Harry's Story

Well being a proud Dad to 3 children I was sat reflecting on how different all my babies entered this world and I would like to share this with you all.  My 3 children, Harry 10 (first marriage), Oliver 2 and Isabella 1 both with my gorgeous wife Karen, all have there own special entries into our weird and wonderful planet.

Harrys story.  Well the pregnancy went very well and everything had seemed fine and dandy.  We attended all the appointments that we needed to and all was well.  On the 26th of March 2002 my now ex wife started with the early stages of labour and this soon sped up and before I knew it I was on the phone to the midwives and being told to bring my then wife into hospital.  We had bags packed and went to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.  We arrived around 6pm and still everything seemed normal.  My ex wife was presenting as 7cm dilated and I knew all was on track and very soon I was going to be a Dad.

This is the point where things took a turn for the worse and the entire evening changed.  At the point that Harry's head appeared I noticed my ex wife was juddering and her eyes had rolled into the top of her eyelids.  I quickly realised something was seriously wrong and informed the midwife as she was monitoring Harry.  The midwive hit the emergency button and the room quickly filled with more midwives and a couple of surgeons/doctors.  I didn't have a clue what was happening but by then my ex wife was unconsious and Harrys head had only just shown.  The surgeons had to make a swift decision and very quickly made an incision and helped Harry on his way.  He was born at 4 minutes past midnight, but quickly whisked off to the Special Care Baby Unit as he was very blue and not breathing.

I was in meltdown, my baby had been taken away and my ex wife was unconsious on the bed.  I was in a pretty bad state of shock, but thankfully a midwife came back in to tell me that Harry was breathing on his own and was just being monitored.  Phew what a relief that on that front my newborn son was going to be ok.  Then a doctor came in to talk to me about what had happened to my ex wife.  Apparently she had suffered from Eclampsia, and after receiving an in depth explanation I understood the severity of the condition.  The doctor was very honest and said to prepare myself for possibly the worst as eclampsia affects and stops vital organs working.  At the time I just did not know what to think as my baby was ok but my then wife could die.

Harry was then brought back to the ward a couple of hours later.  It was a joy to hold my baby boy in my arms for the first time.  I changed his nappy and fed him a very small amount of milk, I was over the moon but still obviously very concerned for my ex wife.  She then started coming around and although her eyes glazed over she could see Harry and managed to stroke his arm twice before fitting again.  This time the medical team were much more prepared and managed to steady her quickly.  They moved her to a ward where the medical staff were ready to take over and monitor closely.

I had a very tense and worrying two weeks as things were very much touch and go, things took a turn for the better and she recovered.  She was able to come home and receover.

I am in awe to this very day at two things to do with this, I take my hat off to each and every one of you mums out there who go through childbirth, you are all superstars and fantastic, secondly a massive load of praise to all the medical professionals from midwives through to surgeons who also work to such a phenomenal high and good standard.  Because of you guys I am the proud Dad of my eldest son Harry.

So that was birth number one, thank you for reading.