On March 13th, the second day of my 39th week of my pregnancy, I started to feel some discomfort in my large-and-in-charge-lady belly while Heath and I were watching tv. I had downloaded this contraction-timer app on my phone (yeah, I am apparently an app person now – don’t tell my former Blackberry, it wouldn’t understand) and decided to start tracking the sharp pains. They were 11 and then 12, and then 13 and then 10 minutes apart. My belly would tighten up with each ‘contraction’ and then go back to normal. I have always been told that actual contractions are like clockwork, each contraction the same interval apart from the previous one. As such, I dismissed them as braxton-hicks and went to sleep. I woke up at 3:20 am, Heath told me he thought I was having contractions in my sleep because my breathing would change and then go back to normal, and then change and then back to normal. I wasn’t feeling anything different, so again, I dismissed it. I was lying on our bed for about 10 minutes before I decided that since I was up I might as well use the bathroom (late in pregnancy you need to pee at least 47 times a day; Getting up to use the washroom in the middle of the night prepares you to wake up to feed the baby when it arrives, so that’s something). As my feet hit the floor, my water broke. It was go time. Heath called his sister Heather to come and look after Olivia while we went to the hospital. While he once again cleaned our bedroom floor (exact same thing happened when my water broke with Olivia) I hopped in the shower, because for some reason I feel like it is what I need to do in that moment. Heather arrived at our house pretty quickly and we made our way to the hospital.

Heath parked the car and I waddled the most painful of all my waddles into the hospital and toward the elevators. I have a high tolerance for pain, but with each step it was like my pelvic bone was being torn apart. That’s when I saw them, a couple of South Korean descent (I’m assuming on account of the South Korean flag patch on the man’s backpack). They were on their way to the birthing floor as well.

I politely smiled at the couple who entered the elevator ahead of us, but behind the smile was a game plan — I locked eyes with Heath’s and gestured slightly with my head, he was picking up what I was putting down; we had to beat them to the registration desk, because based on the speed with which they pressed the elevator button, I couldn’t wait for them to fill out their forms. I also knew that at 4 am there was probably only one person on the registration desk. This wasn’t our first rodeo, we knew exactly where to go and got there first. #MinorVictoriesMatter #AmazingRace

The lovely nurses at the hospital got me into a room very quickly. It was expedited by the fact I brought proof of broken waters in a baggy — they tested it and confirmed it was go time. They hooked me up to the contraction-timing machine (not to be confused with a contractions time machine) and at that point my contractions were five minutes apart.

They then transported me to the birthing suite and I waited for the doctors to drop by bearing the sweet, sweet gift of an epidural. I love those things. For some reason they don’t fully work for me but they take the edge off.

We had the best nurse. She was very supportive and laughed at almost everything I said (I like that). Once the epidural had taken (as much as it was going to anyway) we hung out and waited as my cervix continued  to ripen (isn’t that the most disgusting way to describe that process?#MedicalTerminologyNotMyTerminology It is almost as terrible as the word moist… who says that? #yuck).

At about 6:30am the nurse asked if I wanted to do some practice pushing or if I wanted to let my uterus do some of the work. Wait, what? I replied, “so, if my uterus does the work does that mean I don’t have to expend any effort?” She confirmed that was the case. “Alright then, my uterus can do some of the heavy lifting, it will be retired tomorrow anyway.”

At 7 am she suggested we do a practice push to see how my form was. She held one leg and Heath the other and counted me down from 10. When she got to four, she said “whoa, stop.” I jokingly said, “what, do you see his head or something?” To which she replied, “yep. I need to get the doctor.”

When the doctor arrived she asked me if I’d mind if Cole, a first year paramedic student, witnessed the birth (it was his first day and he had never experienced a birth before). I agreed. As he opened the door, I looked at him, with a super serious look on my face, and said “Cole, get in here, we’ve been waiting for you to get started.” He said, “really?!” I replied, “no, not really, but this might be a quick one.” At 7:09am I started to push. I wanted to get Declan out for many reasons, but one of them was our fantastic nurse was done her shift at 7:30, and I didn’t want her to go home without getting another birth under her belt. She put in her time, she deserved this. It was painful, but a very quick birth, as far as births go. By 7:12am we had a healthy 8lbs 10 ounces baby and absolutely no tearing (thank God!). The doctor looked at Cole, who had tears in his eyes, and said, “this will likely be the most routine birth you’ll ever witness, very few are this quick.” So what I took from that is I’m pretty much a champion.

The work ethic is strong with this one! He did most of the work. I was needed for 3 minutes of pushing. #TheCloser

…. and that’s a wrap (literally and figuratively)! Ended our child building days with this guy 👍

       Olivia meeting her brother for the first time.

Stay great!

Kate