My Birth Story – William
I wanted to share my labour and delivery story for both of my kids because each delivery and recovery was so different. I had a c-section for both but the journey leading to them were very different.
I’ll start with my first-born, William. I had a very easy pregnancy with little to no symptoms. I felt great during my whole pregnancy and had no complications. A few weeks leading up to my due date, we found out that William was in a breach position. In fact, he was in a footling breach position where his feet were positioned down into my pelvis. We learned this when I went in for a consultation for a transversion which is where the doctor moves the baby to the correct birthing position. Due to this footling breach position, a transversion was not possible and I needed to schedule a caesarean section. The only date available was my due date.
I felt great leading up to my due date. The day before my due date I was able to get a lot of last minute items checked off my list. This included a mani and pedi, picking up last minute snacks for the hospital bag, a short little hike and a steak dinner at a fancy restaurant. That night I went to bed feeling great. My c-section was scheduled for late afternoon so I still had some time the next day to prepare myself.
Well as soon as my head hit the pillow, I turned towards my husband and I immediately felt something in my back pop! I said I just pulled my back and he’s like, are you sure it isn’t labour? I rolled back onto my back and that’s when my water broke. I ran to the washroom and out came my mucous plug and a gush of water. So now it’s past midnight and we need to get to the hospital because I need to deliver by c-section because of the breach position. Our bags are already packed and ready to go. We quickly drop off our dog at my sister in laws place which is luckily around the corner.
The car ride to the hospital was a 20-minute drive and luckily there was no traffic. But my contractions were coming in strong and I was arching in pain with each contraction. I have no idea how quickly they came or how long they were because we already knew I had to deliver by c-section so we didn’t track the contractions. My husband drops me off at the door and I can barely walk to the elevators on my own. I decide to wait for him to come back from parking the car and so that we can register together.
When I get to the registration desk I explain to them that my water broke and I am having contractions but the baby is breached and I need a c-section. They were able to assess me within minutes of arriving.
From the time my water broke in bed to the time I was assessed was 45 minutes. The resident who examined me kept asking me when my labour started and I kept telling her it JUST started and we came straight here. She was like, are you sure you didn’t feel anything before, are you sure? NO! My contractions started right after my water broke. She says to us that we’re having the baby right now and that I am fully 10 cm dialated and the baby’s feet was already descending. We couldn’t believe it. The baby was coming and coming quick! They roll me straight to an operating room and everyone is rushing to get ready for the surgery. The anesthesiologist is there to give me my spinal but I am having a contraction and am trying to hold still. The doctors are yelling at me not to push. The baby cannot drop any further. The spinal was in with the first poke.
I remember laying down on a cold table and suddenly I am feeling scared. Within seconds they are poking my belly and asking me if I can feel that and I scream out YES, I can feel it! I was so scared that they were going to cut me open before the spinal kicked in. But they had no time to wait and was already cutting! Luckily I didn’t feel any pain, but I could feel lots of poking and pulling. What was supposed to be a scheduled c-section, i.e. calm and controlled, was now an emergency c-section where they were literally rushing to get in to get the baby out. By this point, my husband is finally allowed in the room with me and he’s able to hold my hand and help keep me calm. The doctors had some difficulty getting William out. He was already so far down that they had to cut even more to get to him and pull him out. As they are getting him out, I remember feeling like I was going to fall off the table. They were yanking and pulling so hard that it felt like my body was moving around. After a bit of a struggle, they finally have him out and we hear a little cry.
Then things got serious again because he stopped breathing and needed some help. After a few minutes of resuscitation, he’s finally breathing on his own and we can hear him crying. They bring him over to my husband who was able to do do skin to skin while I am getting stitched up. By this point, I am so out of it and I may have even thrown up a little. I don’t get to hold William until they roll me into the recovery room. After the recovery was the maternity ward and from here on, everything went smoothly and we had a private room that we stayed in for a few days while we adjusted to our new baby William. The nurses were great and we had a good hospital experience.
From the time my water broke to the time William was born was 1 hour and 39 minutes. If we had waited to come in or had any traffic, we could have been in a very scary situation. We are so lucky we acted as quickly as we did and that we were able to get to an operating room right away. It’s rare that everything lines up like this where the OB, anesthesiologist and OR are all available.
I learned afterwards that what I experienced was called a precipitous labour, which is an unusually fast labour, typically 2-3 hours. If he was in the correct position he would have been born within minutes. We always joke that William wanted to come shooting out like a slide and didn’t want to wait for his scheduled c-section. He was ready and wanted to come fast and furious. I am so thankful that we both recovered well and there were no complications. What could have been a really traumatic experience is instead an incredible story that I can share with others.
My birth with Lily was completely different but also a positive birth story. I’ll continue with Lily’s birth story in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.
