Little William's Birth

PSA: There's a lot of writing here. It's mostly just to help me remember what happened, but feel free to just scroll to the pictures - I won't hold it against you! 😛

Second-last picture of me pregnant! Taken on Sunday afternoon.

If you've been following along with my blog for the last month you'll know that Little William took his time planning an entrance on his own schedule.

His due date came and went.

And more days passed.

On Friday I went to the hospital for a nonstress test and we scheduled a medical induction for Tuesday! As much as I did not want to be induced, I was starting to grow impatient and was ready to meet our little baby!

Saturday marked 41 weeks but there was still no sign of anything happening.

I had a measly amount of contractions throughout Sunday, but nothing worth noting.

On Monday morning my mom came over with the ingredients for a labour cocktail/midwives brew.

So I drank that just after 11am, we visited, and had lunch. After lunch I started to feel nauseous from the drink but I had one contraction! So promising!

At 1pm I tried to take a nap but couldn't fall asleep and I had a few more contractions!

The contractions were similar to those on Sunday. Except on Sunday I had a few throughout the day and now I had a few within the hour I was trying to rest. About 2 or 3.

2:30 I texted Will to make sure he was at the shop and not in town.

2:39 - "You can keep working for now, but it's probably best if you don't go to Abbotsford"

He asked if he should come inside but I said that the contractions weren't intense yet.

Will ended work that day at 3. He claims there wasn't anything left to do, but I think he just wanted to be around. 😉

Contractions at this point were every 3-7 minutes apart but so mild. I was almost smiling in disbelief each time one came because they were so easy.

The midwife, Tina, called at 3:20 as well to check in. She was confidant we'd see our baby today which was so reassuring to hear! She also said that I should take a second dose of the labour cocktail at 4.

I suggested to Will that he take a shower and get ready to go to the hospital. He was cleaning the fish tank, so finished that up and then went to get ready.

With my labour with Delilah, I took a shower which really ramped up the intensity of the contractions, so we agreed I'd take a shower before 4 (when I was to take the next dose) and we'd go from there.

But while Will was in the shower the contractions got closer and closer together, to the point where they were 2-4 minutes apart. They were still very mild, but I could tell they were gaining momentum. We made the decision to head to the hospital rather than waiting around at home any longer.

Tina had told me that she'd be with a patient until 4, but I could call her if needs be before then.

We gathered up all our things and at 4:01 I called Tina to get her blessing to come to the hospital.

We pulled out of the driveway at 4:20 and got to the hospital parking lot at 4:28.

During the car ride I could tell the contractions were getting stronger.

I remember telling Will as we turned on our main road that the contractions were finally as strong as my period cramps.

We parked, payed for parking, and walked over to the emergency entrance since the main desk had closed already.

Because of all the COVID-19 precautions we were stopped just inside the door by a nurse who was fully gowned up and asked to use hand sanitizer. He then insisted I sit in a wheelchair because I was in labour and with maternity being up on the third floor if anything were to happen on the way there they could be liable.

I must have asked him three or four times if I really had to sit in the wheelchair. And I specifically remember whining, "Really? But whyyyy?"

But nope, he wasn't budging.

The waiting room for ER was completely empty which was kinda weird.

The check in lady was much nicer than the one when we were having Delilah and we were checked in in no time.

Will was somehow carrying all three of our bags AND pushing the wheelchair. It was rather embarrassing for me to be sitting there, and sooo uncomfortable to be sitting like that during contractions.

We got up to the maternity ward and into our room where Midwife Tina and Nurse Mary were setting up for us.

I got out of that wheelchair the second we got into the room.

Tina and Mary both agreed that it was silly they made me sit - especially because now the wheelchair would have to be sanitized and the hospital was already backed up for sanitizing things.

Both Tina and Mary were amazed to see me talking and walking through such frequent contractions and reassured me I wouldn't be sent home and I didn't have to take the second dose of labour cocktail (music to my ears! That stuff is gross!).

Slowly the contractions got stronger and stronger.

Will was eating jelly beans on the couch, and causally talking with me and Tina.

Around 5:30 Tina suggested I take a a shower to pass a bit of time.

She brought me a yogaball and water and Will spent an hour next to me, counter pressuring each contraction for me. My poor back was SO bruised the next day! But it definitely helped.

We talked about our rental house, how we thought Delilah would react to her new sibling, Will's most recent job offer, how this labour was going in relation to Delilah's, what projects Will was busy with at work, our fishtank... etc...

The randomest things!

Over the course of that hour the contractions got more and more intense and probably around 6 I was no longer able to talk through them. But in between I was right as rain! Just as with Delilah, they were as inconsistent as ever. A few times I'd have a 4 minute break, and other times they would be back-to-back with hardly any time to catch my breath.

At one point I asked Will to apply more pressure to my back. It came out a in a bit of a gasp because I was in the middle of a strong contraction. Within half a second Tina popped into the bathroom, "Did I hear you say you're feeling pressure?!?" Hoping that I was saying baby was coming. But no, I said. I wasn't feeling enough pressure (on my back).

It added a bit of comic relief in the moment.

Just before 6:30 I called Tina in and told her that the baby was, in fact, finally, most likely, on its way.

Unfortunately I had to leave the comfort of the hot shower, but was so excited and nervous to see our little baby!

6:34pm

7cm and still smiling!

For the next half hour I laboured on the hospital bed, and by 7:00pm I was emotionally and mentally done.

I begged the midwife to break my waters, but at 7:10 I started pushing.

My water burst and soaked Will who was beside me, as well as the couch along the wall...

I swore once or twice. Apologized for swearing. Was told to keep swearing.

I complained a lot.

I bit Will's shoulder, and tore the skin on the back of his hand with my nails.

But most importantly,

I did it!

At 7:17 they placed our baby on me and a moment later Will checked to see if we had a boy or a girl.

Boy it was!

I kissed his sweet little head, held his tiny bum, and took a second to catch my breath.

He was easily the length of my torso, and the little legs that I kept feeling kicking me while pregnant were now pushing up off of my legs making him stick his little hiney up in the air.

7:21pm

As Little William lay on my chest I suddenly noticed his bowl shaped, sticky-outie ear... I made a comment about how I felt bad for the poor kid that he'd have an ugly ear and I hoped he'd grow into it.

The nurses assured me not to worry about it, but I was so concerned!

I stroked the smooth flappy ear and apologized to him for making such a hideous ear.

And then, all of a sudden, it popped back into place!

Just like that!

And he had a properly shaped ear again!

I was so relieved I gasped and excitedly showed Will.

It seems like such a silly thing now, but at the time it caught all of my attention.

We knew Little William was a big baby so when we found he was 21.5inches long and that his head was 14.5inches around (all measurements which were off the charts!) we weren't too surprised.

But when Tina put him on the weigh scale and read off 4855grams the nurses were speechless!

Will and I didn't know what the translation of grams to pounds was, which left us to excitedly/anxiously ask what that was in pounds.

10 pounds and 11 ounces!

That's what it was!

Honking HUGE!

We knew William was a big baby, but still laughed in disbelief.

"No wonder that hurt so much!" I said.

Proud daddy

100% exhausted

10,000% in love

I'm really hoping his hair will stay!

Delilah was born with about this much hair as well, though her's was wavy and disappeared.

It wasn't until 1am that we finally were ready to go to bed for the night.

Considering he was just a few hours old, William did very well through his first night. He wanted to feed every hour but he let me get a fair amount of sleep.

Good morning!

I learned from our experience with Delilah, and so this time around I had packed a newborn sized sleeper as well as a 3 month one. Well, with Little William being not-so-little, it's a good thing I brought along the 3m size because we didn't even try to fit him in the newborn sleeper!

Straight into 3m for him!