July 2010, I didn't feel great all day Sunday; we sat around and played cards. Late afternoon Danny went to get my folks from the airport, I cooked dinner. We started timing the contractions around 10pm. We went to the hospital at 1am, when contractions were 2 minutes apart and had been for 1.5 hours. They sent us home the next day at 2pm. I cried in the bath. I laboured alone all day Tuesday, with contractions still 2 minutes apart. We went to the doctors office at 5pm because I refused to go back to the hospital, he confirmed 5 cm dilation and we walked across to the hospital. Waters broke as I was pushing. We had Henry just before 9pm, after the doctor threatened me with a c-section.
Roughly 48 hours of labouring.
So I was in it for the long haul this time also. Or so I thought.
I had been having contractions on and off for extended periods of time for the past two weeks, particularly around 2 am. So when I woke up with mild cramps Thursday morning, I thought nothing of it. The only thing different from the past two weeks was that I had to pee after every cramp, I would guess at every 10 minutes, but I wasnt timing them at all. I was looking for a bloody show like last time and there was nothing. They started to hurt around 6am and I had to groan through them, though Danny didnt wake up until 630am and asked how I was. I told him we were probably having a baby in the next day or two. He got pretty excited!
I got up to pee around 7am, walked back to the bed, stood over it for a contraction and there was a pop and my shorts filled up with fluid. "Er, Danny, something just happened". "What do you mean, something just happened? What happened?" "I think my waters just broke, Im going in the shower". "Oh". It wasn't a lot of fluid, but enough to notice; the baby was pretty low. Danny wanted to call the midwives, but I said there was no need. He played with Henry and felt compelled to set up the birthing tub. I laboured on the toilet, on my own. He decided, against my wishes, that it was time to call the midwives; thank goodness! When Missy arrived (about 1030am) and heard the noises I was making, she ran straight into the bathroom and insisted she check me. I of course cried that I didn't want to hear it if I was only 2 cm (because of the mean nurses last time) and sort of refused to get checked! She was going to check me whether I liked it or not and it would be easier on the bed so I had to move. It took several contractions to make it to the bedroom, but we got there; 6-7 cm! yeay. I balanced myself on the birthing ball (so comfy!) and poor Missy ran between comforting me between contractions (1-2 minutes) and trying to change the bed, set up the oxygen, yada yada yada!
Our friend Lana came to pick up Henry about the same time Missy arrived and Danny continued to fiddle with the birthing tub. He had filled it up without the sterile lining, drained it and was furiously boiling water to fill it back up with the sterile liner, since he had used all of the hot water!
Jamie and Martina arrived about 1050am and now every one was in the bedroom, getting things ready. Suddenly I announced that I could feel the babys head and they told me I had to move to the bed. Indignant that they thought I could move in that much pain, I told them they were crazy. They informed me that I could not give birth sitting on the ball so I had to move. ugh. I made it onto the bed on all fours, holding Dannys hips and burying my face in his belly. It only took a few pushes and the head came out a little but they told me I couldnt wait for a contraction to push more because the head was stuck at the eyes, so I had to push with no urge to push, and that was a feat against nature! With the head out, the shoulders were stuck as they announced that it was a large baby. Someone tried to wiggle the shoulders out (I later found out that was Missy) but then someone else took over (Martina) and the agony ensued as I was jiggled up and down by someone else's shoulders! All of a sudden the baby was released (I was trying to crawl away from the pain across the bed!) and I realised how much my throat hurt from screaming. 20 minutes after our main midwife arrived, our beautiful little girl was born. I couldnt see her and was distraught because she wasnt crying. I could just see this little blue foot. I asked several times why she wasnt crying and people just went about their business. Turns out it was less than a minute, but it seemed like an eternity. I managed to turn myself around and she started to make some noise, though Im not sure if she really ever cried, as such. She scored an 8 and then a 9 on the 1 and 5 minute Apgar tests.
We didnt use the birthing tub!
Henry saw Rosie when she was just 30 minutes old!
Danny made the comment that evening, as we sat at our kitchen table, alone, to eat our dinner in a surreal state of shock, that it was a good thing that we planned to home birth as he was pretty sure that I would have refused to go to the hospital and that it would have been an ambulance crew delivering our baby, and he is probably right. I had no intention of leaving this house!
Its silly that we were taken by surprise because I was pregnant for 40 weeks and 1 day! But I certainly didnt expect a 4 or 5 hour labour, thats for sure! Though I am super glad it was so fast!!!
Immediately post-natal photos to follow as I have to go get Henry up from his nap...
You are a rockstar, Lauren.
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