The Newest Gilbert

*I wrote this post the day after I had baby, but wanted to add some pictures, so here it is, a week later!*

I'm a bad mom, and someday my boys will probably feel slighted by the fact that I'm about to prove just how bad a mom I am, but they'll get over it! You see, I'm going to record the birth story of our third little bundle of joy, but I didn't do it for either of the boys. Sadly, we didn't have a laptop at the time either of them were born, so I couldn't do it at the hospital, and it was just something I never got around to. Like I said, bad mom. So, here goes.

I was due July 4th, but, in true Thornhill/Gilbert style, baby was late. Which worked out ok, because it meant I could go to Calgary on the 6th and see Wicked (which was phenomenal, by the way!) On the 7th, I had another appointment with the doc. He checked and I was only 2 to 3 ish. So, he stripped my membranes again and booked my induction for the following Monday. The next day was a relatively quiet day, no signs of labour or anything, so I prepared for another weekend of pregnancy, knowing it would be the last before I got to meet our little girl.

Friday night I went to bed quite late (around 1am) because James was working and I always have a hard time sleeping when hes gone. I actually fell into quite a deep sleep, something that hadn't happened for a few weeks! Then, at exactly 4:02 am, I was rudely awoken with one killer contraction. They continued every 8 to 10 minutes for the two hours. Just before 6am, I called my friend Jessica who was going to drive me to the hospital and help out in the delivery room and told her it was time. On our way into town, I called James, who was catching a couple of hours of sleep between working until 3 am and his baseball game which he had to be at the diamond by 8am for. I felt SO bad waking him up, but figure this was definitely it. We got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitor, I had 2 contractions and that was it. I was cranky, to say the least!! (Ok, cranky doesn't even begin to express how frustrated I was!) Not only had the contractions stopped after almost 3 hours, but the nurse who checked me told me I was still hard and only 1 cm dialated. When I told her the last 3 times the doc had checked me, he said I was soft and had progressed to 3, she totally bit my head off and told me that wasn't possible. I was not a happy camper.

The doc on call told them to have me come back around 4pm to be checked again and see if I had made any progress. So I went on with my day. We took the boys to the candy parade in Coaldale and spent most of the afternoon at their kids carnival. I had maybe 5 contractions all day, but had an intense pressure in my rear ALL day. I wasn't going to go to the hospital because I figured there was no point. I wasn't having conistent contractions, I was just uncomfortable. James, however, talked me into it. So back we went. They hooked me up to the monitor and baby was less than co-operative. It took almost an hour to get 10 good minutes of tracking. Again, I was less than happy. The nurse checked me again, and I had progressed to 4cm. I was sure they were going to send me home, but after she talked to the doctor, he said they were going to keep me. I had started having more regular contractions again after she had checked me and was really hoping they wouldn't stop again!

They moved me to a delivery suite and I told the nurse that, while I knew it was too early, as soon as I could, I would like an epidural. Let me pause to say that I am not one of those women who can do birth naturally. I think those women are amazing. My body won't relax enough to progress without an epidural. It sounds crazy, but its true. The nurse told me ok, but that out of the 4 women that had asked for an epidural that day, only 1 had actually gotten it because they had been so busy in emerg that the anaesthesiologist hadn't made it in time for any of the others. I almost cried right there. She left to go do some paperwork and James gave me a blessing while we were alone. Shortly after that, she came back and said I was in luck. Both the OB/GYN on call and the anaesthesiologist had just come to the desk and she told them I'd like an epidural. They had to go the OR quickly and then they'd be back for me! Again, I almost cried. So, around quarter to eight, I got an epidural and then the doc broke my water. At 8:21, with 2 1/2 pushes (the cord was wrapped around her neck quite tightly, so I had to stop mid push so they could cut it), baby was born. Then things got dicey.

Apparently, my cord was never properly attatched to the placenta, so very few nutrients were actually getting to the baby while she was in utero. The nurse told us that it was a miracle she was here at all, let alone here at a somewhat normal weight and relatively healthy. NICU was called in to assess her. Her vitals were all really good, but her colouring was horrible. She was white. Pure white. Also, the cord not attaching properly made delivering the placenta impossible. It was stuck inside and I was hemorraging. I was rushed to the ER while NICU took care of baby. At this point, I finally cried. A lot.

While I was in surgery, things got figured out with baby and she and James were moved to the room where I was going to be staying. (I should also pause to mention that James' Dad was rushed to the ER earlier that morning and was still there awaiting some test results, so James spent his time running between both of us! His Dad was released, although whether or not he should have been is still up for debate!) Just before 11, I was brought into the room. I guess the doctor had come and talked to James to tell him things went well with the surgery and that there shouldn't be any further complications. What a day!

I'm happy to report that we are all doing much better today, although I still feel really groggy from the anastetic. And we now have a darling little girl in our family!