Ishmael

Ishmael is my sweetheart and my second eldest.  I married a son of a family friend when Quinton was about eight months old and shortly after became pregnant with Ishmael.  My husband worked out of town and so I spent most of my pregnancy on my own.  When I was 14 weeks pregnant I got a UTI and was ill for a few days but fought it off so I could look after Quinton.  When my husband did come home for the weekend I crashed onto the couch and suddenly got worse.  I was admitted to Hospital for two nights to be treated.

Two weeks before I gave birth to Ishmael I had a bleed and went to the Hospital.  I was sent home but two weeks later I had another bleed and went straight back to the Hospital.  I was lucky enough to have seen a young female Doctor who did not want to take any chances so she decided that I was to be flown to Darwin to give birth.  I was flown up to Darwin an hour later.  When we arrived the bleeding had stopped was when they did an ultra-sound they discovered that there was not enough amniotic fluid and I was induced the following morning.  My labour progressed well, however, when I was pushing the cord was compressing his chest and stopping his heart.  Sirens went off everywhere and people came rushing into the labour room.  Ishmael was vacuumed and had no heart beat.  He quickly came to and was placed on my chest.

Because of severe blood loss they started massaging my stomach to help the uterus contract and stop the bleeding.  It hurt so much that I was screaming and I remember the Doctor say "get that baby off her chest!!!".  The two nurses that were doing it were crying and saying sorry over and over.  I had bruises all over my stomach for two weeks.

Ishmael was only 2.8kgs (and at full term) and I was told that he would be severely mentally and physically disabled.  Today he is in grade one and flourishing.  He is popular and loves school.  He has aspergers so he has a few issues with social interaction but at the same time he can confidently meet new people and play well with others.  It is hard to fully describe what he is like but he does have noticeable difficulties associated with the aspergers.

Ishmael is a charmer.  He is happy to have a chat for hours and loves to make things.  He is forever bringing home robots and space ships that he made out of cereal cartons. His teacher thinks that he is amazing and modestly I agree.  He is hard to reason.  He is very intelligent and although it is hard to get him to concentrate and want to learn something, once we get his attention he learns quickly.  My nan always says that Ishmael was the most beautiful baby she has ever seen and I would agree.  He is a beautiful boy with an amazing smile.  Drives me up the walls some times but would not change him.  He truly is a unique individual.