Molly Joan Ritchie

And so it began on Friday the 14th September @ 7.30 am. I was in pre labour and honestly thought that I would have her Friday night - how wrong I was! I find it difficult to recall exact times and what day it was as it was not a very nice experience for me at all. The midwives at the Angliss were our saviours as I was struggling to work with the pain of the contractions.

With Andrew and Kim both at my side, I officially went into first stage labour on Saturday which equated to 16 hours of proper labour to when she was born. Over the Saturday and the Sunday, I was not progressing so the decision was made for me to be induced on Sunday around 2 pm. Given that I could not mentally cope with the pain, with the advice from the midwives, Andrew and I decided to that I needed an epidural. This was never an option for us but of course now, we do not regret it one bit.

By Sunday night, I was 9 cm dilated and Dr Davenport was confident that she could be delivered with the help of the suction vacuum. Within an hour, it all pretty much turned to shit...... literally! Molly started showing sings of distress, I had a fever and Dr Davenport was called back to try with the suction. After three attempts, he called it quits and ordered the caesarean.

So after my high blood pressure, high temperature and internal bleeding, Molly was finally brought into the world @00:44 am Monday morning. She needed a little bit of help, I was given a quick hold and then Andrew escorted her to the Special Care Nursery. Molly weighed 6lb 15oz (3.1kg) and 50 cm long.

Molly was kept in there for 3 days and I finally had her with me in my room with me on Thursday afternoon.

Since then, Andrew, Molly and I have been very happy and have started our own routine together.

I came home yesterday and Molly is very happy in her new environment. She is so little and cute and reminds me of the fairy tale character Thumbelina.