- Also, I know women love to hear inspiring birth stories so that is why I chose to share mine. Birth stories helped me so I wanted to do the same for other. It's a long drawn out story but I hope you enjoy! -
It all started when I woke up to some uncomfortable belly pains at 6:30am on Feburuary 26th. The first thing I thought was this isn't anything special our peanut showed no signs the day before of coming. I was one day over my due date and the day prior I was scheduled for an induction on March 10th if she didn't come on her own... I think it scared the peanut and she decided to come the next day.
So back to the story... I got up and used the bathroom and this is when I knew something was happening. I got more cramps aka baby contractions and realized today was the day! Being my normal self the first thing I thought was that I needed food and I needed it before they wouldn't let me at the hospital! So I made myself a massive breakfast and let my contractions take over. Around 8am I called Ken and told him it was time to come home so he could be ready to take me to the hospital. Once he got here we just hung out because I knew I didn't want to go in too early and be uncomfortable. I took a shower and he drank a beer and watched Top Gear (I told him to do something to help him relax lol).
My contractions went from being about 5-7mins apart to 2-4mins apart in no time while I was sitting on my birth ball and watching tv with Ken. We decided it was time to go when my contractions were 2mins apart and when one brought me to my knees. We left the house around 10:30am, Ken drove like a maniac to the hospital and I remember yelling at him to slow down because I would like to get there alive to have this child! It was an interesting car ride to say the least.
We got to the hospital right around 11am and of course the triage room was closed for lunch time clean up so we had to wait 30mins before they took us back. We hung out in the waiting room and Ken would rub my back every time I had a contraction, he did an amazing job supporting me. Once I got admitted is when things went south.
They had to do a 20min monitor on me before they would get me a room, not being able to move from the bed and laying on my back was the worst ever. It made the contractions feel a million times worse then they were. After a long 20mins (more like 35mins) of waiting the nurse came back and had me change into a hopital gown so she would check my progress. She came back quickly and I was 5cm dilated, she said my water would naturally break at any time. We gave her our brith plan and brought our midwife Brooke to us. She and Brooke were so supportive of our plan and told me she would never ask if I wanted drugs which was awesome for a hospital setting. At 12:40pm my water broke... I have never peed myself before but now I know what I feels like... Disgusting!!
Water breaking I guess gives you a free pass to your own labor room which is awesome because I never thought they were going to let me leave the monotoringn room! They had Ken pack up our stuff and they took us across the hall to our room. It was like 10 degrees warmer in there and felt really cozy for a hospital. Later I hated how hot it was but at the time it was so nice. Since I still wasn't hooked up to any IV (just has the IV lock in my arm) I was able to move around the room more freely which I loved. I spent most of my contractions either leaning over the side of the bed or sitting at the end of the bed with my legs crossed Indian style so I could sit up really straight. Ken would rub my back or just apply pressure when I needed it but sometimes I just didn't want to be touched. I noticed by this point I didn't care who saw my parts and I think my open hospital gown bugged Ken more then it bothered me. I guess that's just what happens when you are trying to focus.
The one thing I learned from my childbirth book by Ina May was that you need to find something to focus on or a saying to repeat to encourage yourself. In the moment mine was made. "I'm strong, I'm open, I'm calm." I repeated it over and over through my whole labor. It kept me calm and focused on the goal of meeting our new baby girl! I also kept in mind that my body was made to do this and women have been doing this naturally for millions of years so I could do it too. Truthfully I think as much as labor is a physical challenge it is even more of a mental challenge and once you are centered mentally you can make it happen!
Things progressed quickly in the labor room, in about an hour and 45 mins I went from 5cm dilated to 9cm dilated. I was in the zone besides the fact that both my monitoring belt and my blood pressure band would not stay on and the nurse seemed pretty annoyed by it I didn't care. I those were the least of my worries. I tried to get rid of my blood pressure band but they wouldn't let me, it gave me the worst blood blisters in the world after it was over with which I was not thrilled about.
Once I hit the transition phase is when things got rough. I was sitting at the edge of the bed with my legs crossed when I felt another gush of water. I told the nurse that my water felt like it broke again, she didn't say anything aloud but her face looked concerned. She brought the midwife in again and she informed me that the baby had already passed her meconium which isn't a good thing because it can cause meconium aspiration. That is when the baby swallows and inhales meconium and amniotic fluid. The midwife told me that she has to call the NICU staff so they can be there for the birth incase something does go wrong. I went from having 2 people in my room to 10+ people which was not the funniest experience.
The midwife then checked my progress because I was getting really uncomfortable she said I was at 9cm which was music to my ears! I remember I had 4 really hard contractions and I started repeating over and over to my nurse that I felt like I needed to poop so bad. (I had no shame at this point because things were so intense.) They said thats normal and just means its time to push. She checked me again and I was fully dilated and ready to go.
They moved my bed around to get me into a good pushing position, my new nurse came in when this was happening. Her name was Caitlin and she was amazing. It was right around 2:30pm when I started pushing. They had me push 3 times for 10 seconds during each contraction. I first started pushing on my back like any normal hospital birth, I was still trying to get the hang of this whole pushing thing so I wasn't very productive. They moved me onto my left side and had me push that way which was much more productive and I felt like I could get some work done. My midwife made sure I tried every position she could think of to see what worked best for me. She brought out the squat bar and hooked it up to my bed. Most women that have natural births say that this is their favorite position and get the most productive pushes this way so I was excited to try. Unfortunately it was the complete opposite for me, I went through 3 contractions and didn't get anywhere. Brooke told me to just lay back down and decide what felt best to me, I did just that. She went and grabbed a long sheet from the closet and wrapped it around the squat bar. This is when things started to get productive. I leaned more onto my left side and anchored my feet on each side of the squat bar and held onto that sheet for dear life. The nurse kept saying that they couldn't get a heart rate on the baby because my monitor kept coming off so they put a monitor on the top of the baby's head which was also a no no in our birth plan but I let them do what they wanted in the moment. (remember birth plans are flexible and things can change in an instant.) I was able to push twice as hard when I started pulling on the towel. After 2 contractions and some really good pushes I could feel that her head was starting to show. Brooke asked if I wanted to feel the head between contractions but for some reason the idea grossed me out so that never happened! lol I had about 6 more contractions and with every contraction I could feel her getting closer and closer. I buried my head into the sheet as I pulled on it and pushed hard. My last contraction I had I pushed 4 times during the contraction. Her head came out during the first 2 pushes and then her shoulders the next and lastly her legs and butt came out during the last push. Brooke told us that she came out with her eyes wide open and we could hear her crying. Our Olivia Jane Vaillancourt was born. February 26 2014 at 3:25pm is when she made her appearance.
They were unable to delay cord clamping like we wanted because they had to rush her over to the NICU staff on the other side of the room because of her passing meconium in utero. Since she cried when she came out they said she was just fine, they checked her out really fast as a precaution and Ken got to cut the cord down which he was so excited about. They wrapped her up and gave her to Ken. He then brought her over to me and unwrapped her and we got to do skin to skin like requested. One of the NICU nurses then came over and helped her latch so she could breastfeed right away. She took to it like a champ, the nurse even commented on her lovely milk mustache she had.
We got to do 30 minutes of skin to skin while Brooke hooked me up to some pitocin so I could deliver the placenta. It took a little for my placenta to come, I had to push 2 times to get it out. Brooke even commented on how big it was. We told everyone in advance that we wanted to keep the placenta so they put it in a bag for us right away. I then had Ken text the placenta encapsulator letting her know that the placenta was ready for pick up. She by our surprise said she would be there in 20 minutes to come get it. Ken was able to run it down to her and it was easy as that!
After I delivered the placenta they checked me out for any tears. I ended up having a very small tear inside my vagina which needed one stitch and then I long tear outside that was very minor but they stitched up anyways so "it wouldn't burn when I peed" according to Brooke! I was all numbed up and stitched up when the worst part came. I swear I would go through labor twice if I didn't have to go through it again. The nurse has to push down on your belly to get the extra clots and junk out to help your uterus shrink back down. She did it every 15 minutes for an hour. Having someone put all their weight into pushing down on your belly is the worst experience ever, I even had a bruise to prove it.
Our nurse Caitlin after the first round of pushing on my stomach commented on how I was losing a lot of blood which wasn't a good thing. This made her have to push harder then she normally would to make sure she could get out all the clots to stop the bleeding. After an hour of torture she told me that if I peed then I would be able to get transferred to the mother baby unit and get to relax.
Right away I told her I wanted to go pee. We went to the toilet and I was able to pee right away. She helped me into my super awesome depends undies and washed my legs and feet up with some soap and water while I sat on the toilet. She was awesome and even put some grippy fuzzy socks on me. I told her I felt really dizzy and she told the other nurse to go grab me a couple juice boxes.
I got one of my apple juices down and then things went sideways… Caitlin left the room to get me a water cup and a wet rag for my forehead so it was just Ken with Olivia in his arms and I. Thats when I went down. Totally passed out hard. Ken told me that I started twitching like crazy and then he had to grab the back of my hospital gown to keep me from falling forward off the toilet. Personally I don't remember even passing out. I just remember dropping my juice box and then seeing Brooke in the bathroom with me and Ken was gone. I only passed out for a second but it was because I lost so much blood and I was so little according to Brooke. So she told me she suggests that I get some IV fluids hooked up so I feel better. I agreed to it. They got me back to my bed and I got 2 bags of IV fluids and downed 32oz of coconut water. I hung out in the labor room for about another half hour. During that time they took Olivia over and cleaned her off a little (we requested no bath) and measured and weighed her. She was exactly 7lbs and 20 inches long. We also declined the vitamin K shot, hepatitis B shot, and the eye ointment. We didn't want our little pure peanut filled with those foreign substances. (Just our personal opinion, I know everyone has different views on it.)
They brought my a boxed lunch and they had me eat it all before I got to move again. I got 2 more juices, an orange, a turkey sandwich and some cookies. As I ate and Brooke joked with me about how I had such a simple and easy labor that something had to go a little wrong in the end. I loved how no matter what she kept my spirits up and made me feel like everything that happened was totally normal.
I called my dad and let him know that he was officially a grandpa while Ken called his mom to let her know too. My mom was on a plane on her way to see us. She thought she was going to make it in time for the birth but not quite. In the end she said she was glad it was just Ken and I there and that she wasn't.
After all the phone calls we got to go to the mother baby unit which was down the hall. The nurse put me in the wheelchair and Ken got to wheel Olivia. We went so slow, Ken didn't want to hit any bumps in the hallways too hard since he had his brand new package with him. It was the cutest thing ever to see.
FINALLY we made it to our room and Ken went down to the car to get the rest of our stuff. We got to settle in and let everyone know that Olivia was here and that our nameless baby finally had a name.
Overall I was so pleased with how things went, I felt things couldn't have gone any more as planned. I felt so lucky and blessed about the experience I had. Our midwife and nurses were amazing, we got so lucky with the people that God had present for us that day. It's a day none of us will forget. Ken and I are so lucky to have such a perfect little girl in our lives.
Things progressed quickly in the labor room, in about an hour and 45 mins I went from 5cm dilated to 9cm dilated. I was in the zone besides the fact that both my monitoring belt and my blood pressure band would not stay on and the nurse seemed pretty annoyed by it I didn't care. I those were the least of my worries. I tried to get rid of my blood pressure band but they wouldn't let me, it gave me the worst blood blisters in the world after it was over with which I was not thrilled about.
Once I hit the transition phase is when things got rough. I was sitting at the edge of the bed with my legs crossed when I felt another gush of water. I told the nurse that my water felt like it broke again, she didn't say anything aloud but her face looked concerned. She brought the midwife in again and she informed me that the baby had already passed her meconium which isn't a good thing because it can cause meconium aspiration. That is when the baby swallows and inhales meconium and amniotic fluid. The midwife told me that she has to call the NICU staff so they can be there for the birth incase something does go wrong. I went from having 2 people in my room to 10+ people which was not the funniest experience.
The midwife then checked my progress because I was getting really uncomfortable she said I was at 9cm which was music to my ears! I remember I had 4 really hard contractions and I started repeating over and over to my nurse that I felt like I needed to poop so bad. (I had no shame at this point because things were so intense.) They said thats normal and just means its time to push. She checked me again and I was fully dilated and ready to go.
They moved my bed around to get me into a good pushing position, my new nurse came in when this was happening. Her name was Caitlin and she was amazing. It was right around 2:30pm when I started pushing. They had me push 3 times for 10 seconds during each contraction. I first started pushing on my back like any normal hospital birth, I was still trying to get the hang of this whole pushing thing so I wasn't very productive. They moved me onto my left side and had me push that way which was much more productive and I felt like I could get some work done. My midwife made sure I tried every position she could think of to see what worked best for me. She brought out the squat bar and hooked it up to my bed. Most women that have natural births say that this is their favorite position and get the most productive pushes this way so I was excited to try. Unfortunately it was the complete opposite for me, I went through 3 contractions and didn't get anywhere. Brooke told me to just lay back down and decide what felt best to me, I did just that. She went and grabbed a long sheet from the closet and wrapped it around the squat bar. This is when things started to get productive. I leaned more onto my left side and anchored my feet on each side of the squat bar and held onto that sheet for dear life. The nurse kept saying that they couldn't get a heart rate on the baby because my monitor kept coming off so they put a monitor on the top of the baby's head which was also a no no in our birth plan but I let them do what they wanted in the moment. (remember birth plans are flexible and things can change in an instant.) I was able to push twice as hard when I started pulling on the towel. After 2 contractions and some really good pushes I could feel that her head was starting to show. Brooke asked if I wanted to feel the head between contractions but for some reason the idea grossed me out so that never happened! lol I had about 6 more contractions and with every contraction I could feel her getting closer and closer. I buried my head into the sheet as I pulled on it and pushed hard. My last contraction I had I pushed 4 times during the contraction. Her head came out during the first 2 pushes and then her shoulders the next and lastly her legs and butt came out during the last push. Brooke told us that she came out with her eyes wide open and we could hear her crying. Our Olivia Jane Vaillancourt was born. February 26 2014 at 3:25pm is when she made her appearance.
Olivia Jane Vaillancourt <3
They were unable to delay cord clamping like we wanted because they had to rush her over to the NICU staff on the other side of the room because of her passing meconium in utero. Since she cried when she came out they said she was just fine, they checked her out really fast as a precaution and Ken got to cut the cord down which he was so excited about. They wrapped her up and gave her to Ken. He then brought her over to me and unwrapped her and we got to do skin to skin like requested. One of the NICU nurses then came over and helped her latch so she could breastfeed right away. She took to it like a champ, the nurse even commented on her lovely milk mustache she had.
We got to do 30 minutes of skin to skin while Brooke hooked me up to some pitocin so I could deliver the placenta. It took a little for my placenta to come, I had to push 2 times to get it out. Brooke even commented on how big it was. We told everyone in advance that we wanted to keep the placenta so they put it in a bag for us right away. I then had Ken text the placenta encapsulator letting her know that the placenta was ready for pick up. She by our surprise said she would be there in 20 minutes to come get it. Ken was able to run it down to her and it was easy as that!
Over the Moon With emotions. She is perfect.
After I delivered the placenta they checked me out for any tears. I ended up having a very small tear inside my vagina which needed one stitch and then I long tear outside that was very minor but they stitched up anyways so "it wouldn't burn when I peed" according to Brooke! I was all numbed up and stitched up when the worst part came. I swear I would go through labor twice if I didn't have to go through it again. The nurse has to push down on your belly to get the extra clots and junk out to help your uterus shrink back down. She did it every 15 minutes for an hour. Having someone put all their weight into pushing down on your belly is the worst experience ever, I even had a bruise to prove it.
Our nurse Caitlin after the first round of pushing on my stomach commented on how I was losing a lot of blood which wasn't a good thing. This made her have to push harder then she normally would to make sure she could get out all the clots to stop the bleeding. After an hour of torture she told me that if I peed then I would be able to get transferred to the mother baby unit and get to relax.
Right away I told her I wanted to go pee. We went to the toilet and I was able to pee right away. She helped me into my super awesome depends undies and washed my legs and feet up with some soap and water while I sat on the toilet. She was awesome and even put some grippy fuzzy socks on me. I told her I felt really dizzy and she told the other nurse to go grab me a couple juice boxes.
I got one of my apple juices down and then things went sideways… Caitlin left the room to get me a water cup and a wet rag for my forehead so it was just Ken with Olivia in his arms and I. Thats when I went down. Totally passed out hard. Ken told me that I started twitching like crazy and then he had to grab the back of my hospital gown to keep me from falling forward off the toilet. Personally I don't remember even passing out. I just remember dropping my juice box and then seeing Brooke in the bathroom with me and Ken was gone. I only passed out for a second but it was because I lost so much blood and I was so little according to Brooke. So she told me she suggests that I get some IV fluids hooked up so I feel better. I agreed to it. They got me back to my bed and I got 2 bags of IV fluids and downed 32oz of coconut water. I hung out in the labor room for about another half hour. During that time they took Olivia over and cleaned her off a little (we requested no bath) and measured and weighed her. She was exactly 7lbs and 20 inches long. We also declined the vitamin K shot, hepatitis B shot, and the eye ointment. We didn't want our little pure peanut filled with those foreign substances. (Just our personal opinion, I know everyone has different views on it.)
They brought my a boxed lunch and they had me eat it all before I got to move again. I got 2 more juices, an orange, a turkey sandwich and some cookies. As I ate and Brooke joked with me about how I had such a simple and easy labor that something had to go a little wrong in the end. I loved how no matter what she kept my spirits up and made me feel like everything that happened was totally normal.
Happy New Daddy!!
I called my dad and let him know that he was officially a grandpa while Ken called his mom to let her know too. My mom was on a plane on her way to see us. She thought she was going to make it in time for the birth but not quite. In the end she said she was glad it was just Ken and I there and that she wasn't.
After all the phone calls we got to go to the mother baby unit which was down the hall. The nurse put me in the wheelchair and Ken got to wheel Olivia. We went so slow, Ken didn't want to hit any bumps in the hallways too hard since he had his brand new package with him. It was the cutest thing ever to see.
FINALLY we made it to our room and Ken went down to the car to get the rest of our stuff. We got to settle in and let everyone know that Olivia was here and that our nameless baby finally had a name.
Overall I was so pleased with how things went, I felt things couldn't have gone any more as planned. I felt so lucky and blessed about the experience I had. Our midwife and nurses were amazing, we got so lucky with the people that God had present for us that day. It's a day none of us will forget. Ken and I are so lucky to have such a perfect little girl in our lives.
Happy New parents!!
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| My Beautiful Placenta Print! |
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| Proud Grandma Meeting Her First Grandchild |
