Elizabeth's Story

Having fought long and very hard for my elective caesar, Friday 3rd June 2011 couldn't arrive fast enough and it was with great relief that we dropped Megan, Phillip and Nicholas off with the wonderful Viljoen Family a little after 7.30am in order to be at the Princess Royal by 8am sharp.

As with many things in life it was a little bit of a case of hurry up and wait as, although I was originally on the docket for 9am, the birth of twins and two emergency caesars pushed us down the time sheet. Finally a little before 2pm when we were called to the theater and Dr Fooad's professional, friendly manner went along way in relaxing my quite anxious beating heart at this point.

To be honest the feeling was a bit surreal, it is one thing to agree to a caesar when you have been through hours and hours of labour, but quite another to walk calmly into a room, lie down on a bed and know that just behind a sheet there is going to be someone cutting into your stomach to remove your baby....and all this while you are awake. There is no adrenalin pumping and no endorphins in the system and I confess to feeing a bit sick at the thought as I waited for the spinal block to go into place.

Dr Fooad was very quick and efficient and at 2.21pm the Anesthetist nurse was telling Si he could look over the sheet to see our precious bundle take her first breath....she was perfect from the first second and scored 9/10 and 10/10 on her apgars, there was no need for suction and within minutes Si was holding our beautiful daughter so that I could look at her face for the first time.

As with my first three the love was immediate and overwhelming and I thank God for this wonderful gift, our second baby girl, a cherished soul to close the circle of our family.


Retrospectively the elective caesar was the best thing I could have done for me and the care we received from the hospital was second to none. I developed Sinus Tachycardia for no apparent reasn on day two and the number of tests etc conducted (on the NHS) to ensure my health and well being was staggering, there are private medical systems all over the world that could learn a thing or two from the medical staff on this public health system.

A truly wonderful experience from beginning to end.....Welcome to our world little Elizabeth Lynne, may you be blessed by God all the days of your life xxxx

Sunday 29th May 2011

What a week it has been...a real roller coaster of emotions and frustrations, but as I sit typing all is well and looking positive for the immediate future.

On Tuesday just as I was preparing to visit the midwife for my two weekly checkup, our little Titch had a massive anaphalactic shock reaction to a bee sting and literally collapsed in my arms only moments after having been outside playing. To say it was a horrid experience is an understatement but fortunately, as we live very close to the vet, I was able to get her there within 10 minutes and although she stopped breathing in the car on the way they were able to save her life and it was with great relief that I brought her home on Wednesday evening.

Wednesday saw my long awaited appointment with the Head of Obstetrics at the Princess Royal to discuss my ongoing request for an elective c-section. Sadly due to no good obstetric reason (I have had 3 successful natural deliveries before) I was once again declined but due to my "state of mind" was referred to a second consultant to see if I could convince him to go ahead with the procedure.

That appointment took place at the hospital on Saturday morning and the consultant Dr Fooad was so lovely that I couldn't help but like him from the get go. He was patient, understanding, listened to my story, gave me his opinion but ultimately agreed that it was my decision as a woman to choose my birth experience and so signed me off for a c-section on Friday 3rd June.

We are now in the last frantic throws of planning all the logistics around baby's arrival, the excitement in the house is palpable and I am enjoying the experience (which I haven't had before) of knowing exactly when little one is due to arrive (must be the control freak in me lol).

Saturday 21st May 2011

A hugely productive morning spent preparing for baby's arrival. Having moved all the furniture around,the new little one now has a special space all ready for him/her in the corner of our bedroom and Nick has a much better understanding that the baby won't be "sleeping" in Mommy's tummy for much longer but rather in the crib which Daddy has just built. The chest of drawers is all packed with tiny apple green, lemon yellow and lavender blue babygrows and I can honestly say we are totally ready for whatever next week brings.

Friday 20th May 2011

Today was a monumental one in the life of our beautiful Megs....after a very long wait her braces were finally fitted and although at the moment she is in a not inconsiderable amount of pain, we all know it will be worth it and I for one can't wait to see her confidence soar as her teeth are finally rectified.

Wednesday 18th May 2011

Yesterday afternoon at around 1.30pm I was literally dropped to the floor by the most excruciating pain on the left side of my back....in fact if I hadn't been home alone I would have been convinced that someone had walked up and stabbed me in my left kidney. After a very confused (and I am sure distressing) phone call to Si in London he convinced me that I was going to have to contact someone closer to home for help and it was at that point that a number of angels entered my life....

Michelle for agreeing to take Megs for an undefined and unlimited period of time; Rachel for agreeing the same about Phillip. Kirsty for arriving at our home to take me to the hospital and then managing not only Nicholas but her own baby girl Lottie and fielding phone calls from my distraught husband all whilst hanging around a hospital waiting room; Romy for being at my beside and staying with me (complete with holding my vomit bowl) while we waited for Si to get in from London and Kerry for coming into our home with dinner for Si, and taking Nicholas home with her so that Si could come to the hospital to be with me and a huge number of people who started praying the minute they found out I was ill.

I am always totally overwhelmed by these experiences, not only by how quickly things can change but more importantly by how incredibly we are supported by the people in our lives, I know that my parents so far away in South Africa find solace that we have the support group that we do here.

Saturday 14th May 2011

Having seen some of our photos on Facebook recently a friend mentioned that we seem to live the most quintessentially English lifestyle of anyone she knows. I think "Family Robertson" made a decision very early on to embrace our new life and culture and perhaps because we weren't born to it we try to "suck the marrow out of life" as it were and grab hold of every English experience we are offered. A good case in point I guess was the way we chose to spend this afternoon....playing rounders.

Hosted by our friends Romy and Ali at Romy's parents home (which happens to include 22 acres of land thereby providing plenty of space for our antics), I really enjoyed sitting out on a picnic blankets while Si, Meg, Phill and even little Nick Nick joined in with other families hitting the ball around, the sportsmanship was fantastic, the banter and laughter contagious and I don't think there was a single one amongst us who would have missed it for the world.

Summer in England really is the best and more than makes up for the dismal lifestyle between November and February.

Pregnancy number 4

Anyone who has known Si and I a long time will be well aware of the fact that we have always wanted 4 children....well I have been unwavering on that at least, I think there have definitely been times when my dh would have happily settled at a smaller number :0)

8 months ago our dream of conceiving our fourth child finally came true and although I really wouldn't change it for the world this has been without a doubt the hardest pregnancy I have experienced and sadly the more I look back on it the more I realise I really haven't enjoyed even a single minute of.

I have been in almost constant pain since my 5th month (just after the exhaustion started to abate) and am sadly now at the point where I literally have to go upstairs on my hands and knees at night as I can no longer bare weight on my pelvis by this time of the day. Walking more than 50m results in numbness down the front of my right leg and my cyatic nerve is seriously compromised as well.

Basically I am miserable, I sometimes lie on the floor at night (the only place that I can get comfortable) and just cry....I cry for this precious little baby whose mommy has done nothing but moan for months on end, I cry for fear that this pain won't go away once the baby is born, but ABOVE all I cry in absolute gratitude to my AMAZING husband and two older children.

Simon, Megan and Phillip have done just about EVERYTHING for me in recent weeks, they are my hands and feet, they occupy Nicholas for hours on end, Si cooks dinner most nights (after being out of our home for 12 hours every day) and the whole family has just generally gathered around me in the most heartwarming and spectacular way.

When I am feeling strong they support me and do things with me to lift my spirits, but when I am literally unable to get off my bed or chair they accept this as well with a grace and good humour I am not sure that I would process if the roles were reversed.

Thanks you guys, I LOVE and APPRECIATE you more than I think you will ever know xxxxx

Sunday 8th May 2011

After an exceptionally quiet weekend we decided to spend this afternoon as a family at Tilgate Park near Crawley, and what a lovely afternoon it turned out to be.

Tilgate is a green flag park approximately 20mins from our home and offers a spotless adventure playground, acres of cycling trails, a lovely walled garden complete with tea shop and 3 lakes, two of which can be used for fishing. As we ambled along and enjoyed time sitting on the manicured lawns I once again commented to Si that one of the HUGE advantages of living where we do has to be the abundance of stunning stunning park lands and playgrounds we have at our disposal.

This was our first visit to Tilgate and I was blown away by how pretty it is at the moment with many species of flowers I don't even recognise in bloom all over. The leaves on the trees are a vibrant green and after a creamed tea in the sun-drenched walled garden we whiled away a couple of hours cloud watching in the dappled sunlight while Phill climbed trees and Nick ran back and forward enjoying the wide open spaces.

A happy afternoon spent bonding as a family...another diamond for sure :0)

Thursday 5th May 2011

The relationship which has developed between Megs and her cat is really lovely to witness....just when I think she may be becoming complacent with the whole pet ownership idea I capture a moment between them that is so perfect and so special that it makes my heart swell and I KNOW we did the right thing bringing these babies into our home.

Monday 2nd May 2011

Si has lived in England for 3 years today and tomorrow I can start the process of making him a British Citizen...another HUGE milestone for the Robertson family.

Today was the last bank holiday in the UK for a while, and thanks to the Royal Wedding on Friday we have had another amazing 4 day weekend. The Andrew family joined us from Weston-Super-Mare on Saturday afternoon for the weekend and, as always, we had quickly settled into an extremely comfortable routine and it was more like having family in our home than friends.

Sunday we celebrated our new house with South African friends and family from literally all over the country...we spoke a lot of Afrikaans, laughed and reminisced about our roots, enjoyed the sunshine and generally restored all our souls. Days like this can simply not be overrated because as wonderful and special as our English friends are there is something magical about time spent with fellow "Scatterlings"

Today was two back to back photo shoots for first the Andrew and then Viljoen families before clan Robertson settled down to a very lazy afternoon. Sun downers in the early evening with new friends in the neighbourhood completed another perfect weekend

April has certainly been a fabulous month for the us, we seem to have been blessed in so many wonderful ways but most significantly in friendship and at times like this I am literally stunned by the wonderful people we have in our lives!