babby number two. And once again, it wasn't without its drama - only about tenfold, this time.

So the contractions started at about 3.30am on Sunday morning. Given that Charlie (Zoot) had to be induced two weeks after the due date, Mrs S was quite pleased that things had begun naturally. After much supportive hand-holding and brow-stroking from me we went into the hospital at about 7am.

Cue the gas and air, contractions coming thick and fast and the kind of internal examinations which were quite suited to the delivery suite, because the room did have more than a passing resemblance to a prison cell.

So an epidural is inserted into Mrs S's spine because the pain's getting bad. The cervix is about three centimetres dilated (it has to go to ten) and everyone is confident that it's going to be a fairly quick labour because things seem to be moving along well.

So noon comes and goes and no baby. Two, three, four pm. Nothing. Contractions still coming. Another examination, and we find out that the baby is a posterior position, ie with back to back with the mother rather than back to belly. It needs to turn around if it's going to come out. It ain't turning.

By six pm things are getting a bit desperate for Mrs S. She's bored, uncomfortable and disheartened. By seven pm the doctor's in and talking about a section. Mrs S not too keen for various reasons - the main one being she can't drive for six weeks and that raises issues with Charlie's childcare.

By eight we decide to let the saline drip which is supposed to aid contractions run its course for another two hours and then make a decision.

Ten pm. Mrs S decides to go for the caesarian. We're wheeled down to theatre and I'm dressed in blue surgical gear. I fight the urge to wander down the corridor and examine expectant mums.

The tent affair is set up to hide the business end from Mrs Sax, and she's administered with a raft of drugs. I assume the hand-holding, brow stroking position, but once the action's underway I really can't resist popping down to have a look, just as the baby's head is being pulled out.

Big mistake. Like a cross between Alien, V and The Evil Dead. Lots of blood. But a head! A baby's head! Emerging from a stomach, MacDuff-stylee.

And what a big head. There are appreciative whistles from the doctors. One shoulder is free but the other one's not budging. Then one of the doctors grabs the baby by the head and neck and starts to haul it out. Can this be the right way to treat a newborn baby? I wonder. I'm assured it is by an anaesthetist who looks like Alan Titchmarsh.

The baby's out. It's a girl, she's called Alice Mae. She's a whopping 10lb 13oz. That's big. Zoot was a normal baby at 7lb 13oz. If Mrs S had tried to deliver her "normally" it would have caused huge, huge problems.

And then the fun starts. While she's being stitched up, Mrs S starts shaking and shivering like someone with hypothermia. Then she can't open her eyes. Then she goes bright red. Like, really bright red, redder than someone with the worst sunburn ever. She can barely speak, but she manages to say she can't breathe. Her throat's constricting. Then she vomits. And then her arms and chest come up in hives and boils, like something from The Exorcist.

She has, I am conversationally told, gone into anaphylactic shock. The sort that can kill people. Apparently, she's had some kind of allergic reaction to one of the drugs, possibly a penicillin-related one. Cue loads of medical staff materialising from the walls, lots of organised chaos (to my eyes, standing to one side holding the baby and wondering if I'll ever see Mrs S alive again), and then, in a really fab Pulp Fiction moment, a massive administration of adrenaline, which slowly brings Mrs S back to normality.

And now everything's okay. Mother and baby doing fine, etc. But a little more excitement than was really necessary.

So join me, if you will, in raising a glass of Boddington's bitter to Sax's impressively powerful sperm, Mrs Sax's bravery and the entire medical knowledge of the 21st Century.
 
 
_Boboss
14:11 / 07.12.04
one of each, and full drama to go with the telling. very excited, very well done to you both (mainly mrs. s of course)
 
 
William Sack
14:11 / 07.12.04
Here's to Alice Mae. Lovely names. Congratulations to you all, and best wishes to Mrs Sax - that sounds quite an ordeal.
 
 
Papess
14:17 / 07.12.04
Oh my. Congratulations to you both, Sax. I am certain a Victoria Cross should be awarded to Mrs.S for that heroic delivery.
 
 
Nobody's girl
14:18 / 07.12.04
Congratulations! Poor Mrs S, sounds like quite a rollercoaster birth.
 
 
Hattie's Kitchen
14:22 / 07.12.04
Many congrats to Mr and Mrs Sax (especially Mrs Sax - what an ordeal).
 
 
Grey Area
14:24 / 07.12.04
I add my congratulations. And supplement them with wishes for a speedy recovery and a minimum of hassle sorting out Charlie's delivery to daycare.
 
 
Haus of Mystery
14:33 / 07.12.04
Congratulations! I hope she has a happy life.
 
 
Axolotl
14:36 / 07.12.04
Congratulations to you, Mrs Sax and Alice Mae
 
 
Smoothly
14:36 / 07.12.04
Congratulations to the whole Sax clan. You are mighty.
 
 
Spaniel
14:39 / 07.12.04
Congrats and well done to you for keeping a cool head and not fainting in the face of Mrs Sax's awesome ordeal.

Sometimes I'm so glad I'm not a woman.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
14:40 / 07.12.04
My God. Congratulations to you all. many, many congratulations. Esp. to Mrs Sax.

(I'm never having a baby, ever).
 
 
Mazarine
14:50 / 07.12.04
Congrats to the family Sax, and healing vibes to poor Mrs. Sax's tum.
 
 
Saveloy
15:28 / 07.12.04
Congrats, Mr and Mrs Sax! What a whopper! But:

"She has, I am conversationally told, gone into anaphylactic shock."

Holy fucking God! That must have been one of the worst moments of both your lives. Thank Christ it all turned out okay. My son was born by Caesarian, and it was worrying enough when Julie (Mrs Sav) went pale and felt nauseous and had to be observed for half an hour after the birth. What you went through... Christ, I can't imagine.

Anyway, all the best to wee Alice!
 
 
Whale... Whale... Fish!
15:36 / 07.12.04
Congrats! Glad to hear Mrs. Sax and Alice Mae are doing well!
 
 
haus of fraser
15:39 / 07.12.04
Congratulations!
Wow what a story- Try and keep your post as a record for Alice to read when she's older...

best of luck and a speedy recovery for Mrs Sax...
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
15:45 / 07.12.04
Phew! Congrats!

I was selfishly imagining how many times I would have passed out. (Many, many times).
 
 
Unencumbered
15:57 / 07.12.04
Congratulations! I'm glad all's well after the drama.
 
 
Sekhmet
16:36 / 07.12.04
Ohmygoodnesswow.

Congrats to you all, and hope everyone recovers fully and speedily - including you.


(*fearfully ponders baby-having portion of five-year plan*)
 
 
Goodness Gracious Meme
16:39 / 07.12.04
blimey love.

Congrats to you, and fucking hell, I can't even think quite what to say to your wife, except:

You're a better woman than I, rest, heal well, and fucking well done.
 
 
iamus
17:00 / 07.12.04
Many congratulations to you both.

I hope little Alice Mae decides to take it easier on you both for the next few years at least.
 
 
grant
18:50 / 07.12.04
Oh, like THIS thread is gonna put Zoot-2 on *any* sort of equal footing with Zoot. Sure, she gets her own thread now -- in which Mama goes into anaphylactic shock!

I can picture the arguments now between the two of them. Oh, dear.

I wonder if the antibiotic Mrs. Sax reacted to was one of them Amoxicillin + Clavulanate mixes. I've never been allergic to anything until I was on that stuff and broke out in hives over my whole body. That was a fun couple days. Apparently, it's a lot more common that anyone seems to be letting on -- I keep running into people who've had the same thing with that specific combo.

Oh, and in your abstract, I'm not sure "mild peril" covers it. Anything that involves needles in the context of Pulp Fiction is regular old peril peril! I'm glad it's now a good story to tell the kids.
 
 
Mourne Kransky
18:58 / 07.12.04
Lady Sax is never going to have sex with you, ever again, but congratulations, Babydaddy. Here, have a ceegar.
 
 
---
18:59 / 07.12.04
Sheesh, that was really scary reading. It's great that it turned out well in the end though, congrats to you all.
 
 
Saint Keggers
19:17 / 07.12.04
I'd like to be the first to congratulate the three of yous. I know Im not...but I still would have liked to have been.
Love the name.
 
 
Lilly Nowhere Late
19:25 / 07.12.04
God. This thread makes me very tearful. Too similar to the drama at my own baby's birth. She's 3 now and we're fine, but that fear factor is so overwhelming it gets brought back when I hear these stories.
all best to all of you. Don't let Mrs.Sax pick up anything.
Well done.
 
 
Baz Auckland
00:52 / 08.12.04
Woo! Congrats to you all!
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
01:17 / 08.12.04
Congratulations both of you and welcome to new little Sax.

(To new baby- Don't worry, kid. The place is a mess right now, but we're trying our hardest to make it a nice planet for you to live on.)
 
 
Persephone
02:32 / 08.12.04
Wow, Sax. Are we going to give baby her own barbename? How about Zuzu, from It's A Wonderful Life? Goes with Zoot, and 'tis the season.

Love and congrats xx
 
 
XXII:X:II = XXX
04:54 / 08.12.04
Now THAT'S why they call it "labor." Oy vey gevalt.

May your immediate future with Alice Mae, Charlie, Mrs. S and Jerry Mathers as The Beaver be somewhat less bowel-constrictingly terrifying, happy and content, even.

/+,
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
07:38 / 08.12.04
God, that sounds terrifying! I'm glad everone's okay. I'm suitably impressed by the majestic Alice Mae's 10lb 13oz!

Well done all, and massive hugs.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
07:49 / 08.12.04
You see, *this* is why heterosexuality is dangerous. Well, one reason.

Congratulations to Sax and Mrs Sax, who totally deserves at the very least some bionic implants for enhanced speed and strength as a payoff for this one.
 
 
Jub
08:00 / 08.12.04
Congrats Sax and Mrs Sax.
 
 
Char Aina
08:56 / 08.12.04
christmas baby!
congratulations!
seasons greetings!



hope you are all well and smiling.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
09:26 / 08.12.04
Congrats to the family Sax and I'm glad everyone pulled through what sounds like a fucking terrifying ordeal.
 
  

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