The Birth

I remember it like it was yesterday.  Well, last week at least.   I'm still sleep deprived.

well, here's the short version:

6 lbs 11 onces. born at 11:54pm.  epidural AND a top up! From first contraction to birth - 28 hrs

The long version:

I went in on Sunday to have them gel me to ripen the cervix at 4:30pm...then went home.
Labour pains started at 8pm
Water broke at 11pm
Labour pains was every 4 minutes and lasting 1 minute long by 12:30. went to hospital
Was only 1 cm. They cannot admit until 3cm. walked around hospital for 2 hrs. Now only 1.5 cm. Went home
Tried to sleep and breath through the pain every 4 minutes.
Called in 7:30 am to hospital to confirm to come in for 8am inducement.
8:30 am at hospital
10 am epidural
Franklin is tired as shit and didn't do any dialysis the night before. He tries to sleep in the room.
He goes to get food from the caf.
He goes home at 2pm to do an Exchange (manual dialysis) and comes back.
He looks even worse. I'm still labouring on. He goes home at 8pm to do another Exchange.
At 8pm I am now at 6cm and they say it can start moving quite quickly now. Franklin's not back!!


My brother Alex comes to visit. He asks if I have a back up. He saw franklin and he doesn't look well. he's at home puking. Yikes!
Call Wendy (my ex-sister-in-law). He can't get a hold of her. double yikes!
Call Sila (Alex's girlfriend in Mississauga). Ask her if she wants to come, but, if Franklin comes back, he's my first choice.
Wendy and Sila both come. Alex is relieved cause he didn't want to come in, but would if I was by myself.
I get top up of Epidural cause I can start to feel the contractions and I don't want to wait until it really hurts and it's too late to get a top up.
11pm - Dr. says we are finally at 8 cm. We can wait a bit for the Epidural to wear off a bit. Nope!! let's try NOW! Ask the doc, if i'm a few minutes past midnight, can we fudge the birth certificate...nope.
All I remember is Wendy saying it's 11:15...11:30...11:45! 11:45! Wendy and Sila each hold a leg...I push...
Baby is born 11:54pm.



Call franklin....we have a son...waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

I remember walking in that morning asking the nurse to knock me out and wake me when we're done. the contractions all night were painful. but, now I can't even remember any of that. I just know I can't stop looking at him and am filled with so much love.



i go home on thurs. franklin is holding the baby and fell down the stairs on saturday morning. jesus!! thank god the baby is ok. franklin is on the ground screaming. he can't breath. i call 911. i pray he hasn't broken his
back. thank goodness there's no internal bleeding or anything broken. he's just super sore and can barely move. greaaaaaaat.

anyways, time for a feeding! and another diaper change....agaaaaaaaain.

ttyl!

Epidural

I recently read about a woman whom after three months of giving  birth she still cannot walk on her own will.  After 34-hrs of labour, they finally performed a C-section.  After some investigation, it was uncovered that she had a 'rough' C-section and a lot of nerves in her legs were damaged in the process.  A nightmare that is to last at least 1 year, so the hospital says.

I was lucky that I did not have to go through that.  Hopefully, not too many people will experience that at the hands of this butcher of a doctor who performed the procedure.

I did opt for an epidural when I had my kids.  At first, I had lofty dreams of a natural birth.  Although, I did put in my  birthing plan for them to give me the option of an epidural before it was too late to administer it.  Just in case.  I've heard 'horror' stories from other woman in my life that said it was too late to get it.  I am fairly tough.  I am not a crier.  And I have to be  hurt pretty bad to shed a tear.  But, the pain during the labour was just too much.  The first 15-hrs I didn't have anything.  But, after that, I was exhausted and couldn't bear the pain any longer.   Please give it to me Dr. Feelgood.  The nurse was like "who is this?".  I was like a completely different person.  After awhile though, I was feeling nauseous. I remember giving birth and then puking to the side right after.  While holding my son, I turned my head to puke.   The fact that The Husband missed the birth and all the drama that went along with it didn't help.  An interesting story.  Interested in hearing it?

The second time around, I asked for it as soon as I was at the front desk of the birthing centre.  Then again when I walked into the room.  I didn't want to endure 27-hrs like last time.  They finally called in Dr. Feelgood and I was hoping to get relief.  Well, he tapped in and I was still feeling pain.  They said it will take a few minutes, but I was still holding the bed railings and shaking in pain.  They called him back and he put some more.  I was still in pain, felt a rush of cold through my back and felt high.  He said he had to pull it out and try to reinsert the needle.  Looking back, I should have feared being paralyzed.  He pulled it and re-tapped my back.  The recovery was longer than the last time.  Coincidence?  I think not.

If that wasn't bad enough, they forgot to collect the cord blood for my second son.  While the baby was being weighed and it looked like the Dr. was starting to 'clean up', I asked about the cord blood collection.  He was all dear in the headlights and had no clue.  I couldn't f'ing believe it.  The fracking nurse left he kit off to the side.  They fumbled through the kit and tried to collect something.  anything.  I tried not to cry.  Just focus on the fact that I have a healthy baby.  I am alive.

Not everyone collects the cord blood, but we made a decision to invest in a cure.  I hope we never need it.  It's like insurance.  You pay and pay and pay.  And hope you never have to use it.  Plus with cloning, genetic manipulation, and the like, maybe it may save my husband's life.  A far stretch, but when you are staring in the face of a death sentence you look for a light of hope almost anywhere.  If they can clone a sheep or grow an ear on the back of a rat, it doesn't seem as far of a stretch as previously thought.  We still need a kidney from a live donor.

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