Friday February 13th, 2009 – 3:23 pm – 8 lbs, 10 ounces, 21.5 inches long
Dear Mercedes,
Although at times it seems like I was pregnant FOREVER, the nine months that you and I spent together actually passed by very quickly and fairly uneventfully. You were a great baby in the womb – I never got morning sickness, I didn’t have extreme fatigue, no heartburn, not a lot of discomfort. Until the end that is! You were growing and growing so well, that I was often uncomfortable towards the end of our time together – but it was clearly all worth it!
Your due date was February 15th, and although I initially thought you might arrive early, as your due date approached it seemed like nothing was happening and you were actually going to arrive LATE. My midwives and doctors were a little concerned because I had a lot of extra fluid, as well as a blood issue (a genetic mutation that predisposes me to blood clots – you probably have it too, it’s genetic – sorry), and what appeared to be a GIANT baby. The latest estimates a couple of weeks before you were born said you were 9 pounds and 5 ounces!!
At my last midwife appointment on February 6th (one week before your birthday) they said that not much was happening – I wasn’t dilated at all, your head wasn’t engaged in the pelvis – and that they would likely see me again the following Friday for my regular appointment. Well, they saw me on Friday all right, but they saw you too!
Thursday February 12th – Sorry for the grossness my dear, but I actually lost part of my mucous plug during the day. I know it’s hard to believe that this disgusting piece of tissue was exciting, but when you are pregnant one day and waiting for your own baby to arrive, you’ll understand how I felt! I actually spent the whole day busy with friends – out for lunch, running errands, had a friend over – and it was the ONE day in recent memory that I hadn’t managed to nap during the day. Oops.
Later that evening, I was watching Grey’s Anatomy (one of my favourite shows) when I started to feel ‘something’. I said to your father “I think I might be having contractions” and he was desperate to know if it was the real thing or not. I told him not, as they were not very intense, and urged him to go to bed since he had to work in the morning. By the time Private Practice was over (11 pm), I realized that they were definitely regular contractions – they were coming every five minutes, but weren’t very intense (I could talk and even joke through them) so I didn’t wake your dad – yet. I wanted to try to sleep a bit, and see if they would go away – I assumed it was false labour, or very, very early labour.
By midnight, I realized that the contractions were still coming every five minutes, and they were getting stronger now. I had to actually move around each time, and I definitely could not sleep through them. Time to wake up Daddy!
He got very excited and wanted to start packing up the car right away, but I made him wait. I tried getting in the bath to see if that would help, and it did, briefly – but I could still feel each and every contraction. Your daddy started officially timing and sure enough, they were lasting about a minute, and arriving five minutes apart. Looks like real labour!
I got out of the bath and called the midwife (about 1:30 am at this point) and she said it sounds like real labour for sure – but it’s still early and I should try to get some rest, take a gravol and sleep if possible. I took a couple of gravols and then promptly started throwing up. Not fun! I got back in the bath for a while, and threw up in there too! Also not fun.
At this point, the contractions were getting much stronger and I could no longer talk through them – I needed to focus my energy and my breathing in order to get through each one. Your daddy was such a great help – very supportive and encouraging, massaging my back, timing the contractions, letting me know when they would be starting and stopping. I couldn’t have done it without him. At about 3:30 we called the midwife back, as I felt that things were definitely progressing and it was getting harder to cope with the contractions at home. I was also worried about my water breaking, since as of the week before, your head still wasn’t engaged, which could have posed some potential problems. We agreed to meet at the hospital at 5 am – and let me tell you, that drive was NOT fun, especially since there are bumpy train tracks on the way!
I had a contraction in the car, and another in the hallway of the main floor of the hospital – luckily it was deserted at 5 in the morning, so I was able to labour in the hallway in private!
We made it up to the birthing unit, and they hooked me up to the fetal monitor to make sure you were doing okay. My midwife, Ann, did an internal to see how we were doing, and much to our surprise, I was already 6 centimetres dilated! Way to go Mommy and Mercedes! We were admitted and shown to our birthing suite.
After about an hour, we decided that I would get in their fancy Jacuzzi tub and try to labour in there for a while. I desperately wanted to give birth to you naturally and medication-free and was willing to do just about anything to get there. The tub felt heavenly, but I was still nauseous and didn’t last long in there. With your dad’s help (and the midwife) we laboured for another few hours, during which time my water broke all on its own. That really intensified the contractions, and while it was the most painful thing I’ve ever felt, I was still confident that I could work through them on my own. However – when my water broke, you actually turned around a bit – just enough to make things extra uncomfortable and have you pressing on my cervix in a way that made it inflamed. At one check at about 10 am, it looked like I was 8 cms dilated (almost there!) – but another check a half hour later revealed that I was still in fact only 6 cms.
No movement in five hours was disappointing – and the pain of the (now) back labour was very intense. I decided to try the nitrous oxide gas (laughing gas) to try to get through some of the more difficult contractions. It took the edge off, but made me dizzy so I didn’t want to use too much. At this point, the midwife and consulting OB suggested that maybe an epidural might be useful. I was feeling the urge to push with each contraction, because of the way your head was positioned and how low down you were. I could not for the life of me resist the urge, and this was backfiring – with me bearing down, your head was inflaming my cervix even more, which was making it unlikely I would fully dilate on my own. With an epidural we thought I could resist that urge to push and allow myself to dilate completely. So, although I had wanted to resist the drugs, we decided to go for it.
And let me tell you – it was HEAVENLY. There really is something to be said for not feeling pain when you don’t have to! However – even with an epidural, there was no further dilation to be had. The OB introduced pitocin (another thing I was dead-set against if possible) and STILL no further dilation.
By 2:30 pm, they were concerned about the lack of progress, the fact that your heart-rate was not fluctuating well enough (it was strong, but not moving much, which is a sign of lack of oxygen in the blood), and how ‘big’ you were supposed to be. They tried to do a blood test on you to check the oxygen levels, but the results were inconclusive and they were reluctant to let me keep labouring on my own since they couldn’t guarantee you weren’t in some level of distress.
After some serious discussion with your Daddy, and a few tears, we decided to go with the recommended C-section. It’s not how I envisioned your birth, and I am sad I didn’t get that first ‘moment’ with you that I had pictured, but the important thing is that you arrived healthy and happy!
At 3 pm I was wheeled into the operating room, and at 3:23 pm on Friday February 13th you were born! Your Daddy and I were surprised to see lots of dark hair, and were also surprised that you were NOT nine pounds, but only 8 pounds, 10 ounces! You were nice and long (as we expected) – 21.5 inches – and have the fingers to match! We fell in love with you instantly.
You passed all of your newborn screenings with flying colours, and although we had some issues with breastfeeding in the beginning (someone is a lazy, sleepy eater, although often hungry!) – we were thrilled to bring you home on Monday and introduce you into our world. Your big brother (Bruiser) and the cats are enamoured with you already and your whole extended family just can’t get enough of you. One day, when you are older, you’ll realize just how loved and wanted you are – we plan to remind you every, single day.
Welcome to the world Mercedes Madison!
Dear Mercedes,
