Oh, so that's what labour feels like

The Universe heard my plea for pregnancy relief and let me tell you, Nature delivered!

Several hours after my last post I was rudely awoken at 2am by some annoying cramping. I laid there for a while; quite sure what was happening but altogether in denial about it. After counting off in my head, I was pretty sure this was it. I nudged Phil and told him to start writing down the intervals; they were less than five minutes apart! So after fretting about who would feed the cat for the next few days, we set off to the hospital.

The labour room was fantastic; lots of shuffling room, a giant 'therapeutic' jacuzzi tub, and very private. Now because I wasn't very far along (only at 5ish centimetres...), I just got to hang out in there and let my labour progress. So we waited. And waited. Finally sometime before noon they checked me again and I was at 7ish. Hurrah! I had gone twelve hours with no meds and was nearly there! In my mind I had gone over the worst hump and was getting excited. So we decided to progress the labour farther and the doctor broke my water. And boy did my labour go! Excruciating, mind-numbing, soul-splitting, off the Richter scale, having my insides gravitate towards the core of the Earth PAIN! If it was physically possible, I would have been climbing the walls. Unbeknown to me I was screeching into my pillow as the contractions became harder, longer and more frequent. Now here is where Phil - my rock, my pillar, my manly man, my fantastic, caring loving husband and coach had to leave the room in tears. He later told me that he couldn't bear to see me in so much pain and hid in the washroom to cry leaving my mom to take over the coaching duties temporarily. Like I said; my loving manly man. So, the doctor pretty much ordered me to have the epidural possibly for fear that I would pass out from the pain or to stop me from freaking out the other labouring mothers - you could hear me down the hall... Obviously having no choice in the matter I had to wait another hour for the anaesthesiologist. Relief finally ensued at 4pm...

The doctor told us that he would check in on us in about an hour or two to see if anything had changed from my now 8cm. I finally got a little time to rest - Phil and I had been up over twelve hours! As promised the doctor checked me about two hours later but I was still at 8. We then decided to start up an Oxytocin drip and see if that would send me to 10 centimetres. Now because Nature hates me (see previous posts), the Oxytocin did nothing. But also, the baby was "right transverse" and the head was stuck in the cervix causing the immense amount of pain and stalled my labour. So again, Nature hates me. In all his wisdom, Doctor said "c-section right now" and me being doped up and exhausted and completely disheartened by the "c-section" part, agreed and now the room was abuzz as I was prepped for surgery. Finally at 11:33pm on May 13 my little girl was born; perfect and pink at 8lbs 1oz.

Photo by Nathalie Poulin

I told you Nature hates me... but maybe not quite so much as I thought.