Going back to a few days before he was born....and off of my last blog post of our tough decision we went back and fourth and ultimately decided by the Monday to go back to our home birth plan. Late Wednesday I received a call from our specialist in Kamloops saying that Salmon Arm Lab had misplaced my blood work and we would not have the results back until closer to my due date and with Cholestasis usually ending in a stillbirth that I should come to Kamloops and be induced immediately. This phone call put me into a full blown panic and minor breakdown. It was mostly hard because I knew that there was a chance I don't have Cholestasis and that I would be forcing our baby out before it was ready and that can also cause complications. I tried so hard to hold it together as Joe wasn't home and I had Carsen. I phoned him and told him what was going on and he reminded me to call my midwife and see what my options were. After getting off the phone with my midwife she said if my gut was telling me to be induced that I should come to Kamloops Thursday and we would try to get labour started naturally with an induction drink and then book the induction for Friday if I wasn't already in labour.
So Thursday (March 4th) evening we left Carsen with my parents and headed to Kamloops packed and ready to come home with our new little bundle. We got to our midwifes, got some ingredients for an induction drink and went to one of my best friends who had offered to house us for the night. We got there and arrived to her oldest slicing open her forehead on the wall so they raced to the ER, we kept their youngest, ordered pizza and drank my concoction of nastiness. My contractions started shortly after and we all went to bed. I was up basically all night with these irregular contractions, the next morning we took the girls out for breakfast at Cora's where I received a phone call from my midwife saying that the lab in Vancouver received my blood work and I didn't have Cholestasis so there was no need to induce me. My feelings after hearing that were relief and disappointment as we had expected to leave Kamloops with a baby but I was so thankful our baby wasn't at risk. We went to the hospital anyway to do a non stress test and see how my contractions were. We got there early so we ran around the parkade for half an hour, up and down every stair case multiple times trying to strengthen my contractions! They were still irregular so we were sent back to Salmon Arm as there was a chance they could just peter off. All night Friday I contracted and got 0 sleep. Saturday we went on a beautiful walk with our friend Brett and Carsey then had a BBQ (STILL CONTRACTING). That night was UFC night and I got talked into attending a UFC party! We brought Carsen. I started bouncing on a yoga ball as soon as we got there. I could feel my contractions getting extremely close so I started to time them on an App (https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/smart-contraction-timer-labor/id877303791?mt=8) The app was telling me to go to the hospital but I refused to believe it as I had been contracting for what seemed like ever and I couldn't believe this could be it! As Conor McGregor starts fighting Nate Diaz Carsen tells me he needs to go to the bathroom, I was so close to telling Joe to go as my contractions were hurting so bad at this point! But I literally thought what if this gravity helps my water break. Well that's what happened... I was helping Carsen put his pyjamas back on and there went my water! All the guys couldn't believe it, they had been joking about it since the beginning of the party. Well Joe only got to watch less than 2 minutes of the fight and we raced Carsen to meet up with my parents and headed to the Salmon Arm hospital as we didn't know if we'd have enough time to make it to Kamloops. We arrived and they did a NST and checked my dilation where I was only 2cm dilated but fully effaced so they said if I wanted to go to Kamloops so my midwife could deliver the baby we better go NOW as it is my second baby and things tend to happen fast! Well by the time they told us to go it was going on midnight so we almost took there advice but raced through a Tim Hortons drive through, shortly after Joe drove through a red light and we figured out we were low on gas! Still contracting frequently I phoned all the gas stations we would be passing and they were all closed except for a Flying J's on the outside of Kamloops, we either had to turn around or take a chance! We took a chance and made it to the Flying J's - gassed up and pulled into the hospital. Almost immediately after being admitted my contractions stopped all together! I was so exhausted and so discouraged I couldn't believe it. The nurses told me to get some sleep and they would call my midwife if my contractions picked up again or first thing in the morning. Well I just wanted my flipping baby and I had to get my vitals checked every half an hour so needless to say I went on my 3rd night of not sleeping but Joe did! The next morning every minute that went by we waited to hear the game plan so we brain stormed boys names as we had 1 but weren't sold on it. They then told us we would start the Oxytocin at 11am. 11am never came so slow, but once we started there was no stopping us! At 1pm (after a nice walk around the hospital) my labour "officially" started. Joe was SO amazing through out it all, I couldn't of asked more of this amazing man. He knew exactly what to say and when. He helped me envision everything I needed and kept me calm through out the entire labour (until the pushing haha) and with a little pain medication (Fentanyl) at the end we welcomed our little man into the world at 5:58pm. It was so intimate, we only had our midwife Joanna, Joe and I. Joanna was AMAZING with helping me through the pushing, she said all the right things and kept me on my birth plan. Kiptyn came out fussing but not crying, you could feel his calm energy as soon as he was born. We delayed cord clamping and allowed me to have immediate skin to skin with him which was when I announced I felt balls. Joe was able to cut the cord and then have his skin to skin with Kip while I delivered my placenta. He then latched (breastfeeding) as soon as I got him back. We got him checked out and he looked perfect weighing 6lbs 14ozs, 47cms long. Joanna told our nurses to let us go at 10pm and we were home by midnight! We left the hospital with a nameless baby as we still weren't sure what this little guy's name was going to be. The next day we decided on Kiptyn Lars (after my uncle) Deziel.
