Labour and Delivery

Originally my boyfriend and I had decided that we didn’t want anyone at the hospital until after the baby was born. This meant not messaging anyone or calling anyone until it was all done with. Clearly, this did not happen! At the last minute, I messaged my mom tell her that my water had broken – the doctor confirmed – and I was to stay at the hospital. She left work, drove across the city and spent the next SEVERAL hours with my boyfriend and I at the hospital. At the time I didn’t think of it but it was good to have someone else there to keep him company during this long process.

At 3:30pm, all three of us went back up to the triage nurse to see if there was a bed ready for me. They checked me again and I was still at 1cm! They advised to go walk some more and come back in another 2hrs. You got it boss. So as bored of being in the hospital as I was, we reluctantly went back downstairs and walked around a little more.

We have a 7 year old Rottweiler that had been at home by himself since we first left for the hospital. I knew eventually my boyfriend would have to go check on him, feed him, and let him outside. This was that time. While I walked around with my mom, waiting, playing with our Blackberrys , etc. All the normal things people do while in labour, right? I still didn’t feel any contractions. Were they sure I was in labour? The only thing that I did feel was back pain; a lot of back pain. Probably due to the emotions of the big day but I only realized much later that I was having back labour and that’s why my belly wasn’t doing anything!

I only had a light lunch because I figured I would be having the baby already! Several hours of being in the hospital made me glad we took the time to make breakfast before leaving home. I had granola bars and juice in my bag but wasn’t feeling up to eating any of it.

Finally the time came! We were escorted to a room where everything will happen. Lovely open concept with a couch in the corner – my poor boyfriend attempted to sleep on it that night, horrible. I was glad to at least have a TV in the room! Although not much is on after 10pm on a Wednesday night…in January. I ended up watching CP24 news all night – right until after the baby was born. This paid off really well later on but that’s for another post.

As soon as I got in the room, I was to change and be hooked up to an IV. They started me on the Pitocin at a low level and set up monitors for the baby. I still wasn’t feeling anything at this point – just the back pain still. The nurse was telling me when I was having contractions but I felt nothing. Sounds great, right? Wrong! All the pain was going through my back and eventually it was numb from the constant pain. To answer your question – Yes I did have an epidural!

The whole process was being dragged on because there were FOUR other babies being born at the same time. I had to wait for a bed, a room, my epidural, even when she was ready to come – I was told to wait! About three and a half hours after they gave me the epidural, I started to feel E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I tried to push the button before 10mins was up, just to see if it would give me more pain medication. I was disappointed. I barely had an hour sleep since the night before and now it was time for the hardest part.

My nurse was fantastic! She was in every 10-15mins to check on me and it was always perfect timing. I told her that it was time, she said to wait it out and the doctor would be in shortly. There was no waiting this time. By 2am, the nurse had paged for the doctor and this time I was at 5cm. Twenty minutes later the doctor arrived and I was at 9cm! Then ten minutes later I was fully dilated. It was time.

I’m skipping through all the stuff that is just TMI…it isn’t that kind of blog people! After 24.5hrs of labour, lots of back pain, some drugs and 3hrs of pushing….we welcomed our baby girl to the world!

On January 5, 2012 (one day after my due date!) at 6:28am – Adriana Margaret Ellis was born. It’s just an unbelievable feeling when it happens. All you Mom’s out there know exactly what I’m talking about. Its indescribable, overwhelming, relieving….everything you could image! She was 7lbs 12oz when she was born. 

She was perfect in every way.