So I've been pretty slack about posting this month but I have a good reason. We had our beautiful baby girl on November 3rd. A week and a half late and one day before I was scheduled to be induced. So, if the Babe will sleep long enough for me to type this out I'll tell you the birth story.
Wednesday morning I woke up with cramps at 4 am. I had been desperately waiting for any sign that labour was going to begin so I was aware that cramping might be it. But the pain was mild so I went back to sleep.
I had tests scheduled at the hospital that morning to check on Babe before they started my induction on Friday. By seven that morning I was having pains every twenty minutes or so. I called my mom and asked her to drive me to the hospital for my tests in case I was starting labour (I didn't want to be in labour and stuck in traffic).
They first sent me for an ultrasound. Like always the place was packed so I sat in the waiting room for almost an hour. During the wait it was becoming painfully clear (pun intended) that I was in fact starting labour and probably didn't need the tests. But since I had come all the way downtown I figured I'd do the tests just in case. I finally got in for the ultrasound where the tech informed me that my baby would weigh approximately 9 lbs 14 oz! Just what every expectant mom wants to hear.
I then had a non-stress test booked to check on Baby's heart rate etc. It was during this test when the tech informed me that I was in fact in labour and my contractions were about 10 minutes apart.
After my tests I called my mom to pick me up and headed home to meet J and wait for the contractions to be close enough to go back to the hospital. J and I spent the rest of the day watching TV shows, pausing them every seven minutes to ride out the increasingly painful contractions. Meanwhile my good friend was heading over from Vancouver Island to attend the birth.
As the evening progressed it became clear that I was destined to suffer through back labour. Babe had been turned the wrong way for weeks so it wasn't a surprise when the back labour started. I can't explain the pain. It felt like my lower back was going to explode. By midnight the contractions were still somewhat irregular and more than five minutes apart but I was reaching the end of my rope and wanted to be at the hospital where pain relief was an option. We called the midwife and told her we were heading in. Unfortunately she told us that the hospital we had chosen to deliver at was full. I was very disappointed to be going to another hospital but in the end it actually worked out for the best.
We called a cab. We grabbed the bags. We waited for the cab while I moaned in pain. We waited longer. We called the cab company and found out the driver was at the wrong address.
When the cab finally arrived it was obvious that I was in labour and the driver looked tense. To ease the tension I asked him if he had ever delivered a baby in the taxi? With that the driver flew into Formula 1 mode and raced at twice the legal speed limit the rest of the way to the hospital. The ride was almost as scary as the rest of the delivery. I guess he didn't want to deliver my baby.
We got to the hospital sometime after 1 am on Thursday. The rest of the day is a blur. I didn't want to have an epidural so I tried different positions, the shower and the gas. But finally
I caved in and begged for the epidural. By this point I had been in labour for almost 24 hours.
When I got the epidural we asked if it could be stopped if I didn't want it anymore. I was assured that removing the epidural wasn't an option because the body's natural pain relief (adrenaline etc.) would stop once the epidural was administered. Then if the medication was taken away the contractions would be even worse than before.
Once the epidural was working its magic J, my girlfriend and I all rested for a few hours. Now that I couldn't feel the back labour I was able to doze a little and J took a nap on a foamy on the floor. Hours passed and my progress slowed as a result of the epidural. Babe was still in the wrong position and I was warned a couple times that a cesarean was now a possibility.
Around noon on Thursday I was finally dilated the full 10 centimeters and by some miracle Babe had moved into the right position. It was time to start pushing.
I have no concept of time from this point on. I thought that I was only pushing for half an hour or so but I've been told it was closer to three hours. Unfortunately my efforts were going nowhere. Babe was getting more and more cone-headed as her head tried to move down the birth canal but her body stayed put. And her heart rate was dropping during the contractions which at that point were almost back to back.
Just as I was being told that a cesarean was necessary the unthinkable happened. My epidural crapped out and in a matter of seconds I went from pain-free to pain-full! I'm not sure if it truly was more painful than pre-epidural or if it was the shock of being thrown into full back labour so quickly, but whatever the reason it felt ten times worse than before.
Now I had to listen to disclaimers, sign forms and worst of all: sit perfectly still while contracting as the doctor poked and prodded my spine with needles to prepare me for the surgery.
J was allowed in after everything was set up and they were ready to go. The cesarean took about twenty minutes. I was really nervous and my upper body was convulsing from one of the meds they gave me so to keep calm and focused I mostly stared at the clock and listened to the doctors. I know it's a routine surgery for them but I was still amazed by how nonchalant their conversations were. Two women were talking about a friend's jerk boyfriend and a man behind me was on the phone telling someone how to record with his PVR. I was distracted and calmed by listening to them.
And J was great. He comforted me and assured me that everything would be fine.
At 4:23 pm our perfect little girl was lifted up into the air! I only got to see her for a second before she was whisked across the room to be examined and cleaned up. I lay there listening carefully for her cries. I could hear them suctioning her and then faint little whimpers but she never did wail like you see on television.
The cesarean left me feeling like we missed out on a lot. I'm disappointed that the cord wasn't left intact for a couple minutes after her birth and that J didn't get to cut it. We didn't get to cuddle her skin to skin immediately after - she was wrapped in a towel when I got her back and I couldn't hold her without help because my arms were shaking so badly. We have no pictures of the delivery however J did get some of her being cleaned up and dried off. My girlfriend missed the delivery because only the father is allowed in the room during surgery which was disappointing for her and I.
And of course the cesarean sparked a slew of problems afterwards too. My milk was very slow to come in causing nursing problems, weight loss for Babe and subsequent supplementation with formula which made me feel like a failure. My incision was slow to heal and the combination of my need for pain medication longer than usual, Babe's maximum 10 per cent weight loss and the lack of milk meant a longer stay in the hospital.
But despite all of these little disappointments and stresses we were lucky to be blessed with a healthy baby (9 lbs. 3 oz.) and that's all that really matters. I recovered well (after I got off required bed rest for an irritated incision) and it turns out we were lucky to be diverted to the other hospital because it has the best cesarean team and unlike our chosen hospital, the one we were at allowed me to stay with the baby after the operation instead of recovering for a few hours separately - which would have broken my heart and made me very nervous.
So that's how our daughter arrived. Hopefully things will calm down a bit and we'll get into a routine and I will be able to post more regularly.
