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Anna's Birth Story
Sept 15th at 5am I woke up to a weird pressure, I thought it was gas pains so I went to roll over and go back to bed when all of a sudden I felt this weird pain in my back that ascended and then descended….it was unlike any other spasms I had felt and I wondered if it was a contraction but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
I layed there for an hour and had a few more so I decided to get up and have a granola bar then snuck over to my parents house and made myself some tea. As the contractions still continued, and it was now 6:30am I woke up my mom, then went and had a shower, played a game of Sudoku, and started to slowly get ready.
9am we loaded up my truck and went to the Grand Forks hospital where they monitored my contractions, they were every 15 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds each, I was only dilated a fingertip though. The doctor told us not to “dilly dally” but not to rush either to Nelson (a 2 hour drive).
We then proceeded to fuel up my truck, went to the store to buy some peaches, ate a snack, then at 11 am left for Nelson to see my midwife, we arrived at 1pm, I was still having super mild contractions, and had about 14 on the drive over. My midwife, Renee, said I was only 50% effaced and that I had a really long time to go yet, and not to consider going to the hospital for several more hours. In fact she herself was going to head to Castlegar (45 minutes away) to meet up with another woman in early labour, and to give her a call if anything picked up and that she should be back with plenty of time to spare!
JUST after leaving the midwifes though I started having super strong contractions, really close together, but I did my best to cope while heading to the Hume Hotel for lunch. I ordered a ceasar salad and meat lasagna, but after only a few bites of my salad I went to the washroom where my water broke, the time was 1:45pm.
My aunt said I was simply having the contractions in my mind, but when I felt another gush of water, I insisted that they were stronger, real, and that Anna was simply being nice to me earlier until we got to Nelson.
We got our food and I started to eat when I realized my meat lasagna was vegetarian, which was really gross. I didn’t really care, I just knew I needed food, and wanted to get to the hospital, but my mom got up and went to the waitress and asked if she had made the mistake, and then proceeded to tell her that I was in labour, and we didn’t have time to wait for another lasagna, the waitress felt super bad and shocked and quickly ordered us another lasagna to go haha.
In the meantime I kept feeling little gushes of water and soaked the seat I was sitting in, I felt kinda bad for the waitress that day….
We got our food packed up then my Aunt quickly drove us to the hospital, following the gps, which proceeded to get us lost, but finally by 2:45 we made it. I was having super strong contractions by this time and they were only 3 minutes apart.
I called my midwife in the parking lot and quickly proceeded to tell her my water broke and that she needed to get to the hospital asap as well, luckily she hadn’t even left for Castlegar yet.
We checked into the hospital and they provided me with a labour room and I just sat there on the bed crosslegged dealing with each contraction, and falling asleep in between. I tried a few different positions like leaning over the ball, but Anna was so low down her head was in the way and prevented me from leaning forward or back.
At some point my midwife came in and said the lady in labour from Castlegar was also here, but that this was her second child so she should have her child way before I had mine, so that she should have no problem being present for both births.
By 3:45 my mom suggested I try getting into the shower, the water was sooo relaxing, and really helped me manage the contractions. I was doing really well but in my head I kept arguing back and forth “I want drugs” “No you don’t!” when all of a sudden I felt a small urge to push, and I realized I must have been in transition! It was 4:30 by this time and I had my mom call over the nurse and we headed back to the bed so I could get checked for the first time since I saw my midwife before lunch. I was only 7 cm dilated but in my head I was determined and 3 contractions later I was fully dilated and ready to push!
My midwife came in in disbelief because I had beat the Castlegar lady and was having my baby first! She had me lie first on my left side because she didn‘t want Anna coming out too fast, but it was really painful and not working, so we flipped over to my right side. I was comfortable but Anna’s heart rate was dropping fast, so we elevated the bed and I went on my knees and leaned over the top of the bed, and they gave me an oxygen mask to try to bring Anna’s heart rate back up, luckily it worked and it went back up to normal.
I started doing really strong pushes, however was still kinda passing out in between, as Anna started to crown though my back got really sore and she kinda got stuck so they had to shift my hips around, and after a few more pushes she finally came out, the time was 5:34 pm.
Sad to say the lady from Castlegar didn’t have her baby until around 8pm.
I was in active labour for only 4 hours, which included about 45 minutes of pushing, and I only had a tiny inner scrape which needed two stitches and my perineum didn’t tear at all!
Anna was born weighing 8 lbs 6 oz, 13” head circumference, and 21 ¼” long. When we left the hospital on the 17th her weight had dropped to 7 lbs 6 oz, however by the 19th it was already back up to 8 lbs 2 oz.
Ironically, the day before Anna was born, Sept 14th was my birthday, and I was talking to my dad on the phone, and he told me he would be home by the afternoon on the 15th so I said not to worry, Anna wasn’t coming today because it was my birthday and she had to have her own day, but that I’d make sure to be having contractions in the morning so Anna would be well on her way by the time he got home. Mind over matter perhaps? Lol!
I layed there for an hour and had a few more so I decided to get up and have a granola bar then snuck over to my parents house and made myself some tea. As the contractions still continued, and it was now 6:30am I woke up my mom, then went and had a shower, played a game of Sudoku, and started to slowly get ready.
9am we loaded up my truck and went to the Grand Forks hospital where they monitored my contractions, they were every 15 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds each, I was only dilated a fingertip though. The doctor told us not to “dilly dally” but not to rush either to Nelson (a 2 hour drive).
We then proceeded to fuel up my truck, went to the store to buy some peaches, ate a snack, then at 11 am left for Nelson to see my midwife, we arrived at 1pm, I was still having super mild contractions, and had about 14 on the drive over. My midwife, Renee, said I was only 50% effaced and that I had a really long time to go yet, and not to consider going to the hospital for several more hours. In fact she herself was going to head to Castlegar (45 minutes away) to meet up with another woman in early labour, and to give her a call if anything picked up and that she should be back with plenty of time to spare!
JUST after leaving the midwifes though I started having super strong contractions, really close together, but I did my best to cope while heading to the Hume Hotel for lunch. I ordered a ceasar salad and meat lasagna, but after only a few bites of my salad I went to the washroom where my water broke, the time was 1:45pm.
My aunt said I was simply having the contractions in my mind, but when I felt another gush of water, I insisted that they were stronger, real, and that Anna was simply being nice to me earlier until we got to Nelson.
We got our food and I started to eat when I realized my meat lasagna was vegetarian, which was really gross. I didn’t really care, I just knew I needed food, and wanted to get to the hospital, but my mom got up and went to the waitress and asked if she had made the mistake, and then proceeded to tell her that I was in labour, and we didn’t have time to wait for another lasagna, the waitress felt super bad and shocked and quickly ordered us another lasagna to go haha.
In the meantime I kept feeling little gushes of water and soaked the seat I was sitting in, I felt kinda bad for the waitress that day….
We got our food packed up then my Aunt quickly drove us to the hospital, following the gps, which proceeded to get us lost, but finally by 2:45 we made it. I was having super strong contractions by this time and they were only 3 minutes apart.
I called my midwife in the parking lot and quickly proceeded to tell her my water broke and that she needed to get to the hospital asap as well, luckily she hadn’t even left for Castlegar yet.
We checked into the hospital and they provided me with a labour room and I just sat there on the bed crosslegged dealing with each contraction, and falling asleep in between. I tried a few different positions like leaning over the ball, but Anna was so low down her head was in the way and prevented me from leaning forward or back.
At some point my midwife came in and said the lady in labour from Castlegar was also here, but that this was her second child so she should have her child way before I had mine, so that she should have no problem being present for both births.
By 3:45 my mom suggested I try getting into the shower, the water was sooo relaxing, and really helped me manage the contractions. I was doing really well but in my head I kept arguing back and forth “I want drugs” “No you don’t!” when all of a sudden I felt a small urge to push, and I realized I must have been in transition! It was 4:30 by this time and I had my mom call over the nurse and we headed back to the bed so I could get checked for the first time since I saw my midwife before lunch. I was only 7 cm dilated but in my head I was determined and 3 contractions later I was fully dilated and ready to push!
My midwife came in in disbelief because I had beat the Castlegar lady and was having my baby first! She had me lie first on my left side because she didn‘t want Anna coming out too fast, but it was really painful and not working, so we flipped over to my right side. I was comfortable but Anna’s heart rate was dropping fast, so we elevated the bed and I went on my knees and leaned over the top of the bed, and they gave me an oxygen mask to try to bring Anna’s heart rate back up, luckily it worked and it went back up to normal.
I started doing really strong pushes, however was still kinda passing out in between, as Anna started to crown though my back got really sore and she kinda got stuck so they had to shift my hips around, and after a few more pushes she finally came out, the time was 5:34 pm.
Sad to say the lady from Castlegar didn’t have her baby until around 8pm.
I was in active labour for only 4 hours, which included about 45 minutes of pushing, and I only had a tiny inner scrape which needed two stitches and my perineum didn’t tear at all!
Anna was born weighing 8 lbs 6 oz, 13” head circumference, and 21 ¼” long. When we left the hospital on the 17th her weight had dropped to 7 lbs 6 oz, however by the 19th it was already back up to 8 lbs 2 oz.
Ironically, the day before Anna was born, Sept 14th was my birthday, and I was talking to my dad on the phone, and he told me he would be home by the afternoon on the 15th so I said not to worry, Anna wasn’t coming today because it was my birthday and she had to have her own day, but that I’d make sure to be having contractions in the morning so Anna would be well on her way by the time he got home. Mind over matter perhaps? Lol!
Oh wow!! What a wonderful story. Sounds like everything went super well for you! I'm so glad to hear it!
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