On May 7th, 2013 contractions began at 5:45PM. We started timing contractions to see how far apart they were and to see if there was any pattern over time. They were coming between 3-7 minutes apart and they typically lasted between 30-40 seconds each time. At this point they were still very bearable and I was still thinking I might be able to avoid the epidural, which was my original plan/hope. Between contractions, I tried to get things done around the house, pay bills, etc. I also told my parents, grandparents, and brother that I was in labour and hoped it wasn’t false labour. To help the labour progress I started doing squats, walking up and down the stairs, etc. between contractions.

By 11:30PM, my husband and I were very tired and the contractions hadn’t become any more consistent so we called Labour and Delivery at Mackenzie Health to ask their advice. They said when they were 4-5 minutes apart lasting 1 minute each, to come in. Around 12:30AM they became more intense and were they consistently 7 minutes apart, lasted about a minute each time. I was starting to feel like this is really it! We grabbed a few last minute things and headed to the hospital just after 1AM on Wednesday, May 8. We arrived at the hospital at 1:30AM and my mom met us there. The contractions were so bad that I was having trouble walking.

When we got to the proper wing of the hospital and got checked in, I met my nurse, Katarina who was with me throughout the entire labour and delivery. For the first check, I was only 4cm dilated and I couldn’t believe that was all, given the intense pain. Katarina asked if I wanted the epidural or not and I said my plan was to go without out but I’d see how I felt as things progressed. As things progressed, I felt like all the breathing techniques and different labouring positions I had learned at my pre-natal class were no match for this pain and I felt like I couldn’t really use them since the pain was so intense I felt like I couldn’t get out of bed.
" I felt like all the breathing techniques and different labouring positions I had learned at my pre-natal class were no match for this pain "
Eventually around 2:45AM I decided I wanted to epidural as even the support and reassurance of my Mom and husband could not ease the pain. Unfortunately, I was told that the anesthesiologist was in the OR and they had no idea when he’d finish so they didn’t know if or when I could get the epidural. Fifteen minutes later, he was luckily finished, and I got the epidural before 3:15AM. The epidural needle was not as bad as I thought it would be, and certainly better than the intense labour pains.

After the epidural I felt wide awake and kept telling everyone how great I feel. At that point I was now 6cm dilated. So I had done a lot of labour without the epidural. My OB who had been with me throughout the whole pregnancy was on duty at the hospital that night and said, “That’s why they call them ‘happydurals.’ My labour progressed quickly from there and since my water had not broken yet, they ruptured the membranes. Dr. B said so far this is a textbook labour and I sure hoped it would keep up. The nurses, my original one, Katarina, and my new one, Marelyn, kept telling me to try to sleep so I could save energy for the pushing, but I felt so great and excited now that I couldn’t sleep. My husband slept for a bit and I stayed awake talking to my mom.

Eventually I was 10cm dilated and it didn’t take long at all from there. We woke up my husband and told him it’s time for me to push. They asked me to do a practice push. It was pretty weak so they told me I needed to do better than that. I thought about how much I didn’t want forceps or a vacuum delivery so for my next push, I pushed as hard as I could and then everyone was telling me what a great job I did. All of the encouragement really helped, and about 7 or 8 pushes later they could see the baby’s head. I couldn’t believe my baby was almost here...it was incredible! They had me do one more push and then told me not to push. At that point, Dr. B was delivering the rest of the baby and she asked if my husband wanted to cut the cord when he was out. My husband said yes and we asked last minute if we could delay clamping the cord and have immediate skin to skin and Dr. B said no problem to both. All of a sudden our baby was out and they said “he’s here...it’s a boy!” They placed him on me and I couldn’t believe I was holding my little son that I was eagerly awaiting the last 9 months. I was able to nurse him within about 20 minutes of birth and he had no problems feeding. It truly was a great labour and delivery with the best reward at the end!