Well here it goes, the birth of our blog. [sorry kinda a long one!]
I thought that it was fitting to talk about a special *birth story* of my own.
It was November 2006, the 18th of the month to be exact and I was getting ready to celebrate my birthday with a few friends. Something about this night was different…. I felt different…and I had a very strong suspicion that I was pregnant but knew it was too early to test with a home pregnancy kit [I would have been literally 2 weeks max at this point]. When you are as “in-tune” with your body as I am…. you just *know*…and I knew but couldn’t really tell anyone as I am sure they would have thought I was crazy to think so after 2 weeks. It wasn’t until December 6th until I actually took a test that proved what I knew to be true. YUP it was positive….the faintest of lines, the kind that you have to check in several different lights and angles to actually *see* it, kinda lines! None the less it was there, it was positive and it just confirmed what I already knew, baby No. 2 was on the way!
With this pregnancy we decided to find out the sex of the baby, being our second I wanted to be organized and prepared. Our first is a girl and I had to promise not to find out the sex during my first pregnancy and she was a wonderful surprise BUT this time around, I needed to know! If you know me at all, you know that I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I wanted to have things *just right* for the baby’s arrival. No surprises this time around….we found out our baby No.2 was a GIRL.
With knowing the sex of this baby, I was worried that there was not going to be that *surprise* factor I experienced with my first to look forward to after all that hard work of labour and pushing….so I had to come up with something that was going to make this delivery unique and special. I decided that I wanted to deliver my baby, yes I know what you are thinking, technically I WAS delivering my baby anyway but I mean with *my own two hands*.
This little chica was showing us who was boss already, she was a week over due and now I was scheduled to ‘call’ for induction on Aug. 15th. I was instructed to call the hospital in the morning to see when they would be able to fit me in and have a bed for me. Now keep in mind, I have a 2 year old toddler, I have a full term baby in my belly, it is the month of AUGUST and she is a full week over due, so can you just imagine my content [not] when I called at 7am and they told me to call back at 1pm to see if they had room for me…..so, short of loosing my mind, I put on my bikini and went in the pool to relax and cool off. I am telling you… when it hit 12:30pm I couldn’t take my eyes off the clock. FINALLY 1pm, so I call back. I thought I was going to blow a gasket when she told me that they were still pretty busy and that by 7pm they “might” have a better idea of when I could come in. Well, I told her that if they didn’t schedule me right now for my induction I was going to take whatever means need to deliver this baby today, in my kitchen, RIGHT NOW….and with that miraculously a bed was available for me to come in right away.
WOW here we go, bag in hand driving to the hospital. I have to tell you, it was the weirdest feeling, not being in labour and going to the hospital to have a baby…my last trip to deliver a baby, I was actually in labour and did not have time to think what came next [all I could think about was how slow my hubby was driving and how I could feel every single bump in the road!], but this was different….I had time to think and the 20 minute drive was the longest, happiest, saddest, scariest and most exciting drive ever! I thought mostly about how this little life was going to change my little family of 3 forever making us a family of 4….how, my baby was going to be a ‘big’ sister, how was I going to have cuddle time with two babies as my first needed me still, how, I was going to be made a mommy for the second time…how, life as I knew it was going to change forever – for the better!
When I arrived to the hospital I went to labour and delivery and was put in a bed in the assessment section because I was being induced they monitored the baby for a few minutes and then started the induction process. The Doctor came to see me and told me she was going to break my water to get things moving. Well, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I was scared that it was going to hurt especially after I saw the Doctor take, what looked like a knitting needle [10x the length of a regular one] out of a sanitized package. Before I could get a really good look at this knitting tool, she had finished and my water ….well, started pouring onto the bed. The other thing you need to know about me is I tell it as it is, no sugar coating here. I remember my husbands eye widen as the water just kept coming out, now I could feel it reaching my feet at the end of the bed. The Doctor kept pushing on my belly gently to move the baby around to get the water out and it kept coming. I looked at her as she looked at me and now my eyes are starting to widen as I couldn’t believe how much fluid was on the bed….she stared to laugh and said “I think that might be all of it” and with that labour pretty much started right away.
Around 11:30pm I had requested my epidural and got it around 12am, however for some reason the medication didn’t seem to be working as I had remembered from the last time….I could still feel my legs and the pressure… the epidural didn’t work!. All I kept thinking about was, if I can feel this pain now, how was I going to push this baby OUT?! [I can’t even get a bikini wax with out some sort of pain medication!] Now I was freaking out, I can’t do this!!! However I had an amazing doctor and she talk me through my anxiousness and told me that in a few minutes I was ready to have this baby, by this time it was 1:45am August 16th! She was so amazing and coached me step by step.
I had told the doctor when I arrived earlier that night that I wanted to deliver my baby, I wanted to pull her out myself…she was amazed that I had asked and was excited to let me do so. After a few short minutes of pushing she said to me “open your eyes and give me your hands, your baby is about to be born”. I reached down and felt my baby for the first time. I put my hands around my baby’s little body, opened my eyes and looked down at my baby as I pushed and delivered her with *my* two hands and pulled her up onto my chest. It was the most amazing experience in the world…I delivered my baby!
I DID IT, with the help of my doctor. Here is a picture of that very moment. The very first time I touched my baby, looked at her beautiful little face and heard her little kitten cry, a moment I will never forget!
~N~ xo
