23 September 2015

Little girls are what dreams are made of.

With my first child, I only knew of one way and that was three full days of labor ending with a Cesarean delivery. Now with my second, her delivery was completely different from my first.  From past experience, I had already determined that my body just wasn’t cut out for natural birth.  It loved being pregnant however giving birth naturally was something my body didn't even want to entertain.  At least that is what I thought up until now...

It all started 8 days ago.  I believe my first contraction was felt at work on Monday, September 14th.  I was in the middle of training my replacement when all of a sudden I looked at him with that hold the phone look and he said to me are you okay?  No more thought about it until after dinner compliments of my father which I will have to blame him for the contractions to kick start around 8 pm and there was no stopping them until the next morning.   That Monday night and into the wee hours of Tuesday morning were pretty much killer.  I tried to sleep in between contractions being awoken to them starting with bearable to killer in intensity.  Most of the night I endured between 10 to 15 minute contractions and by 4 am, I turned to Steven and was like – can we please go to the hospital now?  He called the hospital and the doctor on call first asked Steven a few standard questions.  The message relayed back to me was – if you are having hard time breathing or can’t talk during a contraction was his recommendation to come in.  Say what??? Between the hours of 6 and 7 I gave in to some sobbing.  By 7 am my parents were informed we needed to head to the hospital so as my next door neighbors for the month courtesy of Airbnb, they came right over to help take care of Sam.

Before we left the house, I vomited.  A sign I didn’t realize at the time was a good indication that birth was imminent.  Walking to the car was a huge undertaking since my contractions were giving me a good run for my money.  The drive to OHSU (hospital) if you all know is one curvy and hilly road.  The 10 minute drive felt like something right out of a natural disaster movie.  With each bump, sharp turn and stop I remember mid-way turning to Steven screaming – I think this baby is COMING!!!

Steven dropped us off at the Emergency area.   It was at that time that my water broke before even getting out of our Jeep.  Another first for me and another good reason to get me into a delivery room, asap folks, asap.   I looked out the window to see Steven checking me in and my hand went up so fast waving for him to do something, since there was no way I could walk any longer. 

Fading out here from the pain and tiredness...

I was placed into a wheelchair and from that point, some sweet lady with a calming voice pushed me solo to the labor and delivery ward.  Contractions were less than 5 minutes apart and all I can remember is me screaming down the hall corridoors.  Talking was difficult and it took everything in me to breath at this point.  The ladies told me they could hear me from a mile away.  They all knew to get a room prepped just from the sounds I was making.  

Sleep deprived and now it was time to push?!!! A natural birth by yours truly?!

They rolled me into a room at 8:05 am.  Colette was born at 8:55 am, Tuesday, September 15th, 2015. I remember pushing a few times and then on that last push, how sweet that moment was as she was whisked onto my chest with Steven right there by my side.

And there she was.  This is how Ms. Colette Carola Joan came into our world via natural birth NO MEDS under ONE hour of actual hospital time.  Recovery has been a whole different story...

Colette stands for people of victory.

Carola stands for joy and is my mother’s name.

Joan stands for God is gracious and is my father in law’s mother, may she rest in peace. 

The lead doctor even told us not to call it so close next time... And no, there will be no next time is all I could think in my head. 

1 comment:

Glenys Nellist said...

That was a great rendition of the birth story Natalie! I really enjoyed reading it! Good job with the natural birth!