Reed's Birth Story

It's been 5 days already since Reed was born. I can hardly believe it's been that long already. It makes me sad to think time is going by so quickly. I wish I could freeze him at his cute little size. I can't believe I'm even saying that because normally I'm not a big fan of the infant stage. Maybe it's because I know it's going to be the last time I have a newborn to care for.
I had said I would write about our little birthing adventure so here it is.
Friday we decided to head up to Shawn's parents for the weekend. They live just north of Parry Sound. I figured I wasn't even 38 weeks pregnant so we should be fine. After the 38th week, I wouldn't travel anywhere. On our drive up I started to feel cramping. This wasn't any kind of surprise to me as I had been feeling this cramping from about 26-28 weeks. Braxton Hicks I was told. They just felt like menstrual cramps. They weren't any worse than normal. I didn't think anything of it until I woke up the next morning still feeling these cramps on and off. Never have I woken up in the morning feeling them. There was never a certain time of day I ever did but never when I first woke up in the morning.
Because we were so far away from my midwives and there wouldn't be anything they could do for me from there, I decided that maybe we should go into town and go to the hospital. Here they did a non stress test. The test showed that yes I was having some tightening but there was no regular pattern and when they checked my cervix I wasn't at all dilated. The doctor there suggested we pack up and return home because anything could happen at any time. This is what we did.
The drive home is about 3 hours. During our drive I continued to feel the cramping. I was writing down when they started and they were still very erratic in time, length and strength. When we returned to Durham I called the midwife (the Dr in Parry Sound had already talked to her). Because of the inconsistency of my cramping she thought I was just having Braxton Hicks contractions and suggested I go home and rest and keep myself hydrated. She said when the contractions begin to develop a pattern then to give her a call. This was probably between 630-700pm. When we got home, I had a nice warm bath. At around 7:44pm I decided to time the contractions again using a website (www.contractionmaster.com) After having 6 contractions spaced from 3-7 minutes apart and lasting 48 seconds to over a minute, I decided to call the midwife again. We decided to meet at the hospital. Before we left I went to the washroom. It was here that my water broke. This totally freaked me out. I remember how quickly I delivered Oliver after my water broke. Shawn and I were still waiting for Stephanie (bless her soul) to get here to watch Oliver. In the meantime, waiting downstairs by the van, I began to feel a lot of pressure in my bottom. Oh oh. Not good. This really had me in a panic. I was certain I was going to deliver my baby in my driveway. Shawn asked if I wanted him to call an ambulance. Without thinking twice about it, I said yes.
The original plan was to deliver in Oshawa. The ambulance brought us to the hospital here in Bowmanville. They don't deliver babies at this hospital anymore. I informed them the midwife was meeting us in Oshawa. He said there wasn't enough time to get to Oshawa unless I wanted to have my baby in the back of the ambulance. This I did not want. Shawn followed the ambulance to the hospital. Once we arrived, I don't think more than 5-10 minutes passed before I delivered our baby in a back room which appeared to be a room that housed supplies. I think maybe they did sutures and stuff back here. There was a baby warmer covered by a blanket that didn't look like it had been used in a while.
The delivery went smoothly. I felt bad for the Doctor and Nurses. Although they all remained calm, comforting, and supportive it was quite obvious this was not something they are accustomed to doing. The Doctor told me it had been 8 years since he had delivered a baby, the Nurse, her first. The other nurse told me she had 5 kids so she wasn't the least bit phased by the whole thing. Once the baby and I were quickly looked after, we were transported to the Oshawa Hospital where we met the midwife. From there, we did what needed to be done, spent the night and were released the following day. We were home by 1pm.
Reed is doing well. He had his 5 day check up with the midwife today. He weighs 7lbs 5oz and is sleeping and eating well. Aside from feeling a little tired, I am also doing well. It can get to be a little busy at times but the boys are adjusting well and being very patient and understanding. I love my boys.