Our story begins the night before I went into labour and involves food poisoning, many trips to the bathroom, ginger ale and a
very ill husband. I don't think Gordon has thrown up since we've been married (4 years Thursday!) or that I've ever seen him look quite so sick. Green in fact.
Literally green. We kind of joked that I'd go into labour because he had food poisoning and I secretly prayed that it would be a 24 hour bug, juuuuuuust in case.
Joke was on us. Ha-ha.
That morning, exactly one week overdue, my first contraction woke me up at 630. It was that ominous contraction that reminded me of what "real" labour contractions felt like. That deep-down-saturate-your-tissues type of pain. I thought to myself that sure felt like a real one. Because I had so many bouts of false labour, I stayed in bed and tried to go back to sleep but contractions were every 7-8 minutes and each one was bringing back vivid memories of labour with Isaac. After about 45 minutes, I figured I get up and shower, pack the last few things in the hospital bag and let Gordon go to bed since he spent most of the night running between the couch and bathroom.
To be perfectly honest, I had thought things would go quicker and maybe we'd be going to the hospital late morning. But I also didn't want to go to triage three different times like I did with Isaac to only be told I was 2 cm and sent away. Now that I knew how bad the contractions could get I planned on going shortly before I wanted an epidural. I didn't know how I'd work that, but it was my plan. I also had an OB appointment at 340 that afternoon so if nothing else, I knew that she would at least check me and save me a possibly wasted trip to the hospital if I wasn't more than 2-3cm.
I kept busy at home, vacuumed, did laundry. All the bits and pieces I wanted done before I had this baby. Call me crazy, but one of the first things I thought of when I realized this was probably "the day", was I need to vacuum and do this laundry haha. I had contractions 5-10 minutes apart until about 130 in the afternoon and by then I figured I could make it to my OB appointment. Gordon was still pretty ill and I wondered how he was going to hold up once stuff really started happening. I also thought about how funny of a story it would be eventually...me in labour, him puking the whole time....
The contractions came 5-6 minutes apart all the way up until my appointment. Gordon took me, just in case I was in labour and they sent me to the hospital right away, but he stayed in the car and tried not to gross out any random passersby by puking. I had a couple good contractions in the office but I closed me eyes, took deep breaths, and mentally relaxed every part of my body. I didn't want to scare all the other preggers there. I told one of the assistants taking my blood pressure that I was pretty sure I was in labour, and when she was taking me back to the room she said to the OB "She thinks she's in labour, but she looks pretty calm for someone who's in labour". I said "I better be in labour".
Once the OB, (my regular OB was away) came in to examine me, I kept having flashbacks of being stuck at 2cm with Isaac and was just praying that after 9 hours of regular contractions that I was more than that.
"You're a good 5 cm. You should go to the hospital now."
"I love you".
Haha I totally told her I loved her. I'm also pretty sure the Allelujah chorus went off in my head when she said that. No triage for me!
"I'll call caseroom and tell them you're on your way. Do you want an epidural?"
"Oh yes please."
I told Gordon it was go time and called the parents to let them know it was finally time. I was admitted at 430pm and was 6 cm by that time. My nurse started getting everything organized for my epidural right away which was great because my contractions started coming every 3-4 minutes at about 5pm and started to be a lot more intense. The kind where I started to find it hard to relax during them. Gordon was using my bathroom to throw up, and I think my nurse was more concerned about him than me haha! I was too actually and felt like he should be in the bed hooked up to the IV and not me. Poor guy could barely get out of the chair.
By 530, I had my epidural and was starting to get comfy again. I told Gordon to get some rest and I tried to do the same. The OB who checked me in the office, also happened to be on for that night, and having done my final nursing preceptorship on that unit, I knew she had tremendous respect from the nurses and that she was knowledgeable but also had great bedside manner. I was extremely happy she'd be delivering.
She was happy to let me progress naturally and let me rest before she broke my water, which happened at 745 pm. By then I had been in labour 13 hours, 6 hours of active labour, so I was ready to get the ball rolling and have this baby. I was 8cm when they broke my water and by 820pm I started to feel pressure with every contraction, and my nurse told me I was fully dilated. With Isaac, my epidural was so strong that I was numb almost to my neck and I couldn't feel a thing. This time my epidural was a lot more conservative and really let me feel the contraction without being in pain. I started pushing at 830. Gordon tried to help me for several pushes by holding my head, but after a full 24 hours of not being able to keep anything down and being severely dehydrated it all he could do to not be sick and had to sit down.
It felt like my epidural was wearing off quickly at that point and the pressure was growing quickly. It seemed like the contractions were on top of each other, maybe only 15-30 seconds of rest in between each one. I was feeling such intense pressure it was actually causing pain, but luckily I didn't have to feel the pain of everything stretching or tearing. My nurse was a slave driver. With every contraction I was giving a good 4 or 5 pushes and every ounce of strength that I had was focused into moving baby girl. I pushed for 2.5 hours with Isaac and had no intention of pushing that long again. After about half an hour I was almost shaking because of the pressure with every contraction, and started offering up a silent prayer in between each one for strength to keep going. Gordon kept telling me how great I was doing and how he could see her head with every push.
The nurse instructed me to stop pushing because I was super close and the OB was in doing a delivery across the hall. Some poor woman screaming down the house...like I would have been without my epidural. I remember having patients that weren't allowed to push and we'd tell them to "puh puh puh" away their contractions so that's what I started doing. After a few minutes my nurse said I could try little pushes, but one little push and she told me I'd have to wait for the OB because she would come too quickly.
So.... the intern came into the room to gown up first, then the OB followed. I told her I'd really appreciate if I didn't have to get an episiotomy (PTSD from Isaac) so she stretched me a bit and I resumed pushing. Within two more contractions, they (OB, nurse, intern) simultaneously yelled "Stop" at me because her head was delivered and she was all wrapped up in her cord. After untangling her the rest of her tiny body was born at 915 pm after 15 hours since my first contraction, 7.5 hours of active labour and 45 minutes of pushing. She cried immediately and was placed right on my chest. I looked into her eyes and knew she was mine, all 6lbs and 21 inches, straight from heaven.
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| Proud daddy |
My labour couldn't have been anymore different than with Isaac. I felt completely calm and in control this time around. I was definitely blessed with strength from the Lord to do what I needed to do, especially since I did do most of it on my own, through no fault of Gordon's. I know he wishes he could have been just as involved as he was with Isaac's delivery.
We still hadn't decided on a name although we had 4 that we liked: Mia, Arya, Chloe and Charlotte. I was kinda set on Charlotte, but after looking at her I realized she didn't look like a Charlotte. She was Mia. The middle name I had struggled with a bit because I wanted her to be named after my family since Isaac's middle name is after Gordon and Gordon's grandad. The problem was I didn't really like any of the names of people I'd name her after and didn't want to name her after someone I'd never met before. So I had to get a bit creative. My mum was born and raised in Bristol, England and that's where my granny and grampy lived. They were loving, wonderful grandparents and most of my memories of them occurred there. Albeit unconventional, I feel like her name pays homage to several people who I love with all my heart.
She's a wonderfully content and laid back baby (complete opposite of Isaac) who takes a lot of abuse from her big brother (but he's slowly warming up to her!). We love her so much and can't imagine our lives without her.
