This post is going to be long and full of details. I don't want to forget any bit of this beautiful day- the best day of my life. Please feel free to read the entire thing, or skip around if things get too detailed.
The last time we talked pregnancy, I left you with my 38 week bumpdate. We had begun feeling pressure and mild contractions. Our parents decided to visit all weekend anticipating "the big event". We walked, played games and waited (not so patiently) for Colin's arrival. Well... Sunday came and went and we still had no imminent signs that our sweet baby boy was ready to make his debut. My contractions were inconsistent and not getting any stronger. I had "lost my plug" but that is about it!
Monday was memorial day so our parents decided to head back home. Hubs and I spent the day relaxing and soaking up all the "alone time" we might have for quite some time.
Here is my 39 week bumpdate picture from that day:
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| Holy Cow I am HUGE! |
It was a normal day at work...I was still contracting irregularly and I was pretty uncomfortable and crabby but I made it through. That night hubs and I made dinner and spent time together after having company all weekend. We finally decided to head to bed around 10:30pm. At midnight I woke up feeling the urge to pee (pretty standard for the end of pregnancy) ;). I stood up out of bed and my water broke!! I could not believe it- it was finally here!!!! I woke up Hubs and said "my water just broke!". He seemed shocked and unconvinced. He said 'how do you know?'. I looked at him and said, I know my pants are soaked! Poor guy, I then proceeded to take off my pants and give them to him.
I felt great and wasn't having contractions any worse than I had been having all weekend, however, we called the midwife on call and she told us to come in within three hours. We called my parents, got our last minute things together and I signed onto my work email to forward any items that would need to be taken care of during my maternity leave to my boss. During that time, I started having more severe contractions and Hubs helped me breath through them and rubbed my back. I also took a shower to see if the heat would help ease up some of the "pain". I say pain in quotes here because let me just say for the record- what I was feeling at this point was peanuts compared to the contractions that were on their way. As I was contracting and things were progressing, Hubs started to get anxious and wanted to head to the hospital. We were trying to hold off until my parents got there so we could all go over together. Luckily right as were were about to throw in the towel and head over, they arrived! At 3:30am we loaded up my parents car and were on our way.
Per the instructions of my midwife, we went in through the emergency room. I was pre-registered with the hospital so they located my paperwork and informed L&D that we were on our way! We were checked in by the midwife on call relatively quickly and we were taken to our room to settle in.
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| Last "baby bump" picture taken |
When the midwife who would be delivering our son, Genine, arrived for her shift about an hour after we checked in, she checked my cervix and determined that I was 100% effaced and 1cm dilated. My words exactly were "ONLY ONE CENTIMETER!??". I had been once centimeter for well over two weeks, I was feeling the contractions and my water had broken, how could I not have made progress!?! Genine seemed delighted that I was 100% effaced, she said that is the hard part- "dilation is easy".
I immediately got myself up out of that bed and walked the hallways with my mom while my hubs and Dad got some rest gearing up for the rest of the day. Just like the weekend before... we walked and walked and walked some more. Mom was a GREAT support person. She told me stories of her delivery with Andrew and I, encouraged me as I contracted and kept me somewhat distracted.
My contractions definitely started to pick up. Eventually I asked to sit on the birthing ball and get into the shower to see if I could get some relief for a few minutes. I was able to stay in the shower for a good 30 minutes until it was time to check my BP and monitor baby. The shower made my contractions pick up immensely and I was having a hard time talking through each contraction. My parents and hubs were there for support and were taking turns rubbing my back and walking me through each of my contractions. My best friend, Julie, arrived about this time as well. We were talking and laughing in between contractions but when they hit- there was no mercy.
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| Mom coaching me through a contraction and rubbing my back |
My nurse, Aimee, was unbelievable. She was so encouraging and attentive and continued to check on me regularly and answered all of my 101 questions. She knew I hoped to have natural childbirth and not get an epidural and kept supporting me in my decision.
The midwife came back in to check my cervix and confirmed I had made it to five centimeters! I asked if they could give me an approximation for how many more hours I'd be in labor and she said "it could be one hour or it could be six... there is no way to tell". I attempted to labor through for a little while longer. I REALLY wanted to go au natural, however, I was in so much pain and completely exhausted. I had only slept for about an hour in the past 30 hours as I had woken up at 6am the day before to go to work and only got to sleep for an hour before my water broke the night before.
At noon, I opted for the epidural. I needed to rest and regain some strength for the remainder of my labor/pushing. Aimee explained that they needed to give me an IV with one bag of fluids before they could get me the epidural but they got everything started right away then paged the anesthesiologist. When the anesthesiologist finally arrived (which was relatively quickly but seemed like forever), they asked my hubs to leave and I was NOT happy about this. Hospital policy states that the spouse has to leave as they often pass out and have a difficult time seeing their significant other in an uncomfortable situation- basically there is more risk then benefit to having them present. I asked if my Mom could stay being as she is a nurse practitioner and I wanted someone to be with me to help with my nerves and breathing through contractions. He agreed and was so nice about it! He talked me through everything that he was doing and to be honest- the epidural didn't hurt AT ALL. Compared to the pain of contractions- epidurals are a piece of cake. Within about 20 minutes the epidural kicked in, my family returned to the room and we talked for about 30 minutes before hubs and I decided to try and get some rest. We rested for a good 1-2 hours, held hands, spent quality time together and got ready for the main event!
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| Yay for epidurals! |
Aimee came back in to check on me around 3 pm and I was feeling the urge to push. She called my midwife back in to check my cervix and sure enough- Colin's head was right there! She said "oh my...he has a ton of hair!". She was certainly right! She told me we can begin pushing with Aimee and she would come back in as things progressed. I texted my Mom (who was resting in the waiting room) and informed her it was time to start pushing. She came back into the delivery room and was holding my left leg while Hubs held my right and we started pushing whenever I felt a contraction.
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| Mom waiting by my left leg for another contraction while hubs snapped a quick picture |
Throughout the entire transition phase of labor (pushing), I was roasting. I felt like the room was set at 120 degrees when in actuality they cranked the ac down to 55 for me! Everyone else had frost bite and I was asking for more ice chips to dump on my chest. At one point I asked my mom and hubs to fan me with clip boards between contractions so that I could cool down. Towards the end of my labor, I started to "pass out" between contractions from pure exhaustion. I remember having mini dreams about our dog and then being woken up saying "push, push, push". My midwife had to pop out to go check on her other patience briefly. Each time she came back in, she'd tell me- your Dad is out in the hallway asking if everything is ok. He seems so concerned! The first time she went out there she came back in and said "there is a guy with a goatee in the hallway asking if you are alright?" I said "thats my Daddy, please tell him I'm doing fine and his grandson will be here soon".
Once Colin's head finally came through after more than 3 hours of pushing, Genine told me to reach down and touch him as he made his appearance. There was a huge gush of fluid as his shoulders came through and I remember thinking "holy cow, what was that!!?". Everyone laughed at my reaction and my Mom gasped and I asked her if everything is ok with the baby and she said "he is beautiful!". Genine told me to reach down and pull my baby out. I was able to reach down and grab him by the shoulders and pull him up onto my chest.
This was the MOST amazing moment of my life.
He made the sweetest little whimpers while the nurses dried him off on my chest and took his first vitals. Our sweet guy had a 9 out of 10 on his apgars! I remember looking at him and saying "happy birthday baby, I love you so much" through streams of tears. I looked at my hubs and said "we did it, he is perfect!". We both could not stop smiling.
I was able to hold him and try to breastfeed for 90 minutes before he had to go to the nursery. Hubs and I were in complete awe.
My mom saw him for a few minutes and then took off to the waiting room to inform the 'troops' that everyone was healthy and happy. In the waiting room we had my Dad, my brother, my BFF, Hubs's Mom, brother, sister and three nieces. We took over the place! Everyone was awaiting Colin's sweet arrival. Once we had some time to ourselves, Colin got weighed, measured, his foot prints taken and wrapped up in his sweet little blanket.
While this was happening, we called everyone back to meet him. We didn't get many pictures because everyone was talking, hugging, crying, etc. It was such a beautiful time.
Once everyone had a chance to hold him, it was time for Colin to go to the nursery for his first bath and for me to get cleaned up and transferred to the maternal/child unit where we'd wait for our sweet guy.
We were only separated for an hour, but it felt like an eternity! I wanted to hold my baby again!
Once he met us in our room, we held him, kissed him and spent time as a family of three.
We were too excited to get much sleep that night, but we each tried to sleep a few hours in between staring at our sweet little boy.
The next day, we had some visitors come and surprise us. We were visited by my parents, hubs's mom and my friends Kelly, Kelly and Mrs. Guilday. Kelly and Kelly grew up on the same street as me. We've been friends for a lifetime and they were so excited to meet sweet Colin. Kelly G. flew in all the way from California and surprised me!!! Here are a few pictures from Colin's first day...
The third and final day in the hospital was a long one. We were ready to be home and get comfortable in our home but Colin had to wait for the OB to have some time to do his circumcision. We were finally cleared to leave around 3pm on Friday the 31st. We packed up our things and hit the road.
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| All ready to head home! |
Once we arrived at home, we realized our house looked like a hotel! My parents had spent the past two days completely cleaning the house, putting flowers in our bathroom, turning down our sheets and making our home the most comfortable it has ever been. We felt so loved.
I hope you enjoyed reading all about Colin's birth story. I am going to ask our parents and my Hubs to write brief recaps of the week as well and share those on the blog sometime this summer. I think it's fun to read how others remember the day and it will be fun to share these stories with Colin some day.
There is one thing that is for certain... carrying this sweet boy and brining him into the world has been the most beautiful experience. I would not change a single thing about my pregnancy and Colin's birthday. I will never forget this sweet time in our lives. On that note... I'm going to go snuggle my baby. ;)
Cheers!
Mama Cait
thanks, Cait - great "story" - you worked very hard for your little man - love to all - ab
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