My son is a year and a half!

Wow, I can't believe my son is a year and a half already. For sentimental reasons, I looked up his birth story that I had written not long after he was born. Shall I share? My original story is in italics, with some new comments added in regular font.

I woke up at 4 am on May 6 to go to the bathroom. I was half way out of bed when my water broke and gushed all over the bed and floor. I ran to the bathroom to try to contain the mess, and ended up leaving a trail all the way there, lol. Once I was in the bathroom, I yelled for my DH to wake up. I had to yell quite a few times because he had been out for a few drinks with his friend, and had just gone to bed. I remember making him shower before we left because all I could smell was alcohol and I didn't want the hospital to think he was drunk.


Once he got up he got the phone for me and I called my mom. She lives 6 hours away, and was planning to come for the delivery, and to help for the first week. After that my DH called the hospital to see if I had to come in right away because I wasn't having any contractions, but I remember being told to go in if my water broke. They said I should take a shower and try to nap for a bit, but that I should come in by 6 am.

I had my shower and laid down on the couch while my DH got things ready. He had to pack my bag since I hadn't done that yet, and get some stuff for himself. He also had to call his friend to come switch vehicles with us since he doesn't know how to drive my manual car. During this time my contractions started, but they weren't very strong.

We got to the hospital and got a bed in the maternity triage area where I would stay until it was time to go to the delivery room. At our hospital you stay in the delivery room with the baby until you are discharged. You also have a dedicated nurse that stays with you until the baby is born.

They moved me to the delivery room after about three hours because my contractions were stronger and I was having 2 every ten minutes or so. I was only about 3 cm dilated, but I was getting sick with every round of contractions. They wanted to give me Gravol to help stop the vomitting, and I needed to be in the delivery room for monitoring before they would do it.

I was hooked up to an IV and was given a Gravol and Morphine shot. It didn't really help with the vomiting or pain, it just made me really sleepy. My mom arrived after an eventful journey (she went to 2 other hospitals before finding the right one).

Skipped the whole labour part here, lol. I don't remember much of it, mostly falling asleep between contractions. Which was tricky since I was sitting up in a rocking chair for most of it since that was the only position where I didn't throw up with each contraction.

My labour then progressed until I reached 9 cm dilated, and then it plateaued. I stayed at 9 cm until 6 pm. The nurse then strongly suggested I get an epidural so I could sleep and hopefully finish dilating. My mom and DH both strongly agreed, and I ended up getting one. I was very against having an epidural, but I was pretty exhausted so I couldn't really fight it. I just wanted to sleep for a while, so they gave me a little epidural. I could still feel the contractions, but the edge was gone.

I slept for quite a while, and woke up as the epidural was wearing off. I was fully dilated and definitely ready to push.

A few good pushes and my DH saw the baby's head. And then it stayed like that. The baby was facing the wrong way, and was stuck. The OB on call came to see me and suggested waiting to see if the baby would turn on its own. A few more visits, and finally at midnight he decided it was not going to happen, so he would try forceps, and if that didn't work, an immediate c-section. I have no idea how long I was pushing, but it was a while. Long enough that everyone was surprised that I still had any strength to keep trying.

I was given another, much stronger, epidural so I felt nothing from my waist down, and was taken to the surgery room. My DH came with me to hold my hand. It took just a few minutes for the forceps to work. My son was born at 1:33 am on May 7.

My mom gave the baby a few kisses and went home to our place to sleep. My DH stayed with me and the baby.

My son was a good weight (7 lb 9.5 oz) but was very jaundiced because they put a scalp monitor on him when they realized he was stuck. He nursed a few hours after his birth, and took to it like a champ.

The rest of the night passed slowly. My son wanted to be held the whole time, I was exhausted and still pretty numb, and my DH was constantly falling asleep in his chair. It was definitely amazing though.

We were discharged at noon the next day (May 8). I was in quite a bit of pain because I had a lot of stitches from the forceps (I asked how many and was told "just enough", sounds like more than a few) so I was glad that both my mom and DH were there to do basically everything for the first week.


It was definitely an experience. And one that I am proud to say I could repeat, I just don't really want to, lol.