4am on Monday, December 8th my water broke. I woke Nic up, he went downstairs and woke his mum up (she was spending the night with us to avoid the possibility of calling her to drive up amidst a snow storm we were expecting), grabbed my bag, I kissed Ben – who was sound asleep in bed - ‘good bye’ and told him I loved him. Then we got on the road.
It was snowy and the roads were slick. I had one contraction on the way to the hospital – about a 15 minute drive from our house – and another when we pulled up at the doors. I contemplated walking to the birthing unit, but Nic suggested a chair and it was a good suggestion.
We got to the birthing unit, gave them all my info, and then the contractions really kicked in. I told the desk clerk that things were probably going to happen really quickly – I had no idea how quickly though!!
We were given a bed in triage, I managed to collect a urine sample (how, I’ll never know!), and then I sent Nic out to get a nurse in to assess me – my contractions were three minutes apart. After what seemed like a really long time, but in reality was probably ten minutes, a nurse came in, checked me, found I was 7 cms. Then everyone started to hussle!
My delivery nurse came immediately, asked if I could walk to my room, I couldn’t – the contractions were far too intense and frequent – so they just wheeled my bed from triage to the room and I transferred beds when I got there.
Once in the birthing room – in which there were about three different nurses running around (I should have realized that an epidural was a pipe dream at this point! Ha-ha!), they drew some blood, hooked me up to the monitor, and suddenly I just needed to push. And my nurse looked panicked when I informed her of this! I guess it took her by surprise too! In retrospect I find it really amusing that the dialogue went something like this:
Me: I need to push!
Nurse: Oh no you don’t!! Breathe through it!!
Ha! Fat chance. I suspect this is a woman who hadn’t experienced un-medicated child birth (she was quite young) – there is no stopping a baby who wants to be born! I may be her mother, but I can’t work miracles!
Suddenly she was calling for the doctor, nurses were swirling in, it was crazy!
I pushed maybe six to ten times, and it was the most surreal experience of my life. At times the pain was absolutely blinding, but thinking of all the women I know who’ve survived a completely un-medicated child birth is what got me through… obviously I’d survive!
And less than 15 minutes after entering the birthing room, sweet little Caitlin (full name: Caitlin Marie Jocelyn – Marie for my mum, Jocelyn for Nic’s) was born at precisely 4.56am weighing in at 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches long. A big girl, and bigger than her brother in both respects (he was 8lbs 6oz, and 19 inches long).
Of course, I appear to be a woman who cannot birth a child in an uneventful fashion. This time it was shoulder dystocia. Basically, one (maybe both) shoulders get stuck and therefore don’t enter the birth canal properly. Apparently this is quite a thing and happens very seldom (like <1% of all births – yay us!) and can cause all sorts of serious complications (which I’m only just realizing now). As a result there was a whole lot of hubbub at one point, my bed was tipped almost completely back, and people were getting very serious. As a result, as soon as Caitlin was out they just cut the cord and whisked her over to the exam table. Nic didn’t get a chance to cut the cord. He did, however, see Caitlin’s head come out (he didn’t see anything with Ben).
Thankfully Caitlin’s first APGAR was 8, and second APGAR was 9. And I only ended up with a second degree tear (which is a cake walk compared to the major episiotomy I had last time).
After Caitlin was checked and I was stitched I finally got to hold her in my arms; that’s when I finally cried. Up to that point everything was happening so quickly that my brain hadn’t really processed what was going on.
Then I tried to latch her, not really sure what to expect, since Ben and I never latched, not even once. And much to my wonder and amazement she latched right on! And she’s been latching ever since. We haven’t had a single problem getting her latched either. It’s just so bizarre! Of course, since I’m a newbie I’m not certain our latch is ‘great’, but my nipples are still in tact, the nurses gave me some advice, and I’m hoping to get into a breast feeding clinic soon (I already have an appointment for Dec. 19th – the earliest I could get in! – so I’ll be calling around to a couple of other places). And my milk came in today too. It’s just been over two days, so I’m pretty stoked. I’m hoping it’ll make us a little more efficient because yesterday after having nursing marathon from 5am to 1pm I really thought my nipples might fall off! Today things are MUCH better, and she’s clearly having satisfying feeds and sleeping more restfully in between as a result.
And now we’re home and all doing well. I’m feeling quite a bit better this time around, so I need to remind myself to rest up a bit more. Daddy’s doing a wonderful job keeping this place running, helping me with things that I can’t do while I’m tied up with Caitlin, and most importantly, making sure Ben’s well taken care of.
Ben seems to be taking everything in stride. He’s very interested in Caitlin, and is a super big brother already. I can’t tell you how many times watching him interact with his little sister has made me cry. He is just the sweetest little boy: sharing his most prized possessions with Caitlin, patting her shoulder and telling her ‘it’s alright, baby – don’t cry’ when she’s upset, and rocking her cradle. This morning he offered her a sip of his milk. What a wonderful kid he is, and his sister is measuring up too.
Nic and I are truly, truly blessed.
Labels: Caitlin
