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A single mother’s perspective on PKU. Part 2 of a PKU metabolic disorder story

June 04, 2008

The baby started moving into position as my pain thresh holds were being tested to the full. Yet, I was still working on having a fully natural birth. As the time crept by (its funny how everything seemed to be going in slow motion) the baby had got the cord wrapped around his neck. The midwife could tell this because the heart beat fell with every contraction. I don’t remember this at all, but Debbie told me after that she was getting concerned.

Apparently the two midwives had started working on trying to unwrap the cord. I finally gave in and started to use the gas. As the contractions increased the heart beat dropped further. Next thing I remember was another person in the room. This was a young paediatrician. Debbie said that she looked awful. It was now 2 am and this doctor had been on the go for 18 hours.

I still don’t remember what had been going on but I decided to give in again and have an epidural. The place was like Piccadilly Circus with people coming and going. I had to wait for the anaesthetist before I could get the epidural to stop the pain!

By this time Debbie had said they were very concerned: the heart beat was slowing right down with each contraction and it was taking longer to recover. The paediatrician had decided that the baby had to come out now. They were going to use the forceps.

I couldn’t feel a thing now, I remember the team working down my never region with Debbie by my side. Then finally he appeared, it’s a boy, they said. The joy was short lived as he whisked away to the other side of the room: he wasn’t breathing after swallowing a lot of amniotic fluid. The team had to pump out his stomach after what seemed an age he was brought to me: finally I had my Jack.

Debbie had said it was a bit of a shock: this was her first birth experience. She said that Jack looked like an alien because he was grey and had a conical head due to the grip of the forceps. I don’t recall this at all, I was just happy to have Jack.

To be continued…

Mary A

For Part 1 of this story: http://blog.nutricia.com/2008/05/23/a-single-mother%E2%80%99s-perspective-on-pku/

For Part 3 of this story: http://blog.nutricia.com/2008/06/16/a-single-mother%e2%80%99s-perspective-on-pku-part-3-discovering-your-child-has-pku/

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