Back At It!

Wow, so where does one begin after not blogging for 3 months? There's so much to catch up on; obviously I had our baby -Anthony Paul, 9 lb, 20 inches, and have been busy trying to figure out how to juggle 2 kids ever since. Hence the no blogging. But now I'm figuring things out and feel like my life is somewhat sane again.

So, the labour.... About 4 months before Anthony was due, I started praying that my labour would be 6 hours long and that I wouldn't have to be induced (being induced with Ethan was HELL!) So when I was 10 days overdue with Anthony, the Dr. scheduled me for an induction for 2 days later. I was NOT happy about this because I was SURE I wouldn't have to be induced!

Well, the night before I was supposed to be induced, I researched how effective castor oil was. I learned that it used to be the way doctors induced labour before we had the technology we have today, and that it was very effective - as long as the woman's body was ready enough. I knew that I was already 2 cm dilated and I had already lost my mucus plug, so I figured my body was ready. I decided to take castor oil!! I was quite nervous about it because of all the horror stories I'd heard about it tasting disgusting and giving you the shits.

So being the chicken I am, I took ONE tablespoon. That's it. I mixed it with orange juice and surprisingly couldn't even taste it! Then I waited....and waited...and waited....nothing happened. But I did feel sick, so I called my girlfriend who'd just had her second baby and asked her if she felt sick before she went into labour. She hadn't, but told me our other friend had. I still wasn't sure if it was just from the castor oil. I knew that it was supposed to give you the runs pretty bad, and was bracing myself for them, but they never came, so I figured I hadn't taken enough. But I was too chicken to take more because I didn't want diarrhea.

Leaving for the hospital

Finally at 10:00 I went to bed. As I was falling asleep, I wasn't sure if I felt a little bit of cramping, but knew something was going on in there. I knew I would go into labour that night and went to sleep. At 12:00, I woke up and thought "did I just have a contraction?" Sure enough, 10 minutes later there was another one, and again in 5 minutes. With Ethan I was in labour for 2 whole days with my contractions being 5 minutes apart, so I figured I still had a while to go. Well the next one came in THREE minutes, and again in another three.

I woke Chris up and said "this baby is coming FAST! We have to call my mom to come over right now!" By the next contraction I could no longer talk through them and had intense pain. I hadn't even packed my hospital bag because I figured labour took so long that I could pack it once I was in labour. Well I was in no shape to pack, so I was telling Chris what to pack and he was frantically running around the house trying to get everything in order. By the time my mom got to our house, it was around 2:00 am, and we booked it to the hospital. I didn't remember my contractions with Ethan being so painful because I managed them for so many days, but these were INTENSE and still 3 minutes apart.

Ahh, relief!

So we get to St. Boniface Hospital, find a parking spot, and slowly make it towards the front door. I was really struggling to walk, and felt like I just couldn't go on. The thought of a wheelchair, the gas, and an epidural kept me going. Well we get to the door and what do you know - they were LOCKED! WHAT KIND OF HOSPITAL LOCKS THEIR MAIN DOORS?? At this point I really wanted to break down, but instead turned around and went back to the car to find another parking spot and figure out where the heck we should go. We finally found the entrance and there were 2 very pregnant ladies standing outside smoking. They said "oh here comes another one" I asked them what they meant and they said the triage was full of labouring women and so were the halls and lobby. I was SO discouraged and started to cry. When we got into the ER, there were people waiting in the hall, and I had another contraction which I just sobbed through. I was so overwhelmed at the thought of not being able to labour in a nice room and most importantly, not getting an epidural soon!

We get upstairs to the maternity ward to check in and the lady was a total "beep." She told me that there were no rooms or beds and that I should go in the lobby. I said "ok" but in my head was like "lady, I am having this baby SOON, my contractions are 3 minutes apart!" As we waited in the lobby, my contractions got so intense that I was starting to pass out. I told Chris to tell the lady and he came back and told me they had a bed in triage for me. The nurse came and checked me and I was...get ready for it.... SEVEN cm!!!! I actually cried with joy because I was so far along. I then asked her where I would go if they didn't have any beds and she said they had one bed left for emergencies in the LDRP (labour, delivery, post partum, recovery) ward but she wasn't sure if I'd get it. Well I did, and I was SO happy about it, I couldn't contain it - you guessed it - I cried again (I didn't cry nearly as much in my first labour).

So the first thing I did when I got in the room was ask for an epidural. The nurse said she'd check to make sure I wasn't too far along. Well wouldn't you guess - I was too far along - NINE cm! (It was about 4:30 at this point). So instead I sucked back the gas for my contractions and they gave me something called fentinol (no idea how to spell that!). It's like morphine, but doesn't last as long.

So at 5:30 am, I looked at the clock and thought "well I guess my labour's not going to be 6 hours because I haven't even started pushing yet." (I pushed for 45 min. with Ethan) By 5:45 I had to push and by 6:00 am on the dot, Anthony was born!! My labour was exactly 6 hours!!!

I couldn't believe how much love I felt for him the minute he was born. I was overwhelmed with love for him and just wanted to hold him and never put him down. For the first few weeks of his life, I held him every moment I could. I forgot how amazing it is to hold your newborn in your arms - the smells, the noises, the faces they make. He is truly a gift from God and I would go through pregnancy and labour a hundred times if it meant getting him :o)