I began to get a feeling that maybe I would be one of those poor women who had to be induced three times before being told they had to have a c-section.  After all I was already at least 9 days overdue as our ultrasound indicated that our due date was April 27 rather than May 1^st!

To my surprise however that night around 4am I awoke with some relentless cramping.  It felt like diarrhea cramping so I got up to use the washroom and hopefully relieve myself, however they remained constant and I realised that I did not feel the cord to my Cervidil.  I fished around a bit for it and concluded that it had fallen out.  I debated what to do next and thought seriously about going back to bed but thankfully I smartened up and decided to call maternity.  I snuck out of the room and made the call and the nurse told me to come back to the hospital.  So I tried my best to sneak around the room to collect my things without waking anyone but to no avail.  My mom and Mike had that sixth sense about them and got straight out of bed.  We left Joanne to get a few more hours sleep so she could be rested and more with it than the rest of us!

When we got back to the hospital we were assigned to the fetal monitoring room again and they began to monitor the baby.  They had to be sure things were still good with the baby before they decide to give me my second cervidil.  We also had to wait until the next resident went on shift which was at 6:30am approximately 2 hours from when we first arrived.

After a few hours we were greeted by the new resident on duty and our Doctor, Dr. Anderson who was still on duty from the night before.  They hooked us up to a contraction monitor which measured my contractions and the baby’s heart rate to see if the contractions were having an effect on the baby’s heart rate.  Unfortunately during a contraction (which I could not feel)  the baby’s heart rate dropped way below the optimal heart rate zone and that was enough to make the Doctors feel that I needed to stay and be monitored longer.  It could have only been a coincidence.

So we waited a few more hours before they agreed it was a coincidence and proceeded to induce me again.  Once they inserted the cervidil I had to be monitored again for another hour before they can let me go to be sure that the drug does not affect the baby’s wellbeing.  During that time I heard a gut wrenching scream.  At first Mike and I thought it was a baby, but we were quickly corrected when we heard it again only this time it was accompanied with “GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!”  At that moment I was completely and utterly afraid of labour!  Our eyes were wide with shock and fear! I could not get the sound out of my head and an epidural was beginning to seem like a no-brainer!

At 9:30 I was discharged again with a new cervidil and we decided to go out for breakfast and get some rest for the obvious road ahead!

What can I say…I had a dream pregnancy, I enjoyed every waking second of it.  I felt great, I looked pretty good and generally had a great outlook on the new direction my life was going.  Was all of this glorious well being going to end up being a unfavorable omen??

Every pregnant women has her very own labour experience and each one is uniquely different, however we are also confident that our personal story is by far the greatest!  At least I felt that mine had to be the most difficult and yet every woman I speak to about their labour would tell a similarly difficult story!  Regardless of the story, labour is difficult, painful and very frightening and I was not spared from either adjective!

Mine began on Sunday May 9th 2010 which happened to be Mother’s Day!  I’ll never forget it.  I was to be induced at St. Pauls Hospital downtown Vancouver around noon.  My husband, mother and myself were traveling down from Whistler and it just so happened to also be the Vancouver Sun Run!  This is Canada’s largest marathon so traffic getting into the city was likely to be tragic…and it was! It took us at least 45 minutes to get from Lions Gate Bridge to the hospital but we arrived and not too late either.

Once checked in I was hooked up to a baby monitor and examined.  Later they inserted the induction drug cervidil which resembles a flat tampon placed beneath the cervix.  Once that was complete I was allowed to leave the hospital as the cervidil may not work in the first try.  In fact in some cases it can take up to three attempts  before Doctors will consider scheduling a Cesarean.  Fingers crossed I was not one of those women.

So more of the unknown…it was bad enough waiting 9 days passed due date and now we had no idea whether induction would even work!  The last addition to our labour team arrived and met us outside the hospital that afternoon.  Joanne also lives in Whistler so now the pressing issue to deal with was accommodation!  What if it takes me two days before I go into labour, and what if that ends in a Cesarean?  We could be looking for a week in a hotel!  Not an expense that we had accounted for.

So we all piled into Earls restaurant to watch the Canucks game and brainstormed what to do about finding a place to call home for an undefined amount of time.  Luckily my mother had just purchased an Iphone and it was seriously invaluable as we were able to research hotel prices in the area.  Unfortunately for us there were no deals in sight and this was starting to look incredibly pricey for us.  However we had noticed a “motor inn” located directly across from the hospital over top of a “seven 11″ , a hotel we would not have considered any other time but today it was worth a try.To our luck it was good enough, great price and right across the street from the hospital.  It turned out to be a fantastic find and we were so glad we gave it the benefit of the doubt.

For good measure we all went for another long walk along the water hoping to help this baby along, then we turned in for the night and watched movies in bed while I waited to experience my first contraction which may or may not ever come…

Eleven days over due and finally here.  Our little boy Jackson Ryan Kyle was finally born at 12.09am on May 11th 2010!

The labour story is an interesting one that will all be told at a later date.  Presently I am still hosting my parents and getting used to my new life and writing is definitely taking a back seat to that.

I do expect to try and get back to some sort of routine soon but I am not holding my breath!  So until then…

Yesterday we headed back down to the city for our fetal monitoring appointment.  My mom, husband and I were all pretty excited since the night before I had lost my mucus plug and was expecting to go into labour at any moment!  However that wasn’t the case, nor is it the case that losing your mucus plug means labour is right around the corner!

We arrived and I was hooked up to a monitor where they document the baby’s heart rate for an extended period of time.  The baby’s heart rate was all over the place!  It would go from 155 all the way down to 119 and then back to 135 etc.  I assumed that the steadier the heart rate the better, but that is not the case.  What the nurses are looking for is exactly that variation as it proves that the baby’s heart is responding to activity.  When the baby is active the heart rate increases, when it relaxes, the heart rate decreases.  So baby is healthy, happy and very very comfy!

After about a half hour the nurse took me off the monitor and did my history.  We also requested that she perform a vaginal exam so that we could see if I had progressed at all since Tuesday.  At least this would give us a better idea of whether we should be getting a hotel for the night or go all the way back to Whistler.  Unfortunately there was no progress!  What a disappointment!

We were also told that induction doesn’t always work!  I could be induced up to three times before they consider doing a Cesarean!  This was a shocker to me because the idea of driving back and forth everyday for a while is a real drag!  It’s starting to look like I may not be celebrating Mother’s Day this year after all and that is truly a surprise.  I was so sure I would be holding my baby by now!

Well it is now May 5th and I am still with child!  Yesterday I went down to the city to see my Doctor once more and have my “membranes swept”.  If you have not heard this term before it essentially means that your Doctor or Midwife inserts their finger into the cervix to sweep around a little bit.  Sometimes this can help to naturally induce labour and can have results in 24 to 48 hours.

This also allows your caregiver to see which position your cervix is in and whether it has begun to dilate or not.  At present my cervix is still in a posterior position meaning it is facing my back and has not started to descend.  This isn’t necessarily an issue though as it apparently does not take long for the cervix to reposition.  The good news was that I had actually began to dilate on my own however I am only at one centimeter…still a long way to go.

What I did not understand is that all this can happen without feeling contractions.  I thought that when labour started so did contractions, however that is not the case.  Your cervix can efface, reposition and dilate without experiencing any pain!  Contractions only start when the uterus is preparing to push baby out!  Interesting.

After the membrane sweep I did experience some bleeding so be prepared!  (I was not!)  Hopefully we will see some movement over the next couple of days otherwise we are scheduled for induction on Sunday.  Tomorrow or Friday we are off to the city again (if M.J. doesn’t bring us there sooner) for fetal monitoring and another ultrasound.  Hopefully everything is “tickety-boo”.

Today is May 2nd 2010 and no baby yet, no sign either!  Yesterday we spent the day walking, taking long drives on bumpy roads and several minutes of stationary bouncing but to no avail.

I was experiencing a sharp almost sting like pain very low and deep inside from what I can only describe as possibly being my cervix.  Apparently the cervix does start to reposition itself and begin to efface which can happen without experiencing any contractions, so maybe I am beginning to show signs of pre-labour.

However I have not experienced any braxton-hicks, spotting, flu-like symptoms or diarrhea of any kind which makes me think that I am still several days away.  Boo!  Last week I wasn’t ready to get things moving but yesterday was a new day and I finally felt mentally prepared to do this thing!  Of course now the waiting game begins…

We traveled to the city today for our last pre-birth Dr. appointment.  The traffic was terrible, every other car was a terrible driver, construction was back up again and there was a brutal accident on the Lions Gate Bridge so we had to go the very long way around to get to our appointment on time.

We arrived in plenty of time and I continued on with the usual routine, check in, pee in a cup, weight and blood pressure, but here is where the rant comes in….

I pass a lady in the hall way with her full cup and proceed into the washroom where one stall is occupied and the other is open and a complete mess!  Clearly the women who had passed me in the hall had a slight issue with peeing in her cup! SLIGHT!?  She peed everywhere!  All over the seat, all over the floor, everywhere!   There is noooo excuse here because I’m 9 months pregnant and she certainly wasn’t!   WHY DO WOMEN REFUSE TO CLEAN UP AFTER THEMSELVES?

I have to say that I am so disappointed in the female species and our disgusting washroom behaviour.  I shouldn’t use the word “our” as I do not include myself as one of those women as I have more respect for myself and others than clearly a lot of other women do.  I have seen more revolting things in women’s washrooms over the years and I cannot understand how a species that prides themselves on good hygiene and appearance can be so disgusting in the bathroom!  No other person should have to clean up after another’s mishap…that is YOUR responsibility…seriously!  I just don’t get it.

After reading several fashion magazines, dreaming of myself looking good in the latest styles which immediately cheered me up after the bathroom incident, we were called in to see our Doctor.  This time we had a resident training who did a follow up with us before we saw our actual Doctor.  When Doctor Anderson arrived we took another look at the baby to see if had changed positions.  It is still in a posterior position, “sunny side up” but apparently many babies will turn when labour begins so he wasn’t concerned about it.

Then he asked us if we wanted to have a cervix swab done.  I had no idea what he was talking about but apparently it is a natural way to try and get labour started.  He does it by inserting a tool into the cervix and rotates it around and it can help trigger labour within 24 to 48 hours.  I felt like I should say yes, but I absolutely was not ready to go into labour in the next couple of days!  I’m kind of not expecting to go into labour until next week really, plus my mom arrives tomorrow, my husband has some work going on this weekend, my “Douala” is super busy this week and I am personally not really ready to say goodbye to my belly!

So clearly NO was the right answer!  So now we wait for our little M.J. to pull the strings, otherwise next Tuesday we will try Dr. Anderson’s swab to get things moving.  Holy crap we are going to have a baby super soon!!!!!

Only one more week to go and it is finally starting to feel like it. Sleep is getting shorter and shorter between periods, baby is dropping and it’s getting harder to walk certain distances, my belly is getting tighter and tighter so that I feel every move the baby makes and I am finally getting ready to have my body back!

My face is definitely getting to be a bit puffy now although my legs and feet are still in great shape! My energy level is still excellent however I do find that if I pack my day with a ton of errands and/or cleaning the next day is a huge challenge! I’d have to say for being this pregnant, I feel fantastic, don’t look too bad and would have assumed much different!

Another thing that I haven’t noticed at all are Braxton-Hicks contractions. I have read that I should have been feeling them now for a couple of months but I have to say I have not! I’m not sure what that means if anything. I see my Doctor again on Tuesday morning so I have to learn more about them then. I wonder if I am experiencing them but I just can’t feel them or if my not receiving them yet means my labour will be late?

Lots happening this week, lunch with friends, staff party, Doctor appointment, Mom arriving, Birthday party for my mom and possibly a baby in there too! We’ll see if this week goes according to plan or if the Universe has something else in mind for us!

So I am in my 37th week now, the big B-Day is right around the corner so I am finally getting into the preparation stages for my first labour experience.

I never mentioned this earlier on in my pregnancy for some reason so I thought I would talk about labour support today.  When we first found out that we were pregnant we had a few friends ask us whether we were going to hire a midwife or doula or who would be attending the birth with us.  As newbies we were unsure and asked their advice in the matter, and in every conversation we were told that we would need a third member in our labour team.

The reason being that your Doctor is only in the room with you when it is time to deliver the baby and the nurses in the ward can be very busy with other labouring mothers and so often you can find yourselves dealing with the pain of labour alone.  But what happens when you are both exhausted?  What if something is needed at the store or if something comes up and your partner needs to leave the room for a while?  Alone is something I do not want to be during this momentous and frightening experience!

Although this is our first child my husband and I were unsure about hiring a mid-wife or doula.  For us, we were more concerned with having someone there that was completely familiar with us personally, someone who knew our idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes and ultimately knew how to manage our stress levels for us.  For us that meant a close friend and we immediately knew who the perfect person for the job was…our friend Joanne.

I personally feel that the hospital staff and my husband are going to be looking after me but somebody also needs to look after my husband, after all he too is going to be experiencing a lot of stress and worry.  I want to have someone with us who knows us both very well who can talk sense into us when we are tired and having trouble communicating.  Not only will Joanne fulfill that need perfectly she is also a kind, thoughtful person who will know exactly what we need when we are too distracted and clueless to think of it first.

Joanne’s other responsibilities will be manning the cameras, managing people in the room, running errands and simply being the overall “labour manager”.  Ironically she is also planning on attending nursing school this fall, so this is a perfect introductory experience for her into a new potential career.  She is the perfect compliment to our team despite this being her first birth as well!

If things go well we actually may have a fourth support member for labour who happens to be my mom.  Our due date is May 1st and mom is planning on flying out on the 28th, so hopefully M.J. will be on time or slightly late!  My mom is a retired registered nurse and will be a great help in the delivery room as my mom and coach.  She will be able to calm my nerves with the medical side of things as hospitals come as second nature to her.  She will be capable of explaining the spectrum of medical jargon that is thrown at us and make us feel comfortable with all that is happening around us.  I really hope she can be there.

So if you haven’t thought about your labour team yet, maybe you should!  Take all the help you can, create a team you can rely on and feel comfortable with.  Whether that be with a mid-wife, doula, friends or family, the right team will ultimately help you have a more positive labour experience.  Only time will tell for us….

One thing that I have really wanted to find was a natural baby product line that wasn’t going to break my bank account which is about to go on a serious diet!  I have been Googling, searching, reading and I have found a few products that I am interested in but they are either impossible to find in Canada or incredibly expensive!

Well finally I found success and I am sooooo excited!  The other day I went into London Drugs to purchase my first package of disposable diapers (I decided that I would need some for in the hospital and bringing baby home, because I’m not sure my cloth diapers will be small enough) and while I was there I took a look at the baby skin care products they offered and to my surprise they carried two different brands of natural baby care!

I decided to go with the “Live Clean Baby line” which carries all of the baby products that I have been looking for like soap, baby wash, non-petroleum jelly, diaper ointment and baby lotion!  Their products are all, “plant derived made with certified organic botanicals, petroleum free, paraben free, phthalate free, pure vegan, never tested on animals, package recyclable, biodegradable ingredients, hypoallergenic and pediatrician tested!” (live clean baby)  Sounds too good to be true right?  Well it is true and the best part is that each product is only….. $6.99!

I almost can’t believe it myself.  If I didn’t find it and have it in my personal possession I would not believe that I actually found exactly what I am looking for made with fantastic ingredients and available at an incredible price.  I am totally thrilled!

For more information about this product visit their website at www.live-clean.com