Caleb's Birth Story

When my husband and I first found out we were pregnant, we were thrilled! We had been trying for nearly 2 years with no success. The only reason that we had a suspicion that we were actually pregnant (my periods were so irregular anyway) was because I had been quite nauseous. We found out at 9 weeks that our dream was coming true! The nausea didn't stop there. In the first 5 months, I lost a total of 15 lbs due to my morning sickness and nothing would help. Even now I can't eat crackers because it makes me sick again. I had to brush my teeth with cinnamon toothpastes during that time too because the mint taste and smell had me running for the toilet! We had other small complications too. The nausea produced a horrible heartburn that continued to the day I gave birth, I had constant leg cramps almost every night, and a few other instances.

But the baby was getting big! We went ahead and found out at 20 weeks that we were having a boy (which I had a weird feeling about anyway!) and my due date was moved up another week! At about 28 weeks, I started having Braxton-Hicks. It was pretty intense sometimes, and pretty weird others. Everyone told me what they were, so I just got through them. At 33 weeks, however, I began having cramps that felt like menstrual cramps. I dealt with it for 24 hours then just couldn't digest the pain any longer. I went down to the hospital to find out what was going on. Since we got there at 11 pm, the nurse hooked me up the monitors to take some readings and had me resting in one of the birthing rooms. I had developed a bad cough a few days prior so we thought maybe it was just the strain of the coughing. Because the doctor said he would see me in the morning, they put me into a room for the night. The next morning, the doctor arrived and internally checked me and found I was between 1 and 2 cm dilated! Because I was so early, the nurse gave me a needle to help his lungs develop (just in case he decided to show up in the next 24 hours), and they sent me home.

The Braxton-Hicks progressively got worse over the next two weeks. On a Tuesday night (13 days after the hospital), I went to sleep around midnight just hoping I wouldn't have another leg cramp. What I woke up to though, was something I'll never forget! I awoke at 4:45 am to such pain in my lower back, I couldn't move. My best friend had back labour, so I knew all about it, and tried to time any contractions I might be having. I timed them by the waves of nausea I felt and timed around 8-10 minutes. I called my mom at work (she was on midnights) and called the doctor who told me to come down to the hospital. I woke my husband up. We decided it was probably false pre-term labour so we left all our hospital bags here and took our time driving to the hospital. The nurses hooked me up the monitors the moment I got there. I had 3 contractions in about 5 minutes! The nurse internally checked me and found me 5 cm dilated!! Because I was only 35 weeks, they hooked me up to IV's and began asking me decisions for medication, etc. Well, what timing it was when I told them that my hospital tour was the next day! So while in labour, I was filling out all my paper work.

The nurse gave me some Demerol at 7 am to relieve some of the pain. The doctor came in at 9 to break my water and told me he'd be back in a "few hours". Twenty minutes after he left, the nurses were calling him to tell him I was ready to push! The doctor got there after I had been pushing for 10 minutes at 10:02 am and my son was born at 10:07 am! No stitches for me and he was perfectly healthy! Caleb Andrew is the light of our lives and I just hope the next one doesn't come faster!