CHAPTER 2 : Pregnancy and Delivery

My husband Robb and I always knew that we wanted to have a family but it wasn't something we wanted to rush into. So in the fall of 2006, after 5 years of marriage, we decided that the time was right and we would start trying to have a baby. Three months later, just before Christmas, we got the best Christmas present we could hope for - a positive pregnancy test. And so started the whirl wind of experiences and emotions that our little Joshua would bring.


My pregnancy was fairly uneventful. I experienced many of the common ailments associated with pregnancy but nothing serious. I don't think I even got so much as a cold during the 9 months I was pregnant. And I was so careful and so conscientious of what I ate and what I exposed myself to all in the hopes of creating a safe environment for my baby to grow and develop.


I had my first ultrasound at 18 weeks. Baby was developing normally, size was good and it was revealed that we were having a boy. We were thrilled! The ultrasound tech couldn't get all the views of the heart that they usually like to examine because of baby's position so my OB sent me for another ultrasound at 22 weeks. Again everything looked good, baby was on track in terms of size and development but again they had difficulty with getting good views of the heart. They did manage to get the views of the heart that they were lacking from the first ultrasound but they were "seen with difficulty". At any rate from what they were able to see of the heart it looked good, there didn't seem to be any structural problems or defects, and given that neither Robb nor I have a family history of congenital heart defects my OB felt comfortable to leave it at that and felt that there was no need for further examination. We never even gave it a second thought. The thought of having a baby with a heart problem was so not on our radar.


My due date, August 16 2007, came and went without incident. And so we waited, and waited, and waited. When I was 1 week and 1 day overdue (it was a Friday) I went for a scheduled appointment with my OB where we discussed plans to induce labour on Sunday. It's my OB's policy not to allow a pregnancy to go longer than 10 days past the due date which would put my induction date on Sunday August 26. After a brief discussion, he checked my BP one last time. My BP had been borderline high the last 4 weeks or so of my pregnancy (around 130/90). On this particular day my BP was 156/108, high enough to warrant a trip to the hospital to be assessed by a triage nurse in labour and delivery. The flood of emotions I experienced on the way to the hospital was amazing. I was excited, nervous, anxious, all at the same time. The time to bring this little guy into the world may finally be here.


The baby and I were monitored for half and hour or so and everything was fine. No more episodes of hypertension, no protein in the urine and blood tests came back normal. After receiving report from the hospital my OB still decided to go ahead with an induction. I was admitted and the induction was started at 1730 in the way of a medication called Cervidil. By 0200 the contractions were getting stronger and more intense - sleeping was no longer possible. Robb was still sleeping in a chair that turns into a bed on the other side of the room, although if you ask him he'll tell you that he didn't sleep a wink that night. His snoring tells a different story :) I didn't bother to wake him because I knew soon enough sleep would be a luxury. At 0300 my water broke. I called my nurse and she came in to check my progress -- I was 2 cm dilated. I hadn't established a definite birth plan prior to labour as I wanted to reserve the decision to have an epidural or not until I got the chance to experience what labour was like and how intense the pain would be. By the time my water broke I had decided that I would opt for an epidural at some point during the labour process. At this point the pain was still tolerable and pain control was not yet necessary but given that I was only 2 cm I knew things would get much worse and an epidural seemed likely.


I was informed that I needed to be at least 4 cm dilated before I could have an epidural, which was fine since my pain during contractions was still manageable. I was offered a narcotic pain reliever to "take the edge off" but declined. Since I planned on getting the epidural I wanted to try and limit the amount of meds my baby was exposed to. Instead I chose to soak in the tub for awhile. My nurse readied the bath before heading off to break and told me that she would be back at 0500 to do another internal exam. If I was 4 cm at that time then they could start the epidural. Soon after getting into the tub my contractions kicked it up a notch. The contractions were much more intense and it was getting harder and harder to breath through the pain. Robb was sitting beside the tub and was trying his best to support and comfort me as much as possible but I could tell he felt awkward and was unsure of his role during this part of the labour. I tried to include him as much as possible - tell him what he could do to help me work through the pain, but eventually the pain was so strong and there was little to no break in between contractions that it was all I could focus on. I probably got into the tub around 0330. By 0415 I had decided that I had reached my pain threshold and it was time to do something about it. It freaked me out that the pain was so intense and I was only like 2 or 3 cm dilated. I couldn't imagine what it would be like at 8 or 9 cm.


My nurse was still on break but there was someone covering for her and had been in several times to check on me. When I decided it was time to get out of the tub, Robb informed the nurse that I wanted to get reassessed to see if I could have an epidural and if not then I would go for the narcotic. Getting out of the tub was a lot harder than I expected. My contractions were so close together that I had a hard time getting up and out of the tub, my hospital gown changed, and over to the bed before another contraction started. I'm not sure how many times I attempted to get out of the tub only to have to sit back down again when another contraction came along. I eventually got out but I think it took like 20 minutes. As the nurse did an internal exam I remember saying to myself, "please let me be 4 cm, please let me be 4 cm" over and over hoping for that epidural. When the nurse finished the exam she laughed as she said, " No epidural for you Corrie. You're 10 cm it's time to push." I couldn't believe it. The time was actually here - we were finally going to meet the little guy who had been growing inside me for so long!



They got me set up and with my next contraction I started pushing. Oh man, did it feel good to push. Pushing through a contraction made the pain just disappear. It was replaced by a different kind of pain, but I didn't find that pain nearly as bad to deal with. After 2 pushes she told me to stop pushing because the baby was ready to come out and she had to get the doctor. That was awful because I now knew how good it felt to push and now I wasn't able to. I'm not really sure how long I had to wait for the doctor. I guess he didn't respond to the first page because he didn't believe that I was really ready to deliver. When they called for him again, he came, thank goodness. I pushed 3 more times and at 0500 on August 25th out popped Joshua weighing 7 lbs 3 oz and measuring 20 inches long. He was beautiful, precious and absolutely perfect.





We spent 2 full days in hospital during which time Josh was assessed twice by a pediatrician, but no health issues ever arose. He seemed in perfect health (except for a mild case of jaundice) and he was breastfeeding well so on the Monday morning we were happily discharged from hospital, eager to start our new journey together. But, we could never have imagined where that journey would eventually lead us.