LOU'S BIRTH STORY

Reader beware - this is a happy story! Giving birth was single handily the greatest day of my life. Seriously. If someone asked me to do it again tomorrow, I would jump at the chance. Which, from my own personal experience, is a breath of fresh air in a world where people feel compelled to share their traumatic labour stories with expecting mothers. Why do we do this? I’m not sure if people look at it as a badge of honour to tell the most horrible story in some effort to make themselves seem extra strong, but stop it. Don’t hide the reality of labour, but stop scaring the pregnant ladies! However, this very well may have played a significant role in my experience being such a positive one… expectations were low!

I went into my delivery with an optimistic birth plan, that was not set in stone. One thing everyone’s crazy stories taught me was that you only have control over so much! I wanted to go into labour naturally, I didn’t want to get an epidural, and ideally I didn’t want to poop in a room full of people. Not asking a lot right!? Due to my gestational diabetes diagnosis (see # Beat The Betes blog post), I was made aware fairly early on by my doctor that I was likely going to be induced, as she didn’t want me going much passed 39 weeks. At first I was sad but it did make planning that much easier; I was showered and shaved (total bonus), my hospital bag was ready, we made arrangements for our dog, and my immediate family was able to make arrangements at their places of work. Which allowed everyone we loved to be there with us, and my mind to be at peace with no potential loose-ends left untied.

We were brought in for a Foley-bulb induction on the evening of September 25th, to prepare my body to be induced for labour, as we had a scheduled induction date of September 26th. Ahhh the Foley-bulb, another surprise item off the secret menu of childbirth that everyone seems to know about but no one ever talks about. For the procedure, you have to go in the night before you’re scheduled to be induced and they insert a surgical balloon into your cervix… then they inflate it… while it’s in you. “Never have I ever, been somewhere with a balloon and not had a party…. drink up everybody!” Then, they send you home to sleep with the tube taped to your leg and instruct you to attempt to pull it out after 6 or so hours. Pleasant dreams! The purpose of this torture device is to dilate your cervix to 3cm, so that when you do go in to get induced they are able to break your water. It’s your first foray into the wild ride of childbirth and will likely set off your first few contractions. Now, how inductions work in our hospital is a list is compiled of all the patients scheduled to be induced each day and is organized based on priority (higher risk to lower risk pregnancies). If it’s a busy day in the birthing wing with natural deliveries, the list gets bumped and reorganized the next day and so on. Needless to say, September 26th was the longest day of my life, a majority of which was spent staring at my phone and wondering if it was getting a signal like some anxiety ridden pre-teen waiting for a text from her crush. Finally, at 5:26am on September 27th the phone rang. It was so surreal, Chris and I just kissed each other and got in the car.

Arriving at the hospital, we were settled into our room with the sweetest labour nurses a girl could wish for. My biggest piece of advice, trust in these people! They do this all day every day and are going to be your best advocate. In the room with Chris and I, were my Mom and two sisters. My sisters and I have always been very close, and I was so grateful to have them there with me. They kept me laughing, and in my opinion that’s best way to get through a day in diaper. My Dad, father in-law, brother in-laws and sister in-law were all in and out of the waiting room and visiting us in our birthing room. At times, everyone was piled in small-talking, and we were quickly nicknamed the “party room” by hospital staff. Sometime around 7:00am they broke my water and I instantly laughed at my former self for all those times I thought it broke. What a fool I was, it’s a LOT of fluid! The first time I stood up I had such a rush of fluid I had to straddle the floor drain in the bathroom for a few minutes. What a thrill! From there I was instructed to move around, walk, bounce on the ball, and come back for vitals checks every half an hour. This time was a dream; I skipped around the hospital on cloud nine, visited with family, and even got a Starbucks!

Around 11:00am I had my cervix checked and despite all my efforts I was still only dilated to 3cm, so they induced my labour with oxytocin. From discussions with my doctor, I knew this might make the reality of having a natural labour very difficult. Oxytocin in its synthetic form, can send you into labour pretty instantly, and not allow your body time to build up to stronger contractions or give your brain time to process the pain and release the necessary endorphins. Unfortunately, this was my experience. I was sent into intense labour pretty quickly; experienced both front and back contractions that were one after the other, with no relief. I knew it was around noon and could hear the nurses explaining to my sisters that they were going to check my cervix again around 2:00pm. So I waited. I squirmed and whimpered in the most indescribable pain, unable to even open my eyes. I wanted so badly to do this naturally that I was determined to make it to my next cervical exam. I have never felt like a little girl who needed her own Mommy more. For everything in life my Mom is my safe place, and I tried so hard to lose myself in the comfort she was giving me. Then, after the longest three hours of my life, my doctor informed me that I was still only dilated 3.5cm. Even though it broke my heart a little, I had to ask for the epidural.

I’m terrified of needles and sitting still through contractions while a doctor surgically inserted one into my spine was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. The thing was, the part of me that wanted to do this naturally, wanted to so that I could be as present as possible. I wanted to be in the moment for every moment of this experience, but the pain was resulting in the exact opposite. I was so removed from my body in an effort to take myself away from the pain, that I wasn’t present at all! The epidural took it all away and I remember opening my eyes and rolling over to face Chris, my Mom and my sisters, and just saying “Hey guys”. Like I’d returned to Earth! I sat up, fixed my hair and was human again. It took a little adjustment to find the right dosage and take the pain away completely, but once we did I was taken right back to my happy delivery day. Full credit goes to my labour nurse, Sarah, for advocating that I “Should not be needing to breathe through my contractions and need a higher dose.” See? Trust these people. Sarah, you’re my girl!

From then on I was back to riding the wave of adrenaline, happy visiting and mingling with family members and placing our bets on pink or blue. I had the odd bit of nausea that occasionally resulted in me vomiting in my ice chip cup, but hey… no one said this would be glamorous! I got the OK to start pushing shortly after 7:00pm. With Chris, my Mom and my sisters by my one side, and my wonderful nurse Martha on the other, I started pushing through my contractions. Three 10 second pushes, followed by one super 5 second push, and I was loving it. Call me competitive, blame it on the teacher in me, whatever… I loved it. I got in such a zone and focused so intently on my nurses instructions. Pushing when she said to push, taking quick breaths in between, and calming my breathing on breaks between contractions. Chris was so excited he kept miscounting, and after each contraction would tell me “Babe, that was so close! One more and it’s out!” Ha! Not quite, but adorable still. I was having so much fun at one point my heart rate was going up and Martha had to tell me to just keep my eyes closed and stay relaxed when I wasn’t pushing. I even invited my Dad back into the room! Now, if someone told me they had their Dad in the delivery room before this experience I absolutely would have thought they were crazy. But in a family full of girls, so often we all share experiences that my Dad misses out on. He’s always been so respectful of it, and does it with a sense of pride in his girls. He isn’t one for pain or gore (hello childbirth) but since I was enjoying myself so much, I had my sister bring him back in the room. He stood behind the curtain at first, but eventually came to my side. So there I was, with my whole family and the love of my life, giving birth to my baby. Mine and baby’s heartbeat were so completely in sync that they had to put a separate monitor on it’s head. Talk about magic! My delivery doctor was incredible, giving me clear instructions to “Push for five seconds. Breathe when I say breathe and stop when I say stop.” Slowly but surely, without even touching me or my baby, she guided me through the waves. And then, at 9:06pm my entire perception of the meaning of life was wrapped up in a pink hat and placed on my chest. “It’s a girl!” was met with the most overwhelming shouts of pure joy. I sobbed, everyone sobbed, and I looked at my little baby for the first time.

In the end it took about 14 hours, with only a few of them being what I call “the dark hours.” The rest were a dream that I wish I could relive over and over again. The love in the room and surrounding this little baby was a bubble I’d happily spend forever in. I’ve never felt more loved by Chris; he was just so proud of me. His excitement and shows of raw emotion were some of my favourite moments. Together, we brought this new human into the world and in an instant, like magic, she was everything. We were officially a family, and our little Lou had become the love of our lives.