I was sent these stories from a woman named Cassandra. She wanted to share them with us. She also asked that I include a picture of each baby, they are in order . I am happy she chose to share and excited to announce her plans to TTC a 4th baby with her fiancee in 2013. They are planning a home water birth. Way to find your own path, Cass and really Choose Your Birth.
~Candice
The Birth Of Our First Baby
It was May 17th 2007. Just two weeks shy of my due date. I woke up around 6am in the morning to a sharp period cramp. I did not think anything of it because I had two weeks to go and had a lot of hospital trips throughout my pregnancy due to being a first time, paranoid mum.
I fell back to sleep until about 10am. I got ready to head off to the hospital at noon to deliver a urine sample. The doctor thought I had a UTI so I had to get that checked. My mum dropped me off at the hospital with my dad to deliver the sample. I asked the nurse if I could also get my headache checked out because it had been bothering me and had gotten worse. So they hooked me up to some machines and it turned out that my blood pressure was high. It was something along the lines of 160/110. Not sure of the exact numbers. The nurse called in the doctor and they said they would need to induce me because my blood pressure was dangerously high.
I was scared, mainly because the dad was a three hour drive away doing some house renovations with his dad. We quickly contacted my boyfriend (the dad), and let him know that I was going to be induced and to come ASAP. My boyfriend sped to the hospital with his dad and was stopped three times by police for speeding. They ended up escorting him to the hospital so he would not get stopped again. He made it just in time for my waters to be broken. As soon as my waters were broken my contractions came faster. And boy were they painful. My father called my mum (she wanted to be in the delivery room with us) to come to the hospital. At first she did not believe that I was going to be having our baby boy that day because of the amount of hospital false alarm visits we made throughout the pregnancy. I told her that if she wants to miss the birth then take her time. It sounded a bit rude, but I was in quite a bit of pain and did not want to deal with any arguments.
So my mum arrives and my dad is in the waiting the room the entire time. Me, my boyfriend, and my mum are off to the birthing room to receive my epidural which ended up not working. It only froze half my body and then completely wore off before I was ready to push. One of the nurses on call was very rude. She grabbed my face and told me to suck it up and deal with it while I was having a hard time pushing.
After 8hrs and 56 minutes of labor with a failed epidural and my blood pressure so high I could not see two feet in front of me, our beautiful baby boy Logan William Christopher Wright was born on May 17th 2007 at 8:56pm weighing in at 6lbs 5oz. Two weeks early. I stayed in the hospital for a good three days after birth due to my blood pressure not wanting to go down.
The Birth Of Our Second Baby
It was May 2nd at around 10:30pm. I decided to head to bed early because I was quite exhausted and a bit crampy. Only to wake up to contractions at midnight coming every 5-6 minutes apart. I could not sleep nor get comfortable. I tried waking up the hubby but he is a very heavy sleeper so that was a lost cause. I waited it out until morning to go to the hospital because our babysitter (my mother in law) could not make it until morning.
At around 6:30am on May 3rd I could not “try” and sleep anymore so I decided to give up and give my mom a call to talk to someone while I was contracting. I sat on the toilet feeling like i needed to pee when all of a sudden a big plop went into the toilet. My mucus plug went. Boy was it disgusting. A big red blob. Thats the only way i could describe it.
I knew that it was time to get my bags and head out. I got off the phone with my mum letting her know I’d keep in touch and woke up my hubby. My mother in law came over to watch our son while we called our OB and headed off to the hospital.
We reached the hospital at around 9-930am. We got hooked up the the monitors and checked, I was at 5-6 cm dilated. We got sent to our birthing room to be admitted where I received an epidural that WORKED. Boy was I in heaven. Until they had to give me pitocin to speed up my labor because my daughter’s heart rate dropped because of the epidural. 😦 Our baby was forced out with forceps, with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck making her a light shade of blue. Perfect yet small, Our beautiful baby girl was born on May 3rd 2010 at 1:47pm weighing in at 5lbs 10oz. One week early.
My placenta did not want to come out so the doctor had to yank it out piece by piece and give me medicine to make sure I did not contract an infection. We stayed in the hospital for three days until our daughter’s jaundice levels went down and she gained a bit more weight.
The Birth Of Our Third Baby
On April 1st (friday), we joked on Facebook that we were in labor. We told everyone in the end that it was just a poorly told joke. I felt so bad afterwards. At midnight on that day, I lost my mucus plug. There was a bit more blood then I remembered from my previous birth so I called my midwife and she told me to call an ambulance to head into the hospital to check. Turns out it was all normal and that there was no change to my cervix at all. So I headed back home a bit disappointed. I was achy and we had a very complicated pregnancy, and I just wanted our baby here.
Sunday came, and the rest of my mucus plug went. By Tuesday morning my contractions began coming 10-15 minutes apart. My midwife checked my contractions and blood pressure and our baby’s heart while she was over that morning for our weekly checkup. She told me that I would most likely not make it until Friday and to keep the phone nearby to reach her.
That afternoon my contractions picked up to 6-7 minutes apart but very easy to handle. We called our babysitter (a friend) to keep nearby because we might need her. By 2am on April 6th (Wednesday) my contractions picked up to 4-5 minutes apart and I could barely handle them. I could not get comfortable enough to sleep. The bath only helped so much.
By 830-9am, I could not handle them anymore so while our babysitter watched our two children, my hubby and I headed out to the hospital to meet our midwife for 10. She checked to see if I made any progress. I was 5-6 cm dilated and my contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes.
Our doula came to be with us, and we went off to our birthing room where I labored in the jacuzzi for as long as I could but I just could not get comfortable. The midwife had to break my water bag because my water was way too thick and strong. I ended up giving birth in the hospital, drug free.
Our second baby boy was born at 3:09pm in the afternoon on April 6th 2011, 13 days early. He weighed 8lbs, 8oz. Just 4.5 hours later we went home to our other two amazing children.
Choose Your Birth 