The Birth of Eliza Jane: Part Two

If you need catching up you can read a brief pregnancy post and part one.

December 23.
Tuesday was uneventful as far as labour progression went. We spent the day at my parents house as family was in town for Christmas and I didn't want to miss out.

Contractions started at 16:00, which was earlier than the last few days, but they were easy to handle and I only had to stop conversation occasionally to prepare myself as the surge began and to breathe quietly and rock or sway. We went home shortly after dinner as I wanted to rest and hydrate, as was my goal every day.

Erik was starting to get sick so he went to bed early and I did my best not to disturb him -- there was no point in both of us losing out on sleep.

I couldn't sit down through the night and contractions were 6 minutes apart from 21:00-06:30. At first I tried to labour on my hands and knees in bed and I'd lay down between each contraction. Oy vey! that was miserable. Hoisting myself onto all fours mid-contraction, which was no small feat, wore on me and added to the belly pain. I ended up moving to the birthing ball with my body draped over the bed.

The pain of my contractions were felt most severely in two places:
1. In a band right along my underwear line/lower abdomen. It felt like it was just over an inch thick and constant, strong, and breath-taking (literally). It was almost like a searing. I couldn't adjust my position once a contraction started because it felt like I was going to rip along that line.  (I was later told this was from my dilating cervix)
2. My back. Yowza!

What was worse than contractions was the feeling of the baby moving. That was unbearable! I think she was trying to find a better position for delivery, but this caused the most disconcerting sensation. It felt like grinding and searing, and nails on a chalkboard, and unpredictable, and agonizing. Thinking about it makes my hair stand on end even now, almost ten months later.

I did an internal exam at one point in the night and the babe had actually moved up and away.

I needed to walk around the house when the baby was moving to try help her into a better position. I tried many positions to try manage the discomfort of labour and the excruciating pain of the baby repositioning herself.

At some point during the night I started moaning through a few of the contractions when I could feel myself starting to lose control. It was a low moan of varying volumes, but it allowed me to focus on vocalizing rather than the uncontrollable shaking or quaking my body was partaking in. Especially when that dear babe was twisting inside of me.

I drew a bath in desperation hoping for some warmth, some relief, and possibly some sleep. I loved the feeling of the water pouring over my belly, but as the baby started acting up again I shot out of that tub as quickly as pregnantly possible.

December 24.
Poor Erik woke up to me sitting on the side of the bed at 05:30 quietly sobbing. I was just tired. So tired. So so so tired. And I didn't know what to do. And the baby had moved up instead of down. I felt weak and discouraged and things "hadn't even started". I had been working so hard for days and this baby was no where near being born.

I took some Tylenol and Gravol at 06:00 and managed to get 45 minutes of sleep before being woken up by an intense contraction. I didn't know what was happening and was caught off guard and I was not happy about it. I was trying to heave myself out of bed while trying to communicate to my sleepy husband. I said, "things are not good" as I clamored out of bed. In my sleepy state I was unable to tell where the intensity was coming from.

As it was the Christmas season, I was hesitant to bother the midwives. I knew I wasn't in active labour so aside from my regular appointment on Monday morning, I hadn't communicated with them. We were planning for a home birth so I wasn't concerned about calling them too late or getting to the hospital before labour was too intense. And it was my first baby so I assumed I had a long way to go.

Erik sweetly called the midwife at 08:30 because I needed some encouragement, advice, or wisdom. I knew my least favourite midwife was on call until 08:00 Christmas morning so I was torn between wanting to have this baby now and waiting until Boxing Day to deliver (because who wants a Christmas baby?) so I could have my preferred midwife.

The surges seemed to be subsiding after Erik's call to the midwife, but I still wanted her to come so we could talk about what was happening. I made the difficult decision to skip family festivities for the day so I could possibly get some sleep.

Christmas Eve happens to be when we do “Christmas” because my mom’s birthday is Christmas Day. I knew that participating in the festivities would be a little too much for me. I fully intended for Erik to still go and I would call him if I needed him to come home. I wasn’t interested in all the watchful eyes or in having others analyze every twinge or noise I made.

I have to admit that having a baby during the Christmas season presents unique challenges. I felt conflicted because I wanted support, but I didn’t want to pull my friends (Mandi and Abbie) away from their families on Christmas Eve. I needed a little TLC though so Erik decided to stay home with me. I was thankful for his company, but disappointed that he would be missing out on the family Christmas too. I felt a bit defeated because I wasn’t up for visiting with the family. I also didn't want to "ruin" Christmas by drawing attention to myself.

One last pregnancy photo. After calling the midwife and before she arrived on Christmas Eve.

The midwife arrived around 10:00am. She said we were having 'Monkey Labour' - labouring at night, as primates do, when they're safe from predators. Things were active at night, but stopped as the sun rose.

When planning for my labour I thought I didn't want any vaginal exams. That changed (as things often do). The midwife did a vaginal exam and determined that the baby was low again (at -1 or 0 station), I was an easy 5cm dilated (and she could stretch me to 7/8cm without much resistance), and my membranes were bulging. She said things were going to go quickly once they started. The midwife did another membrane sweep hoping to agitate things and left after giving strict instructions to call her as soon as things heated up.

I texted Mandi (a friend) and Abbie (our doula) to give them a heads up. They were both coming from Vernon so they would need a little bit more time to make their way over. I told them nothing was happening at the moment, but that things may progress quickly once they start.

Then Erik and I hunkered down to relax, nourish, and hydrate. I was a little worried about how I would handle a fast labour, but I pushed any negative thoughts from my mind and focused on resting. I knew it would be what it was and I would go along with it.

We started watching a show (something about nature, I think) but it didn’t last long because surges started again around 10:30.

Next: Part Three.