Hi all! I've missed WB and all of you more than you can imagine! So much was missing at such a happy moment, when I couldn't share it with you and share in everyone else's news too.
Anyways, at last I get to share Christopher's Birth Story
!
As all the dates that I expected him to arrive on came and went I got a bit down. Waiting seemed endless and like he was never coming. My blood pressure was high, but the OB's didn't seem concerned with a week to go. I figured I was going to be overdue, as I believed that very few babies ever arrive on D Day!
At 3am on his due date December 10th 2008, my water broke in bed. Some how I knew it would happen in bed again! LOL! I'd gone to bed (I don't say sleep, as at that point with the belly, severly swollen legs and feet-I could barely walk at all let alone sleep. I was wearing DH's shoes when I had to go out! LOL!) about 12 or 12:30am, rising for usual nightly pit stops aabout every hour. Such fun
! Somewhere betwen my last bathroom trip and 3am things got started to my surprise. I had finally fallen back to sleep when I felt a sudden gush of water, just like with DD. I jumped up grabbed the towel I had waiting for the moment, wrapped it like a diaper
and started the trail of water from the bedroom to the bathroom! LOL! I cleaned up in the bathroom and checked to see if the fluid was clear. It seems like you spend so much time checking and wiping when you start TTC, get PG and wait for labour! LOL! Thankfully it was clear. I headed out to find DH in the living room sitting at TOW-"The Other Women" aka his computer. It was after 3am and hadn't even gone to bed yet and I had to tell him my water had broken and he may not be getting any sleep today. So I told him and he was so calm. He matter of factly said, "Okay". He asked if was having any contractions yet. I'd felt different but wasn't sure if I was contracting yet.Well that was short lived! LOL! Within 10minutes I was having contractions. They were irratic again like the were when I was in labour with Ky. They were anywhere from 7 minutes to just over 4 minutes apart during the first 30 minutes of timing them. That made me uneasy since we don't live close to the hospital (Credit Valley). I continued to leak amniotic fluid and it seemed like I must have Niagara Falls for fluid! Then bloody show started. By 4am Ky woke up as she heard us discussing what to do and we decided after calling the hospital we should just go. I called my Mum to let her know what was happening. Then we called my brother to let him know I was in labour and that he should come pick us up. Neither DH or I drive.
Though L & D suggested I stay home until contractions were regular, I trusted my instincts since I'd this happen before with DD and went to the hospital. I'm glad we did because things went faster then we expected.
My brother came and picked us up. I had some good contractions in the van on the way. Then we dropped of Ky and picked up my Dad who decided to come keep us company while my Mum and DD went back to sleep and wait for news. We got to Credit Valley Hospitalby 5am, just as I was having a really strong contraction and a huge gush of fluid. Thank goodness we were there! They were abit busy in L & D, so we had to wait in the hall abit. At about 5:20am they took me & DH in to the assessment area, and my Dad to the waiting area. I got into a gown and they hooked me up to a fetal monitor to check my contractions and decide whether to keep me or send me home. My blood pressure was still up. I was sure I wasn't going home any time soon now that the contractions were getting strong and fast. I was a wee bit nauseous, but okay for the most part. I told her I wanted to this naturally again and she was really impressed, that I'd done it the first time and wanted too agsin.
By about 6am my blood pressure was still high. My nurse, Michelle said, "I'm pretty sure we're keeping you with those contractions! And your 2cms". They were still irratic but strong and anywhere from 6 minutes to just over 3minutes. So she got my drinking fluids. Unfortunately they were out of apple juice so I had orange juice which isn't a favourite of mine. Big mistake, it made me feel soooo sick. Then at 7am she wanted us to walk for an hour to help things really get going and have a light breakfast downstairs and come back for them to check contractions and dilation.
Walking was something I really wanted to do this time to help labour, so I was happy about that until I started walking! The contractions were getting quite intense, I was very nauseous and walking the halls was waaaaay harder & more painful then i had expected it to be
. DH and I walke for about 15 minutes, with me hugging the rails most of the time. I swear I wanted to bang my head against the walls while I held the rails! LOL! We'd hoped that I'd feel well enough for a bagel, but that didn't happen. So, I sent DH off to eat while my Dad would walk the halls with me. Poor guy, he was supposed to make sure I kept walking, but by 7:30am Iwas just dying. The orange juice was just turning over and over in my stomach. It was an awful feeling. I tried to keep moving, but soon begged Dad to let me sit for a minute in the waiting area. I tried to hold back the tears from him. I said to him I didn't know how I was going to make it.
Then I got the runs too, it was just awful. I gave up walking to throw up. I went back to L & D and lived in the washroom for 10minutes. DH came back and panicked when he couldn't find me in assessmen. We happened to walk into each other while he was looking for me as I tried to get back to bed.
DH was now getting extremley tired. He got really upset because he wasn't sure how he was going to last. He didn't want to be upset, grumpy an tired, but mostly unable to enjoy the birth of his first child. Though I told him it was fine for him to rest he really wanted to be with me and wouldn't. Thankfully he got some energy again and he was fine.
At the 9am, shiftchange I got another nurse named Jessica who was also PG. She was impressed to hear that I planned on doing this naturally too. I was beginning to realize my strong desire for no epi was going out the window as things got more painful and my bloodpressure still stayed up. Not dangerously high, but abit of an issue. My OB was in L & D that day-YAY! She checked me and she agreed with, my new nurse Jessica that I was only 1cm
. I balled
at the news as I figured I was so much farther along with all the pain.
At 10:30am Dr.Corby started talking about trying Pitocin and then an Epi to help my body relax through the intense and irratic contractions I was having and get things moving. She said this could go on all night because I was so tense from the pain that my body couldn't do it's job properly and dilate. Plus with a 10 year gap between pregnancies this was like starting from scratch. She didn't push, but thought it was the best thing. We were left to decide, and in an hour they would check to see if anything had changed.
At 11am I was only 1 1/2cms. I lost it and really balled when Jessica told me. Poor DH and the nurse, I was so upset and inconsolable. I never, ever wanted to consider an Epi and here I was. Jessica sat down and hugged me, Dh held my hand, wiping my tears. She talked with us about our options and was totally supportive of whatever I wanted to do. Though she did think at this stage an Epi would help immensely and get this baby here.
I really felt like screaming with all the pain and a 3 different monitors pressing into my belly making everything even worse. I was totally PO'd at this stage with how this was going. When I started swearing and feeling angry, which I didn't do the first time, that it was time to consider the Epi and get our son here soon. An Epi it would be. I was still absolutely petrified at the thought. I know of several people who had problems with it and I was scared I might be another. I had always, always sworn I'd never do it if I had the choice and here I was just the same.
It was decide that I was okay to have it and it was just waiting for my turn to get it done. They wouldn't allow DH to stay which made me more upset and scared. I cried when they said he couldn't stay with me. Jessica was great, I think she understood my feelings, being PG herself and she was terrific. So at about 12noon after about 9hours of labour I got the Epi. I had a heck of a time curling up into a ball with all the pain I was in. Jessica just got me in the position and held me while the freezing was being done and then thethe actual tube etc being put in. I'm a total wuss when it comes to needles and it actually wasn't bad at all, except curling into a ball-that was horrible! It was actually far worse then the needles, incision and insertion. That was a big surprise to me. A few friends said they found that to be the worst part of it as well.
I instantly felt relief. So I could only feel pressure and very little pain. In 15minutes my body started doing what it had been trying to do. My nurse came back in to tell us they were monitoring me at the nurses station and they couldn't believe how great I was doing without Pitocin and within minutes of the Epi. Dr.Corby watched and said, "See I told you Pitocin would do the trick!" Then Jessica told her that I didn't take the Pitocin after all, just the Epi. She was shocked apparently that my body was contracting so well without the help of Pitocin. It seems it's rare for people to contract they way I was without help. After that I had about 5 other nurses come in one by one to tell me the same thing, they couldn't believe that my body was doing so well once I was relaxed. Apparently my contractions were out of this world. They just wanted to cheer me on, and it helped.
Poor Dad was still waiting. He went away for awhile and came back. DH was so exhausted from no sleep. He was amazing still. I kept telling him to try to rest, but he didn't want to sleep while I was labouring. Some how he got a second wind. Feeding me ice and water, holding my hand, encouraging me. After awhile on the Epi i got to 3cms and things were going well I convinced him to at least rest in the rocking chair in the birthing suite, and I would watch a "A Baby Story" to pass the time and maybe get a few winks myself. Thankfully he got about 2 hours rest which helped abit.
Not much happened until even the Epi couldn't block all the pain, still it was mostly just pressure late in the afternoon/ early evening. Shiftchange occured and Michelle my first nurse was back and unfortunstely my OB Dr.Corby's shift was over too. I was disappointed my doctor wouldn't be delivering the baby. Jessica was so sorry the baby hadn't been born before she had to leave. She had even stayed awhile longer hoping. Then later in the evening as I could started to feel more, I was beginning to feel like I was going to want to push soon. Finally I was fully dilated. So, Michelle started to get the room ready, DH went to tell my poor Dad who had been waiting all day, coming & going during the day waiting for the news. Dr. Tigert was called to do a C-section, so we'd start without him.
Michelle pulled the bed apart, set up the stirrups. She and DH helped meget into the stirrups to get started to push. I started out on my back for abit and then Michelle suggested turning onto my rightside. That was much better, as I was exhaust at this stage, having only 2 hours sleep myself. DH and Michelle helped me breath and push. I barely had the energy to hold my legs while I pushed. I actually said I didn't think I could do it after a while, but they wouldn't let me quit. Soon 2 more nurses arrived to help Michelle and tell her Dr.Tigert was finishing the C-section and yo wait for him. Michelle, DH and I looked at each other and said we're not waiting!
Dr.Tigert arrived jumped into a gown just when we thought he was going to miss the birth! He said, "We need to get this little guy out! I'm going to give you a little help" With that he moved abit of the lip of my cervix that was still on the baby's head. Funny that happened the first time around as well. I guess I have a stubborn cervix! LOL! Two good pushes and there he was out and squirming! I was crying and happy. So relieved that it was over and he was here atlast. DH was laughing and crying! They placed him on my chest his eyes were open and already so alert. It was incredible!
They checked him over after we bonded briefly. We couldn't believe how big he was! We were really surprised. We had a long wait until my room was ready so we just got acquainted with our son.
We named him Christopher Justin Holden, he weighed 8lbs. 3ozs. and was 19 3/4 inches. He had a head full of dark hair. He was just adorable!
Thanks for reading!