Birth story - Liz and baby William

I made it! My son was born late 2019 and it was the most wonderful experience, even though we had some complications and unexpected events happening during labour. The positive birth experience prepped me for it though. But let’s get more into detail:

It was Friday, November 1st, 2019 and I got up at 2am to go to the bathroom (as always) when I was feeling some cramps. I was already 5 days overdue and had my induction scheduled for that following Monday. I was already preparing myself mentally for this kind of labour.

After I went to the bathroom, I went back to bed, because at this point I was already two times in the hospital the past 2 weeks and I got sent home, because I was still in early labour. I thought this won’t be it - I’m used to being in early labour and to those kind of cramps. I sure didn’t want to be sent home a third time.

After 2 hours, around 4am, I woke up again and the cramps continued. They went on until 8am, when my husband and I thought this could actually be it. We went outside of our apartment building - we live in downtown Vancouver - and were ready to call a cab. We don’t own a car in downtown, just because you don’t need one. Well, lucky enough, the bus came and we actually took the bus to the hospital. (It was only 3 stops.) I would have never pictured myself going by bus to the hospital when I’m In labour. Well, that’s what I did and it worked perfectly. I was focusing on breathing the entire bus ride and didn’t even notice people were looking at me.

We arrived and I was 4cm dilated, they gave us the option to go home again for a couple of hours (heck no!) or to stay. We stayed and checked in our room. We had a nice, private and really big room. My husband pulled out the speaker box and started to play our self-made labour playlist. It was all very relaxing tunes, just instrumental. He also prepared the room with cozy lights, like fairy lights etc. Everytime a nurse or doctor came into our room, they said they feel like going into a spa. With this atmosphere it was really easy to focus on my breathing and that I did - 15 hours without anything. Even the nurses where impressed how calm and quiet I was and I was impressed what a birthing ball and breathing techniques can do. I felt so strong and confident, because I knew what my body was doing.

Since my water hadn’t had broken after 5 hours, I took a nice long bath. It was the most amazing thing ever. After an hour, I went back on my birthing ball and continued focusing. At this point I started to feel the pressure in a wrong spot and it started to be difficult just to breathe through the contractions. It wasn’t a “good” pain, though, so I knew something wasn’t right. They broke my water and after that the contractions got more intense. After another hour, I was still only 6cm dilated and they decided to give me the oxytocin. At this point I made it through labour for 15 hours without anything, but I was sure I couldn’t handle the oxytocin all by myself. We kept asking questions. My husband also asked what would happen, if we didn’t do anything and asked about risks etc. After consideration, I made the decision to have an epidural. That was the best decision I could have made, because after I got it, they put me on the monitor and just then saw that with every contraction, the baby’s heart rate dropped. That was the only time I lost focus and the scariest thing ever. But I managed to stay calm.

Since baby boy wasn’t stable, they couldn’t give me the oxytocin. After an hour or two monitoring the baby, I told them I would also be ready for a c-section. While talking about it with my doctor, the heart rate of our baby boy didn’t recover as well and they had to call a code pink, a pre-emergency c-section. Up until then I was super calm. I focused, asked my questions in between contractions and felt so confident and comfortable. It was like a superpower to know what was going on with my body. Because of that I was able to ask more specific questions.

At 9:31pm our son William was born and we couldn’t believe it. We made it, I made it. I wasn’t dilating because he was a little bit turned to the side and didn’t fully go down and never put enough pressure on my cervix. That’s why I wasn’t dilating. With every contraction the umbilical-cord was clamped for a second, so the baby didn’t get enough oxygen, which caused the fall of the heart rate. But he was so strong and came out perfectly fine.

My body recovered so quickly, because of my mental strength, that they discharged us on that Sunday morning. I was home with my baby one day before I had my induction scheduled and even got a call the next day and they asked where I was, because I have my induction planned for that day. I could happily tell them that I’m sitting home, after 1.5 days in the hospital with my beautiful son.

This online course was the best thing we could’ve done. My husband and I were watching it together and felt so prepared, we even skipped our booked class at the hospital. Highly - HIGHLY recommend! Thank you for preparing us so well and making this experience one of the top moments of my life.