He's here! MacBoy's Birth Story

Well clearly a lot has changed since my last post! We are now a family of 4! Little JD joined us on Sunday, June 29th, 2014 at 5:57pm weighing in at 7lbs 7oz and 20" long. He was born at 37 weeks, 5 days gestation following a very fast and furious labour and delivery. I'm fairly certain he is perfect in every way, although I am totally biased. 

Little did I know when I was taking the photo on the left that it would be my last bump photo and the sweet little face on the right would be joining us approximately 24 hours later. 

On Saturday, June 28th J and I had a wedding to attend. J was in the wedding party so we kept joking as long as we made it through the wedding, our little man could make his appearance any day after that (I was getting fairly uncomfortable at this point in my pregnancy an the hot, humid southern Ontario summer was not helping). Apparently he took this quite literally. The wedding was wonderful and I had no signs of impending labor at this point... No cramping, nothing. When I woke up on Sunday I was exhausted and a little nauseous but I figured it was due to our very late evening the night before and being a little dehydrated so I headed to the barn for morning milking and carried on as per usual. T was at my in laws and they kindly offered to keep her for a couple more hours so I could take a nap... In hindsight, thank goodness I did! 

After I woke up from my nap I got ready for my friend's daughter's baptism that afternoon. The service started at 1pm and throughout the hour long baptism I noticed a few cramps but they were so sporadic and all over the place I figured it was due to being dehydrated. It was about a billion degrees that day and I knew I hadn't been drinking enough water. After the service I headed home to change for the BBQ that was to follow the baptism and to pick up T. The cramps were still there, but totally manageable and I really, truly thought they were Braxton Hicks. 

We arrived at the BBQ around 3pm. This is when I started to realize these cramps were definitely becoming timeable and lasting longer than before. At this point they were probably 4-5 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long. My friend noticed I wasn't acting like myself and after consulting with her and another guest at the BBQ who happened to be a doula it was decided I should probably head to the hospital to get checked out, just in case. The lovely doula made the comment that I would be "having this baby before dark." At the time I thought no way. I didn't even really think I was in active labour! Haha, jokes on me. 

I texted J around 4pm and told him that we should probably head in to the hospital and that I would drop T at his parents and head home to take a shower, pack a bag (so unprepared!) and see what the contractions did after that. As he was baling hay, I told him not to rush and to aim to be home between 5 and 5:30pm. 

I kinda figured that after a hot shower the contractions would fizzle out and that would be that. Boy, was I wrong! As soon as I got out, it's like they doubled in intensity and were now coming every 2 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds to 1 minute long. At this point I finally clued in that this was the real deal. As soon as J got home he had a quick shower and we left for the hospital around 5:15pm. 

The car ride to the hospital was fairly unbearable as the contractions were one on top of the other and by the time we pulled into the parking lot all I could think about was pushing. I wasn't even sure if I was capable of making it to the second floor to labour and delivery but I did. The nurses were waiting when we arrived as I had called ahead and after spending about 30 seconds in the early labour/triage room I was wheeled to a delivery room where the nurse announced I was fully dilated and he was ready to arrive... And there was no time for an epidural (cue small panic attack). A few seconds later my water basically exploded across the room and one of the poor nurses and then it took all my strength and concentration not to just push him out while we waited for the OB to show up. I swear it took him 5 hours to get there when in reality it was more like 10 minutes. 

Once the OB arrived, I pushed for approximately 3 minutes and JD was born! 

We had arrived at the hospital around 530pm and he was born at 557pm. If I had to do it without drugs at least it was quick!

As much as I was terrified for a natural delivery, the recovery has been amazing! 

So far, JD is an absolutely wonderful baby. He rarely fusses and sleeps like a champ. T is fairly smitten with her "baby brother" and has been a wonderful big sister (although a little over zealous with the snuggles and kisses... I find myself mindlessly saying "gentle" every time she gets within 3 feet of him). 

We are settling into life as a family as 4 and slowly but surely finding our rhythm. Thank goodness my mom joined us for 5 days after he was born... We ate like kings and T had the best time with her GeeGee. J has been a great support with T as well, taking her for tractor rides to give me a break and making sure I get enough sleep. It truly does take a village to raise a child. 

And these two are never very from each other... He is the best bodyguard around. 

T's Birth Day. (The 2nd Part)

So here is the part that includes the actual labour and birth stuff. As mentioned in part one, my Dad passed away suddenly on November 26. My husband and I headed to my parents house two hours away to be with the family, try to make sense of this tragic, life altering event, and figure out what to do. We arrived late in the evening to an overwhelming display of love and support from family and friends. There were tears.... so. many. tears. And sympathetic hugs. But mostly there was disbelief. Disbelief and utter shock that such a good man had been taken so soon, and so suddenly.

The next few days were such a blur of emotions. There were flowers, beautiful cards, lovingly delivered dishes of food, and so many family and friends. The funeral date was set for Friday, December 2nd at the church his family had attended throughout his childhood. I wasn't 39 weeks yet and this being my first baby, I assumed that I would be overdue, so I didn't think much about the possibility of going into labour... I mean honestly, thats the stuff soap operas are made of, right?

I woke up on the morning of November 30th at my parents feeling extra craptastic. I mean, in the grand scheme of feeling crappy, that week definitely takes the cake, but something was different. I had been up a billion times in the night to pee and woke up sore and exhausted. I chalked it up to dehydration and sleeping in my tiny childhood bed with my gigantic husband. Throughout the morning I started noticing waves of cramping. I tried drinking water, taking a hot shower, and laying down, convincing myself that this was just my body telling me to take it easy.  As much as I wanted to meet her daughter, I honestly didn't think I could handle anything else emotionally that week. I didn't want to welcome her into the world when we were in the very depths of grieving and mourning. It just couldn't possibly be labour. 

I was so wrong.

I was trying to keep all these labour thoughts to myself because I figured everyone else had enough to deal with. I was scared that if I made a scene and it wasn't actually labour (I mean, she's my first baby, I had no idea what it was supposed to feel like!) that I would have created all sorts of unnecessary drama.  However, it got to a point where I couldn't really talk through these "cramps" and they were coming pretty consistently. My mom caught on and convinced me to go to the hospital right around the corner from her house. J and I headed over around lunchtime, after I told her to keep it to herself until we were sure it was the real deal.

I was very lucky that my cousin is an OB/GYN in the city we were since we hadn't planned to deliver there, and after a few text messages and phone calls, the labour and delivery wing was ready and waiting to check me out. I was still totally convinced that this was just false labour, and maybe i'd get a bag of IV fluids and sent on  my way. The cramps hurt, but I had heard such horror stories about contractions that I figured this can't possibly be it. I settled into the triage area to be assessed. A lovely resident came to check me out and after 20 seconds declared "oh my goodness, your 7cm, your having a baby today!"

Excuse me? Today? We are meeting her today?!!!!

And at that moment, I let myself be excited. (and so NERVOUS!) I let myself feel something other than despair and unrelenting grief. We were going to meet our daughter. HOLY CRAP.

After this, I immediately told myself two things:

a) Live in the moment. Cherish every second of this experience. You only have your first baby once and my Dad would have been so disappointed if he thought I had let anything get in the way of having that experience. 

b) I NEED AN EPIDURAL!!! 

By this time the contractions had become more than cramps and had turned into those gut twisting, uterus on fire, no relief monstrosities I had been dreading. One on top of the other. So I got an epidural. AHHH-MAZING. 

I'm going to fast forward here through a bunch of internal checks, my water breaking and exciting text messages to the actual birth part. Around 7 pm the nurse decided I should start practice pushing. Pushing is no joke. After an hour I felt like I had run a marathon and she still wasn't any closer to arrival. The resident came in and we started noticing large drops in her heart rate with each contraction and she had expressed meconium, both signs of fetal distress. She had to come out, and she had to come out now. After 2 GIANT pushes and the assistance of a vacuum (at which point, my husband proclaimed "it looks just like when we pull a calf out!"), T was born at 8:20pm on Wednesday, November 30, weighing in at 7lbs, 5oz and measuring 21 inches long. 

She was here. She was healthy. And she changed our lives and our hearts forever. 

And we were discharged in time for the funeral. Little Miss T got to say a proper goodbye to the Gramps she never met, but I know will always be in her heart. 

T's Birth Day. (The first part)

Since I was a little bit late jumping on the whole baby/mommy blogging bandwagon, I figured I might as well start at the beginning of this whole adventure, the day T was born. I guess I could go back even further and talk about my pregnancy, but at the end of the day, who really want's to hear about how much I puked (A LOT), or that I ate my weight in skittles, chocolate milk and root beer?

(Warning: this will be long...  )

T's birth story really begins, for me, 4 days before she was born. My mom had planned on driving down to visit me and do some last minute baby shopping with me on Saturday, November 26, 2011. My due date was December 8th, so I was around 38 weeks at this point, and resembling a small blimp. Throughout the course of the day, my mom started to get concerned that she hadn't heard from my dad at all. This was REALLY unusual for him. He was at their cabin, which is about a 4 hour drive from where we were shopping. At first I didn't think much of it, but after several unreturned text messages and phone calls, I started to get worried. I suggested she phone the neighbour, and ask them to stop in and just check up on him. I knew something was wrong. And not just a little bit wrong, but life changing, earth shattering wrong. And I was right.

My mom dropped me at my house and continued on with her 2 hour drive home, with the promise that she would let me know as soon as she heard anything, either from my dad, or the neighbour. An hour after she left I still hadn't heard anything and was starting to FREAK OUT. I couldn't stop shaking and crying even though I didn't even know if anything was wrong. I finally got a hold of her and she said the words that I had been dreading, praying not to hear, "Your father passed away in his sleep during his afternoon nap." He was 59.

Life changing. Earth shattering. Heart breaking. Can't breath. ugly Ugly UGLY crying.

I found my husband in the barn (this all went down during evening milking, and since I had been on my feet all day, I had the night off) and just collapsed in his arms. We immediately packed and head to my parents home, two hours away.

My dad and I were really close. He always had the answers. It absolutely broke my heart (and still does) that he never got to meet his first grandchild.

To be continued...