My maternity leave has officially ended and this was my first week back to work and both girls are now in full time daycare 😦 But this does give me time to enter back into the blog world and finally write my daughter’s birth story!
Monday, December 9th I went to the doctors for my 38 weeks routine appointment. I had to bring Adeline with me and take the day off of work because Adeline was sick with a virus. (turns out she actually had pneumonia!) I had Adeline sit on a chair and watch her tablet while I was checked out. I was at 4cm dilated! Not very effaced though. Dr. C of course asked what I had decided about an induction date, the 16th or my Dec 21st due date since she was determined to not let me go past that. I chose Dec 21st because at 4cm, what are the real chances that I was making it 2 more weeks anyway?
That evening, a little before AC got home from work, I had some very mild cramping. But they weren’t steady enough to time and barely hurt so I didn’t worry. Though I knew this probably meant this little girl would be coming in a few days…
Around 2:30am AC and I were woken up by Adeline needing another dose of medicine because she was starting to feel bad again and couldn’t sleep. We had just finished getting her her medicine, which was a huge struggle, she had started spitting it out!, when before we could get her back to sleep I started being hit by some super painful contractions! AC could tell something was wrong so I told him baby girl might be coming tonight. He immediately phoned his mom and told his family to start the hour drive to our house. We needed them to come watch Adeline so that we could get to the hospital. I started timing the contractions but stupidly decided to use an app for that rather than just look at a clock, and I read the app wrong. I thought it was saying they were 10 min apart so I hopped in the shower, as I have read on so many blogs that this eases the pain. Yeahhh, while in the shower I was hit with contraction after contraction and knew they were much closer together than 10 min apart. I hurried up and hopped out and started watching the clock and found out that they were actually 3 min apart and we really needed to get to the hospital fast! AC called his parents to see where they were while I got dressed…they hadn’t left the house yet!! So we decided there was no time, they would have to just meet us at the hospital instead and we would have to take Adeline with us in the mean time. Poor baby, sick with pneumonia and having to be loaded into the car at 3am and then worry about her mom who is in some serious pain on top of that. In the car we had to make a quick decision of which hospital to head to. The one Adeline was born at is a straight shot down the road 10 min from our house but the one that my doctor is associated with is about 15 min away. I decides on the slightly further away hospital since my doctor was really on me about going to the one they were associated with. I prayed we had the time to get there, as my contractions were getting closer and closer and incredibly painful. We thankfully made it there in about 9 min due to blowing through red lights and driving over the speed limit.
Once we ran in and were checking in at the front desk of the ER, I was already asking about an epidural hahaha. I remember hearing a code blue being called over the loud speaker though, right after I was finished signing my name. Little did I know just how much that was going to affect my delivery experience…
So after being checked in we were taken to a small room and asked to fill out paperwork and for me to give a urine sample if possible. It was not! Also to change into a hospital gown and then we were left in the room alone. I was extremely angry and confused as to why I wasn’t being checked right away and taken care of. I felt like my contractions were coming every other min and I couldn’t bare it. To make matters worse, AC had to leave me too. I was kneeling on the floor hunched over with my head on the bed in excruciating pain when AC decided he should probably take Adeline out into the hall until his parents arrived. She was very scared for me. She is only 2 and half and witnessing her mom in that much pain was terrifying for her, so I knew AC had to do it, but laboring without his support was very hard. Eventually, after what felt like forever, the nurse came back and checked me. I was 8cm dilated. They decided to move me to a delivery room and the whole time I am being wheeled down there I was asking when I could get an epidural.
Once I got set up in my new room a team of nurses assembled. AC was still away with Adeline waiting on his parents to arrive. Thank goodness for this one particular nurse Genifer. She was the only one there talking me through my contractions and the pain. Having me take deep breaths and focus on her. I was really falling apart without AC and not having the epidural yet to take my pain away. I asked again about getting the epidural or even a spinal block if there wasn’t time for the epidural. The pain was unbearable and I wanted it to stop. That’s when Genifer told me the truth, that code blue I had heard when I had just got to the hospital meant the only person who could administer an epidural or spinal block was away and I wasn’t going to get one in time. I couldn’t believe it! I had not prepared for a natural birth! I thought I was going to die. At that point, sometime after 4am, AC finally came into my room, his parents had arrived and taken Adeline back home. I told him how I wasn’t going to be able to get an epidural and that I couldn’t do this. It felt so painful and impossible to endure. Genifer told me she knew I was capable of doing this and she believed in me. That I was going to get through this and was a very strong person. With that, the doctor on call arrived and I started pushing. Let me tell you, I could have sworn I had read somewhere that pushing helped elevate contraction pain, it did not for me. It made it a million times worse! I thought I was going to pass out from the pain with each push. I couldn’t keep my eyes opened. I squeezed them shut and kept screaming with each push. I am a very quiet, shy person, so when I started screaming with each push, it surprised me! They then had to put an oxygen mask on my face because baby girls heart rate started dropping. They told me we had to get her out soon and to dig really deep with the next few pushes, she was right there and had to come out! I begged the doctor to just grab her and yank her out for me lol. She told me she couldn’t, this is something I had to do myself.
Finally, at 4:51am my sweet little baby Aoife was born (pronounced EE-fa, it’s Irish). What a huge relief that was! Life flooded back into me as they wiped her down a little. AC did not get to cut the cord, once again! I don’t even know why, they didn’t even offer for him to, they just immediately did it. As they put Aoife on my chest, I started shaking pretty violently but thankfully it was just a normal response to what my body had been through. They put more blankets on me and brought me water. She was beautiful! And though I would never ever do it again, I was proud that I could say I had a natural birth. That I was strong and delivered Aoife without an epidural. Something I never imagined doing. Aoife was 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 in long. We love her so much!
I am pretty behind on Aoife’s 5 months post. At her 4 months check up she was 12 lbs and 22 inches long. She is very small for her size like her sister but is growing at a healthy rate. Not too much as changed from 4 to 5 months. She rolls a lot, loves baby food, laughing at her sister and playing with toys. She is also very very close to being able to sit up unsupported! Maybe by next month.
Aoife turned 4 months old on the 10th. I don’t know officially how much she weighs since her next appointment isn’t until the 24th but i’d guess maybe 12 pounds. Frankly, I am surprised her 4 months appointment wasn’t cancelled due to the Covid 19 lockdown but I guess they don’t want to delay her shots and make sure she is growing good.
