Premature Birth & Beyond Part 1

A journey through premature birth and beyond 

4 years ago today i gave birth to my miracle baby, all babies are miracles but this one had broken all the rules. 

Reflecting on this journey is something i don’t do often because it was one of the hardest times of my life. But every year Leading up to Bella’s birthday I find myself taking a walk down memory lane and it’s always an emotional one.

I was going to tell this story all in one blog post however as i started typing i realised it definitely needs to be divided into two and as i get into it you will understand why.

The honest truth is  I'm not initially sure how I conceived Bella (excluding the obvious). After having my first born (Zavier) I didn’t think I would ever be able to have another child the risks were too high and the chances of conceiving even higher. My menstrual cycle pretty much stopped completely from the age of 23. 

So this doesn’t turn into a novel I'll do a condensed version. When I found out I was pregnant I was really excited but also a little scared because of the risks involved for both of us. The first trimester was great my own health was as good as could be expected. I had a great team on consultants watching over us both, all the prevention measures that could be taken were taken, Zavier was so excited and I thought finally things would be smooth sailing! ( how wrong was I.) 

It was a Sunday night in October, I was just 20 weeks  I woke in the middle of the night I was cramping it wasn’t right so I rang my mum, who was in Australia around 1am for me 9 am for her. I explained to her that I felt like I was having contractions or something it was uncomfortable and odd, she said just keep an eye on how often they are coming and try and go back to sleep, I couldn’t sleep so I listened to some music thinking hopefully it was just Braxton Hicks. After 2 hours had gone by and several updates with my mum I decided to ring the maternity ward! The cramping was getting closer together I decided to call the hospital they advised me to come straight in, the drive in was hard I had a horrible gut feeling. I was examined and told I was having small contractions but it was probably wind (seriously) anyway I was due to have my 20 week scan there in less than 6 hours so they sent me home (which was a good 1-2hr drive) i was under a specialised hospital because of my condition.

The next 6 hours were intense the cramping increased I was exhausted no sleep and contractions every 7-8min when I finally got in the ultrasound room there were two specialists I wasn’t laid on the bed for more than 10min when the consultant started to get worried and requested I be admitted immediately to the labour ward. It was scary I was advised 48 hours that their wasn’t much they could do my baby could be given its last rights as they had given me everything they could to try and stop the contractions. At 72 hours I was moved to a big room at the back of the labor ward it was private and spacious I had the most amazing team. By day 5/6 I started to feel hope I kept saying to my baby I will fight every step of the way with you but if you need to go to heave I understand I pulled from all my beliefs (I had my late grandmas Rosary beads hanging next to me or on my belly at all times as they were the same beads I had with me during my sons birthday his dad held them the whole way through that C-section. 

The fortunate part was I was only a few cm dilatated which gave me optimist hope. I remember late one night my nurse said to me you only have to get to 22+ a few and they will do all they can to help your baby I knew if it came before then their was nothing they could do and at the time I really didn’t agree and couldn’t comprehend why. By day 7 I wasn’t in a good way I was hooked up to so many different drugs to keep me going I was exhausted and the contractions didn’t ease ever 5-8min. Around this time a call was made to a specialised hospital asking what could they do ? We fought the odds and they really wanted to help me. That night a trial drug was given to me I didn’t really ask to many questions i just prayed and had faith in my team. 

Something started to shift the contractions slowed down and by day 11 they had stopped i was so physically and emotionally exhausted but also so very grateful.

When I went into the hospital at 20 weeks I did not look pregnant at all and during my time there I was on compete bed rest so I was absolutely delighted when I got dressed ready to leave the hospital and looked in the mirror and my little tummy had popped. My baby was showing me she was fighting and had no intention of giving in.  

Fun fact- I was actually landed a feature role on The Crown the same week that I found out i was pregnant. I can vividly remember the fear that I wouldn't be able to filming the crown because well my character wasn't pregnant however the producers of the Crown were amazing and I got to film as much as I could which was incredible and this photo was taken when I was 17 weeks pregnant. It was really hard to find photos for this chapter as I really didn't take many but don't worry that all changed for part 2 and beyond.

Don’t forget to subscribe for Part 2 it gets well worse the journey had only just begun.

 

xoxo 

Sacha Lee

 

On set for The Crown 17 weeks pregnant.

 

 

My 20 week scan taken in active labour.