Friday - Going Home

I wait for the gyne this morning - I want him to let me go home today - usually it's the 6th day - i.e. tomorrow - but really I think I'll be more comfortable at home now. And luckily he is happy for me to go.

Baby has gained record weight and I'm toddling around fine. I have to make a couple of calls to make sure the pediatrician comes to sign out Eloise too - she needs to have an obligatory form filled out for the 8th day medical test.

The pediatrician turns up at 1130hrs - I'm in the toilet and she knocks on the door saying 'come out now - you are the last on my list and if you want to go home today, she need to do this now' - she actually saying all this in humour and she's nice - just a very dry sense of humour.

I then miss daddy at work - otherwise we could have been out of here by 1pm. In the end with work and car & tram journeys (him not us) we leave the hospital with a huge prescription at 5.30pm - and go home via the pharmacy. It's so good to sit on the comfy sofa... and Eloise goes straight into her nid d'ange quilt.

I forgot to mention on previous posts, that I had an injection each each for phlebis in my thigh - deep vein thrombosis I suppose. They don't make you wear stockings here during the c-section.

Yes all out of order

So, yes I've missed a day out somewhere here.

So the mummy with all the visitors and the energy moved out to her single room on Thursday afternoon (she must have actually arrived the day before I remember) - thank goodness.

I'm hoping to go home tomorrow (Friday 3rd) so hopefully I'll keep the room to myself (I can't cope with a 3rd crashing / banging cleaning in the afternoon again.)

So 3am another mummy to be arrives - her waters have broken and she's put into bed as she's not started her contractions - they come in very quietly, she takes off her clothes and gets into bed and daddy goes back home - really they were so quiet you wouldn't have known they were there...

Thursday Awful Day

I wait until 7am to call Daddy to tell him all about the glare and the awful night I'd just had. He's so asleep that after I've spoken to him he puts down the phone badly so it remains engaged all morning and I can't ring him - I try something like 20 times over the morning - getting more and more frustrated and upset - I've been without the drugs in the drip for a few hours now and I remember this day from the last birth 4 years ago - it's a big plummet for me and I spent most of the morning in tears as I can't speak to my husband - and frightened from the night before - I eventually get my mother in law on her mobile when she's switched it on - I blubber away and then shout at my husband over the phone problem.

The girl in the bed next to me has also requested a single room - and her 12, yes 12 visitors this afternoon - all using their mobile phones at one time or another - all say how digusting it is that she has to share her room... I have to say I keep thinking that with the fact she's been up all night - and that the baby has slept all day, she's going to have problems tonight ... and she does.

Her baby wakes at midnight (I've put Eloise in the nursery as I need to sleep and I'm concerned if we have the glare incident again I won't hear her) her baby can't / won't feed (she's trying to breast feed) and there has been a record number of babies born in the clinique today and there aren't enough staff for someone to sit with her and help her - her baby screams blue murder and she's exhausted and in tears - don't get me wrong the staff are fabulous and very helpful but today is very busy... at 4am they are taken in to the nursery and the baby is given a supplement. Anyway, not too much sleep tonight... again. The moral of this story is, turn off your mobile phone and don't have so many visitors in the first couple of days... you need to rest.

Eloise is returned to me for boob at about 3am - I'm so pleased to have her back with me...

Anyway, this afternoon I've had a proper shower (after having my sticking plaster on my stomach taken off and it's sprayed with something) and this afternoon I feel much better.

Yes I know it's all a bit back to front - but my nerves were totally jangled today.

No Drip

The morning rush hour starts again this morning - the same round as yesterday - but with me washing myself generally - with a flannel all over and then with my head under the shower and feel so much better for it.... and much freer now the drip is taken out.

The girl in the next bed has now got a new room and she's moved at lunchtime. Alicia is really tired so that she doesn't make the trip to see me today with granny - I understand why but it does bring tears to my eyes.

.. You'll also have to bear with me here too - the days/ drugs / lack of sleep have blurred my memory a little, so if any of this is out of order... well... in fact, this could have happened yesterday... just not sure now.

Anyway, after the moving out of the girl next door - the cleaners come in (actually they come in quietly each morning and give the whole place a clean out) but when someone moves out it's a good going over... the noise in the middle of my supposed afternoon nap, you wouldn't believe... I found it so stressful... crashing around... awful. I now start to wish I'd requested a single room.

All normal until 3am when a young couple arrive with their new baby which had been born at midnight. They come in together and spend the next two hours texting the world and it's mother... beep beep beep... and they are so excited.. the baby is just fast asleep... The mother was moving around like she hadn't just given birth.

Suddenly, just after a feed, Eloise is just full of mucus (glare they call it in French) and she can't breathe - luckily the midwife is in the room seeing to the newcomers... and shakes and rubs Eloise a bit and then wraps her in a blanket and runs off to the nursery with her to have all the glare sucked out with a machine - this is so frightening... I'm just stuck in bed for the next 25 minutes - in the middle of the night - she she's bought back to me.. and all is well. I was so shocked.. and seriously lacking sleep.

The Day After

The night wasn't so bad - there is a light on at all times - if one baby isn't feeding the other is... but generally quite good sleepwise.

The mornings at the clinique are just non-stop. The rooms become just like Clapham Junction station with the number of people in and out.

Breakfast arrives around 8am - swiftly followed by a visit from the gyne who looks at my scar - and kneads my tummy (not comfortable at all.) - I'm starting to get awful pains in my uterus when I feed the baby - these are called tranche in French - it's generally the uterus going back to shape - but they are truly painful and I'm given pain killers, but still am wincing each time we feed just for the first 15 seconds or so. (Funny, I don't remember these pains the last time).

Then the physiotherapist arrives (kine in French) she was the same one as last time, and I truly dreaded her this time - she was horrid before - rather like a sargent major barking orders and making nasty comments about my lack of French (well, lady, you wouldn't speak much French after 31 hours in labour and a c- section either (last time that is.)). She does not catch a breath between instructions and if your French isn't up to scratch, you've had it mate. Thank goodness she seemed nicer this time and not all the staff are like her... so after exercises on my ankles and legs and being taught how to get out of bed... the ladies arrive to help wash me.

They wash your nether regions the first day for you ... then get you out of bed and put you in a chair to wash the rest of you - then bring you your wash bag to do your teeth and hair and you start to feel human - along with a change of nightie.

Eloise wasn't bathed yesterday - this was a change of plan since Alicia was born 4 years ago (she had a bath immediately she was born) Today the nurse comes and takes Eloise's temperature, takes a look at her chart and weighs her and washes her hair - they don't don't like to bath them now as they like to conserve the covering on the skin and also not to lower their body temperature when they are so little.

Still on the regime leger (they promise proper food for 4 o'clock gouter) for lunch... and then daddy comes to see us and Benoit my boss (who poor chap didn't get good conversation as we were all so zonked!) drops by. Then French granny and Alicia come to say hello for an hour.

The lady in the next bed to me had asked for a single room on entry but they were all full - she asks again today... but still nothing. EVERYBODY who visits her asks about this single room situation (yes I can hear every word - no choice really) and says how disgusting and disagreeable it is having to share a room... (what am I? chopped meat, I'm thinking to myself...) It does make me feel rather uncomfortable.

And my catheter is driving me crackers... and eventually it's taken out and walks to the toilet are rather painful and annoying having to take the drip on it's wobbly wheely holder. They do accompany you the first time and you are on your own after that. There is an emergency button in the bathroom if you need someone...

Rooms in the Clinique

Just to explain a little about the clinique. You have a choice of rooms (Room charges are here.) - either you share with one other mum or you have a single room with a camping bed, or a room with two beds - either single room daddy can stop over with you. You can also book meals for daddy at an additional charge.

Visiting times at the Clinique St Roch are from mid-day until 9pm. Only 2 visitors at a time allowed (they are very lax about this though). TV and private phone lines can also be rented at reasonable prices (phone line Euro4 a day, plus calls) - the TV in our room hadn't been switched off after the previous occupant. Nobody seems to turn off their mobile phones either... patients or visitors (although signs are everywhere requesting this.)

At the door there is a cleaning solution for people to wash their hands. There is a double door to ensure privacy and quiet.

View from my room

I had a shared room (the last time I had a lovely mum in with me who gave birth the day before me and I learned a lot from watching her and knowing what to expect to happen to me the next day.) If I were to do all this again I would think about this again - more later....

The room has a private bathroom with toilet, small shower with curtain and a sink. At the window side of the room, there was a changing table, cupboards and drawers and a deep baby bath for each mummy / baby - the windows have a sun blind and shutters and we were full on south facing - so it was beautifully sunny and hot - the rooms have also got heating and air conditioning and an additional heater over the baby bath area. There is also a large wardrobe for storeage.

The bedside tables have the phone and switches for the blinds / sunshades / two lots of lights and a call button for the midwife / assistant.

Each day an assistant comes to help you bath the baby and give general advice - they often leave you with the products you need to wash and care for baby, vitamins, bum cream etc.

You need to take your own bottled drinking water with you as well as towels. The gyne will give you a booklet all about the clinique and my midwife gave me a 'virtual tour' before the birth too.

The parking is very difficult - there is a small car park with a gate - which, when it's pretty full is closed and there is a security guard who will only let you in if you are to give birth (or have surgery or something..) The tram is much the best way to get there for visitors - Stade Phillipides for those in Montpellier going to the Clinique St Roch.

The clinique also has a cafeteria - the plat du jour is only Euro5. The reception area has a machine for drinks (hot and cold) and sweets and sandwiches etc.

More coming on the days after the birth...

First Visits

Lifting up Eloise from the cradle with a drip in your arm - not great feeling in your legs and stitches in your belly just isn't funny. And I have to learn to do it, as there won't always be a nurse, midwife or husband at my side for the next 5 days in the clinique. Actually the lifting isn't as bad as the putting down, which seems to put a lot more strain on my poor stomach.

The electric beds are great, takes all the strain out of getting comfortable...

That afternoon French granny brings along the big sister to meet her new baby - Alicia seems more phased at the tubes in my arms and the fact I can't get out of the bed and won't come near me - she is charmed immediately by her little sister though. Presents are exchanged (Alicia gets Lego from her sister and Eloise gets a home-made Doudou.).

Gouter - or 4 o'clock tea time arrives - a cup of tea and 2 biscuits - I'm not allowed any dairy produce - even after I protest I'm English - I need milk in my tea... arrggh... and by the way, I'm starving, when am I coming off this regime leger??

Eloise feeds really well - you fill in a chart at the end of her bed - how many feeds & when her nappy is changed (and what's in it).

During the afternoon the midwife visits me again to massage my stomach to make sure everything is going back into shape - the assistants also come along to wash you 'down there.' I still have the catheter in and drip so no getting out of bed until tomorrow. The catheter is beginning to bother me - I feel like I'm getting cystitis, but the gyne says it's too early to take it out as I can't get to the loo on my own. Oh yes, and the gyne pops back late this evening to make sure all is OK and to check my scar.

I get soup for dinner and some fruit... The clinique also give you a gift of a prettily wrapped basket of fruit too.

Recovery Room after the Birth

I take my book with me to the recovery room - I remember the last time I just couldn't manage to sleep and it was awfully boring there all that time - this time I was just happy to watch people come and go.

On arrival they put blankets over you, stick a heater with a pipe under the blanket and heat you up - quite pleasant really...

A nurse checks me every fifteen minutes asking if I can feel my legs or if I have pain... the time passes quite quickly - I don't know for sure, but I feel I had different drugs this time, I'm much calmer and don't feel in such a rush to get out. The head nurse is very good in reassuring you that you will soon be with your baby.

You get a couple of visits from the mid-wife who comes to feel your stomach and make sure that the uterus is going back to it's normal state - they also check the blood flow. Also, I forgot to mention that you also now have a catheter fitted.

And before you know it you are being wheeled back to the bedroom... where your husband has been sitting with a coffee and a puzzle book for some time... and off he runs to the nursery to fetch the baby back.....and she is delivered along with her carnet de sante and the paper to register her birth at the mairie.

D- Day for the C-Section

I'm woken before 7.30am by a mid-wife bringing in a drip bag stand and the baby monitor - I have to get up straight away and have a shower with the awful yellow stuff again. I change into my dark blue paper nightie with nothing on underneath it and a paper bag for my head. I forgot to mention that last night I was also partially shaved 'down there'.

I have a needle put into my wrist for the drip to be inserted into later and taped into place - this is one of the worst things about the c-section - the drip catches on everything, pulls and is just a pain, well a pain in the wrist for the next few days. Then my husband arrives....

I'm put on the baby monitor for a short while to check baby is well and before I know it, the mid-wife comes to get me - wraps me in a sheet and I walk the few metres to the operating block - where they take off my slippers and put paper slippers on each foot... and we leave my husband there.

I enter the surgery room and am sat on the stainless steel operating table with just a nurse there opening up big paper parcels of surgical instruments. The anaesthetist arrives is very jokey - exactly the same as I remember him 4 years ago. Then there are 2 mid-wives there (I think one was a student) and a young male doctor - By this time I am totally frozen - I've been taken from a sub-tropical bedroom (at least 25C) to what feels like 17C or below... wearing virtually nothing...

They sit me on the edge of the table and I lean against the doctor whilst the epidural is injected into my back (this time it's one injection) - last time as I was in labour and didn't know that a c-section was going to happen the epidural was drip-format that they could top it up. This is uncomfortable but bearable. Before I have chance to put my legs on the table I can't feel below my left knee and I'm helped to lie down. I'm then given a relaxant and a painkiller into my wrist drip. Within minutes I'm numb from the chest down.

The gyne / obstetrician that has followed me throughout this (and the last) pregnancy and birth (also c-section) arrives. My stomach is covered in red stuff and a curtain is pulled up so I can't see what's going on. Then they get to work - within a few minutes my blood pressure drops somewhat and I feel like I'm going to be sick (difficult as I haven't eaten anything..)... I managed to mutter 'vomit' and the anaesthetist makes a witty comment about me hanging onto my haricots and gives me a cardboard bowl - he sees my blood pressure has dropped and gives me some more drugs of somekind.

By this time I feel like I've had 10 gin & tonics and feel very happy indeed. The doctor and my gyne then both push down on my stomach with their full weight, the reason for the c-section is that my baby hasn't descended (no one knows why...) and some strength is needed to push her out... then Eloise arrives - and cries... I get to see her for a quick kiss and she's taken away.

45 minutes of being sewn up (7 layers of disolvable stitches) and idle chatter with the doctors (yes it's a totally bizarre feeling) and listening to Eloise screaming her head off in the room next door (I later find out that she had a lot of mucus in her that they had to suck out). I also ask to see the placenta, which looks just like a large piece of liver....

I'm wheeled out of the surgery and find my husband holding Eloise - they wheel me into a side room (which looks like it's normallyused for storeage) for me to be with Eloise for 10 mins and breast feed her.

As the delivery rooms are all busy, I can't stay with her now - I have to go to the recovery room for 3 hours for monitoring which is really sad but unavoidable.
Eloise goes to the nursery and husband goes back to my bedroom to wait for me. It's not even 0930hrs...

Checking into the Clinique

We have to check in at the Clinique St Roch by 1730hrs today. We're taken into the office in the reception area where we hand over a copy of my ID, an attestation from the CPAM and a copy of my mutuelle. We requested a few months ago a shared room (I like to chat to another mum when I'm in hospital) and a telephone line - I'm not bothered about having a TV rental. I'm allocated my room number. The lady declared us very easy, as 99pc of people want single rooms and there aren't enough to go around.... The phone line rental is Euro4 a day... plus cost of calls.

Then we are taken to the birthing room, where I have a urine test, a blood test, a visit from the anesthetist and at least 5 forms filled out by the mid-wife.The baby is monitored during all of this.

I'm given a bottle of antiseptic soap and some gauze strips (to wash myself all over tonight and then again tomorrow morning. I have to be up and showered tomorrow by 7.30am. (at this point I become rather confused as she tells me to use the gauze strips to wash myself as my own flannel will become yellow if I use it... at this point I'm worried I'm going to turn yellow all over and does she really mean I have to wash my hair in this stuff?)

Into the room and unpacked by 9pm - and they let me have some dinner.. which I didn't check until too late and then I realise they've given me fish - yuck - so I just eat the veg and pud and then feel absolutely famished all night - especially as I'm very pregnant and feel like I could eat a horse at any moment.

I'm sharing a room with a lady who had her baby boy by c-section that morning.. she's having problems with breast feeding and she's getting lots of help. All for tonight.

Packing List for the clinique

Taken from the clinique's little book:

For the birthing room:

For you:

• A short cotton t-shirt or a pyjama top with short sleeves
• Sanitary towels (night time ones)
• Paper pants (large size)
  
• Water spray (like Evian or something like that)

For the baby:

• A towel and a flannel
  
• A cotton body / vest
  
• A wool cardigan (even in Summer)
• Pyjamas
• Socks
• Nappy
• A blanket to wrap him / her in (I added this after they wrapped Alicia in a towel to meet me for the first time...)

For your stay:

• Your wash bag with gynecological soap
• Towels and a flannel
• Slippers
• Nightie or Pyjamas
• Dressing gown
  
• Sanitary towels
  
• Paper pants
• Hairdryer
• Bottled water (I added this, as they do sell it in the vending machines, but it's very expensive.)
  

For breastfeeding mums:

• Clothes that open at the front
• Cream for your nipples (order some Lansinoh from the chemist - expensive but worth it)
• Breastfeeding bra
• Breast Pads to go into your bra in case of leaks

For the baby:

• A towel for each day
• A cotton body/ vest for each day
• A wood Cardi for each day
• Pyjamas for each day
• Socks for each day
• Nappies
• A sleeping bag (they supply sheets and blankets which I preferred to use, as if baby throws up during your stay on your one (or two sleeping bags) you can't wash it - they do replace their sheets anytime you ask them though.

Last Visit to Gyne?

My final visit to the gyne today - we think.

He does an internal examination, checks my blood pressure which is normally 11 and today is 13.5! and measures my stomach - pronouncing that it's going to be a beau baby!

He ponders about a 'radio' / x-ray on my pelvis while he is considering whether to do a c-section (like last time as the baby is 'too high') .... but then we go and have another scan. The baby already weighs 3.5kgs (7lbs 7) and he reckons that at the birth she will weigh 3.8kgs (8lbs 4 oz - 'eck it's an elephant not a baby...) at this point he says it's not worth even doing the radio as she is so big - and then comments that a big stomach means a big baby... you saying I'm fat???

So we are booked in for a c-section at 8am on 29th September - going into the clinique at 1730hrs on 28th September and the grandparents have been booked to come down... that is, unless I got pop beforehand.

I've also been booked in for a 'monitoring' on 22nd September at the sage femme in the Polygone.

Euro45 for the visit.

Epidural checkup

Off to the Clinique St Roch today in the middle of Montpellier for my appointment to see the anaesthetist about the epidural.

I got off the tram at the Stade Phillipides - got totally lost with only 5 mins before my appointment was due... I'm waddling and Alicia says she's tired.

After going to the wrong department (and even taking a ticket - it was here last time I was here 4 years ago...) I was redirected and then got signed in very quickly - waited only 5 minutes and was called in before anybody else in the waiting room. The doctor was extremely tanned - wearing scrubs and had a St Christopher around his neck... he asked Alicia her name and introduced himself as Christian. After reading my notes, he took my blood pressure and asked my weight before pregnancy and today and asked if I smoked. He didn't even look at my back. I was out in 5 minutes.

Euro28 thank you very much. They didn't accept carte vitales ... so another brown form.
... and a form to fill in for my husband in case I need someone to switch off the life support machine.

And the big news - I finished packing the hospital bag - after a visit to Kiabi to buy nighties and nursing bras.

Regular Gyne appointment

Into Montpellier today for my gyne appointment - 34 weeks..

The baby is a good weight - I've only gained 1 kilo since the last RDV. The baby is apparently very high and he doesn't think it's going to come out on it's own!

We have another appointment on 15th September to make a decision about whether to let nature take it's course or book a c-section in... depending on the weight and position of the baby. The c-section would be booked for the last week in September - i.e. a week before the normal due date of 5th October, so the baby doesn't get too big.

29th August I'm off to the clinique for the epidural appointment and have a prescription to go to the lab (after 5th September) for more toxoplasmosis tests and a vaginal swab to test for Strep B for the birth.

I asked why the baby wasn't decending as normal (same thing happened with baby no 1) - he said during the last c-section he noticed no malformation of my uterus and it's just one of those things.

Euro45 for the appointment.

Epidural and Clinique

Today I finally get around to filling in the form to book my space at the clinic. Details they want include:

• My name, and contact details, date of birth and so on. As well as my profession and employer.
• My social security number.
• My Mutuelle details.
• Name of my GP
• Name of my gyne / Obst.
• Next of kin details
• and finally whether I want a standard double room to share with bathroom - or a single room with a put-you-up bed for Euro57/ day extra - or a double comfort room with 2 beds (daddy can sleep over) for Euro65 / day extra.

I also call and make an appointment for the end of August for my epidural check up - generally they ask questions on your health and look at your spine....

My next gyne appointment - 19 weeks

Just a normal check up. All is well - he says I've only gained 2 kilos - I think his scales are broke!

I come away with a prescription to go to the lab. for a diabetes test (more on that later) and a toxoplasmosis test.

I also get a prescription for my 2nd and big scan to be taken at the end May / Beg June, I have to go to an expert scanning chappy (the same guy that did the scan when I had my amnio) ..... a bit of paper for me to book an appointment to have a check up for an epidural for the end of August.... and a bit of paper to book me into the clinique... phew!

Euro45 and I'm back home smartish as we are moving home today - I wouldn't have booked a gyne appointment for today normally, but the doctor was off sick on Monday and I got my appointment changed...

The Amnio...

Up at 6am to leave home at 7am (the clinique is awful to get to at rush hour and we can't very well go on the tram today) - the journey finally only takes 35 mins and thankfully we are allowed to park in the clinique's car park.

We are told to be there at 8am for our 8.15am appointment - 15 minutes to queue and do the paperwork. The ask for an attestation from the CPAM (no one told us to take one...) then she saw my carte vitale and said it would be OK... but then the carte vitale wasn't up to date. My husband runs downstairs to the 'borne' to update it - he then runs 4 flights upstairs again (he didn't want to wait for the lift) and we find the bloomin' machine didn't update it.. she promises to hold the papers as long as we bring in an attestation within the week.... She takes a signed authorisation form to saw we agree to the procedure - then Euro50 from us and another CPAM brown form for the actual lab. work required (no idea how much that is) and the carte vitale is to pay for our day room for after the procedure.

We then go back down 4 flights in the lift to the radiology department and are called within a couple of minutes. My husband isn't allowed into the room (apparently too many husbands faint) - my gyne is there and and the radiologist who will scan my tummy at all times.

To cut a long story short - it is over in minutes - it sounds an awful procedure but even without any pain relief - I can actually say it was more painful to have an injection in your arm... it really wasn't that bad.

Then I find that my legs have turned to jelly and I can hardly waddle to the waiting room again. 2 minutes later we are taken in the lift to the day rooms on the 4th floor for our 2 hours of lying down and a cup of tea and a baguette and jam breakfast.

Enroute in the lift with my husband, a nurse and a porter - I burst into tears and then continued to cry for another hour... all the stress of waiting for it I suppose.. but really in the end it wasn't so bad.

Somebody comes into the bed next to me... and then she bursts into tears... obviously it's catching...

We're told by the gyne that I'm meant to do absolutely nothing for 48 hrs... sounds bliss. The gyne will call me in 10 days with the results.

Back to the gyne on 5th May for a routine check up

Preparing for my Amnio - 16 weeks

As I'm the grand old age of 40 (41 when number 2 arrives) I am automatically put forward for an amnio (I can say no if I want to...)... it's the same for anyone over 38yrs in France.

So today we have an appointment at the gyne for a scan to see if there is enough water around the baby for the amnio.

All is well - we even find out that baby will be a girl! So we're on for tomorrow's amnio at the clinique in the middle of Montpellier.

Euro45.00 for the gyne visit.