Stories

Nutritionistmom's Birth Story

I woke at 6 am on Dec 27, 2006 and suspected I was in labour.  I had been having contractions for more than two weeks, but these were definitely more intense.  I went back to sleep until DH woke up for work at 8 am.  We timed the contractions for about ½ an hour and they were coming 5 mins apart, but as this had been happening frequently I still wasn’t sure it was the real thing.  I decided to get in the shower to see what happened.  This time the contractions didn’t taper off like they had previously.

I had my 39 wk appointment scheduled with the midwife for that morning, but decided to page her instead, as I was a little leery of driving across town with my 7 yr old and not being able to get home if my labour picked up quickly like it had with him.  Heather cleared her clinic schedule and came out to the house.  In the meantime, I sent DH off to work until I really needed him and I called my parents who were taking DS.  DS didn’t want to be present for the birth.  He said when I was cleaned up and dressed and the baby was cleaned up and dressed, he would come home.

Heather arrived at 10:30 and checked me.  I was one centimeter and 50% effaced.  We decided to go ahead and strip my membranes, which was easy and not uncomfortable.  Then we reviewed what changes should happen for me to page her again and she went back to clinic.

By this time my parents had arrived.  DS was very anxious to get out and drive his new remote control Porsche so my mom and I took him for a walk while my dad went to Rona and stopped at Tim Horton’s for coffee and hot chocolate.  After our walk I made muffins and we hung out around the house.  I bounced around on my exercise ball and dad showed me pictures on the internet by a photographer he’d met in Prince Edward Island, the previous August.   Then I moved to the basement and bounced down there while DS watched TV.

At about 2 pm I was beginning to feel more uncomfortable and was losing my mucus plug. I called DH to tell him I thought I might want him to come home soon, but since I was still sort of waffling about it he said to call when I was sure. 

My dad decided at that point that he was going home to do some woodworking and he would come back later for my mom and DS.  That made up my mind for me.  I’d had enough togetherness.  I told him to take everyone with him and that I would call DH to come home.

DH arrived about 3 pm.  We kissed DS goodbye and then paged Heather again to tell her things were picking up.  She arrived about half an hour later and began to unpack her birthing gear.  I had a snack; IM’d my sister and then had a short conversation with her over the phone.  I had to stop talking during the contractions, but I still wasn’t in a lot of pain.  Shortly after that we moved upstairs to the bedroom where Heather was getting herself organized.  I lay on my side for a while with DH putting counter pressure on the base of my back during the contractions.  After awhile I switched to hands and knees, but it wasn’t as comfortable and I soon switched back to laying on my side.  At some point around 5 pm Heather decided she should check me as she was going to have to pop out to the store for a few minutes.  She had just recovered from a cold, but was still coughing badly.  I was 5 centimetres and paper thin.  She quickly went out and was back within 10 mins.  My labour was definitely picking up and she was paying close attention.  We wanted to make sure she had enough time for her back up MW to arrive since with ODS I progressed so quickly that the second MW showed up 6 mins before he was born. 

I’m not really sure what time Kelli arrived.  I was beginning to feel the need to push and during one really strong contraction my water broke, splashing all over the floor (fortunately wood) and soaking the absorbent pads on the bed.  Everyone found it very amusing.  I’d had enough foresight to take off the sweat pants I was wearing so I wasn’t soaked too.  The MW’s quickly dried every up and shortly after I was definitely ready to push this baby out. 

After several really good pushes, I felt like I wasn’t progressing the way I had with ODS and asked Heather where the baby was.  When she checked, she told me I still had a large lip of cervix and asked if she could move it.  I said yes and that was probably the most painful part of the labour.  It stung and I had a contraction and could feel the baby move past it and with minutes baby was crowning.  DH said it was disturbing the way the head came out and baby didn't appear to be breathing and then the body was born and baby started wailing.

****  was born at 6:48 pm.  I remember saying, “It’s a boy.” as Heather lifted him and put him on my chest.  DH was crying and *** was shrieking and clinging to my tank top.  He did not appreciate being adjusted to have dry blankets put over him or have his cord cut. 

The placenta came out very easily and Heather checked me out.  NO Tears!  Then they left us to admire our baby for awhile.

*** latched and nursed within half an hour and when he was cozy and content we called ODS at my parents.  He kept saying, “Is he really here?  Are you sure it’s a boy?” and then he was crying too.  He really wanted to see him, so DH emailed them a picture from the digital camera.  My dad has this great picture of DS in front of his computer with *** on the screen behind him while the picture is printing.

We called my sister to tell her she had a new nephew.  She was shopping at Ikea.

After about an hour Heather came back up to weigh and measure ***.  He was 8 lbs even and 21 inches long.  Perfectly healthy. 

DS came home with my parents the next morning.  He is absolutely thrilled with his new baby brother and is being a great help.  He and DH bicker over whose turn it is to hold him.  Of course mom always gets him when he’s crying.

We feel very blessed to have had such an uncomplicated delivery and 2 beautiful healthy boys.