Coopers Birth Story - Part 2

In Part 1 of Cooper's birth story, I said that it was a "long" walk down to the delivery room.  It wasn't really that long, and typically a lot of women like to walk around during labour, I think...I've never been able to do it.  I had a contraction on the way down and one right when I got into the delivery room, and then I had to throw up again, so apparently the walk was a bit too long!

So with that, my wanting to move around ended for a bit!  I got into bed and was hooked up to the heartbeat monitors again to keep track of how the baby was doing. 

The contractions were pretty intense.  My midwife was busy setting up the room for the delivery.  It felt like she was doing this forever, apparently a lot goes into setting a room up!  Eventually she asked if I wanted the exercise ball, so I said sure.  They got that for me and I was able to sit on it for awhile and kind of sway.  I think it helped a bit, or at least gave me something to focus on other than the contractions. 

After awhile longer, I took a bathroom break and then got back into bed.  They had put me on antibiotics even though I was GBS negative, but my midwife didn't think I really needed the full 4 hours worth.  So after a little while she checked me and I was at about 7cm so she decided to break my water.  She wanted to wait until the other midwife was there, just in case things progressed quickly.  So she called the backup midwife, and once she arrived they broke my water.

Things didn't move quite as quick as I had hoped.  With Parker when they broke my water, the need to push happened pretty much right away.  This time, the midwife checked me and I was 8cm.  The contractions got really intense, so she checked again....still 8-9cm and I wasn't really feeling the need to push, I just really wanted to since I wanted the pain to stop.  They talked about getting me laughing gas and the other midwife went to get the machine.  It took so long that I never actually got to use it....

I said I felt a slight need to push, but not that badly.  So the midwife said I was 9 cm but that she could hold my cervix back if I wanted to push.  She tried and it was the most painful thing I've ever experienced, so that wasn't going to happen!  After what felt like forever (but was probably half an hour) I could finally push.  The contractions hurt so badly that pushing was really hard.  I think I probably pushed for 3 contractions.  On the third contraction I was kind of like enough is enough I need this baby out of me, so I pushed really hard, and out came a head full of dark hair!  He just kind of hung out there because it had taken all my strength during the last contraction to get him that far.  With the next contraction I was able to push him out the rest of the way.

They immediately put him on my chest.  A few minutes later someone said "so what have we got?"  Oh ya!  What's the sex! They lifted his leg and said "it's a boy!"  I was honestly shocked.  And terrified.  I was so sure it was a girl, and although I'm so happy with a boy I know that having two little boys less than 2 years apart is going to make our lives very hectic. 

Excuse my hair...

After a little while they took him away so that the paediatrician and respiratory therapist could check him out and make sure he was breathing ok, since he was still premature.  But it didn't take long and then they put him back on me.  We had skin to skin for a long time. We tried to nurse and he did latch on briefly.  Parker had no idea how to eat when he was born, so this was very different for me.  Eventually they took him and weighed him and we got the next big shock, 7lbs 1.6oz.  He was huge!  Good thing I didn't go full term!  I was so exhausted by this point I remember thinking that I hoped we could go to our actual room soon because I just wanted to sleep.

I've been lucky to have relatively "easy" labours I think. Overall I'm just so happy that I have been able to deliver my babies the way that I wanted to deliver them despite them being early, and that Cooper is here safe and healthy.  Labour is called labour for a reason.  It definitely isn't easy.  But that baby at the end of it makes it so worth it!

Coopers Birth Story - Part 1

I don't have a picture from this stage of labour, so you get my weekly pic from the night before instead

I have a thing with hearing about births ever since I had Parker.  I like to know all the details because I love how every story is different.  And although there were some similarities between Parker's birth and Cooper's birth, overall they were very different.  Birth stories sometimes sound scary to people who haven't given birth.  Because there is this fear of the unknown.  But they are truly beautiful, regardless of the way that you give birth, whether you need the epidural, or choose to go drug free. Whether your baby is born naturally or by c-section.  It's an amazing experience that is so individual to each person.

Saturday was our 5 year anniversary.  So we dropped Parker off at my parents and went out for supper.  We joked about how I could have a baby on our anniversary, but since it was so late in the day it was unlikely, which was good, because I didn't really want to share our anniversary with a birthday.  We went to the Lancaster Smokehouse, which specializes in smoked meat.  The meal was good and we ate a lot and were very full.

Parker stayed at my parents overnight and Ryan and I went home.  At about 2 in the morning I woke up feeling really sick.  I started to go to the bathroom a lot and eventually was throwing up as well.  I went to the bathroom constantly over the next little bit and between 2 and 10am threw up 6 times.  I wasn't sure if it was a bug or food poisoning.  I did call my midwife at one point just to check in if there was anything special I should be doing.  I didn't know if they would want me on IV if I got too dehydrated.  My midwife is the same one who delivered Parker and she didn't even read the page, she just called me and asked if I was having contractions.  She's so funny, she was only on call for one more day and was hoping that I would have the baby.  

At around 1:45 I was overall feeling better, but noticed that I was a bit crampy.  It was just like light period cramps, and I had been feeling these off and on for awhile, but it seemed more frequent than normal.  So I ran myself a bath to see if they would stop.  Although relaxing, I kept getting them while in the bath.  So I started to time them.  I wasn't even sure that they were contractions because it was so light and not really painful, just uncomfortable.  Over the next little bit they got a bit more painful.  They lasted about 45 seconds and ranged from 3 minutes to 4.5 minutes apart.  I hadn't expected contractions to be that close together so quickly, and my midwife had been concerned that I would have a really fast labour, so I decided to call her again.

My midwife suggested that I come into the hospital to get checked out just because the contractions were so close together and to see if I was just dehydrated.  So we met her at the hospital half an hour labour.  On the way to the hospital, we got behind a bunch of traffic, slow drivers and hit every red light I think, and the contractions were a lot more painful.  Once at the hospital, my midwife set me up on IV in triage and started to monitor my contractions.  The contractions were a lot more painful now and were starting in my back and wrapping around to my belly.  I was 3cm dilated when I arrived.  At first she thought I was in labour.  Then with the IV my contractions spaced out a bit and she thought I was maybe just dehydrated.  After an hour and a half she checked me again and said I was about 4.5 cm, and I was actually in labour.

I was actually kind of happy about this.  I didn't want to be sent home with these painful contractions, and at 36 weeks, 3 days, I was pretty comfortable with having the baby.  Where a lot of people would likely be freaked out, this was over a week longer than I had been pregnant last time, so I kind of knew what to expect and knew that this baby would be a lot better off than Parker was already.

So I was being admitted and started to make the "long" walk down to the delivery room...

Parker's Birth Story: Part 2

Part 1

They brought me into a delivery room and hooked me up to monitors for the babies heartbeat and my contractions since the baby was early.  Which meant that I was stuck in one position for my labour.  The whole things was still pretty unreal to me at this point.

I was asked whether I wanted an epidural and was very conflicted.  I didn't know how long I would be in labour or how bad it would get.  Because we didn't have my GBS swab results back since it was so early, I needed 4 hours of antibiotics before they would break my water.  Because of that, the fact that I was told contractions would get worse, I hadn't slept in 2 nights and I couldn't change positions, I decided to just go for the epidural.  I couldn't believe how instant the relief was.  Life was wonderful and I couldn't feel anything!

Parker kept moving positions, so they were constantly trying to roll me on my side and my back and moving the monitor around so they could pick up the heartbeat.  

It is strange being in labour and not being able to eel it.  My midwife, Isabelle, told me that my contractions had spread out and I was a bit worried that things weren't progressing.  Later on they checked and I was at 7cm.

Finally my antibiotics were done and my water could be broken. However, because my midwife had to do shared care with the doctor, the doctor wouldn't let her break my water, and the doctor was too busy to do it.  WE had to wait an extra hour and a half for the doctor to show up!  After they broke my water, they told Ryan to go get something to eat while he had time.  Ryan messaged my parents just to tell them everything was fine, but not that I was in labour, as we thought it might be a few more hours.  The midwife and nurse kind of traded off taking a dinner break as well.

I could not feel a lot of pressure when I was having contractions.  I messaged Ryan and told him to hurry back right as he walked through the door.  I felt so much pressure with each contraction that Ryan went out into the hall and got the nurse.  I was 10cm!  No wonder I was feeling something.  We were surprised as it had only been about 20 minutes since my water had been broken.

Isabelle told me that extra people had to be there since I was so early.  So we had a nurse, 2 midwives, a doctor and 2 pediatricians waiting for the baby.  Luckily, the doctor let Isabelle do her thing and she just observed.  Isabelle and our awesome nurse Andrea coached me through the whole thing.  They were so encouraging.  Ryan held my hand and was really great too.  They told me to just pretend nobody else was in the room.  

I probably pushed for about half an hour or less.  Luckily, even with the epidural I would really feel when each contraction was happening and knew when to push.  It's amazing how your body just knows what to do.  I touched his head as he was crowning.  That was very weird!  With the epidural I wouldn't say that it hurt, but I could feel it.  

Finally at 6:40, Parker was born.  They handed him to me and he cried before they whisked him away. Ryan cut the cord.  After they checked him out, I got him back for about 5 minutes.  He was having a bit of trouble breathing, but I didn't realize it at the time.  Then they took him down to the nursery to check him out.

He was perfect.  10 fingers, 10 toes.  His breathing turned out to be fine.  I couldn't believe that we had a baby!  And that he was a boy!  I was so sure that it was a girl my entire pregnancy.  I was just so happy that everything was fine.

When Ryan came back from the nursery, we called our families.  Everyone was pretty surprised.  My parents knew we were at the hospital, but didn't think I would actually be having the baby.  Ryan's parents had no idea!

And just like that, a bit sooner than expected, our entire world changed.  Parker is the best thing that I have ever done and I can't wait to watch him grow and see the person that he will become. 

Parker's Birth Story: Part 1

My pregnancy was getting rather uncomfortable but I still wasn't quite ready to be done with it!  Overall I liked being pregnant and I still had lots of things on my to do list to prep for the new baby.

In the middle of the night on Thursday January 23, I woke up with sharp pains right across my lower belly.  They kept me up most of the night, so I was exhausted on Thursday morning.  The pains were very localized to right below my belly, and I figured that I had a UTI or something (thank you google).  However, because I'm a snoop, I knew that my department was holding a surprise shower for me that day, so I had to go to work, I didn't want to screw it up!

I got to work, still having random pains and realized that the shower was in the afternoon, not the morning.  At around 10am I decided to page my midwife.  I had still been having random pains and was a complete emotional mess that morning.  The midwife told me to come into the clinic and she would check me out and that I probably did have  a UTI.  So I told my boss that I would be back in about an hour and a half.

At the midwives, she said it did in fact look like a UTI.  One antibiotic would work better but shouldn't be given within 3 weeks of labour, so she wanted to do a cervical exam to see where I was at.  I was 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. She told me that I could have the baby that weekend or in 4 weeks, but if she had to guess I would definitely have it before 38 weeks.  I figured people walk around 2cm dilated for awhile, so I was probably safe.

Because my blood pressure was high and work had been fairly stressful lately, I decided to go home for the afternoon.  The pain continue and my mom came over and organize my nursery, washed baby clothes and folded my laundry.  

That night, the pain got worse and started radiating around my back and into my belly.  So at about 9:00 I downloaded a contraction timer app and started timing it.  I didn't really think that it was contractions but I thought that I should time it to see if there was a pattern.  They were happening every 6-8 minutes.  I eventually got up from bed to watch a movie and distract myself since I wasn't sleeping anyways.  The contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasted about 45 seconds to a minute.

At around 3am I went to the bathroom and there was a ton of mucusy blood.  So I called my midwife.  At that point Ryan woke up and asked if I was ok.  I told him that he might want to get up because we might be going to the hospital.  When my midwife responded to the page, she said it sounded like I was having my bloody show and was in labour.  While on the phone, contractions let up a bit, so she said to call her back in an hour if they got worse again or call the next morning regardless so that I could update her.

I stuck it out (because I couldn't possibly be in labour at 35 weeks!)  and called her the next morning at around 8:30, still bleeding and still contracting.  She told me to meet her at the hospital at 10:30 so that she could take a look.  

We packed up the bags that I had quickly packed at 3am and headed out.  I told my mom that we were going to the hospital, but would probably be home in a bit.  I told my friend that we would still be coming over for dinner.  At the hospital, the midwife checked me out and said that I was 4cm dilated and definitely in labour.  I was pretty terrified.  I had googled it in the night and knew that 35 week babies typically did fairly well, but I was very concerned about size since I was so small.  Plus I just didn't know what to expect since nobody plans on going into labour at this point, so I just didn't feel ready.  Because the baby was a preemie, the midwife would share care with the doctor.  Which I was happy about because at least my midwife could still be involved.

Stay tuned for Part 2!