I have always enjoyed reading birth stories and dreamed of the day when I could have this incredible experience for myself. While it is the most pain I have ever experienced in my life, it was also the most amazing feeling, knowing that my body was made for this.
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Monday, March 6 was my due date, and it came
and went with no signs of labour. I went through the week thinking each day could
be, “the day”, with several Dr.’s appointments and still no progress beyond 1cm
dilated and a softened cervix. I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, March
14 if nothing happened over the weekend.
Friday, March 10 my husband and I had a day
date knowing that it may be one of the last days we had left just the two of
us. I felt good, and enjoyed being out indulging in delicious food and spending time together.
Saturday, March 11 was my 30th
birthday and it started at 5am with the first twinge of real contractions. I
had been having consistent Braxton-Hick contractions through the week, so I
could tell that this was different. I spent the day in some discomfort but it was
brief and manageable. We had plans to spend the evening with my family to
celebrate my birthday, so we continued as usual. While we were out the
contractions were intensifying! I would try and bear the pain silently, but my
mom (having her maternal instincts) could tell that I was struggling to stay
comfortable. We cut the night short, and almost immediately after getting home,
around 9pm, I had the first really strong contraction. They continued to be
consistent every hour through the night, then every 45 minutes by early
morning. I had the urge to pee after every contraction, so was able to notice
the passing of the mucus plug, and thought that surely my water would break
shortly after (which it did not).
Sunday (March 12) was such a hard day, as the
contractions were getting longer and more intense, but were still only every 30
minutes. The only way I could get through a contraction was to be hunched over,
either standing or on my knees. I would try to rest in between contractions,
but then would have to get “into position” as I felt the next surge of pain
come over me. At one point I was on the floor on my hands and knees in such
agony, and I just cried after the contraction was over, not knowing how I could
get through the next one. My husband was slightly panicked, wondering if we
should go to the hospital or how he could help relieve the pain.
By 6:00pm the contractions were 15-12 minutes
apart, and I was beginning to feel like it was going to take days for them to
get any closer together. I knew that I was supposed
to wait to go to the hospital until they were 5 minutes apart, but by 7:30pm
they were 10 minutes apart and I didn’t know how much longer I could labour at
home. We decided to go to the hospital, bags and carseat in tow just in case I
was far enough along that we could stay.
Once we got to the hospital, I was put into a triage room so they could
check my progress and monitor my contractions. I was only 2cm dilated! and the
contractions were still every 10 minutes. We were told to try and wait until
the contractions were closer together, but if they were too painful to manage
at home, or my water broke, then we were to come back.
Around 12:30pm the contractions were starting
to hit their peak and were lasting over a minute each. I wanted to try and wait
as long as possible to go back to the hospital to be sure I would be admitted
and not sent home again. The contractions weren’t getting any closer than 6-7
minutes apart, but were unbearable! I called the hospital and they said to come
in and I’d have to get checked again to see if I could stay.
The drive there was agonizing! As I said
before, the only way I could get through a contraction was if I was hunched
over somehow, so sitting upright in a car was horrible! Thankfully it was 4:30am
so there was no traffic and it only took us 17 minutes to get to the hospital. Apparently the main doors to the labour &
delivery unit are locked during the night and early hours, so we had to park at
the Emergency department and literally go through the entire hospital to get
there. The nurse in the ER could tell I wouldn’t be able to walk there so she
gave us a wheel chair that I could be wheeled in (thank goodness!). By the time we got to the L&D unit, my
contractions were 5 minutes apart, and I was in obvious pain, so they admitted
me without an exam and I was put directly into a birthing room.
It’s funny how you have things planned in your
mind ahead of time as to how things will go, but until the time comes, you
really never know what will happen. During my pregnancy and while planning my
ideal birthing scenario, I had imagined that I would be laboring at the
hospital for quite some time. I wanted to use hydrotherapy as long as possible
and nitrous oxide gas when the pain got worse. I wasn’t sure if I wanted an
epidural or not, but would make that decision when the time came. That was the
plan…
So the real life version is that once I was
admitted, I was 5cm dilated, hadn’t slept for two days, and was in an
unbearable amount of pain during the contractions. The nurses advised me that I
needed to get some rest before the delivery, and that the anesthesiologist was
next door finishing an epidural and then would be leaving the ward. Basically
it was now, or possibly have to wait hours until the next Dr. came on shift. My
husband (knowing how long I had already been enduring the pain) encouraged me to get it while I had the opportunity. Soon after, I was
being prepped, and the Dr. came in for the procedure. I sat there, legs hanging
over the side of the bed, slumped shoulders as directed, and still in the
middle of contractions. I had always heard that the needle was giant and it
hurt like a b*tch, so I braced myself for what was to come. Turns out, the
freezing was the worst part, as they have to freeze quite a large area on your
back before the epidural. So after several pokes and contractions later, it was
done.
I started to feel some relief almost
immediately, though the medication was working much faster on the right side than
the left, so I was still feeling twinges of pain on the left. They rolled me
onto my side to even out the distribution, and for the first time in two days,
I felt my body relax. I was both physically and mentally exhausted, and in that
moment I knew it was the right decision.
For the next several hours, I tried to sleep,
but my mind wouldn’t turn off. I kept thinking about what was ahead of us – the
delivery. Thankfully my body got the rest it needed though, and by 10:30am I
was fully dilated. The nurses dialed down the epidural medication and I slowly
started to feel sensation coming back into my lower body. It was enough to have
some control back and feel the “tightness” of a contraction, but thankfully I
was not in any pain.
Just before 12:00pm the nurse had me do some
practice pushes to see how much muscle control I had and how far the baby’s
head was. Baby was ready and she said she could already see a full head of
hair! They got me prepped, and our full medical team
arrived and was ready to help deliver our baby. We had two residents, my nurse,
a pediatric nurse, and the OB. My husband wanted to be a passive observer and provide
emotional support for me during the delivery process, but our veteran Dr.
wanted him to be fully involved in the process! Once I felt the next contraction coming on, he
told my husband to grab my leg, and it was time to push! After the first push,
her head was already crowning, and he told my husband to look down at our baby.
I looked up at him with tears filling his eyes, it was a moment I’ll never
forget. I pushed for about 35 minutes, thankfully
without any complications or interventions, and at 12:25pm, our baby girl was
born.
Maya Hope
7 lbs. 6 oz., 55cm long
Immediately after she was born, I was able to
do skin-to-skin, and I couldn’t believe I was holding my baby. The moment we
had been waiting for was finally here. My husband started talking to her and it
was incredible to see her looking for him, after all those months, she
recognized his voice. I was so proud of him also for cutting the umbilical cord
– something he really wasn’t so sure he wanted to do.
I did have some hemorrhaging following the
birth, but thankfully nothing too serious. It was, however, the most unexpected
part of the delivery process for me, and it was a bit scary for both my husband
and I. To help manage the bleeding, the nurses and Dr. provided uterine
massaging along with several different medications. The massaging was extremely
painful, especially since I was still experiencing some contractions as well,
and the epidural medication was very low at this time. I am so thankful for the
calm and competent medical team we had that got the bleeding under control
quickly and took such good care of me. Next was delivering the placenta, which
was fairly painless and quick. The Dr. said it was very large and extremely
healthy! It was amazing to see the organ that was keeping my baby alive for
those 9+ months, and to see an actual piece of evidence from the work I put
into eating well and efforts to make sure my baby was healthy.
I had read all the books and prepared as much as I could, but nothing can ever really prepare you for a life changing experience like this.
Thanks for reading.
