Birth Story

This birth story was written on Monday, December 15, 2008. I have had some requests to post it on my blog but rather than retype it I am simply reposting it.

Last Wednesday I went to the doctor for my weekly appointment. We decided to induce on December 16,2008 because my blood pressure was on the rise again. I was already 3 cm dilated but did not think much of it because I dilated early with my other pregnancies.

Thursday I spent the day cleaning and took my daughters for hair cuts. My husband cleaned "his" room of the house and I made the comment that I think baby will be here before Tuesday. He told me to hush and think thoughts of Tuesday or later. Anyway I actually felt tired and went to bed before 11:00. I slept very soundly (had not in a long time) until 4:30am at which point I got up to pee. I went back to bed and at 6:45 I rolled over and felt a gush of fluid. I got up and continued to leak to the bathroom. I wanted to be sure it was amniotic fluid before driving over an hour to the hospital. I continued to leak for 15 minutes at which point I woke my husband and told him...its time, let's get moving. He was in complete disbelief and had to ask if I was sure. Anyway we got the girls up and everybody loaded into the vehicle and were gone by 7:50. We dropped the girls off at my parents and headed into Edmonton.

My contractions started soon after my water broke and I had about 3-4 contractions at 10 minutes apart and then they dropped to 7-8 minutes apart during the 1.5hr drive. I was joking and having fun with hubby but by the time we arrived at the hospital they were 4-5 minutes apart and increasingly uncomfortable. I desperately wanted to be in the shower.

We got checked into a room and they started IV for Group B Strep, checked my "progress" and did some monitoring. I was 4 cm and when the nurses were done checking things out, I put on my bathing suit top and hit the showers. I laboured in the shower for a good hour before the contractions started getting painful. I requested the nitrious (sp?) gas and continued to labour in the shower.

The contractions continued to get stronger, longer and closer together. Knowing I wanted to do it without an epidural I asked the nurses for a status update on my cervix to see if my goal was actually attainable. When checked I was 5-6 cm. The nurses paged my doctor because I went quickly from 6-10cm during my last labour. The nurse checked me again (5 minutes later) and I was 8 cm. The last 3-4 contractions were brutal but I was still laughing during "breaks" and they commented that I made it look easy. Anyway I was fully dilated within minutes and in two contractions had a baby boy. Tyson Aubrey was born at 12:27pm weighing exactly 7lbs. From water breaking to baby born was just over 5 hrs long.

Tyson was having some issues clearing his lungs an hour after birth so he was taken to the NCU for monitoring. He had blood drawn (for GBS testing) and remained monitored. Later that night, when his lungs didn't clear up, they did xray and started an IV for antibiotics. Tyson remained in the NCU until late Saturday afternoon when they decided he could be taken off saline and monitors and room in with me.

We had to wait around until Sunday at 2pm to see if his blood cultures came back negative and so he could recieve the full dose of antibiotics. Our NCU came in our room at 2pm and gave us the green light to go home. She removed his IV and happily sent us on our way.

The first 24 hours of seperation made our breastfeeding start a little more work. We are both figuring each other out in our own relaxing environment and things have been smooth since being home.

Thankfully my husband and I decided to take the Theme room offered to us and he was able to stay with me and baby the full two nights we were there.