Happy Birthday Rosie!! Today is Rosie's 3rd birthday and to celebrate, we're going to see Tangled!! It's the new Disney movie about Rapunzel and it came out today, in 3D. Luckily, Rosie likes wearing "sunglasses" so it'll be easy getting her to wear them during the movie. I know she'll like it because she's been watching all the "Rosie's Tea Party" Youtube videos and Rapunzel is her favorite.
Any way... here's Rosie's birth story....
About a week after Rosie was born, I asked Dave to help me type out her birth story. I never really had time to type it out myself because Rosie was always nursing so I dictated, and Dave typed. Now looking back at the Word document, it's obvious that Dave changed my wording quite a bit. Oh well, it's still an accurate description. The only problem is that we never finished writing it. Dave had his sister over when we were documenting, and he wanted to hang out with her, so he promised me that he'd help me write it out later. That never happened. I really hope I can finish it with all the details I wanted to write 3 years ago. Here it is...
On November 23rd around 2 am in the morning I started to feel some mild contractions and I knew that I was going to go into labour soon. I took a Tylenol and some Gravol and slept through most of it until 5 am, when the contractions got so strong that I couldn’t sleep anymore. Around 6 am I woke up David to tell him that I was in labour. He immediately got up and started timing them. The contractions were still pretty sporadic at first, so we knew we had some time before the baby would come. We ate breakfast, cleaned up, and got everything ready to go to the hospital. Most importantly I put some makeup on so that I would look half decent when the baby came out! Around 9am we decided to call our midwife, Rhea, to tell her what was happening. She said it sounded like things could be happening, but there was a chance that the contractions could stop during the day (as hormone levels are lower in daytime) and that it might be a false alarm. She told me to go for a walk, have lunch and not worry about it too much, but to call her if the contractions became stronger and more regular. Only ten minutes later the contractions went from annoying and slightly uncomfortable to moaning and groaning and intense pain. All I wanted to do was lie in bed, because every time I sat up or walked around the contractions felt much worse. David described the sounds I was making as the “cry of a banshee”! I called the midwife back at noon because I knew that this was the real deal and that baby was coming whether we liked it or not. She talked to me while I was having a contraction, deemed that this was in fact true labour, and said that she would be there in half an hour. She came over at 12:30 pm, checked me, and declared that I was in labour, vowing not to go anywhere until I had the baby. She and Dave helped me labour in different positions, including sitting on the exercise ball, standing with my legs apart leaning on Dave or the bathroom counters, sitting on the toilet, and walking around the apartment. While I was sitting on the exercise ball, I felt a huge gush of liquid leave me, which the midwife claimed to be my water breaking (this was around 2 pm). Suddenly the contractions became even stronger than before, and substantially more painful. Enough became enough and I decided that I was in enough pain to merit going to the hospital, as I knew that I could get an epidural there. David tried to talk me out of it as he promised my past self he would, by saying things like “millions of women have birthed without drugs”, to which I replied, “poor them!” He also said that my mom had done it five times without drugs, to which I snapped back, “well she’s an idiot!” Despite his noble effort, I wanted drugs and no one was going to stop me from getting them, even though he and Rhea both tried extremely diligently. We arrived at the hospital at about 4 pm and David dropped me off at the front entrance and I went up to the labour ward while he parked the car free of charge at the Gallentoft’s across the street. The people in the elevator were well aware of where I needed to go! At the hospital I was hooked up to an I.V and was told that I had to wait for the bag of fluid to enter into me almost completely before I could have to doctor give me an epidural. I had the feeling that the midwife was moving as slow as possible, hoping that I would give birth naturally before the epidural took place. However my temperature started to rise and so did the babies heart rate, so in light of these events, even Rhea thought the epidural would be effective at relaxing me, and thus cooling me down and slowing baby’s heart rate. - That's where it ended.... here's the rest...
So as stated earlier, we arrived at the hospital around 4 pm and hooked me up to an IV. One of the nurses came into the room and told us that they couldn't give me the epidural until they had a blood sample, and the blood sample they took hours earlier wouldn't do. The vile they took my blood in was expired. They would have to re-take it, and I would have to wait even longer for the epidural. Finally at 7 pm the anesthesiologist came in. They asked Dave to leave the room and come back in 15-20 minutes (I guess at Joseph Brant Hospital, only nurses and Dr can be in the room while they give an epidural). They had me lean forward over a pillow and the midwives held me still while the anesthesiologist disinfected my spine and gave me the needle. I must say, this is one of the creepiest things ever. Seriously, they sit you there while you're having unbearable contractions and stick a large needle into your spine to numb the pain. They also have to keep the IV going the entire time and keep the blood pressure cuff on, so they can test your blood pressure every few minutes. I also had to take some antibiotics and Tylenol because of my fever. Oh man, I'm getting the creeps just thinking about it. The good news is that the pain did in fact stop minutes after. I felt MUCH better and I could actually have a conversation with Dave. I decided to call my Mom because earlier that day she had left a message on our machine that sounded something like "You're not picking up the phone, you must be at the hospital woo-hoo!" So I called her around 8 pm and told her I was at the hospital and that I was going to have my baby. I started to tear up when I told her because I was starting to realize the reality of the situation and I was so happy and excited. I could tell in her voice that she too was starting to cry a little. I told her to stay by the phone because she'd be getting some good news soon. The midwives came into the room and told me that I should get some sleep while I could because pushing was going to be a lot of work. They put a couple of rolled up towels under me to keep me propped up on one side and dimmed the lights. Soon I was fast asleep and waiting for the baby's head to crown so I could push. During the time I was sleeping, Dave went home to get a few more things that we needed and to call his parents and let them know what was going on.
Around 10:30 pm the midwives asked me how I was feeling and asked if I was feeling any pressure. I told them that I couldn't feel anything. Lucia (my secondary midwife) check to see how dilated I was. She told me I was fully dilated and that I'd be meeting my baby soon. When she told me, I started to cry. I couldn't believe that in a little while I would finally be holding a precious baby in my arms. Rhea, Lucia, and Dianne (the student midwife) got everything ready to go and the next thing I knew, I was pushing. Dave and one of the midwives had to hold onto my legs to help me push. I laughed and said "Sorry, I only had time to shave one leg this morning!" Since I had the epidural and couldn't feel when contractions were coming, I had to look on the monitor and when the numbers went up, it meant I was having a contraction and that I needed to push. I'm sure Dave and I both thought that the baby would be out in a few minutes, but it took MUCH longer than that. The midwives told me to push my chin down and push my feet against their hands. I was also told hold my breath and to push as hard as I could. As the babies head began to crown Dave started to get excited. He and the midwives were all saying things like "You're doing great! You're so strong, keep going!". As I was pushing, I noticed Dave making a grossed out/concerned face. I said "Dave! Stop making those faces!!" He apologized, but kept on doing it (I don't think he realized he was making those faces, but I sure noticed). We were all watching the clock as I was pushing. Around 11:45 pm I realized that I wasn't going to have the baby until the 24th, oh well, no big deal, we like even numbers.
Well at midnight I started pushing harder and harder. I pushed and pushed and I could feel the babies head coming out slowly. I said to Dave "This hurts so much". The midwives call it the ring of fire (the area that's being stretched, and most women rip) and it really feels like it's on fire! Luckily for me, the midwives have a warn wash cloth ready to apply to the skin to sooth and prevent it from ripping, and it worked. Rhea asked Dave if he would like to catch the baby. Of course he wanted to, so he washed up and got ready. He tried to wear gloves but they didn't fit right. I kept on pushing and felt the head come out. The midwives said "time of birth 12:11 am" and then checked to see if the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. We were all clear so I pushed one last time and...
The next thing I knew Dave was placing the most beautiful baby on my chest!!! I immediately started sobbing tears of joy. I couldn't believe she was finally here and that Dave and I were parents. (I'm getting emotional just thinking about it). I asked Dave what "it" was and he said "ah, I think it's a girl, but I didn't get a very good look." So I did a quick check, and yes, we had a little girl! She was the most beautiful baby girl I had EVER seen in my life. I was in love the very second I saw her. I couldn't stop staring at her and feeling like the luckiest, happiest person in the world. Dave was by my side with tears in his eyes too. She was crying and she sounded like a little kitten. I can honestly say that this was the most amazing moment in my whole entire life. I was even happier knowing that I had been right all along, that I was indeed having a girl (we never found out before hand). She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces, which is the perfect text-book weight according to my midwife.
I spent the next 24 hours trying to sleep, but mostly just staring in amazement and gratitude for having such a beautiful miracle in my arms. The next morning Dave came to the hospital and said "I think I like the name Rose, we should call her that." I was very happy he agreed with me because a few days ago, when I mentioned the name Rose, he wasn't too enthusiastic. We named her Rose, with the middle name Mary.
Rosie has been a blessing in our lives ever since. We love you very much! Happy birthday sweetie!!
