My Birth Story – Part 1 My Week Long Labour

My second daughter Glorianne was born at 37 (+4) weeks and weighed a tiny 5lb 2oz. I had a natural VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section) in the hospital. Today I want to share Part 1 of Glorianne’s birth story – my week-long labour process. 

The Scare

I’d been extremely thankful that my pregnancy had been smooth and uneventful this second time around. But at 36+3 weeks, I woke up in the middle of the night and found my pad soaked with dark red blood.

As I sat on the toilet, more blood gushed out. I panicked. I called my hubby awake. I was frozen with fear.

Thoughts rushed in my mind. Is my baby okay? When was the last time I felt her move? Does she need to come out soon?

This would’ve been terrifying for any mom-to-be. But for me, the trauma was that it brought me back to my first birth experience where I was woken up to unexpected heavy bleeding at 32 weeks and then whisked to an emergency c-section less than an hour later.

Here’s a spoiler – everything was okay. But keep following my birth story to see how Glorianne kept us on our toes for the next week with this week-long labour.

Am I In Labour?

The funny thing about traumatic experiences is that you don’t realize how much it’s really affected you until it sneaks up on you unexpectedly. I never thought twice about my first birth experience, especially not in a negative light. But let me tell you, reliving the experience brought a sudden and deep fear.

George called the ambulance (which we now believe was overkill). It’s because I had placenta previa with my last pregnancy, meaning any movement would aggravate the bleeding even more. The paramedics came quickly and brought me to North York General Hospital. We arrived at the all-too-familiar labour and delivery unit. 

I was hooked up to the monitor and IV quickly. I was getting contractions that eventually came to about every three minutes. I was 70% effaced and 2.5 cm dilated. I was admitted and everyone was preparing me for labour.

But after 15 hours of monitoring, my contractions had subsided and the bleeding stopped. 

This was the first of five hospital runs in the next nine days. 

My Long Early Labour

My long early labour process is probably one of the most mentally and emotionally challenging experiences I’ve ever gone through. Early labour is the first phase of the first stage of labour. Apparently, it typically lasts 8-12 hours although it varies with every woman. 

Mine lasted 9 days and I was seriously tripping out.

Contractions are painful! They feel like strong menstrual cramps that come cyclically every few minutes. My contractions came hand in hand with bleeding (apparently due to my overly sensitive cervix) and a strong urge to pee. For the first few days, my contractions had a pattern of escalating at nighttime and disappearing during the day. I guess they weren’t “real” labour contractions since they disappeared after 6 hours but boy, did they hurt. They were also very rhythmic, ranging from 3 to 10 minutes. It was all very confusing. 

The anticipation was a struggle. Something about just not knowing when baby was coming really messed with me psychologically.

This was my thought: if I was already in this much pain and I’m not close to active labour, how on earth would I survive the next few days (or weeks God forbid). It was difficult to get through even just one day at a time. 

Since my cramps were their worst at night, I started getting extremely anxious around bedtime. I’m sure the anxiety didn’t help to ease my pain. I don’t think I slept for more than an hour at a time that whole week. Anticipating the next wave of contractions was nerve-wracking. I was exhausted and emotionally drained. I was so envious of my hubby sleeping peacefully beside me.

By then, I didn’t feel confident in my ability to take care of my toddler by myself anymore. Luckily George had taken a week off. When he went back to work, my parents took turns staying home with me. I hated not being able to enjoy the last few days with Rosie alone.

On a Wednesday night, I did another hospital run as my contractions progressed even more. We were already familiar faces to the nurses and they were cheering us on. Tonight might be the night! Since our last visit was 3 days ago and I was already 4 cm dilated then, it made sense that I should’ve progressed into active labour by now. 

The doctor came and assessed me.

4 cm. No change in the past three days.

I was shocked.

The nurse could tell we were discouraged. She affirmed that since it’s technically my first (natural) birth, my body is taking longer to prepare and adjust for labour. I was given a morphine and gravol shot to temporarily take away the pain. At least it’d give me 4 hours of sleep. It was the best sleep I’d had all week.

This is the first half of my birth story featuring my frustrating week-long labour. Stay tuned for PART 2 of my birth story next week. I didn’t want to be “the girl who cried wolf” anymore so I didn’t want to go back to the hospital. I almost didn’t make it in time!