So it was a cold and dark stormy day back on Wednesday December 5th in 2001, I woke up with this weird feeling, was it indigestion? Nope. Was it braxton hicks? Nope. Could this be...labor?
So my best friend Niki took me to the hospital, and the nurses just stood there dumbfounded looking at me, cause my belly was so small. (Let me just say for those that do not know, I am a 6'2" tall woman. I knew I wasn't very big, but my doctor told me I was carrying mostly in the back.) The nurses were very rude and told me I wouldn't be having this baby till February! At which point I said, "well I know I am small, but there is no way I could be pregnant for 12 months, I am not a cow."
So they checked me, told me I was only 1 cm dilated, said I'd be a few weeks yet and sent me on my way.
December 6th.
Again woke up with pain. Phoned my mom to come into town with my dad who was studying at the University of Victoria. They lived in Shawnigan Lake. She arrived around 7:30am. I was having contractions, but they were coming in hours apart from one another. I phoned my doctor, and he told me to go for a bunch of little walks throughout the day.
Contractions sped up later on in the day coming in every hour. Till around 10pm, contractions were half an hour apart, and coming on strong. Not a single one of my female friends ever told me that contractions were like menstrual cramps time 1000! And apparently that is why! They didn't want to scare me!!!
I went for another walk around 11:30pm with Niki and my brother and his dog Kailey. Just after Kailey hunted and tracked a rat, the wave of pain hit me so ever hard, and I had to bend down to all fours and wait for the wave of pain to pass. I went home...but the waves of pain only stayed 1/2 an hour apart. My doctor told me to go to the hospital.
December 7th.
I got to VGH at 12:30am. Wouldn't you know it was the same nurses that were there on the Wednesday before! They just shook their heads at me and asked why I was back, and mumbled something under their breaths something to the effect of 'new moms.'
I explained I was having contractions and that my doctor knew and was the one who told me to come in. I also said I had been having these pains since the Wednesday. They checked me and I was 4 cm dilated, and 40% effaced. My contractions were powerful and painful still coming in 1/2 an hour from one another. I was hooked up to the baby heart beat monitor and that other machine that measured how strong my pain was.
Niki was exhausted cause she had pretty much had been up with me since December 5th, yet she too had a baby at home...my God-daughter who had just turned 2 years old. I recognized she was tired, so I let her sleep in the parent chair. I kept having painful contractions, but she needed sleep, so I bit my tongue and didn't breathe one utter moan so she could rest. Niki was some mad at me, when she woke up at 6am! I let her sleep for almost 4 hours!
The nurses had shift change and someone came into check me at 7am. The nurse then told me I wasn't having this baby today, and that I will have to wait for my doctor to arrive before I could be discharged...that's where IT hit me...I started to bawl, I was a blubbering mess. I kept crying, "there is no way you expect me to go through this pain anymore, this is horrible."
I was in the worst pain I had ever experienced in my whole entire life.
My doctor came in at 8:30am. He asked why I was so upset, so I told him that the nurse said I wasn't having the baby today, and I told him I was in the worst pain I have ever experienced in my whole entire life. He asked me if I had anything for the pain throughout the night, and I explained I got a Tylenol for a headache around 3:30am, but that was all cause the nurses were scared to give me anything do to the fact that I have allergies to a lot of medication. he walked out of the room at that moment, and all I could hear was him giving the nurses heck!
I was slightly happy.
Dr. Schoichet came back into my room and said he wanted to check me. He started to laugh, and all I could think at that moment was 'Not you too.' I was crying so hard! He stood up with a huge grin on his face and said, "Quit your blubbering Brandi, you are 80% effaced, and 9 centimeters dilated, you are having this baby today sweetie!"
I had transitioned.
He was a good doctor, I called him Dr. Bill. I think he had a soft spot for me, as I was a single mom since about 3 months pregnant. I could say I had the best doctor...
Dr. Bill told me to get up and walk and said when I felt the need to have a bowel movement it would be time. So I was half way down the hall, and it hit me...excruciating pain, wave of nauseousness, and back pain. (I still have nightmares to this day about that pain. I have decided since that day, yup, I could be hit with a bullet and it wouldn't hurt that much!) Niki went to rub my back (cause apparently that helps...?), and I just turned like the girl from the Exorcist, and said "Don't @&^*%&* touch me!"
Boy oh boy did she drop her hand to her side oh so very quickly!
It was time!
However, my contractions were still half an hour apart. Dr. Bill put me on Petocin to speed up the contractions. Oh they sped up alright...coming in now 28 minutes apart. Yeah that helped so good. So much better...yeah!
I was falling asleep on the table in between contractions...
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