Uli's birth story...

So here goes...November 16th, 2014...

I believe I thoroughly screwed myself that evening when I was joking around at the night time Santa Claus parade  that we were attending that my water was going to break during the parade (it was so busy and we would have had a hell of a time getting to the car and out of town etc...). We went with my mom to the parade and it actually ended early at 6:30pm (was suppose to be done at 7:30pm). We drove my mom home (she lives a 3 minute drive away from our place) and then went home...it was past Felix's bedtime (7pm (ish) he goes to bed usually...falling asleep is another story) but he needed to eat and settle in a bit, so I started making him a grilled cheese sandwich quickly before bed.....it was 7:30pm....and then my water broke! Soooo we phoned my mom to tell her we would be dropping Felix off shortly (he would spend the night at her house) and I phoned the midwife....and burnt the grilled cheese.
It all went quite quickly after we got organized....I told her not to come right away (thought I would be labouring for a few hours...though my contractions started while I was on the phone with her). Justin headed out to drop Felix off at my mom's house and to grab us some take out (I had become obsessed in the last month of getting a festive chicken sandwich from Swiss Chalet when I went into labour...don't ask me why...I am a strange lady!) The midwife came an hour later (8:30pm) to check on me....did some checks (I was GBS positive again this time around, so she gave me the IV medicine for it) and she also checked how many centimeters I was...at that time I believe it was a generous 3cm. We decided she could go home and we would phone her once the contractions got harder....she left around 10pm (she lives very close by, thank goodness!). After she left I continued to try to eat my sandwich, but at that point I couldn't sit anymore than a few seconds...my contractions were getting more painful and frequent. I decided to head into the shower thinking it might help...I realized within a couple of minutes of being in there that the baby was coming quickly and got out asap....I don't remember getting dried off and dressed to be honest...the next thing I remember is being in our hallway and not being able to talk or stand up well during my contractions...at that point I went to lay down on our bed on my side. I closed my eyes (had them closed from then on until Uli was born) and laboured with Justin holding my hand (just like with Felix...I needed him to squeeze back as hard as possible...I used his hand (and him) as a counter pressure of sorts. Contractions were strong and less than a minute apart at that point (it just happened so fast)...I would have one big contraction (with soooo much pressure on my back area) followed by a smaller (more manageable) one....Justin phoned the midwife at 10:43pm (we looked at his phone later to figure out the timing ;) ) to get her back....I already felt like I had to push...she arrived at 10:56pm....needless to say, she was running around getting her equipment set up...the other midwife (they always have two) made it just in time while I was already pushing. During pushing, Uli's heart rate started dropping...the midwife had to do a quick episiotomy to get her out quickly. She said that had Uli not been "sunny side up" (posterior...babies that face upwards when born), she would have arrived even faster and it would have been Justin delivering her! I have since read more information on posterior births and I feel pretty bad ass having done one naturally to be honest ;)

Uli arrived at 11:55pm on November 16th, 2014...she weighed 6lbs 11oz and was 19.5 inches.

She was placed on my chest right away and started feeding like she had been doing it forever. It was quite surreal.

I still can't believe I had her at home....I did regret it about half way through labour! I believe I might have started to whimper when I realized it was too late to go to a hospital... 

I did have to go to the hospital a couple of hours after I had Uli...I had to get some "special" stitching done (the midwife can stitch you up, but this was a more delicate case I guess)...so we headed to the hospital for a couple of hours. It was all pretty serene actually....the first snow fall of the season...the streets were so quiet in the middle of the night on a Sunday/early Monday. The ambulance drivers (I had to be taken via ambulance, policy) were super nice...I rode in with the midwife and Justin followed in our car with Uli. We were back home by 4am, the midwife tidied up and left....and Justin, Uli and I hunkered down to sleep until about 10am the next day.....my mom took Felix to nursery school that morning....and Justin picked him up and he met his sister :) 

Having had both a hospital and a home birth now, it's interesting. I definitely prefer the home birth...even though it went so fast, it was nice to be around our things...

Having a midwife vs. a doctor/nurse...I felt more included in the decision making....it all felt like it was my decision(s) throughout the pregnancy, labour and birth. I did not feel like that when I had Felix. 

Maybe because I knew what to (somewhat) expect this time around with a newborn, or because I laboured naturally, or maybe just pure luck....I (knock on wood) have not been experiencing postpartum depression this time around. Mind you, I have had my little meltdowns...but those were definitely due to lack of sleep.

Felix has taken to being a big brother without any issues :) He is so good with Uli and sooooo sweet :)

*I didn't get to finish that damn chicken sandwich until the next day in the afternoon...it was worth it ;)