Hannahs Birth Story Part I

With the pending birth of our second child coming October/November I've been reflecting back to Hannah's birth!
I love reading birth stories and thought maybe I'd post it here so others can read ours, maybe I'll give someone a little inspiration or motivation. Maybe I'll just give you something to read but I just feel bringing a new little life into this world is such a miracle and I couldn't pass up the chance to write about it one more time! :)

On the morning of May 2nd I had a midwife appointment. I was a week away from my due date and my midwife was curious if I was anywhere close to having our sweet bundle of joy. She was off all weekend and thought it would be a good idea to check me. I agreed because I was really wanting to go shopping for the day. I had already been on maternity leave for a week and I still had a lot to get done (at least it felt that way to me). My mom, sister, niece and I were planning a trip that day to a city about an hour or so away and I wanted to be reassured that I would be able to go and not have to rush home in labour.


I was given the go ahead from the midwife to go to London but was told, I'd be having the baby that weekend. Yeah right! My midwife had said silly things like that in the past - she told me I was having a big baby, ultrasound confirmed baby wasn't, then I was told she was too small, again ultrasound determined she wasn't. She was born a healthy 8lbs 4oz!

Everything was good, I was about 1cm dilated, fully effaced, blood pressure was perfect (I had had a couple high readings in the past), babies heart rate was perfect. We were going to go shopping! Yippee! I left my appointment, dropped my husband off at work and headed over to my mom's to pick up both her and my sister and niece. I should mention at my appointment my midwife did a stretch and sweep. This was definitely not the most comfortable feeling in the world. Amanda said I would probably have some spotting and cramping for the rest of the day. Great!

We were on our way! We got driving laughing, being super silly and having a great time. The whole way there I was definitely uncomfortable with cramping but I was told I would be so didn't think anything of it. We spent the entire day shopping, and as the hours winded down I was getting more and more uncomfortable. The cramping was really intense and I just couldn't really get comfortable unless I was walking. We stopped at Applebee's for dinner and I just had a really hard time sitting. My mom and sister kept asking if I was okay and I was, I just need to be distracted. We continued having a great time, again, laughing, joking, reminiscing and having a great time.

We drove home, dropped my sister off at her place and headed to moms so I could pick up my car and go home. At this point it was about 10pm. Mom asked if I wanted to come in for a bit but I thought I'd better get home to see Chris. I got in my car and headed home. I was in the car for about 4 minutes and made it just around the corner when I noticed the cramps were no longer cramps but intense pains that would come and go. Humm..I wonder if this is the start of labor? I drove home uncomfortable and tired from our VERY long day of shopping! Oh yeah, all day long Chris had called my cell phone, he swore I was going to have the baby that day and was worried I wouldn't be able to make it home in time to get to the hospital that my midwife could deliver at. It was super cute and very funny the number of times he called. I told him each time I was having cramping but I was good, we were having a great time and I would call him if anything changed. He kept calling!

I walked in the house to be greeted by hubby. He was upstairs watching TV and came to see how I was feeling and see the loot I had bought (I honestly am not even sure I bought a single thing). I told him about the change in pains I had as soon as I left my mom's house and that I really wanted to just go sit in the bath. He said that was probably a good idea and went back to watching TV. I went to our bedroom, ran the bath water and got in. Man, did that feel nice. I think I was in the tub for about an hour when the pains I had started to get MORE intense and I knew this was the beginning of my labour. After about an hour and a half or so, Chris came to check on me and see how I was doing. As soon as he walked in, he knew this was it. I was definitely having contractions and they were getting more and more intense. At this point it's about midnight. I really wanted my mom to be part of the whole process so at this point we called he to let her know that we thought I was in labour and she should think about coming over soon. She couldn't believe I never came back to her house when I started feeling the contractions before I even left her neighbourhood. She told us she'd be over shortly and we hung up the phone to continue on with labouring in the tub.

Hubby stayed with me pretty much from this point on to make sure I was coping well with the pain (and it was definitely getting painful, nothing like the cramping I had during the day). I stayed in the tub for a bit longer and thought I would get out and start packing my bags to head to the hospital at some point (yes, most of my bad was pack but there were still a few things I wanted to pack last minute that hadn't made it yet). I got out with the help of Chris and instantly I thought I was going to die. I could hardly move, the contractions which were about 4 minutes apart at this point were one on top of the other and I wasn't getting any relief. Lucky for me, we didn't drain the water in the tub, I jumped (or jumped as much as a 9 month pregnant women in labour can) back into the tub. Instant relief! I could breath! At this point we decided it best to call the midwife and make sure what we were experiencing was all good and what we were doing for relief was okay as well. We paged Amanda - oh yeah she had the weekend off, we paged our secondary midwife - she wasn't available, and told us to call someone else (I can't remember who right now?) - she was already at a birth. I'm starting to freak out a little at this point. We are going to have this baby without a midwife all this preparation and excitement to have a midwife present for my birth was all falling apart because NO ONE was available. We finally got hold of a fourth midwife, thank god! She wanted to talk to me on the phone during one of my contractions to see how I was handling them. I made it though one with her on the phone (by the way at this point my mom has also shown up). It's about 1:30am! My contractions are about 3 minutes apart. My new midwife says she'll be there in about 15-20 minutes. Sounds good to me! I'm still in the tub and able to socialize and breath/concentrate during contractions. I hung up the phone.

The next couple of minutes are a blur, I remember feeling intense contractions and they seemed to be coming quickly together. My mom and Chris started to get nervous with how quickly it was all happening and decided to call the midwife (Evelyn) again, this time to tell her that we'd just meet her at the hospital. She was okay with that and told us she would me us at the front entrance.

I got out of the tub, which let me tell you was not an easy task! Things seemed to get 100% more intense and the contractions seemed to come right on top of the other. I had to try and get dress and make it down stairs. With the help of my mom and Chris we were able to do it. I got into the back seat of the car on my knees facing the back of the car and told them to go! All I remember on the way to the hospital (about 20 minute ride) was Chris hitting EVERY SINGLE bump! I felt like I was on a roller coaster going up and down, and swaying this way and that! It was making me an angry labouring women caged up in a car. Not a good thing!

Finally we made it to the hospital, sure enough my new new new new midwife was there. I almost ran the other way when I first saw her. She was an old order Mennonite and I wasn't sure I wanted "her" to deliver my baby. Then a contraction came, just get me into the hospital and that point I didn't care who was about to deliver my baby! It turns out Evelyn was the most amazing women I ever met, she was exactly the type of midwife I needed for the birth of my daughter and I could only hope she would be able to deliver my next babies (unfortunately she wasn't available this time around but I went a midwife who was a student of hers, hoping they had the same philosophy).

I got into the hospital, got into my room and was checked pretty much right away, I was 5.5 cm! Nice process!!! I laid down for a bit to relax after the ride to the hospital and was hooked up to IV. I was group b strep positive and therefore had to have an IV of antibiotics to ensure everything was alright for delivery of the baby.

Second part coming soon!  Read the second part here