Me & You: Jack's Birth Story

I had a birth plan. It wasn't very specific, but I wanted to at least show the doctor what I wanted from this birth, and how I expected it would go. But, I had no options on how it went, and it went very differently than planned.

On December 22, I went to St Boniface for a fetal assessment, where they did an ultrasound to see if baby needed to come out right away or not. Baby was still happy in there, so they didn't seem rushed to induce me. I had my appointment with my obstetrician an hour later, and I was still only 1 cm dilated. That was so discouraging. So I asked her if I could be induced that day. She said yes right away, and I was so relieved. She told me to wait for a phone call from the hospital, so Mike and I bummed around in Winnipeg for a few hours, with no phone call. Finally we decided to go home and wait there. We waited and waited, growing more and more impatient, and finally at 8:30 I told Mike to call the hospital and see if we could go in. He called, and they said that they were not calling anyone for inductions that day because it was really backed up, but I could go in and have prostaglandin gel applied to my cervix to ripen it. Mike wasn't sure he wanted to drive back into the city, but seeing how much pain I was in, he agreed, and we left right away.

Once we got to the hospital, we had to check in, and got placed in triage. The doctor checked me, and I was still 1 cm dilated and my cervix was still really high and thick. After monitoring me for what seemed like forever, they decided the best plan of action was to insert a folic catheter, which is basically a balloon that they place in my cervix, and blow up with saline solution. I was not pumped about this, because the night before I was beside a girl who had this done and it sounded very painful. But, I would have done anything at that point to put myself into labour, so I happily agreed. This process did hurt, but not as badly as I was expecting. As soon as they put it in, my contractions starting getting more intense, which meant it was working. After monitoring me for an hour, my contractions had stayed at the same intensity, and they sent me home to labour there.

We stopped at Costco on the way home to pick up a few groceries and get gas, and I really had to use the bathroom. I was planning on staying in the van, but couldn't wait any longer. I was walking at a snails pace through Costco, stopping every few minutes when I had a contraction. I got many looks, and was so ready to go home. Mike ran through Costco picking up what we needed while I impatiently waited and played candy crush in the restaurant area.

We finally got home, and I was trying all the labouring positions that I had learned about; the birthing ball, squatting, going on all fours, laying on the couch, and leaning on Mike. Nothing really felt better, except for when I was in the shower. I could have stayed in there for hours. My contractions were still intense, but hadn't changed much. They weren't regular at all, so I figured it would stay like this for a while.

Once I got out of the shower, I lay down on the couch and tried to take a nap through contractions. It didn't work very well, as they had started getting more intense. Suddenly I had a very painful contraction, and I felt a pop. I stared at Mike, “what was that?!” I asked him, and explained what I felt. He figured my water had broken, but I honestly felt like I would never have this baby and would labour forever. I went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet, and my water had definitely broken. We quickly got dressed and ready and headed off to the hospital. After my water had broken, my contractions got much worse and more regular. The ride to the hospital was not fun at all.

Once we got to the hospital, we checked in, and they immediately hooked me up and checked on me because I was clearly in active labour. They let me labour while monitoring me for a good amount of time. They checked my cervix to see how dilated I was, and I was at 4 cm. They decided to take the catheter out, and once they did, my contractions starting getting much more intense. The baby’s heart rate was also dropping every time I had a contraction. They kept a close eye on me, and noticed that the baby had pooped while he was still inside me. One of the doctors told me that they would probably have to do a C-Section to get him out quickly, since I was still only 4 cm dilated.

They brought me a wheelchair and wheeled me out to the surgical area. They told me they had decided that a C-Section was necessary, and brought me into the operating room. I was still having intense contractions, and they couldn't find a vein to give me any pain killers through an I.V. They also had another emergency C-Section, which was more of an emergency than mine, and it took about an hour before they prepared me for my surgery. That was probably one of the worst hours of my life. They wouldn't let Mike into the OR with me, (Thank you, Kelsey for being there and comforting him!) and the nurses were too busy to comfort me through any contractions. I had to lay there and wait for them to give me the spinal.

After what seemed like forever, they were ready to prep me for surgery. They gave me the spinal, and the pain of my contractions slowly started disappearing. After the drugs had fully frozen me, they let Mike come in, and they started the C-Section. When they pulled Jack out, he started crying instantly, which was such a good sign, and we felt so blessed. The meconium hadn't affected him as much as the doctors thought it would.

They brought Jack to the table, and I told Mike to go check him out, and tell me what he was. He looked at Jack, and then back at me, and told me, “It’s a boy!” and we both started crying. Of course it was a boy. I couldn't even imagine having a girl anymore. A boy just made sense.

Mike held him while they stitched me up, and brought him to my face so I could give him all the kisses. He was just perfect. I couldn't believe he was finally here, and I could finally kiss his squishy cheeks. I was far too shaky and connected to too many machines to hold him, which was really disappointing, but soon enough he would be in my arms.

Once they were all done, they brought me into the recovery room, and brought Jack to be weighed and measured. I lay there impatiently waiting for Mike and Jack to come see me! Once they did, Mike laid Jack on my chest and we had our first cuddle time. It was incredible to finally hold my baby boy. When I tried breastfeeding, he latched on immediately, and it was such an amazing moment. Even though my birth plan didn't even come out of my wallet, we ended up with a happy, healthy baby! Thank you, Jesus!