In Like a Lion; Sam's Birth Story

I had been unable to walk the last couple months of my pregnancy without having low abdominal pressure or having to go to the bathroom right away.  When I walked at Fringe Festival for over 2 and half hours I should have known Sam was coming sooner than later.  That night I awoke a couple times needing to go to the end of the bed to rest on all fours leaning on a pillow. At 6:45 am I had my first contraction.  The next one at 7am woke up Marc.  We knew we would be meeting our new baby boy very soon!  We called the midwife right away knowing that Soleil’s birth was only 5 hours and subsequent births could be half as long.  

At 7:10am I was downstairs eating some breakfast while I breathed through a couple of contractions.  By 7:30am the contractions were very intense so I went back upstairs to try to relax and breathe through them. I found it extremely difficult to focus on relaxing with all the commotion going on in our small townhouse condo.  I breathed through 2 more, and ended up screaming in my pillow for the rest of them.  Marc woke up his mom and dad who were visiting for the weekend. His dad began working on the last bit of pumping that was needed for the birthing pool. Marc was busy waking up Soleil, our inquisitive 3 year old daughter.  She was a little nervous about the loud noises coming from her mama and wondered why she couldn’t see me. Marc was also getting Gabie, his 11 year old daughter ready for her 9:30am flight home to B.C.   He was making sure she had everything packed and called my sister who we listed as the emergency backup to take Gabie who was listed as a minor.   While Marc was busily getting everyone ready and keeping them at a distance from me he was also trying to be supportive through my extremely painful contractions. Needless to say there was a lot going on and even though everyone was trying to be sensitive of the situation, I just needed a peaceful space! 

Marc continued to balance his time between supporting me through my contractions, which were coming intensely every 4 minutes, and getting everyone out the door.  I tried going into the bathtub because that helped so much with Soleil’s homebirth, but no matter what I did I couldn’t get comfortable and was unable to get into any kind of deep relaxation/meditative state.  I knew there was no way I was going to make it to the birthing pool.  

My sisters left with the grandparents, Gabie and Soleil to the airport around 8:15am.  The midwife showed up a couple minutes before they left.  She realized how far along I was and frantically called out to the second midwife to get her bag.  Marc was trying to help me breathe/relax, but he was still in a rushed state.  While in our bathroom upstairs I turned to him between contractions and told him I needed him to relax.  I then turned to the midwife and calmly asked her to relax because it was making it extremely difficult for me to relax.  They both took a deep breath and then were able to help guide things and slow down the remainder of the birth.   

On Aug 3, 2014, at 8:22am I caught my little leo, Samuel Grayson Lepage. He weighed 8 pounds 7oz and was 20in long.  He was crying a little but was he was easily soothed.   It was just as incredible as when I had birthed Soleil. Holding your child for the first time, meeting this incredible human being who has been growing inside of you for 9 long months is nothing short of miraculous. I held him on my chest for almost half an hour.  What an amazing, precious bonding experience.  

We waited about 45 minutes trying a few times to birth the placenta.  The standard time is 30 minutes and Soleil’s took 45 mins with a 5 hour birth.  The midwives were getting nervous that the placenta wasn’t coming. Marc was enjoying his bonding experience as he holding Sam shirtless. I was still very alert but lost some blood and was nowhere near ready to birth the placenta.  After an hour had gone by we agreed with the midwife to call an ambulance to go to the hospital. Marc and I decided our goal was to home birth Sam and we had already done that.  And the midwives were strongly suggesting we go just as a precaution.   

The midwives and ambulance guys had a few disagreements about some protocol concerns. After a short while we were on our way.  I was still very alert at this time.  I asked if someone was getting my water bottle and everyone kept telling me yes, that someone else would get it.  But I knew that the person that they said was to get it wasn’t going to (they typically don’t like delivering mothers to drink water in case surgery is needed). As I was on the stretcher, about to get put on to the ambulance, I asked them how Marc and Sam were coming. The midwife and ambulance guys said that he was going to follow in our vehicle. I told them my sister took our vehicle with Soleil. They called to Marc and he got the car seat ready and Sam went for his first ride sitting beside Marc in the ambulance.  Sam was so content and slept most of the way.  

In the delivery room everyone was so nice. But I didn’t expect the placenta to be just as painful, if not more, than birthing Sam. I remember letting out a really loud scream and the doctor told me that it wouldn’t help.  I didn’t really pay any attention.  It helped me and that’s all that mattered at that point. They ended up giving me 3 doses of Fentanyl, which wears off fast and doesn’t affect breast milk. It was some pretty great medicine! I remember closing my eyes and thinking of all the things I was thankful for.  I told the staff, “I know it might be the drugs, but thank you for your help.” Marc, Sam, and I hung out in the room for a few hours until I was able to go into a wheel chair to go to my room 
 
At first, the nurse said we only had to be there until 10am the next day. But when the test results came back the next day they said my hemoglobin was so low I needed to stay another day. If it wasn’t going to increase I was going to need a blood transfusion.  We also found out Sammy had cephalohematoma (2 raised bumps on either side of his head from being delivered so quickly).  His head looked like the shape of a heart.  Everyone wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay, just as a precaution. I knew everything would be fine and was pretty calm considering, but I still asked my friend, Joanne Mueller to do a distant reiki treatment on both Sam and I. It was pretty cool because I could tell she was working on Sam and me by our breathing. He also slept so deep and peaceful following the treatment.  

The first day at the hospital wasn’t so bad.  It felt like a stay at a low end hotel. It was nice to do nothing but snuggle with my new baby boy. We had a visit from my sisters and Marc’s parents.  I had tears in my extremely puffy eyes when I saw how excited Soleil was and how much love she had for her new baby brother.  Soleil was curious as to what happened during his birth, why she couldn’t see me, why I was screaming, and why I was in the hospital.  I had a lot of answers to share with her. Although I tried to prepare her as best I could before I had Sam she still needed a lot more reassurance for her inquisitive mind.  

By day two at the hospital I was more than ready to go home.  Because my hemoglobin was low I needed to increase my iron. The menu was not conducive to an iron rich diet. In fact, some meals it was quite the opposite.  I made sure to ask Marc to bring me an iron filled burger from the cafeteria along with some orange juice to help with the absorption of iron! I was shocked that the maternity floor, with plenty of nursing mothers also didn't even have decaffeinated tea or even decaffeinated coffee. 
We were getting visits every 4 hours from the nurses to test blood pressure, temperature, and head measurements.  There was also the cleaning staff, laundry, meal delivery, beverage, and random checks.  It was a lot of interruptions when we just needed rest. There was this one nice lady who came in to clean the floors with a mop. I had a friendly conversation with her while I pretended she had a sanitary mop that never entered anyone else’s germ filled room and the cleaner in the bucket magically killed 100% of all the germs.  However, when she coughed without covering her mouth I wished I had two ruby red slippers that could take me home instantly.   A lady came by to do a routine ear test for Sam. She did one ear and said it was negative, but that they typically come back that way. Why on earth are they doing tests that are typically negative anyway?! She said I could go to this place and retest his ears.  Yeah, like I was going to do that.  If he has issues hearing I will be able to tell soon enough and I will contact the necessary people at that point.  Then I had a routine check by the nurse.  She asked if two male students could stay.  I agreed. I mean it was just the same old check, right?  Wrong! She checked everything in front of them.  She hadn’t checked everything since the first check. If I would have known I sure wouldn’t have agreed. I’m not a shy person, but I felt I was just a body to be studied and my privacy was invaded. I know I could have said no, but I had already said yes. There was no way I was going to stay another day in this place whether they wanted me to or not.  I thought, why in the world would anyone WANT to go out of their way to have a baby here?!  It is so unrelaxing, invasive (even to me who isn’t a private person), and full of unhealthy, unknowledgeable people.  I needed to heal and the best way I know how is with a healthy diet cooked with the love of chef Marc and plenty of rest in my own bed.

On check out day I couldn’t have been happier!  Sam was so alert and content while we got him dressed to go home.  All the way home he was quiet and alert as he was looking around.  It was so surreal to take him home. It was much more peaceful, quiet and snuggly spending time with my new baby boy in the comfort of my home.  When the aunties brought Soleil from her fun filled day she was so excited to see her new baby brother at home. Thank you to aunties!!  What would we ever do without them?

Six months later and Sam is still an amazing baby.  He is so happy and content.  There were no breastfeeding issues, minimal postpartum issues, and most of all I feel as though his birth has reset my body in so many positive ways.  I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and was matter-of-factly told I couldn't have any more children, but it was good cause I already had one. Seven months, a few simple, natural life style changes and I was surprised to be pregnant without trying.  I may not have planned to have another baby quite yet, but I'm so very lucky that Sammy choose me to be his mama. He may have come in like a lion, but our Sammy is snuggly and calm as a lamb!