Please insert cheesy theme song from TLC's A Baby Story. This ain't no horror story or story about how tough I am to survive ~insert ridiculous number of hours of labour here~. It's the story of a wonderfully average natural birth that ended in feelings of empowerment and joy that I could have never imagined.
I was ten days overdue with the fetus then known as "Hairy". I was nervous going to sleep the night before, worried that I would have to be induced. I had planned with the help of my doula and two potential back-up doula's how I was going to tell the hospital that I would come in for another non-stress test, but would rather wait to go into labour naturally.
But, at about 4am I woke up because I was feeling little cramps that would come and go. Could it be? I started timing them. About ten minutes apart and twenty-thirty seconds long. I woke up Stephen and told him that I thought I was in labour and told him to go back to sleep. We both managed to sleep until about 8am, me in between the contractions.
We got up, had a light breakfast and packed the last items into the hospital bags. I texted with my doula who had flown to Toronto that day and let the back-up know that we were on. The hospital called me to say I could come in for my induction and I happily let them know that I went into labour on my own.
I felt so prepared from our prenatal class and all my prenatal doula appointments. I drank lots of water, ate bits of healthy food, stayed "upward, active, and mobile" walking around. Stephen and I went to Stone's Throw (a local coffee joint beside the University) for our last (haha) lunch and ran into Risa. "How are you doing?" "I'm totally in labour right now". We had some soup which was about all I could stomach at that point, but it was fun to be out for lunch during labour, having a contraction in the line-up and trying to look normal, having a secret.
We went home and put a movie on to pass the time, all the while marking the contractions on the online contraction tracker. Our back-up doula came over around 3pm and did some hypno birthing meditations with us. I was totally relaxed and ready for the long haul...Stephen and the doula seemed anxious to get me to the hospital. Our doula encouraged me to call the hospital because the contractions were about 4 minutes apart and thirty seconds long. My Dr. told me to wait until 5 minutes apart and one minute long, but the nurse told me to come in anyway.
At that point, we got a bit excited. The doula headed home to grab her hospital stuff, Stephen started shoving bags and car seats and such into the car...I threw up and realized I might be further along in labour than I'd thought. The contractions were totally bearable, much easier than I'd prepared myself for and I found if stayed calm and completely relaxed my body (like you learn to do at the end of a yoga class) when they came along it was fine. I took a deep breath and realized as I was walking out the door that it was probably the last time in a long time that I would be doing so without a baby...everything was about to change!
The drive over was fairly relaxed and I was joking with Stephen in between contractions. We got to the hospital at about 5pm. We had to park fairly far away and I walked in (stopping for each contraction), checked in, and we walked up to labour and delivery. They offered us a wheelchair and a porter, but I didn't want to start to feel like a patient. My plan was to avoid lying down in the bed and wearing the gown for as long as possible for that very reason, I wasn't sick I was just having a baby. We got slightly lost on the way there and I had to stop quite a few times to lean against walls, relax, and breathe through contractions.
We checked in at labour and delivery where it was quite a busy day, and I had to wait almost an hour before I could be assessed. The contractions were getting stronger, but I was happy to walk around the waiting room. Stephen made me eat a banana as he was rightfully concerned about how grouchy I get when I don't eat. I threw up again and they managed to quickly get me into the triage area where they put me on monitors to check the contractions. I was in that room for almost 45 minutes and not so happy because they wouldn't allow the doula in the room and I had to stay lying on the bed in order to keep the monitors on. Stephen started having to rub my back through the contractions which I thought were much worse lying down. Finally, because there were still no Dr's available the nurse checked me and I was 3 cm's so I was admitted.
We all walked down the hallway to the delivery room. I got into the tub immediately and it was so great. My doula helped me to relax more through the further intensifying contractions. I finally had to get out because it was getting so cold. As soon as I got out I felt a lot of pressure and the contractions became quite intense, not even a minute apart. We called the nurse because I was asking for an epidural...I wanted to have a natural birth, but if it was going to be like that for 5 more hours I wasn't into it.
The nurse checked me again before they could give me drugs, and low and behold I was 9cm's. Everyone was excited by how fast I'd progressed from 3-9 and the room was suddenly filled with action. They gave me some laughing gas which I used for about 2 contractions before I was telling everyone I needed to push. It amazed me that the pushing didn't hurt.
The nurse and the EMT training student who were in the room talked me through the pushing. My back-up Dr had shown up to just say hi and let us know that she'd arrived and was surprised to be rushed into action so quickly. The Dr. broke my water...yeah, that was weird. Getting the baby out was a bit of a challenge because he had his hand up beside his head, and his heart rate started going down as soon as he was crowning which we found out later was because he had a very short umbilical cord, not because it was wrapped around his neck like they'd suspected.
My memory becomes very fuzzy at this point, but I remember the Dr and nurses saying aww, a baby crying (thinking it was the most beautiful noise in the world), and asking Stephen to tell me the baby's sex. "Our little Felix is here, it's a boy". They tried to put Felix on my chest, but because of the short cord he only reached my stomach, he then pooped all over me (Stephen and I were laughing hysterically, wondering if this first moment would somehow define the rest of my relationship with my son). Stephen cut the cord and the nurses cleaned Felix and myself off, finally I got to hold Felix for the first time. I remember him having this rather pissed off/confused look on his face, but he snuggled in to me. I looked over at my doula who had tears in her eyes and realized I hadn't cried but was just completely overwhelmed with happiness. Looking Felix over and giggling with Stephen, learning to breastfeed, watching Stephen hold Felix for the first time...it was all just incredible.
Felix was born at 9:42pm, and Stephen and I were equally amazed that things had gone so smoothly. We hadn't pulled any of the carefully packed items out of our birthing bag. I was thoroughly enjoying the post-birth hormones and was so happy that I'd been able to have a natural birth. I felt like I could run a marathon, and remembered getting off the hospital bed and feeling so much lighter. Stephen left the hospital at about 2am to get some sleep. I was way too excited to sleep and kept looking at this perfect baby boy beside me, checking that he was breathing, and amazed that he was all ours.
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