(posted last year on SAHP Forum:

April 14, 1998

I had been awake all night. Was I in labour? I must be. I was so uncomfortable. I let Stephen sleep thinking "he will need to be well rested for this". Like I wouldn't...I was just counting the hours until 8am when I was to go into the hospital for induction. It was now 6 days past my due date and I had been on full bed rest for a week and a half due to high blood pressure. The previous day, my midwife told me she would induce me today and then she stripped my membranes - ouch! She sent me home and arranged for the induction the next morning.

I woke Stephen up at 6am and told him we needed to go to the hospital. We took our time getting ready and arrived at 7am. I could barely walk at this time and the contractions were so strong. My back was killing me. I had stopped timing them because they were too fast and too strong. We arrived at the check-in desk at the hospital where a snippy receptionist told me I wasn’t scheduled to be there for another hour and there were no rooms for me. I explained that I was in labour and got an "oh sure – first time mom" look from her. I sat in a chair and waited an hour before a room was available. Finally we were taken to a room and I changed into a gown. Twenty minutes later my midwife came in to check me. "Wow - 8 centimetres!" She exclaimed. "Wait, that cannot be right." she checked again. No, I was just 5cm. I was panicking. Was it too late for some drugs? Luckily it wasn't and after a little monitoring I was given intrathecal morphine, which immediately took the edge off the contractions but when it comes time to push, it certainly did nothing for pain then (why didn't they tell me that before hand?).

At 10:20am I was checked again and I was at 10cm! I could not believe this was happening so fast. This is not what the pregnancy books said. I pushed for a while and there was little progress. The midwife explained that the baby was posterior presentation. This of course explained the excruciating back pain. I pushed using a birthing bar, a birthing seat, in a crouched position, on my back, leaning against the back of the bed. Nothing. After an hour a doctor was called in because my baby's heart rate kept dropping and was starting not to recover quickly after each contraction. The doctor told the midwife to let me push for another hour. I went through the different positions again. I distinctly remember thinking, "Why do women have more than one baby?!"

The next hour or so passed and the doctor was summoned again. The baby's heart rate was starting to fall and so he said I would need a c-section. I didn't care. I just needed the baby out before anything happened to him/her. They started to prep me for surgery. I was exhausted and kept pushing though because it was the only thing that gave me relief during the contractions. I remember kicking the nurse who inserted the catheter! Ow! That catheter hurt way more than the contractions!!

I was whisked off to the operating room and Stephen was brought in after he had changed into scrubs. Everything happened so fast. I said to Stephen "I feel some tugging" and he stood up and peeked over the drape. He sat down fast. He told me later that there were two doctors with their hands inside of me. A few moments later the doctor announced, "It's a boy!" I was stunned. "Are you sure?" I asked. Everyone laughed. What's his name the nurse asked me "Jackson" I replied. "My son's name is Jackson".

Happy birthday to my lovely little boy who is growing up way too fast. ~sob~

(edited to change all of the " and ' from the funky characters...)