A couple of people have asked me how we came up with the name for the baby. Easy, C picked it out of a name book (just like he did with K's name). I only get to choose the middle names ;)
Imara is a Swahili girl's name meaning strong or resolute. Elizabeth means God's oath.
I chose Elizabeth for two reasons, first it is my sister's middle name (unfortunately she doesn't like her first name and has already changed it to a variant so that wasn't an option). Second, my sister was named after my grandmother, again Elizabeth being her middle name (Norah being her first and not a popular choice in the 70's as a name for my sister).
"At 6am I woke up and got ready to go to the hospital. After phoning at 6.30am to confirm I could come in for induction, we arrived at around 7.45am. At 8:15am the doctor confirmed there was still no dilation (1 week overdue) and that my cervix wasn't effaced. She applied "gel" and left the hospital. I was to be monitored for 1 hour and then released to come back at 3pm to see how the gel was working.
In the 1 hour I was there, I started having contractions that were about 3 minutes apart. The hospital decided that I wasn't going to be released unless the contractions stopped or slowed down to outside of 5 minutes apart. Well that didn't happen and at 1.00pm I was still there having contractions about 2-3 mins apart. They decided to start setting up a birthing room for me. By the time we got in there (about 2.00pm) the contractions were much stronger and I was 3cm dilated.
After another hour the contractions started to get much stronger to the point where I requested something for the pain. That got them a bit worried so they called in the resident doctor to take a look (now 5cm). They phoned my doctor to ask what I could take for the pain (I didn't have an IV yet) and an IV was approved. When they got back the contractions were pretty strong and I told them I was starting to feel the need to push. They decided to check my dilation and were shocked to discover that I was fully dilated.
They phoned for my doctor to come immediately and started preparing the room for delivery. Luckily one of the other doctors I know from our clinic walked in at that moment (she had just delivery her patient) and took charge with the resident assisting. 4 contractions later (seriously) we had a baby girl. About 5 minutes later my own doctor walked in (oops!). All in all, we were lucky to have a quick delivery (only 2 hrs 15 mins spent in the birthing room - thank goodness).
Unfortunately (as with delivery #1) there were no waters and there was meconium so Imara was whisked away to the nursery for the first 5 hours leaving me babyless until 9.15pm."
A while ago I reported that the Family Records Center in Islington were removing the birth, marriage and death record books as they were to be put online. Unfortunately the project between the Family Records Center and the contractor has now been cancelled by "mutual consent". There have been no comments as to whether a new project will be launched or a new contractor found.
It should be noted that most of these records (1837 to 1983) are already online at FreeBMD or Ancestry. However, these are both private projects and (in theory) could be removed, and in the case of Ancestry become fee based, at any time leaving people without free access to these resources.
Today I'll be at the hospital most of the day, hopefully delivering this baby. In the meantime here's a little something I whipped up last evening for my "All About Me" album.
Mother of 3 and workaholic IT Project Manager, I am dedicated to telling life's stories using words, photos and art. I hope it inspires you to capture a piece of your life. ♥
