Birth Announcement
She is here and is officially 1 week old today!!! Elise Maria Kuzma arrived two days early to my delight! My labour was 2 ½ hours long and she weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 21 inches long.
Mornings in my third trimester were a challenge I often felt nauseous and light headed till about noon. Acupuncture helped but rest was the best medicine. Rest however can sometimes be hard to come by when you have an active toddler!!
I woke July 13th and felt great. Finally the nausea had lifted. I had enough energy to take my toddler, Malcolm, for a walk to the local splash pad where we had a lovely morning together.
That afternoon I felt like having Mexican for dinner. I made homemade black bean burgers with garden salad, mango salsa and guacamole. We had our neighbour over for dinner, who we call her Malcolm’s bonus Grandma. It was the perfect day.
My husband John and I put Malcolm to bed around 8pm and started to wind down for the evening. I started pumping daily for 20 minutes at 37 weeks and three times a day at 39 weeks to help my body prepare for labour. Pumping causes the release of oxytocin a hormone that causes contractions during labour. This particular night I got some very strong Braxton hicks during my pumping session. About ½ an hour later I noticed a few more strong “Braxton Hicks” and I started to wonder if they were actual contractions. It was now around 9pm.
I turned to John and excitedly said tonight might be the night. I think I may be in labour. I decide to have an Epsom salt bath to see if I really was in labour. Often if it is false labour contractions will dissipate during a hot bath. I put on my hypnobirthing affirmation track and had a good ½ hour soak. When I got out of the bath it was very clear that I was in labour, as I was having frequent contractions. At this point the contractions were not lasting very long and they were easy to cope with.
John and I started to set everything up for our planned home birth.
½ an hour later around 10:30pm my labour was progressing. I had three strong contractions within 7 minutes and I instinctively knew it was time to page the midwife even though I hadn’t been labouring very long. John spoke with her and she said she would be there shortly after 11pm.
My contractions continued to get stronger and longer. I used the techniques from the hypnobirthing course I took to breathe through the contractions and stay positive. I vomited which they say is equivalent to an hour of contractions because you have to relax your pelvic floor in order to throw up. Then my water broke at 11pm right before the midwife showed up. There was meconium present so I knew we needed to check if the baby was in distress and decide if we needed to transfer to the hospital. Meconium was also present when Malcolm was born so I knew what to expect.
When the midwife arrived I told her about the meconium. She checked the baby’s heart rate and it was nice and strong. We decided to stay home since birth seemed imminent. The midwife started to set up her gear and called for a backup midwife. I had some urges to push but didn’t feel like I could until the other midwife showed up. She checked me around 11:20 pm and I was 10cm dilated.
The backup midwife arrived and I was ready to push. 3-4 good pushes and baby Elise was born at 11:36pm.
Our family of 3 was now a family of four and I was so happy to finally meet her and see her sweet face. Thankfully Malcolm slept through the whole thing. We introduced him to Elise the next morning. He calls her baby and loves giving her kisses.
My August Newsletter is focused on preparing for labour. I’ll be sharing some of the things I did to prepare and what I recommend to patients.