So what a year it’s been.  This past year has been such a blessing and such a mess all at the same time. While I was prepared more to handle a baby the second time around, having two kids is a whole different ball game. But its my youngest’s first birthday today and I wanted to share his journey with all of you! Keep in mind, it’s long, and it’s graphic, so if you don’t want to read the intimate details… maybe skip this post.

Lucian’s Birth Story

It all started with very irregular contractions Sunday May 30th. They started off quite strong on Sunday evening but tapered off and I went to bed thinking that labour would be starting soon but not sure when. On Monday I went to see the midwife and when she checked me I was already 2.5-3 cm’s! That night, I started to lose my mucous plug. I never thought I’d be so happy about mucous.
Contractions continued on Monday evening, enough for me to have to breathe through them. I decided I should get some sleep so I went to bed around 1 and woke up with some pretty intense contractions at 4 am and could not get back to sleep—this is when I would say my labour started.
Miguel decided to stay home from work on Tuesday as my contractions were picking up and took our oldest to daycare for the day. The contractions got bad enough for me to phone the midwife and warn her labour might be here to stay. So at about 10 am I had Miguel put the TENS machine on and I tried to rest a bit. I rested on and off for an hour or so and the contractions got pretty intense—enough for me to be kind of moaning and more though them while I tried to grab the bed post to brace myself. They continued like this every 7-10 minutes… never regulating themselves.

We decided to go for ice cream and maybe for a walk but my contractions were so intense that I would look like a mad woman if I were seen in public like this. So I stayed in the car. We decided to leave my oldest at my in-laws in case things continued to progress. After ice cream things stopped, my wonderful hubby told me to go lay down instead of have a bath (smart man) so I ended up resting for about an hour and a bit before they started again with the “grab hold and moan” contractions, and at this point I was frustrated. I still didn’t know if I was in true labour because the pains were so horrible but they had just stopped! We called the midwife at 6ish and because my labour pains had just stopped she said I was likely having contractions that weren’t strong enough to dilate my cervix and to try to rest etc. So off I went to get food. By the way I used the contraction master app on the iphone to track my contractions—very helpful.
Miguel and I decided on getting some spicy wings from Montana’s and took a drive there… While in the car I had three major contractions on top of each other that made me really want to go home. When we got home I had a few wings and some garlic cheese bread, it was fantastic. I sat and rocked and bounced on my ball for a few hours and then went into the bath to relax for a bit until 9 when the contractions really started to get more uncomfortable and were around 5-7 minutes apart most times but most under a minute—they never got consistent… so I stopped measuring them at 10 because it was discouraging. I phoned the midwife and told her they were closer together but then I’d have one after a minute that was only 20-30 seconds long… and again that was my downfall in my midwife’s mind—she was on the phone long enough to hear a contraction that was “painful” but not long enough. She said the last thing we wanted to do was go there to only find out I was 3 cm’s and labour in the waiting room and

I agreed—hating her at that moment, but I agreed.

At this point I was getting tired of the pain… I tried again to lay down for an hour, gripping the bed rail every few minutes and moaning was turning to more vocal cries for help. Miguel would come around to check on me but knew that I didn’t want any help. Around 12 he suggested I get in the bath again, and this is when I broke down and said that it wasn’t working and I didn’t know if I could do it much longer. I had a little cry while he hugged me and then got into the bath.
We tried a few hypnobirthing scripts and it helped a little bit but I was so far gone when the contractions came rearing back that all my relaxation went out the window. Around 1:30 I wanted out of the bath… and Miguel came with me to the bedroom as my contractions were coming more frequently now but some lasting 20 seconds and then in another minute lasting 50 seconds. The pain was so bad that I told him I needed drugs and we should go to the hospital-screw the midwife! So he suggested I phone the midwife, to which I replied, no you phone her, she only tells me my body isn’t doing anything and I can’t hear that again. (This isn’t what she had been telling be but it sure felt like it at the time). So he called the midwife and said we needed to go to the hospital, explained my stupid contractions to her and then she wanted to know what hospital I wanted to go as we probably wouldn’t be able to get there in time to get a nice room—but at that point I had one of my “hold me jebus” contractions and had to put the phone down. Miguel came back into the room and picked up the phone to hear the midwife calmly but firmly say—Get to the hospital now. At that point I was naked on the bed—my legs had started to shake and when this happened last time—I was in transition… so then we were all freaked out that we wouldn’t make it in time. Miguel threw some clothes at me (nasty ones I might add) and had to find his clothes… the while he was sufficiently panicked. I actually had to tell him to relax.
We already had our bags in the car, but getting in the car at 2 am with a tank top that doesn’t cover your stomach and sleeping pants not pulled up all the way because you have a TENS machine on topped with a Winter Coat—was just the fashion look of the year lol. I couldn’t sit down or get in, so I managed to give it one big go and got in the front seat on my knees facing backwards holding the chair… It was the longest ride to the hospital. It was also the longest trip from the emergency entrance to the Labour and delivery floor. And when I got there the admissions person was giving me a hard time about my health card—remember I’m in labour lady, my husband forgot my purse in the car and I told him to grab the wrong colour bag… so he told her to just relax. When the labour and delivery nurse heard my contraction she poo pooed on the admissions clerk and took me in to triage to check me. She was an angel. She wanted to see if baby was right there and he was not, he was high up. My midwife then arrived (we missed her in emergency) and checked me and said I was 9 cm’s!!! I was so happy! What was even better was that I got the nice fancy LDRP room and everything. At this point it was about 2:30ish…
We all thought it was going to be a short time from there because once we got set up, the thoughts about breaking my water and having my baby quicker were being talked about. I voiced my concern that what if she breaks my waters and I have insane contractions and what if he still doesn’t come out for hours. She told me that she couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen but I could also be holding my baby soon—my choice. We had 30 more minutes of crazy contractions and finally I said ok break my water.
Around 4 am, she broke my water and that’s when it got really crazy… baby was posterior and needed to turn to come out. I needed to rock my hips while contracting on the ball to do this. This was one of the hardest things I had to do all labour. After an hour of doing that I needed to get back in bed for her to check me, and when she did she said my cervix was swelling up and I was now 8 maybe 9 cm’s. So at this point she started talking about pain meds, and got me the gas… And boy did I suck that thing back… So after one can of it, I started getting weird contractions that hurt like hell and at the end would make me push a bit. I yelled out at 5 that I needed drugs, and Miguel said—but you don’t want drugs remember. So I said in a more nasty voice that I didn’t care and couldn’t do this anymore, so she went to get me fentanyl. I swear to god she took extra-long to get the drugs. Because by the time she got back and I was still having the worst pain of my life trying to crawl off the bed and involuntarily pushing. So when she checked me she said I was ready to start pushing and I didn’t need the drugs. I must have looked at her like she was crazy… I was Medusa and tried turning her to stone because she was going to take the drugs away lol So they got me more gas.
I started pushing at 6 am, and he wasn’t born until 7:48 am. It was really slow pushing so that I wouldn’t tear, my midwife was really good about warm compresses, and my husband still got to deliver the baby. He said everything was good, he saw the head, and then the little hand beside his head and at the last moment just before he came out he put his other hand beside his head and that’s when Miguel said I tore, but he was out!
He was placed on my chest and it took forever to deliver the placenta, and then his colour started to not look so great, so they went to suction him and apparently there was a tonne of mucous! Dad and Lucian got skin to skin time for about an hour when they stitched me up and I went to the bathroom etc. I even got to have a shower right after I delivered, in my own room. IT was pure heaven.
I was hoping to have a drug free birth and minus the gas, I did it! I do feel a little peeved about the sheer length of the whole process and the pushing process, and would be very reluctant to do it ever again. I am so in love with my little squishee, he is just so perfect. He’s a wonderful feeder just like his brother was.

Looking back on this now, it’s still so amazing how we bring human beings into this world, and how dependant they are on us for love.  I’m pretty sure we are content with two kids as they sure give me a run for my money, but giving my oldest the gift of a little brother was the best thing I could have done. It took him a while to warm up to him but now they are pretty good buds.