Katrina’s Birth Story
So here is Katrina’s detailed birth story. If you are faint of heart or don’t like gross details then don’t read any further. I plan to add Lillian’s birth story in a few days for comparison.
Katrina’s Birth.
I went to bed on Saturday (June 11th) wondering when this baby would finally arrive. I woke up at 4am in pain and had to sit up to make the pain manageable. I timed a few contractions, still 12-15 minutes apart and I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to let my mom and husband sleep and played on the computer until almost 7am. Then I woke up my mom and husband to let them know I think things had started. We spent the day keeping me busy but as the day went along the contractions didn’t really get much closer together or all that much stronger and if I worked hard to not think about them I could be distracted. I personally felt they were pretty strong, and they averaged 4.5 minutes apart. We decided to be safe and head to the hospital. I called my girlfriend to come look after Lillian. My mother waited for her while Steve and I headed to the hospital.
Once there Steve and I headed to triage and were signed in. They hooked me up to the fetal heart rate monitor so we got to hear the baby and know she was doing well. Next they checked me and I found out I was 2-3 cm dialated. The nurse sent me walking with Steve for an hour and said they’d check me again then. I said if nothing changes in that time I would prefer to go home to keep labouring in my own space. We updated my mom in the family waiting room and then wandered around the outside of the hospital for the required hour. Once we got back to the room there wasn’t any change. The nurse said since it was slow they could try breaking my water and induce me. I asked the doctor whether that meant I had to go on oxytocin and remain sitting or laying down or if they could just break the water. Since I would have had to take the drugs too, I decided I didn’t want to do that yet. So he cleared me to go home.
So we left the hospital, and my mom joked that we should pay for parking since it was yet another false alarm. By now my mom had been up at our house since the due date and we’ve just been sitting around waiting. By now, we were rather disappointed but at least we knew the baby was doing good and I was 2-3cm which was better than nothing. But I had seen my obstetrician on Monday and was 1cm then so that means I’d only gone 1-2cm in 6 days!
On Monday I woke up with the same pain as Sunday morning but the contractions were still only 5-7 minutes apart. Needless to say I was not impressed. They were a good minute long now but still really weak. My husband decided to work from home this day, though he ended up not working, and after reviewing the birth partner book again he felt his place was beside me supporting me. He’s really a good guy. So we fed our toddler breakfast and then my husband brought her to daycare for the day. By now my contractions were mostly 6 minutes apart and 1 minute long but still not so intense.
So we set about keeping me distracted. Since the pain was more frequent I found myself feeling rather naeuous. I had since the contractions started so I wasn’t eating much. My mother made me cream of wheat and got me to eat some even though I didn’t want to. They really had to push me to eat for the rest of the day. As the day went on the contractions started to hurt more. Steve got me walking around the block and when I walked they were every 5 minutes but when I sat down they 5-7 minutes. We watched a movie in the basement while my cleaning ladies cleaned the house. They only come one day a month, so the fact that is was this day amused me.
As the day wore on the contractions become 3-5 minutes apart and lasted for 90 seconds on average. By the afternoon they were starting to get strong. Once we had Lillian picked up from daycare, we ordered pizza and I managed to eat one slice. My mom noticed that my breathing were getting louder and more heavy when I walked around. By 6pm the pain was getting bad, so my mom recommended we go to the hospital again to have me looked over. I called my girlfriend and Steve and I headed to the hospital. We had promised to call my mom once we knew more.
We arrived at the hospital just after 7pm. Once there we learned that I was now 6cm along. We called my mom and other family members to let them know things were happening. My mom arrived and I moved into my labour room. We kept me walking around the room and I learned that if I wanted an epidural this time I had to make up my mind asap since he was going into a long process. But by the time I made into the room, he was no longer available so I couldn’t get one at that time. In honesty though at that time I was okay still.
For the next while I paced around the room and had my baby checked every 15 minutes, and me every hour. The next time they checked me around 9pm I was 6-7 cm so that was promising. The doctor then arrived and asked if I wanted my water broken to help speed things up. She also said I could have oxytocin if I wanted it. I asked to have the water broken but wait on the drugs. This is when things really picked up. The contractions started to really hurt and were very strong. I swayed while holding Steve, walked around, bounced on the birthing ball and just kept waiting while my body did it’s thing. Shortly after midnight I was in a lot of pain and gave into wanting an epidural. So they hooked me up to an IV to get my fluids up and a bit before 1am they arrived to give it to me. Steve held my hand and as soon as the drugs kicked in I felt a very strong urge to push. My nurse checked me, and I was 9.5 cm along. We just needed to wait for a bit more stretchiness.
A few contractions later I was set to go. I could not feel the pressure in my pelvis anymore but my vaginal reason was still fine, so I knew when my contractions were hitting and knew this baby was coming and soon. Steve and my mom took their spots on either side of me and the nurse, and medical student began to help me push. They realized quickly that I could feel everything because I would tell them when a contraction was coming and start to push when I needed to. They wandered around the room setting up tools and such until I called them for a contraction. After a few pushes they noticed the baby was facing the wrong direction and said I should stop pushing until she turns. I said no, and explained my first faced the wrong way too. The nurse smiled and called them ‘sunny side up’ babies, and we kept going.
Soon after that the nurse went to fetch the OB and told me to stop pushing hard until she got there. It was really hard not to push and I ended up pushing a bit anyway. Once the doctor was there I pushed harder and did exactly as she told me to. The nurse and doctor kept working on stretching me and in less than an hour from starting to push the baby came out and was confirmed to be another girl! I had been told she was a girl, but I was a guaranteed boy so I needed to see her to know for sure. My husband followed the baby to photograph her and my mother got to cut the cord.
Katrina arrived a 2:43am on Tuesday, June 14th. I riped less this time than with Lillian and my baby was 7 ½ oz lighter than Lillian. She weighed 7lbs 13.5 oz, was 50cm/19 3/4 inches long and arrived in around 7 hours once we got to the hospital. One blessing from this whole thing, is that this baby was born exactly two years to the day that my mother-in-law passed away. We lost her suddenly on June 14th, 2009 and then 2 years, exactly, later we brought a new baby into the family.
wow what a great birth story. Amazing she was born on this date! a true blessing.