If you haven’t read Part I you can catch up here.
In Transit
The 20-30 minutes or so that it took to get from our house to the hospital were some of the longest of my life. I was very uncomfortable sitting belted in to my seat. I used a few bad words. In between contractions, though, Jon and I joked and I was in generally good spirits. I sincerely thought that I had a ways to go.
When we got to the hospital, though, I was not so happy. I wanted Jon to park and I planned to walk in with him. After all, I was only 3 cm, and I wanted to get things moving. Jon disagreed, feeling that I couldn’t make the trip. So, he drove up to the front entrance to drop me off, but there were cars in all of the available spots. In the end, he just stopped, blocking the roadway. He wanted to come inside and see me to registration before he went back and parked. I was mortified at the idea of Jon blocking traffic, and he said it was his ‘Dad’s prerogative’. In the end he left me and my bag in the entryway and I promised to wait for him.
I paced back and forth and handled the contractions as best I could. It seemed to be taking Jon a very long time to return, and I was uncomfortable and unhappy. I eventually decided to just follow the signs to registration, so I looked through the bag to find my cell phone so that he would know where to find me. I quickly realized that I didn’t have my phone, it was in Jon’s pocket, so I resumed pacing back and forth and silently fuming. I wanted to get up to my room and get into a nice bathtub and drink some water, which at the time I felt sure would help me feel better.
After what I’m sure was only a couple of minutes Jon was back and we headed to the registration area. Both kiosks were occupied, so I paced back and forth, making some low vocalizations. A woman behind the desk looked at me and bugged out her eyes. She quickly dispatched the older gentleman she had been helping and called us over. When she saw our suitcase / hospital bag, she made some joke asking if I was planning on moving in. I was frazzled and having a contraction and started to cry. At that point she suggested that I go up to the ward while Jon checked me in. I assured her there was no rush (my contraction had passed) and she set us up as quickly as she could.
Our midwife was waiting for us as we got off the elevator, and I got my wristband and our nurse met us and directed us to our room. It was around 2:30 or so. Jon snapped a quick photo – my last one as a pregnant woman.
In the room Jon ran the bath and got me some water to drink. The midwife checked my vitals and listened to the baby. I visited the washroom and got settled into the bath. I did, indeed, feel much better. And then something happened. A contraction hit and some sort of switch flipped and my body started pushing. My midwife said if I felt like pushing she’d have to ask me to get out of the bath. I said that I would wait until the next contraction and see what happened. The next one hit, and again my body just pushed.
I got out of the tub – it was time to have a baby.
Labouring in the tub is so wonderful….I slept in the tub from 7 – 10 cms of transition….woke up in time to push her out…way to go Amber