A’s Birth Story

It was January 23rd 2005 when I found out I was pregnant. It was scary for me and I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to be a mom. J was super excited and couldn’t wait to be a daddy. I cried all of the time about being pregnant. I was just an emotional mess.

I can still remember the night clearly of June 6th 2005. Daddy felt A kick for the first time and he was just beside himself. We were lying on the couch and I was just watching my belly move. It was incredible.

June 10th 2005 I went to work. I remember that morning feeling like I had bad period cramps but never really thought much more of it as it was my first pregnancy. I had told my midwife as well about my back pain that I had been having for a few weeks however it all came down to the uterus stretching. So that is what I thought was going on.

I got to work about 8am and I remember telling everyone at the table I was working at that I just didn’t feel right. That I had not felt the baby move since the night before. A few of them that were moms told me that it wasn’t unusual seeing I was only 24 weeks that day.

10:30am was break time. I went and had something to eat and then headed back down to the room to work. I decided to stop and go to the washroom first so that I wouldn’t have to go later. This is when I noticed that I had some bleeding. There wasn’t much but enough that I remember I started shaking. I finished up in there and decided that it was probably nothing too big to be worried about because it was such a small amount. However when I got into the room, I saw one of my good friends Stacey and I started to cry. She brought me out in the hallway and asked what was wrong, so I told her.

She immediately went to tell my boss that she was taking me to the hospital because I was probably losing the baby. He however did not even know yet that I was pregnant, so I assume he was a little confused. On the way out the door I saw another girl that I worked with and she asked what was wrong. I told her that I was bleeding and that I thought I might be losing the baby. I told her to tell my dad if she saw him. (I worked at the lab he also works at.)

Off we went. I remember being in pain but I did not know at the time what it was. I just thought it was because I was losing A. Once we arrived at the hospital I went up to the sixth floor, which is where the family birthing unit is. The lady at the desk asked what I needed and I told her that I was bleeding. She asked how far along I was and I said 24 weeks today. She then asked me if I had called my doctor yet and I told her that no I had not because I was so nervous I headed right to the hospital. She handed me the phone and said, call your doctor. I called my midwife and she told me she would be right there.

Once I hung up the phone, the nurse at the desk told me it was probably just a bladder infection and made me feel like I was really wasting their time. She took me in the back to hook me up to a monitor so she could listen to the baby’s heartbeat. Well of course because I was so nervous, she could only hear mine. She told me that I needed to calm down and quit worrying. She was very frustrated that she couldn’t get the heartbeat of the baby.

Within fifteen minutes my midwife showed up. She immediately did a check and that is when she looked at me with sadness in her eyes and told me that there was nothing she could do. I was going to be having my baby that day.

At this point they thought I was very close. They moved me over to a room to deliver. They wouldn’t let me get up to go pee so they did a catheter. WOW that was horrid and I told myself that if I had to pee again I would just hold it.

An hour later I was still holding on and there was talk of an ambulance taking me to a hospital with a NICU which was 45 minutes away. There was a team already coming from the NICU, however I overheard the doctor saying that if I was to have the baby there then the baby most likely would not survive the transport.

This is when I decided to tell them that my contractions were gone. Hearing what I did scared me and if my baby had a chance to live I wanted it to be that way.

So they decided to transfer me. It was VERY hard to hide my contractions but I knew I had to for my baby to have a chance at life.

J went with my brother and Andrea to get a head start. My parents left with Stacey. My midwife went on her own. All heading for the same place.

Into the ambulance we went with full lights and sirens. Once we were on the road I gave up on hiding the contractions. They were very painful. The nurse on board asked if I was okay and I said “no, another one is coming.” Now I can laugh about it, because the look on her face told me right away that she knew I had them all along!

Anyways, I made it to the hospital in 23 minutes. Door to door. Crazy.

Once I was taken in the room they did an ultrasound and amazingly my little man had absolutely no signs of distress and was rather enjoying moving around in my belly. The nurses kept asking where the dad was and I said on the way. I told them to get my mom probably four times and each time she came back my mom wasn’t with her.

The doctor told me that the only reason I never delivered the baby on the way was because my bladder was so full it was holding him in there. They emptied my bladder and with seconds I was pushing.

After 26 minutes our boy was born. They held him up very quickly so I could see him. They finally brought my mom in. J still was nowhere be seen.

A was taken away and all I wanted to do was get up and go see where they took him. Nope I wasn’t allowed.

About five minutes later J came in the room. They had taken a wrong exit and actually went to another hospital thinking that is where I went.

He bent down and asked me how I was. Was I still in a lot of pain? He didn’t realize that I already had the baby!

I looked at him and said “I am fine, he is already here.”

“He?!” J was then gone. Running down the hall to tell everyone that he had his baby boy. A son. Thanks J. hahaha

My mom, J, my midwife and I were then told they were bringing my our son very quick before he went upstairs. He was SO tiny. He weighed in at 710 grams (1lb 9oz). I couldn’t believe something so small could live.

We were told the first 72 hours were the most critical. This was the start of our long NICU journey. And to think that we thought once we got past the NICU days it would be over. Not a chance. It was the start to our journey of a lifetime.