If you asked me two weekends ago if I would have been rushing to the hospital to have a baby on our 37th week.. I fully intended on going to our appointment with the specialist that has been following our pregnancy this past Wednesday July 17th. My Husband Doug had picked the due date/delivery date today...Friday July 19th...very early on in the pregnancy..I want to say around 4 months in. I for sure thought two weeks early but not three.
Ironically the weekend before I went into labour my parents told me they were off to Strathroy ON to visit my Grandparents for part of my dad's holidays. They were going to visit everyone and help do flooring in their living room. They had to pick one of the hottest weeks to do flooring..kind of like my Son had to pick one of the hottest days I had thought we were having so far this summer to arrive into the world. As you can imagine I was really worried that something could or may happen with them being so far away from home...wishing I was not right..since they did not make it back and would not of with traffic. Strathroy is about 4 1/2 hours away..maybe 5 from Peterborough if you consider the trek down the parkway.
Tuesday rolled around and it seemed like a normal day..except for the heat. I went for a walk early with E...to avoid being completely out of breath. By the time we went it was already 25 out not including the humidity. I knew the baby was moving lower as he was getting heavy and harder for me to get up..but I had 3 weeks left right..no worries. Most of the morning was low key..just played..fed her lunch the usual.
It was going up to 42 or higher with humidity by the end of the day..so at lunch Doug started to fill the pool up for E in the afternoon to cool off. After he left for work I had gone down to bring the hose back down wrap it back up on the hanger and turn the water off. As I finished hanging up the hose I got a gush of water everywhere and a non stop puddle under my feet. May I note I am in a Jean Skirt...E is sleeping in the house..its hot as hell out and my dog is waiting for me on the deck stairs. Well whatever was happening it was not stopping no matter what I did..I knew I was not peeing myself. I thought at first...this could be my plug..I could have a couple days..this happened with E for a couple days..right? This was just before 1pm in the afternoon.
After I finally made it back onto the deck..trail of footprints behind me. I tried to make it to the bathroom to get off the wet clothes and see what was really happening. Well here I am in my tiled bathroom..trying not to fall as it is still not stopping or letting down and I am grabbing towels to fix the pickle I am in. Not to gross you out..but there is a definite difference between your water and plug going. Your plug is more like discharge and mucousy...thicker substance..your water breaking is like you are peeing yourself or a tap has been turned on and it is not stopping.
So I had grabbed my phone on the way into the bathroom..thinking what the hell am I going to do. I call Doug..and he seems all not worried about it all..like are you sure its your water..this happened last time..it could be days..we will just wait and talk to Maskens tomorrow. So I told him I am gonna try and get cleaned off and changed and will keep him posted..well I called him right back as I could not move any which way without feeling like Niagara Falls. So originally he was going to still be at work..he was now coming home to work from home in case this was the real thing.
In the mean time I was trying to call the doctors office to see if I should go and get checked out or if it was just my plug and had nothing to worry about. Well the line was busy...So I was trying to pack all of my last minute items in my hospital bags just in case. Doug walks in the house..trying to calm me down..it was all items I had not put in due to me still needing them. Insulin, matt shorts, glucose monitor etc. I was not having contractions at all and I always heard if it was your water they follow closely. So in the mean time Doug went downstairs to work from home. He had let his parents know what was happening in case we needed them to watch E later on seeing as my parents were so far away.
I had let my parents what was happening, gave them a call. After I hear from the doctors office I was going to call them back. I finally got a hold of the doctors office and explained to the receptionist what had happened. Maskens however was at the hospital on call that day and was out at the moment..she was to call us back when she could tell us what to do. At around 2pm I started to get some back labour pains and cramping and mild contractions. I remember texting Doug who was working downstairs to give him a heads up..finally the receptionist called us back and said that the doctor would like us to go into the hospital and get checked out just incase I really was in labour. We were told we did not have to rush in but we should do it soon so that we could let him know what was going on. Doug came up to see what they had told me and called the hospital to let labour and delivery know we were going to be coming in this afternoon to get checked out. At this point miss E was still sleeping so we waited until she was awake to go anywhere. We packed the rest of the items in the bags and Doug called his parents to give them a update and texted our neighbour Tracie to get ahold of her to watch Evie after she was done work until Doug's parents could make it to Peterborough.
After E woke up around 3pm we got her ready..grabbed her a snack..loaded the car. Doug dropped me off at Emerge and I went to let them know I was here. He came in with E after parking and we were sent up to labour and delivery. So around 3:30 we were in the assessment room. There was already a girl waiting. I had to explain what was going on..at this point my contractions were more severe and closer on top of each other. They put the heart beat monitor on me and blood pressure cuff and monitor for contractions. I had to lay down which made the contractions ten times worse. We had brought E books and her dog scout to play with...also some teddy Graham's and water. Well E thought she needed to eat the whole entire bag. Eventually she dropped them all over the floor and we had to stop her from eating them from there. I want to say we were in there about a half hour to forty minutes. Which is along time for a toddler to be sitting. She was really well behaved considering.
The nurses had to be sure it was my water breaking since I just started my 37th week the day before. They had to do a swab to make sure it was infact my water that had broke. After that she did a internal to see how dilated I was. When she checked dilation I was already 5-6 dilated and they then sent in a nurse to do bloodwork to send to the lab. After bloodwork was done and I changed into a gown I was moved across the hall to a delivery room.
I was moved into the delivery room about 4:30 and hooked me up to a IV. The poor nurse we had..who was amazing..has not been in labour and delivery very long and was having a heck of a time getting my IV. First she tried to putti in my hand and then ended up using my arm to put it in. At this point I was told to lay on my side...to help labor continue. Well laying on your side at this point..is excruciatingly painful when you have all back labor contractions. This is when they need to ask you the millions of questions for your plan or what is alright and not in your decisions about birth etc. Now I had wrote up all these answers in case I was in the situation like last time where I had no sleep and could hardly answer with the amount of pain I was dealing with. That would have been great if I had my bags upstairs with me already....as of that exact moment they were still in the car.
Shortly after we started the medical Q & A..Doug and E went downstairs around 5:30 to meet our neighbor so Miss E could be looked after until Doug's parents came up from their place. Doug went out and my contractions were getting closer and more consistent and stronger. My Nurse had to leave a couple of times to get some things and aid some other girls. I remember being in the room..laboring alone with what seems to be forever due to the pain I was in. Not trying to complain but it seems they always ask you if you want something else for the pain before your epidural and never give it to you. Doug took quite a long time to come back up due to the volunteers to bring him from emerge back up to L & D were not there and security could not leave to take him. He had to walk back around the entire hospital to get back up to the 6th floor and back to the room.
I was originally supposed to have a girls date night out this hot day of July before the babe was born with my friend Holly. I had to let her know early in the day that I was not sure if I was going to make it due to I was not really sure which was happening..either my plug or water breaking. So she was on standby on if she was coming over for a visit or on her way to the hospital seeing if we needed anything as she was running errands in Peterborough. She asked if she could come up. Originally my friend Kristy was coming in who was a Massage Therapist to help me out...keep me calm...relaxed etc..and my Momma and obviously my Amazing Husband Doug. So since my Mama was too far away to attend O's birth Holly became my Mama in the delivery room. This was a very special thing since Holly and Kristy have never witnessed a birth first hand and got to this evening at the same time. Holly came around 6:10pm.
Shortly after we started the medical Q & A..Doug and E went downstairs around 5:30 to meet our neighbor so Miss E could be looked after until Doug's parents came up from their place. Doug went out and my contractions were getting closer and more consistent and stronger. My Nurse had to leave a couple of times to get some things and aid some other girls. I remember being in the room..laboring alone with what seems to be forever due to the pain I was in. Not trying to complain but it seems they always ask you if you want something else for the pain before your epidural and never give it to you. Doug took quite a long time to come back up due to the volunteers to bring him from emerge back up to L & D were not there and security could not leave to take him. He had to walk back around the entire hospital to get back up to the 6th floor and back to the room.
I was originally supposed to have a girls date night out this hot day of July before the babe was born with my friend Holly. I had to let her know early in the day that I was not sure if I was going to make it due to I was not really sure which was happening..either my plug or water breaking. So she was on standby on if she was coming over for a visit or on her way to the hospital seeing if we needed anything as she was running errands in Peterborough. She asked if she could come up. Originally my friend Kristy was coming in who was a Massage Therapist to help me out...keep me calm...relaxed etc..and my Momma and obviously my Amazing Husband Doug. So since my Mama was too far away to attend O's birth Holly became my Mama in the delivery room. This was a very special thing since Holly and Kristy have never witnessed a birth first hand and got to this evening at the same time. Holly came around 6:10pm.
Around 5:30/6ish they put my epidural in..at this point it was all I could do to stay still. My contractions were definitely stronger in the back labor department..which is the place they do the epidural if you did not know. I got about 3 contractions while they were putting it in and the blood pressure monitor kept going off aswell while they tell you not to move at all. After it was in they test it to see if it is working right. The anesthesiologist put in a line where I could up the amount for pain 4 times in a hour. Well let me tell you that is a great feature!!! I definitely kept upping it as needed that night. However the epidural did not work that well for the left side of my back..I still felt quite a bit of pain/pressure and my right leg which I thought was asleep was really numb from the epidural and felt like a ton of bricks. When they checked my dilation after they made sure my epidural was working and my sensitivity with ice to see where I was numbed..I was 8cm dilated.
When they finally checked my sugar levels I was running at around a 4 something..just above the low. I was allowed to have a Popsicle and ice chips..which at that point the Popsicle tasted amazing. I remember being really hot..obviously not as bad as outside but hot. My Friend Kristy who was going to be in the room with us came after she was done work at 7pm. So I would say she got in around 7:15pm. I let her know to grab some food as the hospital cafeteria was already closed for the night. Around 7:30pm I was fully dilated. At this point they had me sit up to help labor the baby down with the use of gravity. I want to say they had me sit up this way for a good 1 1/2 hrs. Sitting up in that position was definitely uncomfortable..I feel it made the contractions and back labor where my body was not numbed worse. I remember I was continuously upping the amount when I could with the button...which made my right leg worse. I thought it was asleep due to how they had me sitting for such a long time..but really it was all going to my leg instead of my back for the pain. Kristy who is a RMT even tryed to help get some circulation back into my calf and foot for me..but I still could not feel it. Holly, Kristy and Doug got a real kick out of how calm I was and comical about the pain I was feeling. Doug enjoyed me saying I was glad I had shaved for the epidural tomorrow and ironically now it was for labor instead.
At around 9 they let the doctor know I was ready to start pushing and the head was down far enough. They had me do what they call the practice push just before 9:08. I pushed for a bit and then they had me stop and wait for the doctor to come in..with our luck it was Maskens the specialist who has been following us who was on call. After getting the head right at the point of coming out they had me move down farther on the bed..which was really hard to do with my leg feeling so heavy and numb up to my hip. Doug and Holly helped hld my legs up while I pushed and followed the contractions by the sound of his heartbeat picking up on the monitor. After that they had me push to deliver.
At 9:18pm our son Owen Riley Brant was born. Yes you heard me right..I pushed him out in 10-12 minutes. Miss E was 20 minutes when I had her. He was 7lbs 7oz and 21 inches long. He has a full head of hair and blue eyes. Doug and I did not name him until quite awhile after he was born. We wanted to see what he looked like and talk about the list of names we had together. I had him put on me right away for skin to skin..and they did the delayed cord clamping for me. Allowing O to get all of the blood back he was needing/using. I had to push after for the placenta to come out this time..I remember it just coming out on its own with Miss E.
I had them put it on ice for the pick up from a lovely Doula/Owner from Glow Maternity who is doing my Placenta Encapsulation Package. If you have never heard of it..its a really neat process with lots of benefits for Mama and Baby...I will let you all do the research on it yourself if you are curious..not for everyone lol. I want to say I was moved into my room around 12/12:30pm. They had to wait for a bit..did alot of skin on skin..and then they did all the Apgar checks etc. We gave him some formula right off the bat...15ml and then a sugar check..and another 15 and another sugar check. Poor guy came out with low sugar after all the gestational diabetes I had.
I could not walk so they moved me down in this interesting contraption that you have to kneel on and then stand and are supported. I want to say its like a dolly to move people down the halls with on wheels..instead of a wheelchair. Holly and Kristy left after helping us get to the other room. That night O was placed in the special care nursery..his temp was super low. He had a bit of shallow breathing due to being so congested from coming out so quickly and he had low sugar levels. So the Nurse I had in post labor area..fought to get them to keep him in there for the night in case something happened. So Doug went with him to the special care nursery since I could not move on my own with the leg being completely numb. They hooked him up to monitor his sugar levels, temperature, breathing and ran some blood work on him.Doug left just after 1:30am.
I really did not sleep well that night with him not being in the room with me..Doug being at home and hearing all these other people's babies crying all night. At around 4:30am the monitor I was hooked up to finally emptied and went off for about a half hour before some came in to shut it off. Needless to say it was an interesting night. I could not move due to my leg being completely numb. I could not get up to go to the bathroom so my catheter was left in over night and part of the next morning. I had nurses come and try and see if I could put weight on it to walk but I almost fell..so had to wait until later on.
The morning after O stayed in special care Doug and Miss E came in to see me. E spent some time with me reading her new big sister books with me..while Doug went over to Special Care to See how O was doing in special care and what was happening. He came back and took E to meet O in Special Care for the first time. She was really excited to see him and Doug tried to get some pics. Around 10am they brought O over for his feeding. We gave him some formula after trying to feed him some colostrum off of me. We needed to get his sugar levels up higher. Holly met us at the hospital for a short visit and then took E for the day. Doug went to help her with lunch and nap time and came back to spend time with me and O for the day until it was bedtime for E. Since we still needed to watch his levels and everything we stayed over another night. Feeding went not too badly that night he was latching for the most part. However he was tongue tied so we needed to make sure before we were discharged that it was cut..it was right to the end.
I was discharged from the hospital on Thursday. We had to go back to the hospital for a baby wellness check on Sat to make sure his weight is okay and see how his jaundice levels were. The level was 112 when we left the hospital. Since then it was 245 sat and he was 6lb 12oz..when we left on discharge day he was 6.15. We went back on Monday and the jaundice level was 285 and he weighed 7.06. Wednesday(today) we went in again to the POP clinic and his level finally plateaued at 273 and weighed 7lb 3oz.
Tomorrow we go to our 1week old check up with our family doctor. We are hoping O does not have to go under the UV lights. He has been eating really well since he finally latched to my breastfeeding shield. I had to use one with Miss E for almost 3 months. He latched before the tongue tie got clipped but I also did not have my milk in then..big difference. Plus he is lazy..wants mama to do all the work for him. He is starting to wake more and more on his own for feeds and peeing and pooping like mad..which is what they want to hear all the time from you at the doctors. We have booked his circumcision appointment already. Breast feeding is such a trying time ..but all worth it..if all else fails we pump.
E loves him..sometimes with alot of force. We are all happy he came into our lives. We are a little sick of doctors appointments right now..But it's all good in the end. This is how Mr. O came into our lives July 16th 2013.
We will keep you posted on how he is doing and how the appointments are going. It was a crazy experience..never thought within 8hrs I would have a son 3 weeks early. xoxoxo The Brant Family.
I had them put it on ice for the pick up from a lovely Doula/Owner from Glow Maternity who is doing my Placenta Encapsulation Package. If you have never heard of it..its a really neat process with lots of benefits for Mama and Baby...I will let you all do the research on it yourself if you are curious..not for everyone lol. I want to say I was moved into my room around 12/12:30pm. They had to wait for a bit..did alot of skin on skin..and then they did all the Apgar checks etc. We gave him some formula right off the bat...15ml and then a sugar check..and another 15 and another sugar check. Poor guy came out with low sugar after all the gestational diabetes I had.
I could not walk so they moved me down in this interesting contraption that you have to kneel on and then stand and are supported. I want to say its like a dolly to move people down the halls with on wheels..instead of a wheelchair. Holly and Kristy left after helping us get to the other room. That night O was placed in the special care nursery..his temp was super low. He had a bit of shallow breathing due to being so congested from coming out so quickly and he had low sugar levels. So the Nurse I had in post labor area..fought to get them to keep him in there for the night in case something happened. So Doug went with him to the special care nursery since I could not move on my own with the leg being completely numb. They hooked him up to monitor his sugar levels, temperature, breathing and ran some blood work on him.Doug left just after 1:30am.
I really did not sleep well that night with him not being in the room with me..Doug being at home and hearing all these other people's babies crying all night. At around 4:30am the monitor I was hooked up to finally emptied and went off for about a half hour before some came in to shut it off. Needless to say it was an interesting night. I could not move due to my leg being completely numb. I could not get up to go to the bathroom so my catheter was left in over night and part of the next morning. I had nurses come and try and see if I could put weight on it to walk but I almost fell..so had to wait until later on.
The morning after O stayed in special care Doug and Miss E came in to see me. E spent some time with me reading her new big sister books with me..while Doug went over to Special Care to See how O was doing in special care and what was happening. He came back and took E to meet O in Special Care for the first time. She was really excited to see him and Doug tried to get some pics. Around 10am they brought O over for his feeding. We gave him some formula after trying to feed him some colostrum off of me. We needed to get his sugar levels up higher. Holly met us at the hospital for a short visit and then took E for the day. Doug went to help her with lunch and nap time and came back to spend time with me and O for the day until it was bedtime for E. Since we still needed to watch his levels and everything we stayed over another night. Feeding went not too badly that night he was latching for the most part. However he was tongue tied so we needed to make sure before we were discharged that it was cut..it was right to the end.
I was discharged from the hospital on Thursday. We had to go back to the hospital for a baby wellness check on Sat to make sure his weight is okay and see how his jaundice levels were. The level was 112 when we left the hospital. Since then it was 245 sat and he was 6lb 12oz..when we left on discharge day he was 6.15. We went back on Monday and the jaundice level was 285 and he weighed 7.06. Wednesday(today) we went in again to the POP clinic and his level finally plateaued at 273 and weighed 7lb 3oz.
Tomorrow we go to our 1week old check up with our family doctor. We are hoping O does not have to go under the UV lights. He has been eating really well since he finally latched to my breastfeeding shield. I had to use one with Miss E for almost 3 months. He latched before the tongue tie got clipped but I also did not have my milk in then..big difference. Plus he is lazy..wants mama to do all the work for him. He is starting to wake more and more on his own for feeds and peeing and pooping like mad..which is what they want to hear all the time from you at the doctors. We have booked his circumcision appointment already. Breast feeding is such a trying time ..but all worth it..if all else fails we pump.
E loves him..sometimes with alot of force. We are all happy he came into our lives. We are a little sick of doctors appointments right now..But it's all good in the end. This is how Mr. O came into our lives July 16th 2013.
We will keep you posted on how he is doing and how the appointments are going. It was a crazy experience..never thought within 8hrs I would have a son 3 weeks early. xoxoxo The Brant Family.
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