It all began on the morning of November 17 at 4:15am. I awoke to a little trickle of water. I remember thinking to myself... oh my water just broke... that wasn't so bad. I rolled over to wake up Jay and all of a sudden I felt this HUGE gush of water. Dripping wet I woke Jay and told him my water broke. He flew out of bed in panic mode! He must have asked me a hundred times... what do we do????... He wanted to go to the hospital right away but since I wasn't having any contractions yet I told him that I wanted to straighten my hair and put my make up on first. I know this may seems crazy but people take lots of pictures of you during this time and I wanted to try and look my best... lol. Before I started my hair and makeup I called Deanne to tell her my water broke. I knew she wouldn't be upset me calling her so early. She told me to make sure I ate something before I went in because they won't feed you once your in active labour. So at 5:15am Jay made me some toast and I drank a Pepsi!... lol. Once I got ready and Jay cleaned up the bed I called the hospital. They asked me a series of questions and one of them was how often had I felt the baby move since my water broke. I honestly couldn't rememebr feeling her at all so they told me to come in right away for an assessment. Jay grabbed the hospital bag and we hopped in the car and off we went to the hospital.
Once we got registered at the hospital, we both called our parents. They were so excited and mine where going to jump in the car and make their way down from Kamloops. We also called our work to tell them we wouldn't be there cause we were having a baby. When the nurse did the assessment we found out the baby was fine and I was 2 cm. She suggested I go home and labour there for a little while and come back once the contractions were stronger. So back home we went with a quick stop at the McDonalds drive thru for some egg mc muffins. At home I tried to lie down and get some rest but things got crazy quickly. The contractions started to get stronger and I could feel them in my lower back. I told Jay I wanted to go back to the hospital but before we could leave I felt nauseous and was going to be sick. Jay was doing such a great job. He got me a bucket and held my hair back but once things started to get "ugly" all of a sudden I was all alone, bucket on the floor, hair in my face. Jay was getting sick in the bathroom! I remember thinking... Oh my god... if he thinks this is bad.... I'm going to end up doing this alone!!!!!....
The drive back to the hospital took forever and every little bump hurt. Luckily once we got there they hooked me up with the gas for pain relief right away. It really took the edge off. I spent most of my labour in the tub using the gas. The great thing about the tub was the unlimited hot water. To entertain ourselves between contractions we called a lot of people! We called Kym and told her we were in labour and that they needed to change there flight now to come sooner. I also made Jay call Deanne so I could tell her that I didn't hate my husband for "doing this to me" instead I hated her for not telling me not to do it!... Oh the effects of gas!
Sometime between all my check ups and tub time I receive morphin for the pain. I was constantly asking for the epidural and it felt like they were trying to stall me but eventually after what seemed like forever the
Anaesthesiologist came and I got the good stuff. I was able to rest and relax for a little while. The down side was that the epidural slowed my contractions so after about an hour of rest they had to give me pitocin to get them going again.
It seemed like it took forever to get to 10 cm and when I finally did I
wasn't getting any relief from the epidural anymore. It was time to push so
they gave me fentanyl to help with the pain. Pushing was the worst. It hurt so
much and I could feel something was wrong. The pain in my lower left back was excruciating.
Almost every time I pushed I threw up. I remember begging them to help me,
begging Jay to tell them something was wrong and feeling like no one was
listening. Jay did such a good job supporting me. After the bathroom "incident" I was worried he wouldn't be able to handle it but he did so good! Sometime during my pushing it was determined that Nyah was sunny
side up but the Doctor wanted me to continue to push in hopes that it would
turn her. After 21 hours of labour and 3 hours of pushing the Doctor said she
wasn't turning and that she thought we could try forceps or go for a c-section.
I was so scared to try forceps. I begged the nurse to tell the Doctor no
forceps. When the paediatrician came in to assess me he said I was going to
need a c-section for sure. I was a little scared but more relieved that it was
all going to be over soon. What I didn't realize was that I would be pushed
down to the surgery floor and left in the hallway to wait with NO gas and NO
pain medicine until the room was ready. This was the absolute worst! I vividly
remember thrashing in the bed in the hallway waiting for what seemed like
forever. Once in the OR, I got my epidural topped up and I finally had relief.
Things from that moment on are kind of a blur. There were so many people in the
room and I was feeling so anxious. Not to mention I couldn't stop shaking. I
know the doctor asked me to put my legs in the stir ups because they had to
push Nyah back up cause she had come down so far. During the surgery I didn't
feel anything except a very little tiny bit of pressure. Jay and the doctor's
chatted and they asked Jay if we had any names picked out and he said we really
liked Nyah but I was quick to say we hadn't decided yet... cause we hadn't! At
4:11am they pulled her out everyone in the room erupted into song... singing
Happy Birthday Nyah. They held her up for me to see and I was overcome with
love for my girl.
They took her away to weigh her, measure her, clean her and have Daddy cut the cord. This felt like it took an eternity. I could see her little feet up in the air while they were doing all that and I was just dying to see her pretty face again and to feel her against me.
Our beautiful girl.
Daddy cutting the cord.
7lbs 6 ounces
Finally, the doctor brought her back to me and I got to really see my little girl for the first time. I memorized every one of her little features while kissing her and thanking god for my beautiful healthy girl.
Unfortunately, because of the surgery I had to go into recovery and Nyah was not coming with me. This was so hard. I had waited so long for my girl and when she was finally here I couldn't really hold her or be with her right away. I was in recovery for an hour and a half. They kept doing these test where they would touch cold ice to my skin and see if I could feel it. Until the effects of the epidural had worn off and I could feel the ice they wouldn't let me go back up to my room. I contemplated lying cause it was taking so long. But eventually I could feel it, it was time to go see my baby.
Being reunited with and actually getting to hold my little girl in my arms for the first time was one of the greatest joys of my life. There were a lot of happy tears. She was so amazing and I was the luckiest girl in the world to be her mom. Jay and I choose not to have anyone waiting at the hospital or to even call anyone right away. We took a couple hours just to ourselves to enjoy the first few moments of her life. We tried to take our first family picture but let's just say that because I was technically still "under the influence" none of them really turned out.... lol
Once it was a "decent" time of the morning, we phoned our parents to tell them the good news. My parents had arrived from Kamloops on Thursday and had stayed up all night waiting to hear the good news. When the call finally came Friday morning they were exhausted but excited to meet their grand daughter. They were the first visitors to arrive.
Minutes after my parents got there, Jay's parents arrived. Everyone fell in love with her right away.
At this point we still had not named her. I think both of us knew it was going to be Nyah. I mean really how could we not name her "Nyah" after everyone sang Happy Birthday Nyah in the OR. The first day is kinda of a blur. I can't really remember the sequence of everything. We had lots of visitors. She had her first bath. And when Jay and I finally had a moment alone with our girl we talked about what to name her. I think we both knew from the very first time we said the name Nyah when I was just a couple months pregnant that was going to be her name. But in this quiet moment we said it out loud and called her Nyah for the first time and it just felt right. Now the middle name was another story! I was all over the map. I liked Kennedy and Lilia. I think it was the next day, after trying to decide which to go with, Jay said why don't give her your middle name. I loved it. And so Nyah Ann it was.
We ended up staying in the hospital for 5 days. Nyah lost almost 10% of her weight and had jaundice. During those 5 days we worked really hard at breast feeding and s&s feeding to bring her weight up. Thankfully, it all worked and on November 21st we got to go home!
No comments:
Post a Comment