28.9.12

Oli's Birth Story {part 3}

Since it was a Saturday, there seemed no reason not to head to the hospital - Brad was able to watch Lily and I knew my OB was working. Win-win. I was excited to leave the house alone too, so I got dressed up (you know life is in a tough stage when you get excited to go to the hospital because it means you can wear "real people" clothes and get fresh air!) and hopped on the bus.

Yes, I took the bus to the hospital to deliver my son. This makes people laugh a lot but I assure you, I was not in active labour and didn't think I would be birthing my son that day so I was thankful for the scenic, direct bus ride from our closest intersection to the hospital. It was late October after all (read: most beautiful time in Montreal), and I'd been bed-ridden for the three weeks prior.

When I got to the hospital I told the attendings that I was a patient of Dr. Hall and tons of people kept saying "oh she's working today! lucky you!" which I agreed :) However the same amount of health care professionals kept saying I probably wasn't in labour since I was completely fine, feeling nothing, and the more I recounted the 3am tale, the more it sounded like I wet the bed. Humiliating.

When I saw my doctor (about 30 minutes after I arrived) she was happy to see me and cute as ever. I love that woman! And visibly pregnant with her twins! For those moms out there, you know how you feel a bond between yourself and other pregos when you're pregnant? Totally happening! She, along with some adorable McGill med students, did an exam and tested the scant fluid to see if it was run-of-the-mill fluid or my "waters" (as if my water did break at 3am it wasn't fully so there would still be some to measure).

Dr. Hall came back excitedly just 15 minutes later with the test results. "Emily, amazing news! You are having this baby today! Your water did break!" I don't care how unprofessional it may sound that she seemed giddy - I loved it and her! "Oh good! I didn't wet the bed!" I blurted out and laughter ensured in the pregnancy ward triage. I was surrounded by amazing people and I was about to have my son!

They quickly ushered me into the delivery room and broke my water immediately - what was left of it. Because part of it had broken over 15 hours ago, there wasn't time to waste. I called Brad and told him to get Erika over stat as I was changing into my gown. He rushed around doing last minute things for Lily and trying to get a hold of our on-call babysitter, but she was no where to be found. After leaving a few texts and answering machine messages we began to get nervous. And I was starting to feel slight (this time, real!) contractions.

So there I was. Definitely in labour (yes!), with no childcare for my daughter and no husband by my side (gulp)...

2 comments:

  1. Haha... what a great story. I didn't know that you had taken the bus to the hospital!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous15.10.12

    Where's the last part to the story!?
    :)Kristal

    ReplyDelete