A Pregnancy that prepared me for Labor!

Well it's about time we shared our wonderful news (I'm sure most of you know), but Talia Lee Low was born into this world on September 28th, 2009 at 12:06 AM weighing 8 lbs. 0 oz., 54.5 cm long.

I contemplated on the title of this blog but the one I chose seemed most fitting. As most of you know my pregnancy was nothing less than challenging and miserable at times. I now realize that my pregnancy was challenging and hard for a reason... it prepared me for a VERY challenging 20 hours of hard labour. I'm grateful for the experience I had, it was hard but it has increased my testimony of the power of the Priesthood, and looking back I wouldn't have it any other way (maybe a little less pain but oh well we got Talia from it!)

Anyways on Wednesday September 23, I found out my family (Mom, Dad, Paige, Blake and Lindsay) had tickets to General Conference in Utah. Exciting BUT conference weekend fell on my due date. I had no signs of going into labour so in order for my mom to be able to go to conference and not have to stay in Edmonton or miss Talia's arrival I knew I needed to beg my doctor to induce me. I had plenty of reasons to be induced... well non-serious complications such as carpel tunnel in BOTH wrists, tendinitis, very sore knees and back, increased swelling in my feet, legs, hands, and face (making it hard to walk), and for scheduling purposes so my mom would be around. My Doctor was nice and said maybe if on Sept. 28th at my appointment if my cervix had changed, etc. she might induce me. Anyways I don't think she was buying it but fortunately for me my water broke at 2:15 am September 26th, 2009.

It was the weirdest thing, I got up to go pee (as I did 2 to 3 times a night) and after I was done the deed I was walking back to bed and all of a sudden I had a gush of fluid go down my leg. My initial reaction was I'm having incontinence issues already!!!! Then the fluid didn't stop coming and I realized I had no control of this fluid and that this must be my water. I wasn't in labour AT ALL, I had no idea why my water broke but nevertheless this baby would be coming out FOR SURE by tomorrow evening (or so I thought). So at this point I was at home all alone because Jason was on call at the Misercordia in obstetrics. I paged him 911 to our home phone number and like a faithful husband he called back ASAP. He got in his car and came to rescue me. Apparently he was driving 140 km on the Anthony Henday (so cute!). Unfortunately I didn't need my rescuing because I had no pain whatsoever. Anyways we headed to the Grey Nuns, got assessed and were sent home for 12 hours to see if I would go into labour on my own. If I didn't go into labor on my own we would be admitted at noon September 26th to start an induction.

Well back to the Grey Nuns at noon because I wasn't going into true labour on my own. I got a cervidil put in and sent to the antepartum unit to wait till I was 3 to 4 cm and in active labor. They would have sent me home with a cervidil but my membranes had been ruptured for now over 12 hours so they needed to monitor for signs of infection and needed to start antibiotics 24 hours after my water broke. When the cervidil was inserted I was only 1, maybe 2 cm. So now we just played the waiting game. I started to get moderate irregular contractions but nothing major. My parents came to the hospital at 9 pm and played cards till 10 pm. At 10pm the cervidil actually fell out. At this point I was REALLY hopeful my cervix had changed and I wouldn't need another cervidil and could just start the drip. The doctor came and checked me and I was still just 1 cm, no change! Not only did I not changed it was decided they wouldn't put another cervidil in and they wouldn't start the drip. I was so frustrated. I just broke down, and thankfully my husband was there to comfort me. He did the right thing and just laid beside me in bed and held me while I cried and cried and cried. I still get choked up thinking of how supportive he was. I needed him so much at that time and he was there. I was so upset and didn't understand why they wouldn't proceed with the induction. I think when you're told you haven't changed (cervix wise) at all and you were hoping you had, it's hard to understand anything at this point... basically nothing was going the way I wanted it to go. Later on I let myself understand why they didn't start the drip or put another cervidil in. Thank goodness they didn't because it saved me that night.

I sent Jason home at 2:30 AM right after they started my IV and started antibiotics. I was going to sleep and Jason was going to go and get a good nights rest so in the morning we could be rested for what lie ahead. Well my plan was to sleep but at 4 am on September 27, my contractions got worse and worse and worse, to the point where I was waking up screaming and trying to breath the best I could. I think at this point some people would have got an epidural but since I was on an antepartum unit there was none of that, all I could get was morphine or Tylenol. The doctor checked me at 4 am and I was still a whopping 1 cm maybe 2 cm. I didn't get my hopes up I just wanted something for the pain. I got the morphine and it really didn't take the edge off, it made me extremely loopy. My contractions were every 2 minutes lasting for 1 minute. So in between the contractions I felt knocked out and slept then woke up in extreme pain. No body knew why they hurt so bad but later on we figure out why. Basically every contraction my abdomen got tight (which is normal) but my back felt like it was breaking. I have never felt back pain like this is my life. I had to use the side rails to pull myself off my butt for the minute to bare the pain. The antepartum nurses were great, I had two nurses come and time my contractions and help me breath through them. I felt so alone and they just made every contraction that much easier. Anyways I got morphine twice, and by 7:30am I called Jason and asked him to come back to the hospital to rub my back during the contractions. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep but I'm glad Jason got some because I really needed him that day. So my mom called at 8 am and she was on her way as well. I contracted like this (every 2 minutes with extreme back pain) from 4 am to 10 am. I now realized how grateful I was they didn't start me on another cervidil because I would have been over medicated and my uterus would have over contracted (as if I needed them closer than every 2 minutes). Also I didn't need the drip because I started contracting on my own. I was checked and finally I was 4 cm! YAY!!!! Finally on my way to the case room!

Once I got to the case room, I requested an epidural because my back could not handle the pressure anymore. Well the epidural was in by 10:15 am September 27. I must say the epidural was a lot less painful/ scary than I imagined. It was a lot nicer being on the end receiving the epidural than the nurse watching it going in. The epidural was heaven. I could still feel a bit of pressure in my back but this helped so much. By 1:00 pm my contractions petered out and I needed the drip. It was nice, finally things felt like they were progressing. At 4:30 my back pain was getting bad again so I was checked and I was now 6-7 cm. The Doctor mentioned something about my baby perhaps being occiput posterior position (OP). This is where baby face is facing up towards the pubic bone causing the harder part of their skull to rest on the bony part of spine. So basically she was stuck pretty high up there pushing on my tail bone and face to pubic bone. The doctor wasn't positive of the position so we just kept going. By 5 pm it looked like it still might be awhile so we sent my mom off to her birthday dinner and she would come back after. I got a "top up" to help with the back pain. The top up really didn't do much and I was starting to feel my back labor again. At 8:00 pm I was checked and I was told I was 9 cm! I was so happy to finally be progressing. At 9:00 pm my family doctor had an obstetrician come and check me. She checked me, told me I was 9.5 cm with a lip still. Then she delivered the news that our baby was OP and if in an hour the baby did not turn the right way AND I was still 9.5 cm we would be going to a C-section. I was devastated.. well maybe not devastate I just thought, you know considering my pregnancy and how long it's taken to get here, I am not surprised. I think my mom and Jason were more devastated. Anyways the doctor told me I had to kneel on my bed facing backward for 1 hr and that might help turn her. So that is what I did. Basically I don't think many people had much hope for me because commonly woman whose first babies are OP result in a C-section.

Now way back before Jason and I left to even be assessed after my water broke we had said a prayer and I was given a blessing. What I remember from that was that I was told it would be hard and painful but to be optimistic. So if there was ever a time to be optimistic this was the time. I think all those at the hospital, my Pizzey side family and Amelia and Jason's family at home were praying for me and the baby. Jason was really good, he comforted me and said whatever is meant to happen for the safe arrival of our baby it would happen. We just didn't want a C-section after all this but again we would do what was best for our baby. Fortunately our baby was always happy, never had a non reassuring strip, which gave us time to be patient to try and turn our baby.

Well after the 1 hour past the Obstetrician came back and checked me. I was 10 cm (YAY! passed the first hurdle) but the baby was still REALLY high up there and remained OP. The obstetrician tried to manually turn my baby (which by the way killed even with an epidural). Unfortunately was unable to turn the baby but for some reason decided I could try and push and she would be back after 1 hr to see if I progressed. If I was progressing I would push another hour to get the baby as low as I could with her being OP then she would turn the baby using forceps and take the baby out for me. So basically I knew I needed to push hard for 2 hours to get the baby past my tail bone and pubic bone then she would help me. Sounded easy enough haha!

Since they found out I was OP they were a lot more generous with the top ups. I didn't even have to ask for them, I got 3 more top ups for free! They just kept coming. I guess that's the benefit of having a baby OP position. Even with the large amount of top ups I was given I still could push. I never got the urge to push because with having our baby OP the only sensation I would get was back pain. So when I felt back pain that meant I was to push. Anyways the Obstetrician came back (as promised) at 11:00 pm and decided I was pushing well enough and she would be back in 1 hr to get this baby out. Jason and my mom were in the room and they were a great help. Jason was my counting coach. I'd just look at him for instruction. Sometimes he would ask me to push a 4th time.. I would, but I was thinking are you kidding me??? My mom would step out time to time to update the family and apparently she ran into the Obstetrician and told her that her birthday was in 1 hr so if she could make sure the baby was born after midnight that would be great. Luckily for my mom I still had another hour of pushing. Anyways the Obstetrician came right back at midnight with her resident, along with the neonatal team, my family doctor, and a couple of nurses. There was like 10 people in the room. It was a party and it was funny a lot of people were introducing themselves to me as Jason's class mate/ person who was in the same residency program or I know Jason because yada yada yada... Jason was saying hi to all of them etc.. It was pretty funny and it really made the mood in the room light and fun! After a few pushes I got a "top up" and an episiotomy in preparation for the forceps. Then they went in. To everyones surprise our baby had turned sometime within the last hour of pushing. ( I think I felt the baby turn. My left leg and back killed and still to this day have some nerve/ muscle damage which is getting better ever day). I guess the episiotomy wasn't necessarily needed but it sure did help her come out. The doctor helped bring the baby's head out and then she popped out at 12:06 am on September 28, 2009!!!!

Our initial reaction to her... wow her head is long! I've never seen a cone head like that. Jason said the head was never ending and was wondering when the face would come out! She was rather scary looking but through all that my mom was able to yell she's a girl and she looks like you Kamry!!! We were amazed it was a girl. We had no idea.

The postpartum experience wasn't great but we were discharged from the hospital by 7:30 pm that evening. Home was just a better place to recover for me and Talia. We were both able to rest better at home. Talia was named after my Dad (Talman) and Talia has been a favorite of mine forever. Also the middle name is mine and my moms. It's fitting because Talia really is a mini-me. There is a debate if her lips are her Dads, but the rest of her face is mine. Her feet are her Dads, long and skinny. Jason says Talia will be a tall Kamry. It's funny I see a lot of my older sister Breanne. I guess that makes sense besides me and Breanne's hair color I think we look a lot alike so I guess that makes sense. I guess we'll see, babies change so much in the first year.

We love her so much. The first day or so we didn't feel like parents but she really has grown on us. She's our baby and we can't imagine life without her. As hard as pregnancy and labour was I would do it again for her. What I've learned from the passed 10 months is you can't plan life. It's not really your time line and things don't go as expected. I gained a greater testimony in the power of the priesthood. We feel we were blessed that Talia was able to come out naturally (well as natural as epidurals and forceps are), especially since all odds were against me. Also I feel really blessed to have such a happy and healthy baby. I feel I was blessed to be able to have pushed so well. I know I wasn't doing it all on my own. We couldn't have asked for more. We had a ton of family support and that helped as well. I'm thankful for Jason, he helped me through everything and was sometimes my voice of reason. It was neat to see him so caring. Not that he's not caring but he truly was looking out for me and our baby. He questioned things and made sure me and the baby's best interest were put first. I'm grateful for my mom, she did whatever I asked like cold clothes and water, etc.

I guess with everything said and done, I feel I was prepared for this labor through my pregnancy. I came to expect the unexpected and to stay positive. We love her so much. She's a part of Jason and I, and we can't imagine life without her.