July 15, 2014

Our {empowered} Birth Story #purpose #pregnancy #labor

On Tuesday, July 8th, my husband, son and I all met at the doctor's office for what we knew would be our last prenatal appointment. It was schedule the induction day, and I was so excited to have some finality to a very long and emotional journey. This was our rainbow baby, afterall!

After a routine checkup, we found out that I was 5-6cm and fully effaced at 4pm. Yes friends, that would be called active labor, and almost transition! Yikes! We scheduled the induction for July 14th, and bid our medical team a great week, then headed over to the inlaws for a quick visit.

I really truly thought that we would make it to 14th.

I texted our doula, Jena, to let her know of the progress and then chatted with her on the phone. During out conversation, contractions started and were every 5ish minutes;a fluke I thought...I don't do regular contractions.

Color me wrong!

Soon they were 4 minutes...some 2 minutes. My husband dashed home with a list of things that we needed to get like phone chargers and cookies for the nurses, and then {with tears streaming down my face} we kissed our sweet Bear goodnight and told him to have a great sleep over with Nana and Papi.

Off we went to the hospital, letting Jena know that we were on our way and it was go time.

We got to the hospital at around 6pm, and while I was still only 5-6cm, they sent me walking for an hour while they called our doctor to find out if he wanted me to be admitted.

7pm...admitting time! Off to the beautiful birthing suite we went.


We didn't have that experience with our first son, so it was really incredible to see. The room was massive, and the view of the city was gorgeous to stare out at. I felt really peaceful and happy, and when my doctor showed up at around 8pm after his dinner to check me, we found out that I was 8cm.

8:39pm they broke my water, which was...well...it's gross. There's no way around it, but it's gross! I labored on my own until about 10pm, at which point I was 9cm and I started quietly panicking about feeling delivery. With our first, I was numb from the top of my ribs down and didn't even feel contractions. Also, given all of the pelvic floor issues and cracking lately, I didn't want to be in excruciating pain for delivery, so I asked for an epidural.

After that, we all relaxed for a while. Jena and I watched a few episodes of Sex and the City (Season 6), and my husband slept after a gruelling crossfit workout and working all day. 

By 11:30 pm, I was feeling a lot of pressure so asked to be checked for progress. 9.5cm at 11:45. Our lovely nurse, Ney, said she would check me again at 1am and see where we were and to just get some rest. So...we all did!

1am came and we found out that I was 10cm, but there was still a piece of cervix in the way so just to relax and we'd do another check in a little while. I think it was about 30 minutes later that I told Jena that I was feeling alot of pressure and to get a nurse. She did, but they were all in the midst of a fast delivery, so we were told to hang on for a few minutes and our nurse would be right back. Another contraction, more pressure. Jena asked if I felt like I was holding myself back from pushing, and I without a doubt said yes.

She ran to grab our nurse, who took her more seriously this time and we found out that it was indeed go-time! Practice push and, just like with out first, I was told to stoooop because we needed the doctor. Our doctor and his resident must have been in the hospital still, as they were in our room really quickly and agreed that it was time to get the show on the road!

I cried as soon as he was born, before he was even up on my chest. I was so proud of myself, and happy that the process was beautiful and lovely!


By 2:16am, I had this sweet face on my chest {an experience I will write about later}, quickly calming to the sound of my voice. All was said and done in just over 6hours.

Graeme Russell Alexander - 8lbs15oz, 20.9"


A hugely massive, heartfelt thank you to our nurses Ney and Leslie, Dr's Jordan and Briscoe, doula Jena and of course my husband Colin. This birth experience is by far night and day different to our first, and was incredible. I felt empowered every step of the way, was certain of my decisions, and knew exactly how I wanted this process to go.

First snuggles with Daddy
Our incredible doula, Jena, from Rebirth Wellness Centre
 Stay tuned for the after-birth experience, meeting the big brother and settling in at home portions of this story.

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2 comments:

Heather said...

Congrats! Sounds like it was an easy delivery this time around!

Hay Hay said...

Such a great story! I'm looking forward to reading more :)

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