Lets rewind the clock, to one year ago. The Pilon family had embarked on a mission to become a four-person, two dog, and handful of fish family. Four would fit comfortably into a four seater car. Four would fit nicely into a two bedroom house, with a brave basement renovation to take place. You get the picture - we were happy with four, and as a married couple we both felt fulfilled and happy and comfortable with our two girls.
So what you're thinking, is where did number 3 arrive? Well, shortly after the conversation commenced discussing how to complete a family logistically!
The nausea was settling in, as it would with most cycles but it appeared to have more waves of up than normal. I suspected pregnancy with most cycles, but with this one I was in pure denial. Which meant that I figured out I should test, what the heck, just to make sense of it all. It was positive. Oh my.
I kept the secret for all of six hours. It was a day off for me, hubby was at work doing overtime. I went and had my nails done and was literally bursting to tell my friend. I figured I should tell the one person who was going to explode first, just to make sure. As soon as the nails were done, I ran downtown to the office to tell daddy the news. We were shaking... the emotions kinda went up, then down, then up again... what about vehicles, money, being sick a third time with hyperemesis? Where were we going with this whole family-being-done thing?
Then it started. I was sick pretty much from the early test. We had our date, end of June, and just rolled with that. We worked together to slowly get our life into another gear. Very, very slowly. The first ER visit was a little scary, everything seemed to be normal blood work wise. I ran out with a prescription (no Zofran, only Diclectin) and made the right connections. Luckily, a package arrived in the mail with extra Diclectin to help me triple the dose and get it under control.
This time I had lots of help from a doctor of natural medicine. We did regular IV bags of fluids and vitamins. I weathered the kidney infections quite well this time. The only new territory was severe headaches and severe swelling from early second trimester.
We had a midwife this time as well. Bridget was excellent from day one. I felt in great hands. We were suspect to have a home birth - then not, then on, then off, then unsure, then definitely, and finally DENIED a few days before the birth.
Birth was... six weeks long. Prodromal labour, yet ANOTHER occipital presentation "stuck" in the canal. Stop/start of labor, every Sunday (not really sure why) and Saturday.
It was a Tuesday, I was cranky and took Kayah for a walk around the block. By the time I was home we had awoken the contractions. My plug had been gone for weeks, so I was expecting it to happen. I got into the house and knew it was time to make the calls. Went to our regularly scheduled appointment and met with the new midwife. T stripped my membranes, told us to call when the action started. We dropped off Kayah and went home to have a baby.
By six o'clock we were off. We called the midwife - still only 2-3 cm but contractions were quite hard and very regular. We were told to relax for a bit, eat and rest (yeah right) and bath regularly. I bet I ran the tub five times in the day already. By eight we were definitely too far gone and almost forgot to call. The midwife called us to remind us that she was waiting for our call. She popped by and yep - 5cm, we could start collecting ourselves and make our way to the hospital within the hour. At this point we had completely forgot to call our doula, I could not focus enough to call and my husband most likely felt in control. After a few more bathroom grunts, we got into the vehicle. Smooth jazz on the radio... and then GUSH went the bag about four blocks from home. It wasn't a relief, like some say. I was in full blown "I'm pushing" as we drove to the hospital. And of course, nowhere to park... other than a block from the ER doors.
I was probably waddling as fast as I could, there was a head between my legs. The line up to register was a little long. No wheel chairs and no friggin way was I walking. I was wailing, moaning, making amniotic puddles... and up comes a bariatric wheelchair that does not work well. The porter zooms us upstairs.
What I remember is being told to undress, climbing onto a bed, and pushing three times. There was the baby. And my midwife was kinda wandering the whole time we were driving there looking for the birth pool and expecting a few more hours of labor. She almost missed the birth! There he was, in all of his glory, a skinny little bean named Jonas. The midwife kept calling him a girl (we found out later she had been at a birth all night and was in a car accident in the morning! No wonder).
We didn't get our home birth. We didn't get our water birth... but I was settling at the time for what we got. We stayed the night, went home first thing in the morning (around 11 am). It was the hottest day of the year to that point, a very warm day indeed!
So far, four months in, it hasn't been so bad. Jonas likes to sleep and eat and fart like a trucker. We deal with puking, spitting up, and everything baby. He's almost four months and we are in love and adjusting to family life. Today we finally have a vehicle to fit us all.
I'm happy, and I think now we can say we're complete.
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