It started on Wednesday night. At about 9:00 I started to get the real contractions - not the fake ones I had been having for the past month. They started off pretty tame and they were not really regular - coming about every 15 minutes, give or take five minutes- so Chris and I decided to go to bed early and try to get some sleep to get ready for the big event. My midwives had previously given me instruction to take gravol and extra-strength tylenol so that I could get to sleep more easily, and not to worry - because "if it really is labour, you won't sleep through it". Well, they were right.............................................
I never did get to sleep because the contractions kept getting stronger - I had quite a bit of lower back pain so I kept taking baths and showers to try and alleviate some of the discomfort. By 4:00 the next morning, I couldn't deal with the pain alone anymore - and woke Chris up to help me get through them. At this point they were still about 10-15 minutes apart, but so strong that I ended up crying and moaning my way through most of them, but with the help of Chris' strong arms pressing on my hips and back - we managed to make it until 6:00, just the two of us, going through labour together at the house.
At about 5:30 the contractions jumped to 3 minutes apart and we knew it was time to page the midwife. I laboured on hands and knees in the shower while Chris explained everything to the midwife - normally she talks to the mother to make sure that she is actually in labour, but in my case she could clearly hear that I was, and quickly determined that talking on the phone wouldn't be a skill I was currently in possession of. Her quick instructions were to pack everything up, and head to the birthing center at the hospital.
The car ride was were I believe I made most of my labouring progress. Because Chris was driving, and I didn't want to scare him into an accident, I had to go deep within myself to deal with the pain - eyes closed, focused on the flow of the contractions, chanting "I'm okay" over and over again quietly to myself.
We arrived at about 8:00 on the morning of Thursday August 30, 2007 to the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa where Mum and our two midwives were waiting for us. I got signed in and walked to our birthing room at the back of the birthing wing (I later found out that this is the room designated for non-epidural births so that fewer expectant mothers will be subjected to the screams that will leave this room during the birthing process).
Once there, my midwives did a check to see how far along I was and it turns out that the previous month of contractions and all of our work at home had paid off, I was completely thinned out and 5 cm dilated - amazing for a first baby! So we began the labouring process in the hospital- we filled up the jacuzzi tub and I got in but the relief was momentary as my labour was progressing much faster than we thought. By 10:00 I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing with my contractions coming one on top of the other. My midwives kept telling me that once I started pushing - I would get some relief from the pain - but unfortunately the relief never came....................Emmi was stuck and she wasn't going anywhere!
After an hour of pushing in excruciating pain and screaming at the top of my lungs - I finally had to grab my midwife, look her in the eye, and say "I can't do this anymore - she is not coming out. You have to do something! SHE IS KILLING ME!!!!!!!!" At this point, my midwife realized the gravity of the situation and found a doctor who could do something to help me. He got me in the stirrups and proceeded to freeze the inside of my vagina with a local anaesthetic. It pinched a little - but Chris watched it and said it was the grossest thing he had ever seen - the needle was huge! After this he gave me an episiotomy and said that if I couldn't push this baby out now, he would have to get the vacuum ready. Now, I wanted as little intervention as possible, and felt like I had already received way more than I ever wanted and every time I pushed, Emmis heart beat was dropping way to low- so I sucked all of my energy up and pushed as hard as I could - twice. By the second push, at 11:20 am- the baby was out and the relief was best thing I have ever felt in my life.
After this point, I don't remember much for about half an hour- I do know that there was meconium in the bag of waters so they brought in a respiratory specialist who took care of Emmi right after she was born - and she was fine so they handed her off to me while I was still in the stirrups.
Weighing in at 7lbs 8oz.
After about 45 minutes, the doctor finally made is way back into my room to stitch me up. By this time, the freezing had warn off and so had the labouring adrenaline- so the nitrous oxide became my best friend - the stitching still hurt, but I found it really funny!
Chris was amazing and held my hand through everything - he knew when to touch me and when to leave me alone and he knew enough not to talk at all through the whole ordeal. I couldn't have done it without him.
My Mum was also awesome, although, there was an awful lot of crying on her part :) - I think it was a lot harder to watch than she thought it was going to be - she helped a lot just by being there.
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