Labour and Delivery Story!!

Well, I'm just sitting in my bed looking over at my sweet little sleeping girl and thinking "I can't believe I have had her for a week already!!". I thought maybe I would take some time out of my morning to share my labour and delivery story since I have got asked about it a couple of times. So it starts out a couple weeks ago when I got my membranes stripped. After my membranes were stripped I started having some contractions but they never worsened in pain so I knew it was false labour. Every morning I would wake up around 5am with contractions and each day they would taper off and I would be left with no baby...slightly depressing. After a couple days of getting my hopes up, I decided my body was not meant to go into labour and that I would have to wait for my looming induction date. Sunday evening, Andrew and I went down to Indian Battle park and celebrated our friend Brandon's birthday. When I got home I was feeling a little nauseous and I knew that had been how my moms labor had started but I definitely just wrote it off because I didn't want to get my hopes up again. Around 3:30am I started getting contractions, even though they came earlier then normal I decided to go upstairs and begin my normal routine. By about 6 am they were getting a bit worse and about 6 minutes apart......so I had to decide whether to tell Andrew to phone in to work or not...I didn't want another false alarm!!! He decided that he would phone in and I decided that we should wait till about 8am before heading to the hospital. The contractions continued to get worse but they stayed about 5 minutes apart and they were VERY bearable. We got in the car around 8:30am and headed to safeway to get some snacks in case this was the real deal. By the time we got to the hospital it was 9am and no one in the E.R. believed I was in labour. The girl at the desk took FOREVER getting all our information together and I was wondering what the big hold up was! We got up to labour and delivery and apparently they were swamped that morning. They put us in a little draped area where they hooked me up to check my contractions and to see how baby was responding. I was still feeling GREAT and I was scared they might send me home because my contractions were 5 minutes apart. After 30 minutes of being on the machine our nurse came back and checked the results. Apparently my pain tolerance is higher then I expected because my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I was only feeling the strong ones PLUS I was already 5 cm dilated. We had to wait till about 11am to get into a labour and delivery room because they were so busy but once we were all set up I called my mom to tell her the news! At about 12:30 am the doctor came in and broke my water and it was the grossest feeling ever!!! It was like sitting in a huge pile of pee. He also told me that because there was so much fluid, Scarlette's head wasn't able to effectively put pressure on my cervix to start labor....explains why she was so dang late!! Side Story---my regular doctor went away for only 2 days and this little girl decided to come when he was gone!!! so I had the doctor on call...he was very good though. Anyways, I had no pain medication thus far and was feeling pretty optimistic about having a natural birth. After they broke my water they checked me and I was only 6cm. They let the amniotic fluid keep leaking out and Scarlette's heartbeat kept dipping when I would have a contraction so I got hooked back up to the machine for a while to monitor it. The nurse kept a close eye on her but decided that because of all the fetal movement going on, she was doing good enough that I could go in the shower. At about 2 pm they got me all naked and got the birthing ball out and I headed into the shower. Contractions were definitely getting worse but I was still able to breath through them and Andrew kept making my drink my ice water haha. We had been in the shower for about an hour and a half when I got this huge contraction that honestly made me feel like I was going to die!!! I thought that the next one might be a small one and I would be able to breath through it but it was also just as painful. I looked over at Andrew and said..." I think I want the epidural". I made this decision because I still thought I had about 3 cm to go and for first time moms they estimate 1 hour of labor for each cm...meaning 3 more hours of labor....NO WAY could I last with these contractions. Andrew promptly went and told the nurse and she came in super fast and helped me get off the ball and up on my feet. When I stood up I felt like my body was going to fall apart....the contraction felt like it was never going to end but it was actually just pain from all the pressure that baby was putting on my cervix. My pelvis felt like it was on fire!! Anyways, I started to shake uncontrollably and went into a little bit of shock with all the pain I was in. The anesthesiologist was already in the room when I got back to my bed and she explained what she was going to do. I was in so much pain that I don't really remember any of it. I didn't feel the I.V. go in, I didn't feel the freezing in my back and I definitely didn't feel the epidural. I laid back down in bed and the contractions were still so horrible but within 15 minutes they had tapered off and the nurse decided to check me. This is when she looks up at me surprised and says "your fully dilated!". So in 15 minutes I went from 6cm to 10cm and it was time to push. I asked the nurse if I could have a little rest before I pushed and she said that was ok as long as the baby was still doing alright. It was now 4:15 pm. By 4:25 the nurse was back in and told me the doctor was coming so she was going to teach me how to push. Andrew and her held my legs and I started to push....my first contraction I was pushing when the nurse told me that Scarlette had a head of dark hair. I honestly thought she were pulling my leg...I did not picture my little girl with dark hair! The doctor came in around 4:35 and we started really pushing...now you will have to ask Andrew about this part because I was just concentrating on pushing but he could explain better what was going on where the doctor was sitting hahaha. By 4:54 pm my baby girl was out and I was in no pain at all! Andrew did AWESOME and he helped me the whole time without getting sick. They put Scarlette on the warming table and I just couldn't believe she was my child. She had dark dark hair, dark skin and looked just like her daddy! We were instantly in love and it was so weird having her on the outside! Overall, my labour and delivery was awesome! I wouldn't have asked for it any other way. I was in enough pain that I feel like I experienced enough labour to appreciate our little girl and all it took to bring her into the world. I only had pain relief for the last hour and a half but the remaining 12 hours of labour I had done all on my own. The epidural did not hurt at all when they put it in and I will definitely be getting one again. It was nice that I went into labour and delivery with an open mind and I was willing to get the pain relief I needed to enjoy the pushing part of labour which also allowed me to enjoy the first couple moments with her even though I was getting stitched up.

Andrew and I love our little girl SO much. We feel extremely blessed to have her finally in our home and she brings the sweetest little spirit into our lives. I feel joy every day when I am able to feed her, cuddle her and kiss those sweet little chubby cheeks she inherited from her momma. We love Scarlette Mikenna Maclean!