Labour & delivery

** Disclaimer - if you've ever been through a rough labour and delivery and read this please don't hate me!

As the disclaimer eludes too the labour and delivery of Sloan was not at all what I was expecting after my experience with Paige... in fact everything that I went through with Paige it was the complete opposite with Sloan and I really want to make sure I remember everything and so here's my blog/journal entry about it.

November 11th 2009

Early in the morning whilst still in bed I had started having cramps. They were coming and going and so I figured there was a good chance that this was it... labour. I didn't look at the clock, in the mornings I put off looking at the clock for as long as possible so by the time I actually looked over it was 6.40am and I'm guessing I'd been in and out of sleep for about a hour. I timed the contractions and they were about 10minutes apart and weren't lasting for more than 30 seconds at a time so I knew there was no point Ryan staying home from work just yet but there was a good chance baby was coming today some time. When Ryan woke up I said 'want to have a baby today?' and he flippantly said 'sure'. I mentioned I was having contractions and a minute later Ryan actually keyed in that I was actually serious about having a baby! So Ryan left for work and Paige and I started our morning. The contractions were so far apart still and not lasting long at all and so really weren't anything I paid attention too, I knew they would get stronger and start hurting because that's what happened when I had Paige. I went to take a shower and for some reason the cold tap wasn't working. When I tried turning it and the tap came off in my hand I started to panic. I NEEDED a shower, especially if I was going to be in labour later that day. I had a doctors appointment that morning that my mother in law (Helen) was coming to take me too (I was still going to go, thought I might as well to kill some time rather than just sitting at home and waiting) and I hate not being showered in the morning. So I called my lifesaving friend Kate who lives down the road (albeit a long road) who said I could come and use her shower and then called Helen to see if she could come a little early so we could stop at Kate's so I could shower.

We left Kate's at 10am to get to my doctors. The nurse was doing my blood pressure and mentioning how baby hadn't come yet so I told her I was having contractions. The point was made by my slightly higher than normal blood pressure and when the doctor came in we decided she should do a quick exam to give me an idea of how much time I'd have to wait out at home before going to the hospital. My minor contractions (and I mean minor, I've had period pains worse!) seemed to be going away so I was beginning to think maybe the whole thing was a false alarm so her reaction was not what I was expecting... "You're 7cms, if I push anymore I'm going to break your waters. I'm calling the hospital to tell them you're on your way, get out of my office before you have your baby here! Go straight to the hospital!"

That got me excited but part of me didn't believe her. I went to the hospital at 5cms for Paige and I was in a lot of pain with regular contractions. I called Ryan at work and told him he had to leave and meet me at the hospital right away. No questions were asked.

Helen dropped me off and being the wonderful mother in law she is went home to get my hospital bags for me. I gave Paige kisses as she went to spend some time at grandma and grandpas house. I went to the baby floor and first made the mistake of going to the maternity ward before they directed me to the labour and delivery part. When I walked up to the desk and said I was the one the doctor had called about none of them could believe that I was 7cms and not it more pain, we all had a good chuckle together as I went round to meet my nurse. Nurse Anna was the loveliest nurse ever. We checked things baby was fine, my contractions were 3-4minutes apart even though now I wasn't feeling a thing. I WASN'T FEELING A THING! Craziness! If I hadn't gone to my doctors appointment I probably would have had the baby at home. By now it was 11.30am, Ryan was there and they were hooking me up to an IV. Like with Paige it took them three tries before they got it in, apparently I have tiny veins and tough skin. Throughout the next few hours I continued to not feel a single contraction and had doctors and nurses coming in to see if it was true... a woman that far along in labour happy and smiling, reading and having lucid conversations with everyone. I was the only one in the hospital having a baby too so I got tonnes of attention. It was actually a really lovely

afternoon!

I had said I still wanted an epidural although part of me was feeling like that was cheating a bit as I wasn't in any pain that needed taking away. When mentioning this to the nurse she reassured me that once my waters were broken that was probably when the pain would start so not to feel bad about having it. Still, I toyed with the fact that maybe I should go natural. However I am a firm believer that you don't get gold medals for doing things the hard way with childbirth (saying that I have the greatest respect for anyone who goes natural mainly because I don't think I could do it!) so I stayed my course with my decision. By 1.30pm though the anaesthesiologist still hadn't come. I wasn't concerned I wasn't feeling anything anyway. We then found out he was in an emergency and we had no idea when he'd be free so we had to think about our options... wait or move things along. I was still feeling no contractions and I was ready to get the show moving so we decided that they would see where baby was and break my water which would mean no epidural. Turns out I was still 7cm, still having contractions every 3-4 minutes but baby's head wasn't quite in the right place. Just after 2pm the epidural came. With Paige I was numb from my toes to my armpits which they said isn't what they want to do. Apparently they only want the stomach area numbed to take the pain of the contractions away. Basically this anesthesiologist was a pro because he did it text book, although I only knew this when the time came to get baby out and I could feel everything just not pain. The next thing on the agenda was the doctor came and broke my waters. I was checked again around 3.30pm and at this point I was 8cm but my contractions had slowed and were now every nine minutes. We decided this was no good as we were running short on time and pushing every nine minutes would not have been fun, so at 4pm I was given something to help my contractions speed up and nurse Anna told me if I felt any pressure to let her know she'd be right back. I was just lying there and at 4.30pm I felt the most uncomfortable feeling I've ever felt in my life. It wasn't painful just excruciatingly uncomfortable so I hit my call button and when a nurse's chipper voice asked how she could help I tried to calmly say "I think I need to push!" ... it didn't come out very calmly. Ten minutes later Sloan was born. The time was 4.40pm, she weighed in at 6lbs 11oz and had a full head of hair!

What a completely different experience to have the second time around. Thanks to the great job the doctors did my recovery time so far has proven to be really fast and there's been a lot less "damage" than the first time (women who have been through childbirth will understand what I mean by this!) Instead of having to stay at the hospital for 48hours we were discharged after 24 and it was so great to get home. Sloan is so tiny though, I was getting seriously worried when trying to get her in the car seat that no matter how much I adjusted the straps she was never going to be in tight enough! However her health is wonderfully good, she was a 9/9 on the apgar (like her sister) and has proven to be a good eater and good sleeper already. I don't want to jinx anything but we have been really blessed to have two good babies! I'm dealing with things so much better this time too. I think it's down to experience from Paige and a better attitude, I see how fast things changed with Paige and now I'm desperately trying to savour every moment this second time because I know it won't last forever. I'm also now adjusted to being a mother. That's my role, I've chosen it, I've accepted it and most importantly I enjoy it. Yes there are hard days but I know it's what I want to be doing and it doesn't mean sacrificing who I am I just have to make a few adjustments and be open to new experiences!

I do have to mention as well Paige's homecoming. Paige stayed with her grandma and grandpa Kirk for two nights while I was at the hospital and absolutely loved it, what a blessing it is to have family. We had her come home on the Friday because I was eager to have her meet her sister, I missed her and I wanted our family to be altogether - that part actually took me by surprise a little, the strength of the desire to have all four of us together even though it would have been easier to have her stay with the grandparents a little longer! I opened the door to see her standing there, a beautiful big smile on her face holding a bunch of flowers which she promptly held out to give to me. Helen later told me that took her completely by surprise too, she hadn't been told to do that. Just remembering the moment makes me emotional. How did I get so lucky to be blessed with two healthy beautiful girls!? I picked Paige up and it was like in the two days I had been gone she'd grown into a giant! I suddenly felt how big she was and it completely took me by surprise! Silly I know but it's like the frog in the cold water that you gradually heat. He has no idea how hot it's getting. Paige had been putting on weight and turning into a toddler for the past 17months but because I'd been holding her through that time I had no idea how heavy she was getting! Paige has been a great big sister too, she gives Sloan lots of kisses and calls her baby. I just feel so lucky!