Your Birth Story

Photos by Kathleen Thorpe

I can't believe you're really here (or that I'm sharing a picture of us right after birth).  You decided to make an early appearance.
 

I started feeling uncomfortable around 1:30 am Monday morning.  Thought I was just having digestive issues...it can come with the territory you know.  Pretty soon I realized it wasn't digestive issues.  Soon there was nothing left in my stomach or the other way and around 4 am I realized that this was probably the real thing.  I tried waking your dad up, telling him I thought I was having contractions.  He woke up enough to ask how close they were.  I told him I wasn't sure; they just seemed to keep coming!  Naturally, he fell back asleep.  

I went back to the other side of the house and focused on contractions for a bit longer.  Then, I called your dad on his cell phone.  That finally got him out of bed since it was in the living room.  He came and rubbed my back for a bit and I told him we'd probably better start packing.  So, he ran around getting stuff I thought I'd need, took a shower, then I took a shower, and around 6:20 we headed over to the hospital.  At this point, things were feeling really uncomfortable.  Dad dropped me off, went to park the car, and returned to find me kneeling on the floor over an ottoman.  Honestly, it was one of the best positions.  Some guy walked by while Dad was gone and wondered if I was okay.  Absolutely; it was so much better than standing or sitting.

After much prompting, he finally got me on the elevator and up to the labor triage nurse.  She gets me hooked up and checks me and is somewhat surprised to find I'm already 6cm dilated.  By the time they got me all checked in and up to Labor and Delivery (approximately 40 minutes) I was at 8 cm.  Keeping in mind, 10 cm is the end goal.  It was all happening quite quick...but it sure didn't feel quick enough!  

Of course, when we checked in we found out that all of our midwives were at a training for the next two days.  So, a very nice doctor who works at the hospital ended up doing the delivery...but to be honest, it's really the Labor and Delivery nurse/s that do the hard work- just don't tell the doctors that!  

Turns out I'm a very internal person...do not touch me when I'm in labor.  I don't want you around and I surely don't want to be touched.  Our friend Kathleen got there around 8:30 ish.  Honestly, didn't do much for me but she was so wonderful for your Dad.  She reminded him to breath and was able to tell him how things were going to go.  Plus, afterwards she took great pictures for us.  So glad she could be there with us...I just didn't want to chat during the fact.

The Labor and Delivery nurse, Brenda, was awesome as well.  Really patient with me.  Asked me what my plan was...ummm...don't know.  Pretty much just want to have a baby.  Finally, she asked if I wanted to get in the tub.  YES!  That was the best plan.  The tub really helped.  When I got out of the tub, she checked me and I was fully dilated and she accidentally broke my water.  What a mess...labor is not a clean sport.  At that point, I was told I could push when my body told me to...since I wasn't on any drugs for pain I was assured I would know.  Let me tell you, you still don't really know until all of sudden and then it's like okay I'm going to push.  At 10:26 am, you joined us.  What a relief.  At that point, I just felt relaxed, happy and done. And, maybe a little hungry :)

You are an 8lbs 8oz 21 inches long bundle of joy.  I've always questioned the sanity of having children, even after I got pregnant.  I'm sure I'll question it again, but for now, you're just the most perfect thing in my life.  And in no way am I upset you came 11 days early...that head was plenty big enough!  Hard to believe we were camping and kayaking over the weekend and giving birth on Monday.  You're a special boy ;)

PS. Dad thought I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions until the triage nurse said I was 6cm dilated...seriously, I knew they were the real thing :)