Labour and Delivery

I had been begging my body to go into labour since 37 weeks. I was exhausted, huge, and overly uncomfortable. I convinced my midwife to do a membrane sweep. She could tell that I was exhausted and the pregnancy was really starting to hurt my back (I have scoliosis) so she agreed. They don't always work the first time, but I knew it'd at least help a little bit.

The one and only day that my mom kept telling me "you CAN'T go into labour!" was on Monday, November 25th because she was going in to have a colonoscopy that day. I wasn't too concerned due to the fact that I was only 38 weeks 5 days along at that point. However, there I was, lying in bed, super uncomfortable, at 6 in the morning on November 25th. I was dreading having to get up and pee, but I did managed to roll out of bed and waddle to the washroom and back. I was just settling down, trying to find a position that felt bareable, when my cat, Lexi, decided to lie down on my hip. This was very bizarre behaviour. I'm used to him sleeping in bed with me, but never on me. I rolled over to get him off and felt the grossest feeling ever... my water breaking.

38 weeks 5 days

This was my fear throughout my whole pregnancy. My mom kept reassuring me that her water didn't break for any of her four pregnancies, so I was hopeful that I'd follow in her footsteps... not so much. I won't go into great detail, but the one thing NO ONE warned me about is that it doesn't just "break" once. It breaks and then leaks ALL day, it was lovely. It felt like I was peeing myself every time I stood up! :)

Now, labour and delivery is not like how they portray it in the movies. My water broke, but I wasn't in excruciating pain. I actually wasn't in any sort of pain at all. I had a long, hot shower and got my things organized for labour (exercise ball, water, etc.) I anxiously awaited the contractions, but there still wasn't anything by noon, so I called my midwife. She suggested walking, so my sister and her best friend went to the mall with me to wander around. Still nothing. I called my midwife again and she suggest I take a dose of castor oil. She had a delicious recipe for it; vanilla ice cream, orange juice, a blender, and  tablespoon of castor oil. It went down easy, thankfully!

However, a few hours passed and nothing was happening. I was getting bored and tired of bouncing on my exercise ball, so I called my midwife again. She suggested I try a second dose of the castor oil, that was at 6:00pm. At this point, my sister and her best friend left, so I went to have a nap... or so I though. My contractions started up within minutes of getting cozy in my bed and they were consistent by 9:00pm. I called my sister and her best friend to hurry them back to the house, little did I know they drove over an hour away! No idea what they were thinking, but I knew they'd have time to get back. 

I was in so much pain from the contractions, every position I tried hurt. I ended up on my bedroom floor, in the dark, on my knees. I would go from being on all fours to leaning on my bed, nothing helped. I called my midwife and told her things were progressing, but she reminded me of the "321" rule. I had to have contractions every 3 minutes lasting 1 minute for 2 hours before I could go to the hospital. However, I convinced her at 11:30pm that the pain was intolerable and that I wanted to go to the hospital and get checked out. We arrived at midnight. We had to go through emergency due to the time and there were no wheelchairs! It was the longest walk of my life going from emergency, through the hospital to the elevator. I don't even think it was that far, thinking back... but it felt far! The security guard that escorted us was super nice, kept apologizing about not having a wheelchair for me. Anyways, I got checked in and immediately undressed and got on that little, very uncomfortable bed. I don't even really remember what it looked like, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the average size bed, but that whole night is pretty fuzzy. The castor oil side affects hit me pretty hard (do not take that stuff without professional advice!!!). It was extremely unpleasant.

My midwife checked me at 1:30am and told me that I was only 2cm dilated. I was so devastated, but shortly after I started having terrible contractions that were three minutes apart. I wasn't even hooked up to any machines, yet, my momma was watching the clock and timing them for me. I took full advantage of the laughing gas and was even able to sleep between the contractions, barely any sleep but it helped time pass quickly. Suddenly, I felt my body pushing, it was the strangest feeling. I called out for my midwife and told her "I think I'm pushing" and she replied "don't get too excited, it's probably too early". She checked me and to her surprise I was fully dilated! That's right, I was only in active labour for an hour and a half! Although, it felt a whole lot longer!

Now it's time to push! It was long and brutal. Baby T's head was measuring in the 90th percentile at my last ultrasound, which my midwife didn't want to tell me (she didn't want me stressing out) but my doctors office phoned and told me so I knew. It hurt like hell! I was so sick from the castor oil that I had to take a break between pushes to throw up. Apparently I had extremely bad breath, sorry mom! I could barely hold myself up, but I had my momma on one side and Chiara on the other, helping me get through this. I was pretty calm during my whole labour and delivery, didn't say much at all, except for the "ring of fire". My midwife was cheering me on, telling me that he was almost out and to keep pushing, to which I replied "I can't! It hurts so fucking bad!!!" But, I got through it! It was a draining 59 minutes, but he was finally here. I heard the cries of my beautiful baby boy, Tyrus James, entering the world at 4:04am on Tuesday November 26th, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. Oh, and that big head? It measured at a lovely (and painful) 37 cm!

My sister cut his cord <3

The Aftermath - Labour and Delivery Part 2

You (most often) can't complete a pregnancy without experiencing labour and delivery. I remember one of my first thoughts when I found out that I was pregnant was... "ugh, I don't want to do labour or delivery!" That thought and the fear that came along with it stuck with me throughout my pregnancy. I kept imagining worst case scenarios involving days of labour followed by an emergency c-section, my water breaking in public, and having to get an epidural. I was determined to do this naturally and without the use of drugs.

However, towards the end it became something that I was actually starting to look forward to. Call me crazy! I was excited to find out what labour felt like and I was really interested in the whole "pushing" thing, especially after a friend of mine told me that she loved pushing and that it felt really good for her.

Although, the thing that I failed to acknowledge was the aftermath. Every woman has a slightly different experience, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it'd be gross, but I didn't realize how sore I would be. I ended up puking every time I pushed due to the castor oil, so I wasn't keeping anything down. Add that to the fact that pushing ended up being terrible for me. I was exhausted, couldn't even hold myself up (thanks mommy), and really just wanted to sleep. I was severely dehydrated. The "ring of fire" held true to it's name, as well. I actually remember my midwife saying "come on Michelle, his head is almost out!" and I loudly replied "I can't, it hurts so fucking bad!" Which was the one and only time I raised my voice and swore!

I was in a complete haze when my son was born. I kept repeating "hi baby, hi baby!" There's a few photos of me smiling, but most of the time I look confused or completely out of it. Of course, I was bleeding out due to having quite a few second degree tears that my midwife couldn't stop, so I wound up in the OR. I actually had so many stitches that they didn't even bother keeping track. I have Tyrus' 37 cm head to thank for that! While in the recovery room my body went into shock. I was shaking uncontrollably and couldn't even breast feed my brand new baby. I'm not sure how long that went on for, but it was pretty scary. My mom actually looked at my midwife and asked her if I was going to be okay because I was so pale. I did get to drink plenty of water and gingerale, so that was pretty nice!

Anyways, it took me numerous weeks to feel normal "down there", but I didn't bleed for nearly as long as I thought I would. The first few days in the hospital were disgusting, to be honest. I took full advantage of the ice packs, had two of the best nurses, and used Arnica to help with the healing and bruising. It could have been worse, that's for sure, but it was still a very scary and overwhelming experience.