How Do I Know I am in Labour? Part 1

Am I in labour?!

It seemed fitting to start this blogging journey from the very beginning since that's the day that changed everything.

Let’s be honest ladies, who doesn't love a good birth story?!

"Cue any man that may have stumbled upon this blog exiting the computer screen"!

Seriously though, once you've birthed a child from your loins or mid-section you are excited to hear and share in a good labour and delivery story.

Questions that always seem to come up are:

- How long were you in labour for?

- Did you have an epidural?

- Vaginal or C section?

And of course my favourite.

- Did you poop?

June 4, 2019

I was one week and 3 days overdue; I decided it would be a good idea to get my sciatica worked on and any other body part that might induce labour. While patiently waiting for my RTM to finish up his last appointment, it happened. Suddenly the baby was doing triple pirouettes spinning its head deeper and deeper into my pelvis. I jumped a little and when I started walking the mild water works began.

Nooooooooooo!

My water broke in the middle of the waiting area where my RMT Trevor took one look at me and told me to go straight to the hospital. I was fine though. I felt fine. I wasn't in labour.

My baby's very large head had just broken my water but had no intentions of coming out anytime soon. Sitting in the car on the old towel I had thrown in thanks to the advice of a friend I call the hospital, and then my husband – in that order, and then drove home.

If you’re pregnant and close to your due date, ladies do yourself a favour and keep and old towel in the car. I soaked the entire towel on the way home and God knows the damage and smell that would have occurred had I not packed one. After calmly talking to labour and delivery we were told to head to the hospital where we would find out that my water had in fact broken but I had yet to dilate a single cm. I had the choice to go home and hope that I went into labour on my own, or have Cervidil inserted into my cervix to hopefully speed the process up. It was Tuesday afternoon and my doctor was leaving for a conference on Friday. I made the decision that any sane woman would, and chose the Cervidil. For those of you who don't know what Cervidil is, it's a hormone called Prostaglandin that is placed in the cervix through the vagina that looks and feels like a razor blade going in. Ok, ok, maybe I'm exaggerating but seriously it wasn't fun. It slowly releases and helps soften the cervix in the hopes that it will start to dilate – hope here being the imperative word. Since my cervix was still intact the plan was for this to kickstart labour since my amniotic fluid was leaking as fast as my body could replace it, and chances for infection increase. I was sent home to relax where my husband and I watched Netflix while eating sandwiches, chips and chocolate covered almonds. Hey! I figured if I was going to have a baby tonight this was the time to enjoy the things I may not enjoy as leisurely in the foreseeable future!

June 5, 12:30am

Something was happening, but was it labour?

From my prenatal classes, to books on labour and delivery to chats with my postpartum Doula they all said the same thing about labour being this intense pain across your belly. So when the excruciating lightning bolt type pains up my pelvis started, I figured it was just a side effect from the Cervidil. Instead of panicking I decided to shower and get myself beautified in case I went into labour so that I would look great delivering our first born. That sounds stupid just typing it but it seemed like a very reasonable plan at the time. Looking and smelling fresh I crawled back into bed next to my sleeping husband and couldn't believe how crazy the pain was. I started timing partly to see if I was in labour and partly because I couldn't sleep. The pain was hitting me every five minutes and lasting 30 seconds at a time. Labour? I had no idea.

I knew I was due to call the hospital for the check in (they asked us to call every 2.5 hours) and as I lay there in agony on my side I couldn’t help being annoyed that my husband was sound asleep. I tried to distract myself and started to breathe deeply and rub my feet together as if I was about to start a fire.

June 5, 2:30am

I timed my call to the hospital so that it fell during my 5 minutes of relief and so that I could actually speak. As soon as I heard ”Sturgeon Hospital" on the line I realized that it was my doctor. "Oh hey Dr J! What are you doing there!?" I asked in surprise as he laughed and replied in his South African accent with "well believe it or not, you are not my only patient, I'm here delivering babies!”. It was then my turn to laugh, and I was happy to know that I had chosen someone so dedicated to all his patients while also making you feel like you were the only one that mattered.

After a quick chat he verified that I was indeed in labour and explained that Cervidil can cause extreme cramping alongside your contractions, great. He told me to hang tight and to stay in the comfort of my home for as long as possible. At this point I decided to wake my sleeping beauty of a husband to help me time my contractions; we were in labour.

I also want to mention that all of the labour prep we did including the use of massage oils, mala beads and massage techniques went out the window when we finally found ourselves face to face with GO TIME! As usual my very stubborn and independent self that doesn't know how to ask for help (which I will dig further into in future posts) threw my phone at my sleeping husband and told him to track my progress and that I would let him know when I was about to have another contraction.

The pain of the contractions was like nothing I've ever experienced before. When asked to describe labour you just can't. It's one of those things you have to experience for yourself to understand, especially the induced kind.

My contractions were getting deeper and stronger and I needed to move. I found myself all over our condo using my one minute breaks to slowly waddle from countertop to pillow cushion to couch arm to bouncy ball. The animalistic type noises that escaped from my body were terrifying and I was cognizant enough to be grateful that this was not a performance being put on in front of an audience at the hospital.

Finally, my husband decided to call the hospital and to his surprise they wouldn't talk to him and asked to put me on the phone. When I couldn't speak and had three contractions back to back while the nurse kept asking "are you having another contraction?” she urged to speak to my husband who was told to get me to the hospital IMMEDIATELY!

Come back for part two next week!