My original due date was November 6th, 2009. However, little monkey was born a week early, on October 31st. I had saved up all my vacation days and went off work on October 16th, thinking I would have three weeks to put my feet up and relax, go for walks and just generally pamper myself. That was a bit tough considering that I was always sick and pukey. But I was able to spend a bit of time watching good ol' daytime tv and reading on the days leading up to the big day. Incidentally, I think the last book I finished before giving birth was Obama's "The Audacity of Hope". And the last crap show, probably "The Hills".
So there I was, Friday night, October 30th. Waddling around and feeling queasy as usual, Victor and I decided to trek out to his parents place in Langley. His mom arrived home from work and cooked dinner for us...I told her I could only eat salad. She threw in a plate full of brussel sprouts on the side for me as she knew I loved them. My dinner consisted of greens, greens and more greens. In the midst of dinner, I said "I bet the next time you see me, I'll have a baby in my arms". Everyone, including my OB, was predicting a Halloween baby.
We made the drive home and I felt good for once! The light dinner was just what I needed apparently. Victor and I went to sleep around 12pm and I awoke at 5am with a huge urge to fart...yes, I said fart in my blog. But low and behold, the consistent gas pains (or so I thought) that were lasting about half a minute and coming every 5 minutes-ish, were not actually gas pains. So by 5:30am, I woke Victor saying "Baby! I think I'm having contractions!". We waited it out and timed each contraction. Victor was so eager to call the "doctor hotline" at Women's hospital but I thought we should wait it out in case it was actually just gas pains. But by 6:30am, those were definitely no damn gas pains! I called my mom and she came over quickly with my dad in tow. My dad kept jotting down everytime I had a contraction in his trusty nerd notepad. I sat on the couch, moaning "mmmmmmmmmmmmm" through every pain. Dr. Georgia Hunt was on call that morning and suggested I eat breakfast and have a bath before coming to the hospital. So I ate oatmeal, had a few cups of chamomile tea and had a bath and puked everything up before getting in the car at 1 minute long contractions every 5 minutes.
We drove along 33rd Avenue and had to stop near the cemetery so I could puke up more chamomile tea. Not the right choice of beverage...note: remember this for next time.
We made it to the hospital in record time and I was admitted immediately. Victor went in search of something for me to drink. He went down to the vending machines with Dr. Hunt and brought back Nestea iced tea. TOO SWEET. *puke*. I lay on my side on the admitting room bed feeling dehydrated and drained. They finally brought me into my delivery room and hooked me up to the IV to alleviate my dehydration. Despite this, I drank iced water to at least give me something to puke up! I finally started feeling better (despite the contractions).
My mom and Victor sat around with me, holding my hand during every contraction. As the contractions got worse, I was given laughing gas...which definitely did not mean laughter and good times. It really helped though...really numbed the pain for a little while. As the pain got worse, the nurse asked me if I had thought about any pain medications. She began to push the epidural on me! I was in a vulnerable state and caved easily -- she then called Dr. Hunt down to approve it. Dr. Hunt had asked me about my birth plan earlier and knew I wanted it to be as natural as possible. So to distract me, she said "why don't you get in the shower and see if that helps alleviate the pain for a bit. If not, we'll order the epidural". I refused at first but was convinced after a bit of further suggestion. After my water broke at 11am, I got in the shower as my mom sprayed me with deliciously hot water. I kept the lauging gas by my side and took a big puff of it every time a contraction began as my mom sprayed my belly. I started to sing "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone, all deep and low. I sang for about a half hour as I sat on the ball in the shower but then had enough. At one point, my mom said to Victor "you're lucky you never have to feel this pain" and Victor ACTUALLY said "this one time, I had a nail go through my finger". That was a good "ARE YOU KIDDING ME" moment to keep me entertained. By one o'clock, I was ready, no not ready, I HAD to push. The nurse said "Not yet!!! Wait!" as she scrambled for all her tools and called Dr. Hunt to make her way back to the room.
After trying to push while squatting beside the bed, my legs got tired so I lay back on the bed. The nurse began to explain to me that I shouldn't moan while pushing...she told me to hold my breath and push as hard as I can three times, then breathe and do it all over again. I tried her method to no avail and thank goodness, Dr. Hunt arrived and a new nurse came on while the other went off shift. Dr. Hunt told me to push however felt best for me. She said that the no breathing technique was "old school". And...not to brag or anything :)...she even said "you should think about teaching prenatal classes, your technique is very calming". And so I continued moaning and had the nurse and my mom push my legs back at every contraction so I could push. I pushed, with Victor behind me, holding my hand as I grabbed him with all my strength and moaned that baby out of me! Dr. Hunt grabbed a mirror so I could see my little angels head appearing! I also saw something I hope to never see again, my bumhole was inside out! Get that mirror away!
Agata had walked in the door before my second to last contraction and watched as I pushed two more times and voila! Little Bella made her first ever appearance in this world! She was so tiny!
And the first thing I said was "That wasn't so bad! I could do this again!". I was just happy that I didn't poop on the table! And all of sudden, madly in love. I asked if I could breastfeed right away as it seemed that Bella was searching out my nipple. She snacked and looked so amazingly cute. I couldn't believe she was mine! In a major state of euphoria...I started calling and texting everyone as my sweet angel lay in my arms. We were amazed at how quiet she was...the doctor assured us that wouldn't last...and it didn't.
Here's Victor trying to put socks on her little feet:
It took three days of staying in the hospital (with preclempsia and major blood clotting) before I finally had even a wink of sleep at home at my parents. It was only two hours but those were a well-needed two hours of sleep!
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