6.25.2009

The births of my kids

Both my pregnancies were very similar (which is why I thought Simon was going to be a girl) - I carried the same (you couldn't tell I was pregnant from behind), morning sickness (and afternoon and night) for the first trimester and besides peeing alot and being uncomfortable, that was about it for both pregnancies.

As for the labour and delivery of both children - VERY different.

I'll start with Isabella. My due date for her was June 23, 2006. Well that day passed and 8 more days after that passed too with not a hint of her wanting to enter the world. On Canada Day, when I was 8 days late, I spent a scorching hot day watching a baseball game. I was HUGE even though I had only gained a total of 16 pounds up to this point. Boy did I get alot of looks at the ball game since I looked like I could go into labour at the ballpark.

That night I went to sleep only to be awakened at 4:15 am by what I thought at first was me wetting the bed. Then I figured that it had to be that my water broke (I hoped). Then the waiting game and the contractions began. My parents came to our apartment in the morning and we left for the hospital and got there at around 10 am. When the nurses first checked me, I was 4 cm dilated so I was brought to a delivery room and given an epidural soon after.

Oh how I loved the epidural. I was able to relax and be without pain. Dr. McCarthy came in to check on me early on and said that when I was at 10 cm the nurses would call him to come in for the delivery - he was going to be 30 minutes away from the hospital. I got to 10 cm and the doc was called to come in. I started pushing and marveled at how easy the pushing was. I was actually laughing between pushes. 18 minutes of pushing and Isabella came flying out at 5:12 pm on July 2nd. Dr. McCarthy never made it in time. And ohhhhh did I tear. It was bad. It was bad because I pushed out an 8 lb 15 oz baby in 15 minutes and I don't have hips. Dr. McCarthy showed up in time to help stitch me up. Oh joy. It was 6 weeks before I could sit without pain.

I didn't care about the tearing or the hemorrhoids or the exhaustion. Isabella was beautiful and didn't look all discoloured or alien-like like alot of newborns (the doctor said it was because of the minimal pushing to get her out). She looked like she was already one month old. My baby girl was born and we loved her to pieces.

Then pregnant again and I was due to have Simon on November 3, 2008. This time I had gained about 25 pounds. But again my due date came and went. The next day was very important to my husband who is a huge Obama fan. He had the day off to watch the election. We were watching tv at around 6:30pm when I heard and felt a pop and then I 'wet myself' once again. Called my folks and they came straight over to pick up Isabella. It was hard saying goodbye to her.

Contractions started at around 8pm and at 11pm we called the hospital and they said to come right in since my water had broken. Got to the hospital at 11:30pm. At this point I was contracting every 10-15 minutes and I was 4 cm dilated. I figured I'd get sent to a room and be given the epidural soon after but oh no. The kind nurses thought that I wasn't far enough along to be given a room so they told me there was a waiting room down the hall where we could put our stuff and I was to WALK AROUND. I was SO not impressed. So I started walking but had to stop every couple of minutes because the pain was intense. I got fed up after about a half hour of the stupid walking and went to lay down on a super small and ridiculously uncomfortable loveseat to wait out some of the painful contractions. The pain was bad and I didn't last very long hunched on the loveseat. I thought I was going to die. I sent my husband to get a nurse after maybe another half hour had passed. I then had to walk back to the nurses station so they could check me behind a curtain and I was at 6 cm and contracting I think every couple of minutes. I was so pissed that I had to go this far without an epidural and without a bed. The nurses were surprised by my progress and hurried to get me sent to a room (what a concept!).

By the time I got settled into my room I was checked again and now I was at 8 cm!!! It was 1:30am. I hollered 'epidural' a few times in between the pain. The poor doctor who came to give me the epidural! He suggested giving me the epidural while laying on my side since there was no way I could get into a sitting position and then BE STILL while he stabbed me with a big ass needle. The second he finished and told me it would be about a half hour for the epidural to take effect (not what I wanted to hear) I felt the urge to push. BEFORE THE EPIDURAL TOOK EFFECT. Yup, I was now fully dilated and UNMEDICATED. I pushed for 6 minutes STRAIGHT and out flew an 8lb 6oz baby boy named Simon at 3:46am November 5, 2008. The epidural never kicked in and this time the doc (who was present this time) gave me a small episiotomy which later on barely hurt compared to the tearing with Isabella. We were elated with the birth of our son and surprised because we guessed we'd be having another girl. My husband was also overjoyed that Obama won.

So there you have it. 1 pain-free birth + 1 excruciatingly painful birth = 2 gorgeous kids.


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1 comment:

  1. ...and might I mention that Simon's name was my idea. :)

    ReplyDelete

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