If I have to sum it up in one line, I would say that it was a very smooth ride with a twist at the end.

PREGNANCY:

I have PCOS so missing periods was a norm. This is why when I missed my first two periods, I just ignored it. I did a pregnancy test in week 12 and went for an ultrasound in week 13 when I missed my third period. My doctor had a good laugh that I didn’t realize that I was expecting for so long. Anyhow, my pregnancy was a breeze. No morning sickness in the first few months although I did develop an aversion to the smell of eggs cooking. I could literally smell breakfast eggs being cooked in my office’s cafe half way down the office. It was as if I had a new super power, the power of smell.. LOL!

I salute the people who are able to resist not knowing the gender of the baby. I just had to know or the suspense would have killed me. Even before I went for the ultrasound, I had a feeling it was going to be a boy and so it was. My parents were overjoyed as it was their first grandchild and even more happy as my dad’s side of the family had not had a boy for a whole generation (all my first cousins are girls). The usual baby showers happened along with baby announcements.

Lots of shopping happened and I tried not to get everything in blue 😀
I went from 51 kg to around 64 kg (no stretch marks.. yay!). I used to rub bath and body works lotion on my belly everyday before bed (as i have extremely dry skin) so maybe that helped. Thanks to winters, the only maternity clothing I bought were two maternity pants/jeans. All my tunic sweaters fit till the end. My parents came to Canada a month before my due date. I kept working till about two weeks before my due date.

Week 37 onwards, I was almost always tired. Turning in bed alone was a mission. Too much pressure on the bladder made walking difficult and I had to pee max every 2 hours (I hated it!!) Braxton hicks got really strong and my belly felt like a stone at times. I was expecting a normal vaginal delivery.

LABOR AND BIRTH:

I’ll mention everything in chronological order. 14th Jan I went to bed completely normal after watching Netflix.

15th Jan, 2 am: I went to the washroom to pee and saw the jelly-like mucus plug come out. I told my husband. A very mild discomfort started but I could sleep through it

6 am: I was going to turn in bed when my water broke, soaking my bed sheet. I stood up and there was a small puddle around my feet. I never thought it would be so much fluid haha!

7.15 am: Reached the labor assessment unit of the hospital as told by my doctor. By this time the contractions were like my normal period cramps

7.50am: The nurse told me that I was 1.5 cm dilated but as I was experiencing very regular contractions from the beginning 2.5-3 mins apart she asked me to take a walk around the hospital and come back in 2 hours. She told me that it could be hours before they would send me to the birthing suite as I was a first-time mom.

10am: I had walked around the waiting room for 2 hours and tried to have some breakfast from the Tim Hortons in the hospital. I could not speak through my contractions anymore and my pee had more streaks of blood then before. I went back to the labor assessment unit and asked the nurse to check again. She said I was still around 2cm. She gave me a birthing ball to sit on. This failed miserably. I could not make myself sit on it as it increased the pain. I preferred to stand.

10.45am: I asked for some pain relief medication as there was hardly any gap between my contractions now and slow breathing exercises were not working. The nurse asked me to lie down and attached a monitor to my belly. She told me that my doctor would be there in half an hour

11.30am: My doctor arrived and said that I was not that far along yet but since my contractions were strong she said that I could have a morphine injection while still in the labor assessment unit

11.41am: I got the morphine injection in my bum and was told that it will take some time to dull the pain. I was told that after morphine, they needed to monitor the baby’s heart more carefully so I need to lie down

12.30pm: I tried to breathe through contractions but lying down was very very uncomfortable and the morphine had not helped at all. The pressure on my bladder was so much that I wanted to pee every 15 mins. I walked back and forth between the labor assessment unit room and the washroom by myself. I wanted the nurse to give me something else for pain relief but she said that she was waiting for a nurse from the birthing unit to get free and take me to the birthing suites.

1.35pm: A nurse finally arrived to take me from the labor assessment unit to the birthing suites. She asked me to sit on the wheelchair so that she can take me but sitting caused too much pain. I put my arms on the wheelchair arms to raise my self a little while sitting. In the birthing suite, I had to pee again. The nurse asked me if I was just peeing or I felt like pushing. I told her that I just pee.

1.50pm. I got an IV while I was sitting on the side of the bed. I was shaking because of the pain of the contractions. My mum came and I put my head on her chest while she hugged me. That was I guess the most comforting thing during the entire labor (no breathing, no exercise, no massages can compare).

2pm. The nurse asked me to lie down so the doctor could give me the epidural. I knew lying down was going to be painful so I requested if I could get it while still sitting on the side of the bed. The nurse was hesitant but the doctor said it was ok as long as I did not move too much. I got the epidural while sitting. I did not feel any pain or pressure in my spine at all. Maybe the pain of the contractions masked it or maybe the doctor was so good at administering it.

2.05pm: The pain was gone. The nurse asked me to lie down so that she could attach the monitor and check my dilation. She said I was 8-9 cm. It took me 7 hours from when the proper contractions started to get here.

2.10pm: Nurse asked me to turn to my side. When I did, I felt a sharp pain in my ribs as if something was pushing against it from the inside. My nurse looked at the monitors and said that baby does not seem happy so she called the doctor on duty. He said that the baby’s heart rate was dropping so I should be taken to the operating theater.

2.12pm: They were wheeling me to the Operating theatre and on the way they were monitoring the baby’s heartbeat. As this was not a scheduled operation, they literally gathered doctors/nurses on the way. I could hear people asking around “Can you scrub in?”. LOL! Seemed like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

2.35pm: The baby was born via c section. I was awake in the beginning when the first incision was done but after that I was knocked out. Everything was so quick. My husband told me I was snoring a little during the operation. He came to the operating theater just minutes before they took out the baby.

When I woke up some 45 mins later, I was parched and shivering from the cold of the operating room. They were keeping me there so that they could do an x-ray to see that they had not left anything inside my belly. In a scheduled surgery, they count their tools beforehand so that they can count them again at the end and confirm that nothing was left inside. My husband was still there sitting next to me, holding our baby. I started crying as soon as I saw them together. I cannot describe the feeling but I remember telling the nurse: “I don’t know why I am crying”. 😛

My husband gave the baby to the nurse so that he could go tell my mom that everything was OK and that she had a grandson now. Once the doctor confirmed that everything was OK in the x-ray. The nurse gave my son to me, to hold skin to skin. My bed was then wheeled out. I stayed in the hospital for 48 hours before getting discharged.