It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Baby Magnus to finally make his grande entrance into this world, and what a grande entrance he made! This is a long story so buckle down, get your pot of coffee ready and be prepared if you want all the details of my epic journey to bring this little man into this world.
Last baby bump photo – October 23rd, 2018
Avoiding Induction
We officially made it to 41 weeks and 5 days before Baby Magnus made it into the real world. My Dr. wanted to induce me but I was still adamant that I wanted to try to have this baby naturally. So the full moon and the acupuncture didn’t have an effect in bringing on labour. My mom was down for the week, thinking Baby would be here by now, so she could help me out. She was scheduled to leave on Sunday and had a flight going out on Monday.
So we went to the Mall on Saturday and tried to walk as much as possible to get this baby moving. It may have worked, as soon as we got back from the Mall, I started to feel more intense cramping, or what I would say are official contractions. We were all getting excited and we had to head to the hospital for the stress test and the results of the ultrasound.
Once we got to the hospital, the contractions were more frequent, still far apart, and bleeding had officially started. I thought for sure I was going to sit on the bed and be told I’m already so far dilated and Baby is coming soon. I informed the Dr. of my new symptoms and they still had me complete the stress test, which came back perfect. Baby was super happy and cozy in there, and the ultrasound results stated the same. Baby was still getting all his needed nutrients and he wasn’t too big. The Dr. inspected me to see if we were dilated and the results were… 0cm dilated and cervix was still not fully moved forward.
In order to not be induced, we had to agree to go back to the hospital every day to complete the stress test so we booked our next appt. for the following morning at the Ajax hospital. It was not the hospital we wanted to deliver at but we were wrapping our heads around the fact that it may just happen.
So we head home and contractions start to get stronger. We started to officially track them around 7pm and they were about 15-20mins apart but long. I didn’t get much sleep overnight as my contractions sped up and by 6am we were within the 3-5 min apart mark, and the contractions would last for 1-2 mins which seemed unnatural. So we got up, had a shower, packed everything into the card and head to the Oshawa hospital.
Breaking the Rules
So we walk into the wrong hospital. I’m contracting frequently and head to the Labour and Delivery Ward. The nurse working at that time, is not impressed to see me walk into the wrong hospital. I had to give my excuse for walking into Oshawa instead of the Ajax hospital, thankfully I didn’t have to fake contractions as I was contracting while they were talking to me at the counter. They said I could head to the triage room, they would strap me in for 20 minutes to monitor Baby and check how far dilated I was. I ended up being strapped up in the triage room for an hour and a half as they had to go do an emergency c-section.
I hadn’t eaten anything since the night before so Matt got me egg on an English muffin. Took me about an hour just to eat that, due to the frequency of the contractions and how long they were lasting. The Dr. finally came back and checked me to see how far dilated I was… 1cm. I literally started to cry through the next contraction. How could I have been having such intense and long contractions and still not dilate? The Dr. didn’t want to admit me yet because I wasn’t dilated and offered me to walk the hospital or go home to labour further. We decided to labour around the hospital, however, when I went to walk anywhere it triggered a contraction. Anytime I sat in a upright position it triggered multiple contractions in a row. Needless to say, washroom breaks became awful.
We never made it out of the triage room to labour around the hospital. The nurse came in to ask if I wanted any pain meds and I said no thanks. She litterally laughted at me, rolled her eyes and said “okay” as if to say good luck! I was not impressed and asked her why she said it that way and she said, “everyone asked for drugs in the end”, already dismissing my attempts at a natural labour. I think we laboured in the triage room for a couple hours before they finally offered me a birthing suite. Before doing so, the Dr.came to check me again, still 1cm.
Birthing suite
We are moved to the farthest corner of the hospital which was nice as they respected my desire to labour naturally. I’m now about 16hrs into labour and still can’t dilate. So we tried to kick it up. I walk/lunged the hallways several times, triggering contractions every other step. I’d have my arms around my husbands neck while I tried to breathe through and the Doula and my mom would put pressure on my hips and preassure points to help alleviate the pain. Then I would labour on the exercise ball and have a couple contractions before switching it up again. I would do a couple contractions in the squatting position and do some seated on the toilet. I never laid in bed to contract for probably the first 20 hours.
Finally my body was exhausted. I was working off adrenaline and couldn’t stop shaking. I couldn’t eat anything but kept up my water consumption. I had to lie down, so I laid in bed and was able to doze off for 1 min between contractions. The Doula stayed by my side the entire time helping me though each one. Matt and my mom had to take a break and they finally went and got some food.
Breaking the water
Finally 8pm Sunday night, rolls around and the Dr. Comes to see me. We are 27 hrs into this natural labour, with unnaturally long and painful contractions felt in the back and tummy. I’m feeling delusional and exhausted at this point, I hate looking at the clock and feeling like I haven’t progressed. I’m begging for good news, we have to be sooo close, he checks to see how far dilated I am, 3-4cm. I felt soo defeated. You should be dilating 1cm every 2 hours and I just went 27 with barely making 4cm. I looked at my husband and tears started to well in my eyes, how could this be happening?
So the Dr. Suggests we break the water. He warned us that this may cause more painful contractions because we lose the water barrier and now it’s just the baby’s head pushing on my pelvis, but it should help speed up labour. Before making this decision, they informed me the Anesthesiologist was on the floor so if the pain was too bad, we could get the epidural right away. So we agreed to breaking the water in hopes to progress the labour.
As soon as my water is broken, the pain intensifies. I was exhausted and struggling before, now I felt almost paralyzed. I was dying and just turned to my husband crying and said, ‘I can’t go any longer, I can’t take this pain, my body is exhausted, I need the epidural.’ He was so supportive and reassured me that it was okay. I’d put in a damn good shift and Baby was stuck and there was nothing we could do about it. We called the Nurse back and she told us she was misinformed and the Anesthesiologist wasn’t on the floor yet, he would be up in 15 mins, but was headed to another room first and then would be in.
I thought I was going to die, literally. I didn’t think I would make it any longer. During these unbearable contractions, I got back out of bed and we tried some new positions to labour in. I was shaking uncontrollably and had the cold sweats going. We tried a couple different positions to try to get the baby to turn and move down. I had to wait an hour before the Nurse came in to prep me for the anesthesiologist. She said he would be right in. She had me sitting up, if that wasn’t painful before, it was permanent contraction this time. Then she found out he wasn’t ready for me yet, so I had to stay in my seated position for 10 mins or so contracting in the most ridiculous pain ever. I think I almost broke my husbands neck or shoulders or arms just from squeezing him so much.
Finally the Anesthesiologist came in and said I needed to sit still. They were trying to wait between contractions but they were back to back and wouldn’t stop. So he told me to not move as he had to do it while I was contracting. It was so scary and hard, the second he put the needle in, he hit a nerve and I went completely numb all the way down my left leg to my toes. I was starting to panic, but couldn’t move, he reassured me that was normal and wouldn’t cause any further issues. 9pm Sunday night and I finally get relief. I can breathe again and I’m now locked into my bed with the monitors on me. I lasted 28hrs of natural labour with unusually long and painful contractions.
They hoped the epidural would help relax me a bit and allow my contractions to go naturally and continue to speed up the process. I was able to get a little bit of sleep finally, so were my mom and husband. They came and checked my vitals every 15 minutes and I could still feel some contractions but I was able to breathe through them now. I had to keep rotating because you’re not allowed to be on your back, the epidural works with gravity so the side I was sleeping on would go numb, but I would feel all the pain on the other side. My amazing Doula, never slept the entire time. She was always by my side helping me through the pain, reassuring my family and I.
Finally the epidural has kicked in and I can breathe again
3:15am Monday morning, the Dr. comes back in to check to see how I’ve progressed, 6hrs after getting the epidural, and we’re only at 6cm. My mom has stayed by my side this entire time. She slept a bit through the night after I was able to relax and had leave at 4am as she was flying out. We said our goodbyes and I told her the baby should be here before she flies out and I would face time her. Matt walks her out and we rest a bit more.
At 6:30am Monday morning, they come to check me again. My contractions are starting to slow down and are 3-5 mins apart, when they should be 2 mins apart. We are still at 6cm and have not progressed any overnight. The Dr. discovers the baby is Posterior and has not rotated to face down as he should have while coming down the birth canal. The baby is also putting extra pressure on my lower back, and these are why my contractions are abnormal and painful.
The Dr. wants to give me Oxytocin to help speed up the contractions. Yet another intervention I was looking to avoid. We are about 36hrs into labour at this point and not progressing at all. After another good little cry, we don’t know what else we can do so we agree. I get hooked up to the drip and at 6:50am, the Baby’s heart rate starts to drop on the monitor, the alarms start going off and the entire staff rushes into the room. I was scared, but didn’t want to panic. In my head I thought for sure they were about to wheel me away for an emergency C-Section. They wake the Dr., shut the Oxytocin off, move me into a new position and things start to calm down. Dr. says we are all good, and we will just keep an eye on the monitors.
8am Monday morning comes around and a new Dr. is on shift. We have now been in the hospital for 25hrs and labouring for 37hrs. The new Dr. is amazing, she checks me out to see how far dilated I am and we’ve only made it to 8cm. The Dr. is preparing me for the possibility of a C-Section as my water has been broken for so long, my contractions have slowed down and baby is not progressing. I ask for a little bit longer and she agrees, as long as both Baby and my vitals stay good.
10am Monday morning and the Dr. comes back to see if we’ve finally made it to 10cm. We are still sitting at 8cm and baby is still posterior. She asks if she can try to turn baby with her hand but warns me that he may flip right back around. I agreed as it was worth a try if that might help me get to 10cm. She was able to flip baby but as she suspected, he flipped right back around.
The C-Section
11:30am Monday morning, the Dr. comes back in. One last check to see if we’ve progressed otherwise my time is up and we have to move to the operating table. She checks me again, 8cm. I have no choice but to go for a C-Section, Baby is stuck. I cried so hard, I felt like such a failure I had put in all this time and effort in, to do whatever I could to have a natural birth and here I am, I had to get the Epidural, Oxytocin, and am now having to be wheeled off to the operating table for a major surgery.
11:45am Monday morning, they discover I’m running a fever of 102 degrees. They want to hook me up to antibiotics immediately and we begged them to wait. Everything that was being put into my body, was being put into Baby’s body. If I could avoid anymore, I wanted to. They were so good about it, they agreed not to start the drip until the first cut of the C-section. The Dr. also said she would check my one more time on the operating table before the first cut. If I had made it to 10cms, we were pushing in the operating room.
I’m separated from my Husband and Doula and wheeled off into the operating room. My husband isn’t allowed into the room while they prep for surgery. The anesthesiologist hooks me up to the new epidural and I can feel the ‘ice’ running down my back. I’m laying on the table for several minutes before the Dr. comes in. She checks me one last time… 8cm.
They do the first cut and my husband still isn’t in the room. I start asking for him and finally they bring him in. It sounds like everything is going well, I’m really drugged up at this point and much of this is a blur to me. My husband has filled in the blanks for me. The Dr.’s were preparing to take the baby out, and they said ‘Here he comes!’ and then you just hear panic in the room. The baby does not come out. All of a sudden I can’t breathe. My husband is holding my hand trying to coach me through my breathing and I tell him, I literally can’t breath. They are pushing on my diaphram, it feels like they’re about to break my ribs or sternum. There is an unbelievable amount of pressure.
There’s panic on the other side of the curtain but we have no idea what is going on. Finally after several minutes I hear them say ‘There’s baby, Oh baby just pee’d in mummy, oh, baby just pooped in mummy’. They flash the baby around the curtain, I don’t get to do skin to skin. We still do not know what is going on. They run the baby across the room and my husband turns to me and say’s ‘They just cut the cord!”. We still haven’t heard baby cry. I’m shaking uncontrollably on the table from the drugs, and I tell him to go. Be with the baby and make sure everything is okay. The Dr.s are not following the birth plan at all and are not telling us why.
Finally, I hear a cry and my heart skips a beat. I still can’t stop shaking, I’m soo dizzy and I think I’m going to pass out or throw up. Finally my husband comes back after several minutes and tries to make light of the situation. He say’s to me ‘Bad news Babe, he’s a Ging.’ (The running joke throughout the pregnancy) While my husband was over with Baby, all the alarms were going off and there were about 4 people working on him. Baby ended up coming out breached (butt up, face down) and needed to be resuscitated. My husband is pretty sure, based on what he was hearing, that when they were taking Baby out, he slipped and fell back into mummy face down. That’s where the panic, breach and resuscitation came from.
Baby is alive and good. Both baby and daddy leave the room while the doctors put me back together. I continue to shake on the table uncontrollably and look around the room trying not to be sick. I haven’t eaten in days and I have more drugs in my system then I ever thought I would.
After I’m done being sewn up, they wheel me into a recovery room where my Husband is doing skin to skin with Baby. I want to look at him, to hold him, but my body says otherwise. I’m happy my husband is there to do it for me. He tries to show me baby and I can’t even look. I told the nurse I needed a puke bucket immediately and started to throw up. I think I passed out in this recovery room for most of the hour we had to wait in there to make sure I was okay before we could be moved to the other side of the baby unit to be cared for.
Daddy and Baby doing skin to skin
Mummy finally feels okay enough to hold her baby Boy
Maverick Paul Magnus (MPM the 3rd) was born at 13:13 on October 29th, 2018, weighing 8lbs, 4oz and 22″ long.
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