I shall warn you now that the contents of this post may be a little TMI for some people. I figure I’d tell the story how it really happened – no sugar coating anything. I also decided to break the post into two parts since it’s a little long! Part 2 will be up tomorrow :)

Since giving birth, I have come to realize that movies, television shows and the like all put unreal expectations on what child birth is like. Of course no one actually takes these depictions seriously, but it’s nice to think that labour somewhat resembles that.

For me, it all started Monday afternoon. I wrote a little bit about it here, but for those of you who don’t feel like clicking through here’s what happened in a nutshell:

Monday, June 25:

Monday afternoon I went to my doctor (Dr. O’C – for future references) for my “due date” check up. He checked out my cervix to see if I was progressing any, and he was pleased to see that I was 100% effaced and already 2cm dilated. Dr. O’C said I could go into labour within the next 24 hours, so Kyle stayed home from work.

An hour or so later I started having intense lower back pain and so Kyle and I decided to go to the hospital around 10 pm. The nurse who assessed me figured I was about 4cm dilated so I was admitted to labour and delivery. I kept having contractions all through the night and around 6:30 a.m. (Tuesday) Dr. O’C came in to assess things himself, thinking that I was good to have my water broken to get labour really going. He said I was still only 4cm, and to go home, take a walk and rest. Drats.

So, we relaxed for the remainder of Tuesday and just tried to continue on with life. We did a grocery shop, puttered around the house and went to bed.

Wednesday, June 27:

Kyle and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood to try and jumpstart things once again. It seemed to work, because around 2 p.m. we were off to the hospital once again. I was assessed by a labour and delivery nurse and she figured I was still sitting around 4-5cms dilated. The nurses suggested we go for a walk around the hospital to try and get things moving, so we walked up huge flights of stairs and all the way down a steep hill and back. It seemed to be working, because I had to stop every 5-10 minutes for agonizing contractions. We went back to labour and delivery and I was admitted – again. We waited things out for a few hours to see if I continued to dilate, but around 6 p.m. the “head” labour & delivery nurse came in and said that she figured it would be best if I headed back home. She said that since I was still coping with the pain well, talking, and eating, that I wasn’t in “true” labour and that going home would be best. Ugh. Since I had another appointment with Dr. O’C Thursday morning, we went home. Again.

Thursday, June 28:

I had an appointment with Dr. O’C in the morning around 10 a.m. He was surprised to see me as he figured I would have given birth while he was away. (He had meetings and whatnot in Vancouver so he was gone from Tuesday morning until Wednesday evening.) He checked my cervix once again and figured I was sitting at 4-5cm still. *sigh* So, he did another agonizing sweep to try and stretch things out some more and gave Kyle orders to make me drink raspberry leaf tea and take me for a walk. And he did, after he bought me a 6-pack of cupcakes from my favourite cupcake shop. (Which reminds me – we were asked by the owner to let her know if they induced labour so she could add it to her marketing pitch, lol)

Kyle took me for a small walk around the block and the contractions continued to hurt and stop me dead in my tracks. After trying to tough it out for an hour or so, Kyle made the decision to pack me up and go to the hospital yet again. Third time’s a charm, right? So, around 2 p.m., I was back in labour and delivery at the hospital and was admitted (again). This time, it really seemed like it was “game time.”

To be continued …