I received the news that I was pregnant in June of 1998 and was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my baby on the predicted date of February 15, 1999. I have a son already who was seven years old on March 28, 1999 and the excitement for him was unimaginable.
My son was born within 2 1/2 hours of entering the hospital so I knew ahead of time that this baby's birth was going to be a speedy one. My husband was working away from home at the time, 1 1/2 hours travelling time, and we knew that once I went into labour, he may not make it home in time. This was his first child so it was important for him to be there.
On February 10, 1999, I went to the doctor for what was supposed to be my final appointment. I discussed having an internal done with my physician and she agreed, both of us hoping that this may bring on labour. Conveniently, my doctor was on call that weekend. We also decided that if this didn't work, I would come in on February 13, 1999 at 9:30 am to be induced, this way my husband would definitely be there.
The morning of February 13 was the day my baby would be born. I arrived at the hospital at 10:30 am and was put on the monitor to monitor for contractions. Nothing was happening. At 11:30 am my doctor arrived and induced labour with the gel (I can't remember the name for it). She said she would be back at about 2:00 pm and if my water had not broken by then, that was our next step.
I proceed to walk up and down the hallway thinking that maybe I would be lucky and this would help bring on the contractions. I was definitely wrong. Back on the monitor, my contractions were coming but they were extremely far apart.
My doctor arrived at 2:30 pm and started to explain to me what she was going to do. She then broke my water at 2:45 pm and immediately following this, my contractions were coming very fast and furious. At about 3:30 pm I asked the nurse if I could get into the jacuzzi to ease some of the pain because I did not want any medication. She checked and I was only 4 cm dilated so they filled the jacuzzi and I got in at about 3:45 pm. The nurse told us that if I felt the need to push, to notify them right away. At 3:45 pm, already knowing what the feeling to push is like, I told my husband to get the nurse because I needed to push. She emptied out part of the water and checked and was extremely shocked to see that I was 10cm dilated and absolutely ready to push. They hurriedly took me out of the jacuzzi and tried to get me to walk back to the birthing room. As I was in the hall I told the nurse that I wanted to push and that was when my husband had to physically pick me up and run to my room. By now it was 3:52 pm. As I layed on the bed, I pushed once and her head came out. As I was relaxing between contractions, the nurse was unwrapping the umbilical cord from around her neck. It was wrapped around three times. As soon as she finished this (I didn't even push) my daughter Kalista was born. She was 5 lbs. 15 oz and 19 1/4 inches long. Perfect head, ten toes, ten fingers, etc., etc.
Because of her extremely quick birth, I hemmoraged very badly and the next day was transfused with 3 pints of blood. Immediately after her birth I lost almost 2 litres of blood. Dangerous level. My pulse dropped rapidly and on we went from there.
It was slightly depressing because when I got home I was so sick I could not even pick up my daughter or walk without someone helping me. Two weeks after, I was re-admitted into the hospital for an emergency D&C because I was hemmoragging again.
Kalista is now 5 months (July 13) and a wonderful little girl.
Thanks to you all for letting me share my story with you.
Victoria Mackisey
