Daryl's Birth

At my 40 week appointment my dr said he would try to set up an induction on Friday evening so he could be there to delivery the baby because I was overdue and no one else wanted to deliver my breech baby. Friday at around 2 I started having contractions every 15 to 20 min. They didn't have a menstrual cramp back ache but they felt low with pain and pressure. I rarely got bh's this pg but I was getting these ctx once a day for the past few weeks. I asked Reg to check me and he said I had changed since the day before. He checked again around 6 and yet again there was a change so we headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at almost 8 pm. Traffic was ok and we found a parking spot near the door. I was having contractions every 15 to 20 minutes. Up in triage I was told to give a urine sample then go to a room with a monitor in it. After waiting for a while I was strapped in. I really didn't like being in that room and the waiting. The nurse was not impressed by my 20 minute apart contractions. I can't blame her. I was hoping she would check my cervix since I was pretty certain that something was happening. She didn't. My dr stopped by and said I was next on the induction list. He told us to go to the waiting room till they were ready. He said he would come by as soon as possible to get it started. Reg removed the monitors. When we got to the waiting room I decided we could go to the car and at least get the XO. The waiting room was warm and depressing.

On the way there we met a classmate from high school. We chatted for a while and showed her the picture of the kids. The 2 maintenance men nearby had to look too lol. One was from a family of 7 and another from a family of 11. After 45 minutes we decided we better get back upstairs. Reg and I played puzzle on the XO. I don't remember having any contractions while walking around. After a long wait the nurse came to get me. Of course Reg picked that moment to go to the bathroom lol. I was feeling ok so carried the bag to the room.

The room was nice and cool. After the warm waiting room I was happy. I got changed into my gown and had an iv started. Sue put the iv on my broken arm after I encouraged her. At least my left would be free. My arm has pretty much healed so the iv didn't bother it. I was connected to the monitor and continued having contractions like before. Hour after hour past. I was getting pretty annoyed. Last time they started the pit at 2 am and I didn't have the baby till 6:20 the next evening. My dr's shift was over at 6 pm. It wasn't anyone's fault. Several women just happen to be delivering one after the other and my dr was running from room to room.

Just before 1 am my dr showed up. He checked me and said I was 4 cms. I didn't understand why I was only 4 when things felt different. I started to question myself. He went to break my water. The nurse said to wait for a pad. I gushed. The dr got his pants wet. I gushed some more. They oh'd and ah'd at the amount of fluid coming out. They got the pit started. I asked if they would at least increase it faster but no they wouldn't lol. My nurse and the med student were hoping to be there for the delivery but we assured that it would go to slow. The nurse mentioned that the maternity wing was full and I would have to stay in the Caseroom. I wouldn't be allowed to keep the baby with me if I delivered in the night. I said it didn't matter since there was no way I was delivering in the night lol.

I continued getting a contraction every 15 minutes or sometimes 10. What was really odd is that one contraction would be really strong with pain and pressure down low then the next one was mild more like a BH. I'm terrified of not getting an epidural and mentioned it to the nurse. She said the dr on call was usually fast. He had said he wasn't busy and would let her know if anything came up. I felt reassured that I could get the epidural quickly but I still worried. Reg had set up his recliner and was nodding off. I also fell asleep between contractions. They were getting stronger but I felt stupid for wanting an epi since normally I can hardly feel the contractions during the first 12 hours. I went from wanting the pit increased quickly to wanting it turned off. Finally I asked the nurse to set up the epi. I was getting tired of every second contraction hurting me and the worry.

A few minutes later she was setting everything up and said he's be there in a few minutes. She was right. I felt a bit silly about getting the epi so early until I had a contraction during the procedure. I never got a jolt down my legs and it felt like the epi went in to the side. After he finished I relaxed. I was happy the worry was gone. Oddly I didn't feel anything. After a few minutes my legs got tingly then hot/cold/itchy. I still felt the next contraction. Either it wasn't as bad or it was the mild one. I had to lie down on my side while they made sure my bp was ok. The nurse said I was only getting contractions every once in a while so she didn't mind if they didn't register she would still up the pit. The contractions continued to come every 15 minutes.

I started to get uncomfortable. I was confused because not only was the induction only started a few hours ago I also had an epidural. I figured my bladder was full. The nurse said I had just gone and if I waited a bit she would check me before getting up to go. I had a walking epi but there was no way I was going to agree to getting up. After another couple contractions I asked Reg to help me with the bed pan. I changed my mind and told him something was wrong and to get the nurse. The pain increased. Reg got the nurse who checked me and said I was fully dilated and the baby was right there. I asked her to turn up my epi. She did and went to get the dr.

At this point the contractions started coming more often. The epi wasn't working very well. I was moaning through the contractions. My dr, the med student, the intern and the anesthetist all came into the room. I was scared because the pain was pretty intense. They got busy setting up. My dr asked if I felt like pushing. I just started another contraction so moaned. I did not want to push because I knew it would hurt more. I knew there was no point in saying that lol. The nurse mentioned I had said I needed to pee several times so the dr cath'ed me and I really did have to go. Even with the epi I felt everything. With the walking epi normally I can feel when getting touched but it feels odd like getting tickled. I was really scared at how much it was going to hurt.

The dr said I could push as soon as I wanted. I gave a good push and was told to stop. Ugg. Then I noticed stopping didn't hurt as much as pushing and having the legs drawn down felt even nicer. He asked me to push again. The pain was intense and sharp but I could really feel how well the pushing was working unlike other times when the epi was working better. He asked me to stop again. Getting the arms out was quite painful. I didn't realize at the time it was the arms or that it was almost over. He asked for another push and suddenly he put the baby on my tummy. I was impressed at how much I could feel that I actually pushed out the head. Normally with the epi I don't feel like I'm doing anything because the head is smaller and I can't feel the pressure.

I was really relieved it was over but really unhappy at how much it hurt. I grabbed Daryl because I always feel like they are going to fall off me. He was covered in vernix and meconium so I got a really gooey hand lol. He was facing away from me so I couldn't see what he looked like. Reg cut the cord and they moved him to a warming table. A few seconds later I got asked if I wanted to hold him. I really didn't but Reg did.

I jumped every time I got poked. I was sore but didn't have that ring of fire like after Chloë. I was also trying to not shake. I wasn't cold but like usual I got the shakes. The dr mentioned that he was just starting a c-sec when he got called so needed to hurry back. He then remembered to collect the cord blood for donation to the public bank. He said congrats and that I did well then ran off. The intern waited for the placenta. I felt it coming down so asked if I should push. She said no. Big difference than in the past where I got asked to push it out even before it was ready. After the placenta was out she checked for tears and said I didn't have any.

The nurse put my bed back together. By then I was ready to hold Daryl. I asked for dh to bring him over. I gave him a snuggle, a sniff and a kiss. I was feeling a lot better about the birth by that point. I was confused at why it went so fast. Everyone commented on how fast it was but they meant the pushing part. Reg was unable to film so we will never know how fast it went. He thinks it was the fastest yet. I was in pain so it didn't seem as fast to me lol.

I tried nursing Daryl and he latched on great right away. I switched sides then Reg asked for him back. The nurse took him for his 5 min check then gave him back to Reg. Daryl started to root again so Reg passed him back. After the nurse came by with the scale. She said she'd wait but we said no point because he didn't seem to want to ever stop. I admit I was curious. I'm terrible at judging newborn weights. I even called Chloë small and she was 9-9. The staff said he was pretty big. They were right. At 8-13 he was my biggest breech baby.

Since the maternity wing was full we stayed in the Caseroom. Daryl started breathing really fast so they decided to bring him to the ICN. I had held him and nursed him and was starting to nod off so didn't mind. Not too long after the nurse comes by to say that the ICN called and wanted me to express some colostrum so they could feed him. She said I could go down and pump or try hand expressing. I was totally confused. The poor nurse had no idea either and was just telling me what they said. I suggested going over to see. Reg pushed me in a wheelchair. Because of the fast breathing they did a sugar test on him and it was found to be low. I either fed him right at change of shift or forgot what time so it looked like he had missed a feeding. I wasn't convinced that nursing out a few drops would make a difference but I really didn't mind trying. After nursing for 10 min on each side while compressing as the ICN nurse suggested the ped wanted to check him out. I would have hand expressed some colostrum if they had mentioned the reason. The nurse thought it was better to let the baby nurse. Big change from when I had my first. I felt weird about leaving our stuff up in the Caseroom so we went back.

We were still both nodding off so fell asleep for a while. The nurse brought Daryl back. His sugar was fine but the poor little guy would need to get poked 2 more times just to be sure. My nurse mentioned being forgetful so set her pager alarm to remind her to do the next blood sugar. She said I was going to get transferred right after she got it done. I noticed that 8 hours had almost past so I decided to remove my IV while she was busy and Daryl was gone. We packed up our stuff. When the nurse came back with Daryl she asked if I wanted to walk to my room. I have always wanted to walk from the Caseroom to the maternity wing but I never could because I get the epi. So I finally got to even if it was cheating a bit lol

When we arrived in my room I teased the nurse that it was nice to have the IV out. She just laughed. I was put in a 4 bed ward. As soon as I sat on the bed I announced that I was leaving at 5:30. The bed felt like an old hide-a-bed mattress. The room was warm and full. I couldn't use the phone line for my computer either since it was shared. I had felt good and was thinking of asking my dr if I could leave early but I never saw him again. After seeing my room there was no way I was going to stay. My new nurse couldn't understand why but just said ok.

Daryl's breathing was fine and his sugar was good. The nurse said she give him a bath then test him again before his next feed. She got our papers and stuff ready so I could leave. I brought 2 outfits for Daryl. Both were newborn sized but the first one I got seemed big so I brought a smaller one too. Even at almost 9 lbs the smaller one fit perfectly.

At 5:23 we went to the front desk to say we were going. The nurse checked the car seat. She tried to loosen the harness but I said if it could be pinched it was too loose and put it back. As a car seat nut I'm really picky lol. She gave me his booklets. She also asked if I would fill in a few cards on shaken baby syndrome. When I did with Tiffany it made me cry. Reg had offered to do it but she never brought them earlier. I reassured that I would never ever shake a baby but I wasn't willing to fill the cards anymore.

We paid for parking. Since I didn't get a private room the birth was going to cost us 12$ that we paid for parking. We felt really lucky to be living in Quebec right at that moment!

I felt such a relief getting in the car. The birth had been a lot more painful than I had hoped but it went fast and well. I enjoy the births but I'm so afraid of the pain. I was also confused as to why it went faster and why the epi hardly worked. I was very happy it was over.

Catherine (mabear)

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