Alfie Jack... the little fighter

If yesterday is anything to go by we have learnt two important things nothing in life seems to quite turn out like you want it to and birthing plans aren't worth the paper they are written on.

Beth's waters broke at home on Wednesday (this was a trickle... the Tsunami flood came later!) We went into hospital expecting to be sent home again. However labour was in motion and Beth soon settled into a nice pattern of contractions refusing gas and air. As the afternoon became night and Beth became more and more pickled (she was in the bath!) delivery seemed only moments away, there was lots of activity people running here and there... 15 hours later Beth was still pushing. This was the most heart breaking 15 hours of my life watching Beth go through it, I can only guess what it must have been like for her. I had to beg her to get some pain relief, she really is one in a million.

Come Thursday afternoon and after more pushes Alfie started to show signs of distress and so we were rushed to what we thought would be a routine Cesar section. They wanted to try a normal birth more more time so they used forceps to ease him out. It was during this that Alfie stopped breathing. After delivery a lifeless Alfie was rushed to the side and resuscitated, while he had a strong heartbeat throughout he did not take his first breath until 8 Min's after birth. He was then rushed to intensive care where he was ventilated.

We then went back to the ward so that Beth could recover, she had really been through it. As the evening progressed we started to learn of Alfie's recovery and were soon taken to the SCBU unit to see him. He had recovered nicely and was breathing well for himself.

Although it is very early days at the moment, (the next 48 hours are fairly critical) the signs are very promising. What a fighter ... and at 9lb 10oz he's certainly in the heavy weight division!

I'm not a particularly religious person but pray, hope, keep your fingers crossed do what ever you have to do....