Chloe's Birth Story

Chloe has arrived!

It's taken my a week since delivering to feel well enough to sit and type out her story....but today I am finally starting to turn the corner and am feeling much better.

Here we go:

Thursday June 18th:

I had my 39 wk appt with Dr Gai scheduled for the afternoon. Chris came home from work that morning very sick with the flu so I had my mom come with me to the appt....and it was a good thing I wasn't alone! While my OB was doing her routine internal, my water broke right on the table! This was around 3pm. I didn't know it until I went to get up off the table and...woah!! It really panicked me because I wasn't prepared but you obviously can't be. The previous day I was having BH contractions (false contractions) every hour so I knew it was getting close. Dr. Gai turns to me and says...well honey, the clock has just started ticking...you will meet your baby girl in less than 24 hrs.

Because I had tested positive for GBS, I was sent immediately to the nurses station to get the antibiotics started. I was allowed to go home but had to come back in 4hrs to begin the next dose and would then have to stay in the hospital because my contractions would begin getting stronger. So we went home, grabbed my bags and my husband and headed back to the hospital after dinner.

Once I arrived at the hospital they checked me and I was 3 cm dialated and contractions were 5 minutes apart. The pain at that point was tolerable but I could feel it increasing. Chris went home to get some rest because the nurses felt that nothing would really happen until the next morning. I was laying in my room, alternating between playing Scrabble on my Itouch and timing my contractions on another application (I know, I know). Although my contractions were still around 5 minutes apart - they were getting really painful. I buzzed for the nurse and asked if I could get something mild for the pain. She decided to do a quick internal and to both of our surprise I had fully dialated within the last 2 hrs!! Because they were still 5 minutes apart, I was able to get the Epi.

Smooth sailing at that point. Both my Mom and Chris mom were with me and we just talked and laughed from about midnight until 6am...bliss! But, little did I know what was ahead of me.

At around 7am, even though my contractions were only 3 min apart...I was told I could begin pushing.

At around 9am, I was given Oxi to make the contractions come on quicker.

At around 11am, it was decided that no more pushing was going to help and my OB was going to try the vaccuum. After 2 failed vaccuum attempts I was told that I was going to have to have an emerg Csection.

I was devasted. After 20 hrs of labour and 4 hrs of extreme pushing I was being rolled up to the OR. I could not stop crying - mostly because I was just drained but scared.

Chris geared up for the OR and stayed by my side the whole time. The surgery itself really wasn't that bad - the only strange point was being awake and completely numb from the waste down. I could feel alot of pressure but no pain.

Chloe arrived at 1219pm on June 19th.....just beautiful and in perfect health. Chris took her down with the nurses to be weighed and tested while I was being stitched up and left in a recover room for 1hr being monitored. They rolled me down around 130pm to meet my little girl...Wow, what a feeling!

Later that night, things got a bit scary. I woke up around 9pm and had bled out - completely covering my bed in blood. In a panic, I buzzed for the nurses and the look on their faces when they came in didn't help my panic. They immediately called my OB at home. She arrived minutes later and reacted very quickly. I had lost alot of blood and she had to go in and remove many clots. This was the most painful thing I'd ever gone through, and to make it worse, I had no family there with me because when they left I was completely fine and resting.

I ended up needing 3 bags of blood (mental note to go to the next blood donor clinic when I'm feeling better).

After a 5 day stay at the hospital, I was released with my little girl. The last week has been tough but I am already feeling 100% better and am now able to move around and carry her.

It was a very scary experience but every time I look at her I break down because she was worth every bit of it. I love everything about her - even the wake up calls every 2-3hrs.

Ange

Daddy & baby girl minutes after being born.

Chris, Jeffrey (uncle at 10 yrs old) and my Mom

Just rolled down from the OR and holding her for the first time

6 lbs 12 oz and not liking the scale!

Ooh...those precious blue eyes!

Making our way home....she looks like a grumpy old man!

First day walking & holding her....bliss