Erik's Birthday
Our baby boy came into the world on June 9th, 2009 at 11:26am. He weighed in at 3343g or 7lbs 6oz. The evening before was a full moon and Erik's cousin, Hunter, had used our couch as a palette for his crayon artwork. His journey from the womb into this world began on Monday June 8th, 6 days after he was due (June 2nd). I suppose Erik was a little too comfortable hanging out in his warm cozy spot that he really didn't want to come out and my doctor decided it was time to convince him otherwise. She booked me into labour and delivery at McMaster University Medical Centre in west Hamilton for 1:30pm on the 8th for a prostaglandin gel to help promote the onset of labour. As of my due date I was only 1cm dilated and that hadn't changed at the time they saw me in L&D for the gel. They monitored me for 20 minutes prior to the gel and 1 hour afterward. They sent me home around 4pm and was told to call L&D at 8:30 and come in for assessment and to see if I required a second gel. If that didn't get things going I was to come in the following morning for induction with oxytocin. Well, at about 7pm that evening I was chilling out in my room playing Final Fantasy III on DS while me husband n0deal, sister-in-law Kristina and her husband Jeff were hanging out in the living room playing Wii, when I started feeling cramping. I was told to expect some cramping so I didn't really think much about it until it got to the point where the cramps were happening every 5 minutes apart and the pain was getting more and more intense. Kristina was convinced I was in labour and she insisted that Lars finish packing his overnight bag for the hospital. In that time we took our dog Honey around the block for a walk, in which I had to stop 5 or 6 times to deal with contraction pains. Once Lars was ready to go, we hopped in the car and headed to Mac around 9:30pm. Seeing how late it was in the evening, Lars decided he needed to stop for coffee at the drive-thru Tim Horton's on the way to Mac. He dropped Kristina and I off and then went home to pick up my banana popsicles which he had forgotten to pack in the cooler bag that also contained my celebratory Innis & Gunn beer. Arriving in L&D, I told the nurse what I was there for, pausing to have a contraction. She guided me to an assessment bed and when I had another contraction, told me I wasn't getting another gel and that I'd be staying in L&D until it was all over. By the time Lars got back my contractions were getting seriously painful. The nurse told me that the gel would make them more intense and that she could offer me some morphine to help with the pain. I took her offer and got hooked up to the IV - it definitely took the edge off. When the morphine ran out, the pain returned ten-fold. I also started to feel pretty nauseous. There was gravol in the IV but the nauseating effect of the morphine was lasting well beyond it's pain relieving effect. The nurse convinced me to try going to the bathroom and upon my return to the bed the nausea got the better of me and I lost the apple pie I had eaten earlier. Those kidney shaped basins the hospital provides for puking so aren't adequate for a normal persons volume of barf. Fortunately, after that unsightly incident a birthing room became available for me to move into. I was hoping to have some time in the tub but I was still feeling nauseous so I had to stay lying down along with an IV for more anti-nausea meds. The contractions got worse and worse and the worst part was that after each contraction, there was little response from Erik in the womb. I was still only about 2 centimetres dilated and the doctors were getting concerned about Erik's heart rate. They told me I may need to have a C-section if he didn't start responding better. The doctor broke my water and poked his head and Erik's response was good. The nurse said he looked like a completely different baby after that and my C-section chances were then reduced (phew). After a couple more hours I was dilated to about 4cm and my contractions were getting so bad that I was feeling nauseous during them. I eventually caved and asked for an epidural around 5:30am. Kristina stayed with me and Lars left the room since I could only have one support person with me and Lars can't handle needles very well. I was in so much pain that when the anesthesiologist came in she had to talk through my contractions about all the dangers of the procedure to get my consent. I couldn't have cared less at that point, I just wanted it done. The needle in the spine was pleasant compared to the contractions and the pain relief it provided was phenomenal. The only way I could tell I was having a contraction after that was the dip in the signal on the monitor. Unfortunately, the epidural pain relief also caused Erik to go back to his bad heart rate pattern. The dreaded threat of the C-section had returned. The doctor put a monitor on the head of the baby to keep better track of his heart rate, and tickling his head once again woke him up and his heart rate improved. I was also 6cm dilated at this point and making good progress otherwise. I finally was able to get a bit of rest and so could Lars and Kristina - out came the Gameboys! I couldn't stop looking at the heart rate monitor, though. The last thing I wanted was a C-section. At about 10am I was feeling contractions more than before, like Erik was really close to finding a way out. I called the nurse in and asked if a doctor could come check me to see if I was closer to the pushing phase. She said all the doctors were busy but that she could check me if they didn't become available anytime soon. When she checked me her response was "oh my!" and I asked her if I was at 10cm yet. She said she wasn't sure because there was a head in the way. She had me reach my hand down so I could feel the head. That is probably one of the most bizarre experiences I have ever had in my life. I still had to wait for the doctors to come in but the nurse, who was also a midwife, was telling me I could start pushing if I had the urge. The doctors arrived, along with a resident doctor, a nursing student, the NICU staff and numerous other bodies - too many to count, at least a dozen. There was no chance to be embarrassed, I just wanted this kid out of me. The epidural did make it harder to push, but I could still feel the pressure. Unfortunately it didn't feel like it was going anywhere when I was pushing. They ended up attaching a vacuum to poor Erik's head because his heart rate was dropping while I was pushing. After a few more tries with the vacuum and no success, one of the doctors broke out the scissors and I could tell they were going to perform an episiotomy. I remember being in an utter state of horror and screaming "NO" but they cut me anyways - they were mostly concerned with the health of the baby so in retrospect I really don't mind that they did it. Unfortunately, my body still couldn't handle the the size of the baby and he tore me even further. I couldn't really feel it because of the epidural and the intensity of the moment. Watching the baby come out of me was incredible, he looked so big to be coming out of me. My stomach shrank 3 sizes that morning! And then the resident doctor took the honours of cutting the umbilical cord, not offering for anyone else to do it, probably because of the situation I was in. The doctor then explained to me that I had a fourth degree tear, meaning the baby had torn past the episiotomy cut and gone all the way through to my asshole. She explained that this was an extremely rare complication and that I would require a butt-load of stitches (no pun intended). I had three or four layers of stitches, the total number I don't know and don't want to know. Erik was taken to be cleaned off and checked out. Kristina took lots of picture which can be seen here. Lars got to hold our baby boy first since I was still being stitched up. Once the doctors were done, I got to hold Erik, he is so beautiful and perfect. The rest of the story isn't quite as pretty so I will save that for another entry.