Cormac’s birth story:
Cormac Alexander Crawford H. was born fast and furious on January 18th 2006, 1 day before his due date and a week or two before we actually expected him to make an appearance.
I began having mild regular contractions the night before (the 17th) they lasted throughout the night and all the next day, but were never strong and didn’t change there pattern. I chalked it up to more pre-labour, and other than being a bit frustrated and tired didn’t give it much thought. Rohan and I spent the day together at home just hanging out and playing.
Pat came home from school about 4 and I decided to go for a walk with the dog to get out of the house and have a few minuets to myself. We went for a short walk around the neighborhood, I was still having contractions but even with walking they weren’t changing at all. When I came home we made dinner, and as we were setting the table I went upstairs to pee. My water broke while I was sitting on the toilet, though I wasn’t sure until I stood up and there was a big gush. My labour with Rohan also started with my water breaking. There was a fair bit of me conium in the fluid which scared me a little.
I cleaned up as best I could and went downstairs and told Pat. I was anticipating this labour was going to be faster than Rohan’s but didn’t know how fast. We called my mom and the midwife and told them what had happened and asked them to come over. Darlene (the midwife) told us that she would come right over and check me out but to prepare myself that we may have to transfer to the hospital because of the meconium. She also gave us the numbers of the other two midwives who would be attending (neither of whom we had met previously, they were sup post to be coming to our visit that weekend). She told us to call them if the contractions started coming at 5 min apart.
This all happened around 6 o’clock. I decided to sit down at the table and have some dinner while I still could, but as soon as I sat down I had another big gush of fluid, so I decided to take my soup and go eat in the tub. This is where things started to get a bit crazy and my time perception gets a bit whacky. I went upstairs, but basically the contractions started getting more intense at this point. I gave up eating and turned on the shower, I called Pat to ask him to set Rohan up with a video and start getting ready. By the time he did that and came upstairs, I was in full on labour, I told him to call Darlene back and tell her things were picking up and she should come right away. I felt a bit silly at this point calling everyone, in the back of my mind I though I would still have a long labour and would make everyone come in a panic for nothing. While Pat called my mom and the midwives I was trying to time my contractions and had 3 in 5 min, so they must have been about 2 min apart.
In some ways this was the worst part of the labour for me, while the pain was still quite manageable, I was laboring by myself because Pat was the only one there with Rohan and was trying to set everything up. And I was worried that we were going to have to transfer etc….My mom and Darlene arrived shortly thereafter, so my mom was able to take over with Rohan, and I moved to the bedroom with Pat and Darlene so she could have a listen to the baby heart rates. After doing a quick assessment and consulting with the second midwife they decided it was fine for me to stay there.
I was very relieved and at that point pretty much gave over completely to focusing on the labour. I could still hear lots of getting ready activity around me as the midwives set up their equipment and my dad came to pick up the dog. I also could hear my mom and Rohan coming in and out of the room and talking, but I was really focused on getting through the contractions. I knew it was going fast but wasn’t sure how fast, the last time I looked at the clock it was 7:45 and I think that’s about when I started to transition, I had only been laboring for about an hour and a half. At that point I changed positions from sitting to sort of rolling over on some pillows. Pushing started shortly thereafter and at some point one of the midwives went and got Rohan and my mom to see the birth. I think I pushed for about 15 or 20 min and the baby was born at 8:15. When his head was born Rohan declared to everyone that the baby had eyes and was quite excited to hear him cough. He was quiet and stuck close to my mom who was talking to him throughout, but seemed fine with the whole thing, though he was hesitant to come over to see me when it was all over.
Cormac was born at 8:15 and was a unresponsive for about 15 seconds. The MW’s immediately clamped the cord and took him over to the table to stimulate him. He perked up quickly after that but after ten min or so with me his breathing still hadn’t totally regulated. The MW’s said sometimes it takes them longer to adjust after a very fast birth, but they wanted to take him to the hospital anyway to have him checked out and just to make sure he hadn’t inhaled any meconium.
Things get a little crazy again at this point because they called an ambulance so there was soon 8 attendants in our bedroom and they whisked the baby away when I was still too weak to really get up. My mom took Rohan home for the night at this point and Pat went with Cormac to the hospital. I stayed there with the midwife for about an hour, eating something and doing my exam. This was a hard hour as I wanted to be with the baby but was also still really weak and disoriented, I knew things were ok with the baby (i.e.: not an emergency but they were just checking him out.) But overwhelmed at having to get up and go deal with the hospital at this stage of the game.
Regardless, things were fine at the hospital, they gave him some oxygen and checked his lungs, but otherwise didn’t do anything, and by the time we got there, they wanted me to stay for a few min to make sure he would nurse as he was rooting quite a bit by then, but otherwise we were free to go. So we went to a nice private room with a big chair and couch and Cormac nursed for about an hour, then Pat’s mom came with the car seat and we all headed home. Got home around 11:30, had some dinner, and headed off to bed.
Since then we have just been resting and nursing. Rohan is doing great and loving being a big brother, though acting out a bit in other ways. Cormac is fabulously cute and very laid back just like his big brother was……..
Cormac Alexander Crawford H. was born fast and furious on January 18th 2006, 1 day before his due date and a week or two before we actually expected him to make an appearance.
I began having mild regular contractions the night before (the 17th) they lasted throughout the night and all the next day, but were never strong and didn’t change there pattern. I chalked it up to more pre-labour, and other than being a bit frustrated and tired didn’t give it much thought. Rohan and I spent the day together at home just hanging out and playing.
Pat came home from school about 4 and I decided to go for a walk with the dog to get out of the house and have a few minuets to myself. We went for a short walk around the neighborhood, I was still having contractions but even with walking they weren’t changing at all. When I came home we made dinner, and as we were setting the table I went upstairs to pee. My water broke while I was sitting on the toilet, though I wasn’t sure until I stood up and there was a big gush. My labour with Rohan also started with my water breaking. There was a fair bit of me conium in the fluid which scared me a little.
I cleaned up as best I could and went downstairs and told Pat. I was anticipating this labour was going to be faster than Rohan’s but didn’t know how fast. We called my mom and the midwife and told them what had happened and asked them to come over. Darlene (the midwife) told us that she would come right over and check me out but to prepare myself that we may have to transfer to the hospital because of the meconium. She also gave us the numbers of the other two midwives who would be attending (neither of whom we had met previously, they were sup post to be coming to our visit that weekend). She told us to call them if the contractions started coming at 5 min apart.
This all happened around 6 o’clock. I decided to sit down at the table and have some dinner while I still could, but as soon as I sat down I had another big gush of fluid, so I decided to take my soup and go eat in the tub. This is where things started to get a bit crazy and my time perception gets a bit whacky. I went upstairs, but basically the contractions started getting more intense at this point. I gave up eating and turned on the shower, I called Pat to ask him to set Rohan up with a video and start getting ready. By the time he did that and came upstairs, I was in full on labour, I told him to call Darlene back and tell her things were picking up and she should come right away. I felt a bit silly at this point calling everyone, in the back of my mind I though I would still have a long labour and would make everyone come in a panic for nothing. While Pat called my mom and the midwives I was trying to time my contractions and had 3 in 5 min, so they must have been about 2 min apart.
In some ways this was the worst part of the labour for me, while the pain was still quite manageable, I was laboring by myself because Pat was the only one there with Rohan and was trying to set everything up. And I was worried that we were going to have to transfer etc….My mom and Darlene arrived shortly thereafter, so my mom was able to take over with Rohan, and I moved to the bedroom with Pat and Darlene so she could have a listen to the baby heart rates. After doing a quick assessment and consulting with the second midwife they decided it was fine for me to stay there.
I was very relieved and at that point pretty much gave over completely to focusing on the labour. I could still hear lots of getting ready activity around me as the midwives set up their equipment and my dad came to pick up the dog. I also could hear my mom and Rohan coming in and out of the room and talking, but I was really focused on getting through the contractions. I knew it was going fast but wasn’t sure how fast, the last time I looked at the clock it was 7:45 and I think that’s about when I started to transition, I had only been laboring for about an hour and a half. At that point I changed positions from sitting to sort of rolling over on some pillows. Pushing started shortly thereafter and at some point one of the midwives went and got Rohan and my mom to see the birth. I think I pushed for about 15 or 20 min and the baby was born at 8:15. When his head was born Rohan declared to everyone that the baby had eyes and was quite excited to hear him cough. He was quiet and stuck close to my mom who was talking to him throughout, but seemed fine with the whole thing, though he was hesitant to come over to see me when it was all over.
Cormac was born at 8:15 and was a unresponsive for about 15 seconds. The MW’s immediately clamped the cord and took him over to the table to stimulate him. He perked up quickly after that but after ten min or so with me his breathing still hadn’t totally regulated. The MW’s said sometimes it takes them longer to adjust after a very fast birth, but they wanted to take him to the hospital anyway to have him checked out and just to make sure he hadn’t inhaled any meconium.
Things get a little crazy again at this point because they called an ambulance so there was soon 8 attendants in our bedroom and they whisked the baby away when I was still too weak to really get up. My mom took Rohan home for the night at this point and Pat went with Cormac to the hospital. I stayed there with the midwife for about an hour, eating something and doing my exam. This was a hard hour as I wanted to be with the baby but was also still really weak and disoriented, I knew things were ok with the baby (i.e.: not an emergency but they were just checking him out.) But overwhelmed at having to get up and go deal with the hospital at this stage of the game.
Regardless, things were fine at the hospital, they gave him some oxygen and checked his lungs, but otherwise didn’t do anything, and by the time we got there, they wanted me to stay for a few min to make sure he would nurse as he was rooting quite a bit by then, but otherwise we were free to go. So we went to a nice private room with a big chair and couch and Cormac nursed for about an hour, then Pat’s mom came with the car seat and we all headed home. Got home around 11:30, had some dinner, and headed off to bed.
Since then we have just been resting and nursing. Rohan is doing great and loving being a big brother, though acting out a bit in other ways. Cormac is fabulously cute and very laid back just like his big brother was……..
