"What was it like to have a baby in Australia?"
While so many things were the same
So many things were different
Come along I will show you!
Just a side note
I am an American (duh) therefore I didn't
go through the public health care system
I went through the private health care system
This is my story and my point of view
You can correct me if you want but I won't really
care because it's over now ha ha
When I found out I was pregnant I called into my OB (same as USA)
~most Australians go to midwives not OBGYNS
~they also do NOT pay one penny to have Bub
~which reminds me...they call baby Bub and not 'the' Bub....just BUB!
~don't worry it will grow on you :)
I went into her office and got a blood test (same as USA)
Yep, positive
She wanted to see me at 12 weeks
I went to my 12 week appointment
~blood tests
~Drs note to go get a scan a.k.a ultrasound at 12 wks
~Drs note to go get an scan at 20 wks
~I was told to book into whichever hospital suited me
We chose Knox Private Hospital
You ring them and tell them your due date and "book in"
for that date
That doesn't mean that you can't come earlier but that
gives them an idea of what to expect
After I booked in they called me and set up
a phone interview to talk to a mid wife and admin
so on the day of delivery you don't have to go
to the front desk! Score!
Also, at this time you could set up an appt to
go have a tour of the maternity ward
Between 12 weeks and 20 weeks I didn't go to the doctor
They have heaps of little places here where
you take the doctors note into to get the scan
All they do at these places are x-rays, blood tests, and ultrasounds
At the 12 week scan they are pretty much
just measuring Bub to get an exact due date
Since everything looked good with Bub
we just waited for our 20 week scan
At our 20 week scan we found out we
were having a ........ BOY!
(Poor Lilie cried but the rest of us were excited)
They then checked head, heart, lungs, etc.
I went to my doctor the next day to go
over the scans with her and everything
looked good with Bub once again so
she told me to come back at 28 weeks
I know that is only 8 weeks but it felt
like eternity. Especially since I had only
been to the doctor twice before that.
Where in the states we go every 4 weeks
Around 25 weeks Jared went to Utah for
some business meetings. When he came back
he told me that they had asked for us to
extend our contract for a year more
Now, I love Melbourne with my WHOLE HEART
but I just wasn't sure if I could have a baby
so far away from home.
I get the baby blues after my kids and I cry
a lot some days and super happy other days
I planned this pregnancy with the end result
being that I knew I would be going home a
month or so after he was born
So it took a lot of prayer and really just putting
my faith in my husband to sign the papers and
stay a little longer
At my 28 week check up my doctor told me
that Bub was breech. Which has never happened
to me before
I was quite in shock
She told me to plan on a c-section (or Aussies say a caesar)
AHHHHHH!
I, of course, went into a little...no, big panic attack
How was I going to do this?
My poor mum got the call of my uncontrollable sobs
She said she would come out when I had the baby
and stay with me and my family
I went to my 32 week check up and Bub was still
breech and so I told Jared that I thought I should
go home to have this baby.
He said he would support me 100% of whatever
I decided to do.
I had to decide quick because my doctor would only
give me permission to fly up to 34 weeks
It was really tempting to go home but in the end
i felt like i was cheating Jared out of being in the
last stages of my pregnancy (I bet he wouldn't have minded
that too much) and even though he would have been
in Utah for the birth he would have to come back
quite quickly to Melbourne for work reasons.
After a lot of prayer and crying and face timing
I decided to stick it out here and rely on my
"Melbourne family" for support when Bub arrived
When I went into my 36 week check up my
doctor informed me that Bub had flipped!
What!
I was so excited -- no "caesar" for me!
I truly believe that Heavenly Father
heard every single one of my prayers
Most definitely a tender mercy
At that appointment we decided that my doctor would
induce me on June 5th at 8 a.m.
EEEEEEEEEK
I think that is when it truly sunk in that
we were going to be a party of 6
{you can skip this part if you want - for my own record}
We got to the hospital at 8 a.m. sharp
We were rearing to go
My doctor got called into an emergency ceaser
and didn't come to see me until 10
I was dilated to a big fat ZERO
She rubbed the gel stuff on me and told me
to wait an hour and she would check me again
At 11 she came back and I was a 2
She told me to wait a little longer to see if
I would dilate more without breaking my water
At 1 I was still a 2 and so she decided she would
break my water
This is the part where Jared decided to get a
tad bit woozy
When she broke my water he nearly
fainted to the ground
So my doctor left my side and went
and started to help him lay down and
to help him get his feet elevated
He felt so bad and kept telling
her to go back and assist me
He was white as a ghost so they
made him drink orange juice and eat something
This has never happened with the other
three kids and so we were not prepared
for him to be so faint - poor guy
Right after this happened it was shift change
I was kinda bummed because I really liked
my midwife and was nervous about who
the next one might be
My new midwife came in and she was
like 24 or something and super happy
and beyond bubbly
She came in and said that she would be
with me for the next 10 hours and
that her name was, Ashlee
I looked at my mom and we both started
to cry (another tender mercy)
With all my other births it is a party
My sisters are with me and once my
niece was there
Once my poor brother got stuck in
the room because he came to give me
a blessing and then I went to a 10
so fast that he was stuck in the corner
So when the midwife had the same
name as one of my sisters I felt
like that was a sign from my Heavenly
Father that he knew that as much
I wished my sisters were with me
they wished they could be with me
as well and it seriously was perfect
So this time we had a selfie sesh
About an hour after she broke my water
she came back to check me and I
had gone to a 5 - Yippeeeeeee
She finally decided to start me on the
pitocin - all my other kids they started
me on the pit first thing and so
I was ready for it to start the labor
My contractions started to get harder and longer
but I still was not dilating
Now, 9 out of 10 Aussies don't get
epidurals and so I had debated in my
mind if I would get one but in the
end I thought I better do what I had always
done because for Pete's Sakes I wouldn't
go to the dentist and fill a cavity without
the laughing gas and shot to get numb
So at 5 o'clock I broke down and get the
epidural. Which the whole time
my midwife kept telling me that I could
do it and that she would walk me through
it and keep me focused
But since I had never taken classes and
didn't quite know what I was doing
I decided not to
Oh and the best part...right before I got
my epidural my mom and Auntie came
in. They had arrived earlier that morning
and my dear friends had picked them up
from the airport and taken them home to
my house to freshen up and have some
lunch. After about 20 minutes of us
chatting the nurse came in and said you
have another visitor do you want me to
send them in
I looked at Jared and thought who
else could it be
Jared looked super worried and so
he said I will walk out and see who it
is - and you will never guess
ok...you probably can guess if
you have Facebook ;)
It was my DAD! That little
trickster totally had me tricked
I of course started to cry
Once a daddy's girl always a daddy's girl
Once my epidural kicked in I felt like
a new woman! It was so nice
and comfortable. I was one relaxed chica
Well as relaxed as one can be while
having a baby
At about 6:30 my epidural was only working
on my left leg and so I told my midwife
She told me to turn onto my right side
because it might help the drug to go into
that leg. Well to my dismay it went out of
my left leg and nothing was going
into my right leg. My contractions were
super hard and my midwife and Jared
were trying to make me more comfortable
Nothing was helping so after 30 minutes she
told me she would get the anesthesiologist
to come back to the hospital to help me
Right about now it is a little after 7 and
I am in some serious pain
My contractions are getting super
painful and hard and long and
did I mention painful and all of the
sudden I have heaps of pressure
I'm talking heaps and heaps of pressure
I asked for my doctor to come in and check me
She hurried into check me and guess what
I was a big fat 5
I had not even changed one cm
She did say the head had descended further down
As soon as she started to walk away I had the hardest
contraction EVER!
It was in that moment that i realized i was going to
be doing this without the sweetness of an epidural
My face must have said a lot because she came
back over to me and checked me and i was a 9
within 5 seconds my body was like, 'lets do this thing'
While all that was going down my midwife rubbed
my back the whole time
She was A-MA-ZING
She stayed into the next shift with me to make
sure all went well. I loved her!
My doctor then said to the midwife
"lets get this room ready for theatre"
(theatre = lights haha)
For a second I thought I was going to
be able to watch a cool movie
They don't use stirrups in Oz
My doctor held one leg and
my midwife held the other leg
and poor Jared got to hold my hand
I am not going to lie -- it hurt like hell
Every time I pushed, which was like 4 times
i seriously thought i was going to die
It was the hardest thing i have ever done
BUT, yes there is a but
After I had him it was the best feeling to
just get up and walk. No numb legs!
After about 10 minutes of pushing
the most beautiful baby boy was placed
on my chest
Giving birth is probably the most
amazing thing on this planet
Four times I have been blessed with this miracle
Four times I have fallen in love at first sight
Four times I have kissed someone with in seconds of meeting them
Four times I have looked into a set of eyes and felt that feeling of unconditional love
Knox Terry Auger
Knox- The council (or county as we would say in Utah)
we live in here in Australia. We really
wanted to name Knox something that would
resemble where this little Bub came from
Terry- My dad has always been one of my
biggest heroes. I have always had an amazing
relationship with my Dad. He taught me to
fall in love with old movies, pushed me harder
in my dancing/cheer years, but most importantly
he helped me to gain a testimony of my Savior.
I am grateful that Knox has a great person to look up to.
Auger- I only know Jared's dad and his grandpa with this
last name. They are two amazing men who Knox
like my other boys have some tough shoes to fill.
Both extremely hard workers
Amazing husbands and if possible
even more outstanding dads
Here is the stats on our little Aussie Bub
Knox Terry Auger
8:14 pm ~ 7 lbs 12 oz ~ 20.5 in long
June 5, 2014
Meeting little brother for the first time was absolutely precious
And here are some pictures of Knox's 1st visitors
 |
| This is my Doctor - Dr. Ehsani |
Here is my favourite midwife, Ashlee
However most of our visitors got to meet Knox this way
I am FOREVER indebted to my mom, dad
and Aunt Vina for sacrificing three whole
weeks in the middle of summer to come
and help me and family adjust to our new
normal -- my kids were in heaven
the adult to child ratio was perfect
They did all the laundry, cooking, reading,
hair, entertaining, and so forth
I felt beyond selfish taking my Aunt Vina
from her husband who has been ill
But it was so fun to see her in Australia
enjoying herself. Watching her listening
to music and dancing around my kitchen
will forever be memories that I hold dear
to my heart -- FOREVER
I am happy that my kids got to see the amazing
aunt that helped raise me to the woman I am
today. She is truly a little piece of heaven!
My poor dad took Pax on three walks to the park
and EVERY single time he pooped his pants
Which he has not had an accident for a year
I loved watching my busy mom who is always
on the go just take the time to chill with
Knox and my other kids and watch her be
an amazing grandma to my kids
And nothing beats watching my dad wrestle
with the grand kids and spoil them rotten
We love grandpa
Wipeout will always hold a special place in my heart
p.s. a big shout out to my hubby for putting
up with 3 stubborn Icelanders and a fox news
watching father in law
The day after my family left we were lucky
enough to get Grandma JoAnn
once again every meal, laundry, and entertaining
of the kids was all done by her
She let the kids pick 4 crafts to make for
Independence Day
The kids took a turn each night sleeping
with grandma and reading stories with her
They all felt so special to be able to
sleep with grandma
I believe she made three batches of
chocolate chop cookies in 7 days
My kids sure have her wrapped around
their fingers. I am so lucky that my kids
were able to make such fun memories with grandma
We were so sad to see Grandma leave
After nearly 5 weeks of visitors our house
sure seemed super de duper de quiet
I was so nervous to have a baby far away from home
this time was supposed to be easy
it was my fourth baby
it wasn't my first rodeo
I had the same doctor with my first 3 kids
I delivered at the same hospital with all 3 kids
I had so many fears going into this delivery
Anxiety attacks that were hard to swallow
I am not an anxious person
But at at the end of the day all went smoothly
and even though it was different and hard and crazy
in the end the result was perfect
and all my anxieties withered away
and i fell madly in love
And now we are a party of 6
