Now this is the part of the story that actually gets interesting!
So, we arrived at CMH around 2am.
Since it was a strange hour of the night, the main entrance was closed and I had to go in through Emerge. the maternity floor is at the back of the hospital on the 4th floor. I waited inside the Emerge doors for Marijke to park and her and Rob to grab all of our things from the car. I laboured while having everyone in the Emergency room watching me crouch on the floor every couple of minutes....awkward!
They tried to encourage me to sit in a wheel chair but because I was unable to sit down, that wasn't an option. Therefore, I had to walk myself from Emerge to the 4th floor while leaning over a wheel chair. The security officer at Emerge walked with us all the way upstairs. It was a slow process as I had to drop to the floor every couple of minutes for a contraction. THe midwives met us outside of registration and walked us into the room. Right off the bat they ran me a hot tub in the fancy labor tubs. Rob sat outside and got us all registered.
We spent several hours wondering in the room, in and out of a hot tub, trying different laboring positions, but it was tricky to get comfy as I couldn't sit. The midwives were very supportive, and hands on when I needed them. After several hours, they confirmed that my cervix was caught over Levi's head so he was not moving downwards. Our midwife attempted to remove it manually but it was incredibly painful and didn't seem to be making much of a difference. They ended up bringing me some herbal meds to help dissolve the cervix.
By this point, I was exhausted. The midwives gave me laughing gas, which ended up giving me a little bit of a break. At first, I didn't enjoy it because I felt I was suffocating. A bit later it was nice to be able to feel a little relaxed. I had said early on in my pregnancy that I did not want an epideral, but at this point I was asking for it! I was incredibly tired. Thankfully Mr. Levi's heart rate was normal and unaffected this entire time.
Finally, once my cervix had dissolved, I was able to start pushing. Since it was my first time, I didn't really know what I was doing, so it took a while for me to get the hang of it. All the while, the midwives were monitoring the heart rate of my very content and chill babe. After 2 hours of active pushing, he finally made his way into the world. 8:29am on May 3rd Mr. Levi arrived! Tante Marijke was able to capture some very special pictures taken within minutes of his arrival. Marijke was the one to cut his umbilical cord. It was such a special time!
The relief that he was finally out was amazing. It was so great to see him and know he was safe and healthy. I was ready to sleep...for weeks! I was so proud of myself for having lasted so long and was able to deliver him without any medications!
We spent the rest of the day at the hospital attempting to sleep but more just in awe of our little man. We had lots of visitors that day and ended up taking him home at 11pm that same night. It was amazing to take him home and sleep in our own bed.
(Of course, there are alot more details and whatnot involved but this is the basic story!)
It's crazy to think that its already been 9 months since this day. Time flies when your having fun! Mr. Levi has brought so much love and joy into our lives. I would go through all 32 hours again for him if I had to.
Welcome to the world little man!
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Little Levi's Grand Entrance
Well friends, I decided that I wanted to share the details of little Levi's entrance into the world. I wanted to write this more for myself as a reminder of what a wonderfully beautiful day it was. (Don't worry I won't go all the way into all the nitty-gritty details!)
It was a LONG day. 32 hours of labour to be exact. Mr. man was in no big hurry that's for sure! I think the easiest way to go through the day is by timeline, so here goes...
12:44 am (May 2, Mr. Levi's scheduled due date) - I wake up during the night to slight cramping and to go pee. Went back to sleep no problem.
1:44am - Up again to pee. Accompanied by slight cramping again.
2:44, 3:45, 4:45, 5:45 - Up every hour with the same crampy feeling. Easily went back to sleep.
6:30am - Up to drive Rob to work. Explained how I had been up all night and let him know I would keep him posted. Came home from driving, took a gravol, had a warm bath and went back to bed.
9:30am - Woke up to serious crampy feeling. Decided not to stay in bed any longer.
Throughout the morning, contractions started coming every 20-30 minutes. I was able to lay comfortably on the couch until around noon.
12:00pm - Attempted to take another bath. Started to realize that I was unable to sit comfortably. Found that leaning over the bathtub was more comfortable.
12:30pm - Called Rob. Asked him to come home as I was stuck on the bathroom floor.
1:00 pm - Rob arrives home and helps me to the couch. I advised him to try to nap, but he wanted to wait up with me. We spent the afternoon watching TV shows, chatting, snacking all with me kneeling on a body pillow and leaning forward on my elbows onto the footrest of our rocking chair.
5:00pm - I attempted to try laying down again. Was feeling tired but realized that contractions were coming every 10-15 minutes. My "nap" lasted about 15 minutes.
Around that time we decided to start timing contractions (how often, how long they lasted). We also made some phone calls to our parents to let them know what was going on.
9:00 (ish)pm - Called the midwife. Advised her that the contractions were every 5 minutes or so and lasting a good minute each. She told me that she was at the hospital with another laboring mom and asked if we wanted to go there. We decided to stay home as I had found a comfortable place and knew this could still be a long night. She agreed to find a replacement midwife for the woman in the hospital and would come over once that was arranged.
9:30pm - Called Tante Marijke. She got up and came right over. She was going to be our labour support. And a fabulous one she was!
10:00 pm - My water broke! We called the midwife again and let her know. She let us know she was on her way!
10:30 pm - Tante Marijke showed up. Her and Rob were able to get a few household chores done at the house before the midwife and her student showed up.
11:00 pm - The midwives finally showed up! They checked me out right away and I was already 4.5 cm dialated. Since they had been at the hospital for several hours, they sat down and had something to eat and were able to chat with Marijke a bit. I went and attempted to sit in another tub. Problem being, I couldn't sit so needless to say, it didn't last long.
1:30 am - Midwives left for the hospital to set up the room. We called my family and they packed up and drove here from London very early in the morning. Such dedication! We packed up the car and Marijke drove us to the hospital. Unfortunately due to my lack of being able to sit, I had to kneel on the floor of the front seat with my arms up on the chair. Thankfully there is hardly any traffic at that time of the morning!
We arrived at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital around 2am.
This is where I'm going to leave this for now!
To Be Continued.......
It was a LONG day. 32 hours of labour to be exact. Mr. man was in no big hurry that's for sure! I think the easiest way to go through the day is by timeline, so here goes...
12:44 am (May 2, Mr. Levi's scheduled due date) - I wake up during the night to slight cramping and to go pee. Went back to sleep no problem.
1:44am - Up again to pee. Accompanied by slight cramping again.
2:44, 3:45, 4:45, 5:45 - Up every hour with the same crampy feeling. Easily went back to sleep.
6:30am - Up to drive Rob to work. Explained how I had been up all night and let him know I would keep him posted. Came home from driving, took a gravol, had a warm bath and went back to bed.
9:30am - Woke up to serious crampy feeling. Decided not to stay in bed any longer.
Throughout the morning, contractions started coming every 20-30 minutes. I was able to lay comfortably on the couch until around noon.
12:00pm - Attempted to take another bath. Started to realize that I was unable to sit comfortably. Found that leaning over the bathtub was more comfortable.
12:30pm - Called Rob. Asked him to come home as I was stuck on the bathroom floor.
1:00 pm - Rob arrives home and helps me to the couch. I advised him to try to nap, but he wanted to wait up with me. We spent the afternoon watching TV shows, chatting, snacking all with me kneeling on a body pillow and leaning forward on my elbows onto the footrest of our rocking chair.
5:00pm - I attempted to try laying down again. Was feeling tired but realized that contractions were coming every 10-15 minutes. My "nap" lasted about 15 minutes.
Around that time we decided to start timing contractions (how often, how long they lasted). We also made some phone calls to our parents to let them know what was going on.
9:00 (ish)pm - Called the midwife. Advised her that the contractions were every 5 minutes or so and lasting a good minute each. She told me that she was at the hospital with another laboring mom and asked if we wanted to go there. We decided to stay home as I had found a comfortable place and knew this could still be a long night. She agreed to find a replacement midwife for the woman in the hospital and would come over once that was arranged.
9:30pm - Called Tante Marijke. She got up and came right over. She was going to be our labour support. And a fabulous one she was!
10:00 pm - My water broke! We called the midwife again and let her know. She let us know she was on her way!
10:30 pm - Tante Marijke showed up. Her and Rob were able to get a few household chores done at the house before the midwife and her student showed up.
11:00 pm - The midwives finally showed up! They checked me out right away and I was already 4.5 cm dialated. Since they had been at the hospital for several hours, they sat down and had something to eat and were able to chat with Marijke a bit. I went and attempted to sit in another tub. Problem being, I couldn't sit so needless to say, it didn't last long.
1:30 am - Midwives left for the hospital to set up the room. We called my family and they packed up and drove here from London very early in the morning. Such dedication! We packed up the car and Marijke drove us to the hospital. Unfortunately due to my lack of being able to sit, I had to kneel on the floor of the front seat with my arms up on the chair. Thankfully there is hardly any traffic at that time of the morning!
We arrived at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital around 2am.
This is where I'm going to leave this for now!
To Be Continued.......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)