Surprise! Canaan is on the way at 34 weeks of pregnancy 0_o.
The last two weeks leading up to birth, were challenging. My body was making drastic changes and I begin to swell up like a marshmallow. Heat and swollen feet do not go well together. Every day I felt like I was getting an inch bigger. Walking became a nagging chore and there wasn't enough ice I could put on my body to manage the swelling.
We decided to go to Maimonides hospital for a tour. I needed the assurance that it's legit. We had a great experience.
That same evening we went for dinner and then home to rest. At about 2am in the morning, I had one of my routine bathroom runs. As I walked back to the bed, to my surprise my water broke. Whaaaaaat! I jumped so quickly out of the bed and ran to the bath room. Would you believe my 1st thought was, no I just washed the sheets 0_o.
Immediately I called Todd and he jerked out of his deep sleep. I yelled my water broke and he said: "Are you sure?" Yes, I said. "Call your midwife and see what she says", he quickly inquired. (Trust me, he did this so he can get some extra snooze lol). My midwife said we should go to the hospital to be sure. When I told Todd, he said: "Are you both sure?" Isn't this hilarious.
It took us 10 min to get to the hospital, we signed in and were brought to a room for check up. It was about 2:15am and we were confirmed that my water broke. I won't go into details of how nasty it feels when it...hold, I'm not sharing, lol.
I immediately notified my midwife, she mentioned to keep her posted when I'm 5min apart from my contractions. So here we are waiting and sure enough it started 15min after arrival. I was like oh this is manageable, pain was light. They actually had a board with smiley to sad faces to determine the pain level. I was at level 2. Every hr the pain kicked up a notch and started to get unbearable. Todd was trying to get some more sleep in the tiniest corner next to me.
Since I was educated and aware of some of the downfalls in birth experiences in America, I chose a midwife to help me give birth. If you want to know more about why, watch "The Business of Being Born" part 1-4 on Netflix.
One doctor tried to induce me shortly after, all my alarms started to go off and I text my midwife to take care of this. Can you believe this? I was in good condition and they still tried to rush me. Thank God my midwife told them to back off and let me labor.
She came at about 9am, I was already laboring for 7hrs. At that point the pain jumped up to level 8 woowee. I said to Todd I don't know if I can do another contraction. I'm thinking I must be far, I labored for a good time and we must be ready now. To my shock, I was only two cm dilated. TWO CENTIMETERS!!!!! Whaaaaat!!!!! My whole world collapsed. You mean, I'm not even at the worst stage to come, like the ring of fire, like 8cm?
At that point my midwife highly encouraged me to get an epidural. She knew this wasn't an easy approach with me, because I was fighting to have a natural birth. I was not managing the pain well, therefore I didn't allow my cervix to dilate. She said you can have your baby in a couple hours or you will be here for quite some time. It was a tough decision for me, because I was more scared of that forever long needle than the contractions. I looked over to Todd and all he did was nod his head strongly in his puppy eyes and said, do it, just do it. He couldn't bare to see me in so much pain.
So we went with the epidural and that was quite the experience. My midwife is my hero, she was strong for me. She walked me through what not to do. One of them was not to move. What? How can you be still with crazy contractions and a suuuuper long needle? Have I mention loooooong needle? Anyways, Todd had to leave the room and they began the process. All I remember is a shooting pain going down my entire right leg. I jumped up only to be yelled at, you can't move!!
After the shot my midwife says, relax and go to sleep. Now that's music to my ears. 15 min later I couldn't feel my bottom part of my body besides my feet. Every hour she check and I dilating 2cm. At 7cm they moved me to the labor room. And after a short while I was 10cm and ready to go.
Since my legs were completely numb, I needed assistance from Todd and a nurse to hold my legs. And since I didn't feel the contractions come in, I needed to be told when to push. I had to see everything and requested a mirror. I know, now some of you think I'm weird. But birth is a God given experience and I didn't want to miss
This amazing miracle. Todd on the other hand was not looking once. He almost threw up when he saw a glimpse in the side of his eyes. My midwife coached me well and after 25min Baby Canaan was out. At the last push he flopped out like a fish, hilarious. Our first impression was, what is wrong with his head? It was a serious cone head. Thanks for the warning.
Unfortunately I only had 30 seconds with my newborn until the pediatrician had to take him and get him ready for the NICU. After Canaan was bundled up, I was able to hold him for 30 seconds more and give him a kiss. It was hard at first and surreal at the same time. Did all this just happened?
I was brought to my room to rest. I wasn't able see our baby until 5 hrs later until the epidural would wear off. Thank God Todd had a chance to see him sooner. I was so longing to have the bonding experience immediately after birth, but I knew it was safer for him to be taken care of in the NICU.
Canaan was a trooper. He was born at 34 weeks on June 4th of 2013 at 2:22pm, at 5.12lbs and 20 inches tall. Thank God he only stayed in the NICU for 6 days. He had amazing nurses and they took very good care of him. I was able to nurse him and use a pump to get it all started.
When I reflect on everything? I surely can say it is important to stay flexible. Every birth experience is uniquely different. My midwife made a wise choice, I trusted her and everything went smoothly. It is very important for you to pick the right people in the labor room. We were the fantastic four, my hubby, my midwife, a very cool young adult nurse and myself. God is awesome and we thank him for a healthy baby boy. Now off to a new journey of parenting and balancing marriage, life and ministry. I will share my new journey motherhood at a later time. Until then, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope you had some good laughs, were greatly informed and encouraged.
Blessings,
Nicole Crews
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