The story of Lukas

We're pleased to now present, for your reading pleasure, the story of the very early arrival of the newest Stisso. Enjoy!

On September 4th, I was very, very sick. I hadn’t had a ‘gallbladder’ attack since getting pregnant, but it was only a matter of time. My mom and I were supposed to go to the Spa together and get pedicures, but we had to cancel our appointments at the last minute. I was really upset because I was looking forward to having pretty toes! She ended up coming over and spending some time with me, and we decided to go buy some baby stuff nearby. Strangely enough, I wasn’t getting better (which normally happens within hours with these attacks) and I started wondering if all the side effects of being sick might cause me to go into labour. It was one month before my due date, and one week before we could have the homebirth, but I started thinking that preparing for an unexpected trip to the hospital might be in order. My mom agreed and helped me get a few last minute items.

I called the midwife office that afternoon, because both our midwives happened to be on vacation for the month of September (to return by the due date). I spoke to one of the midwives, who suggested that my gastro attack was being exacerbated by the pregnancy. She also guessed that the symptoms might bring on some hard Braxton-Hicks or even real contractions, but she assured me that I shouldn’t be going into labour at this point. She told me to take it easy and stay hydrated, and to call back the next day if things didn’t improve.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, but I still had a nagging feeling that we should prepare, just in case. I had Matiss install the carseat, and I packed a hospital bag. We went to bed like every other night, though I was still feeling off. Around 1:30am, I woke up to a little cramp in my belly. I went back to sleep, then noticed the exact same pain a few minutes later. I instinctively switched sides to see if it would help, but it returned at about the same interval. This roused me enough to sit up in bed, and that’s when I noticed that my water might had broken. I got up to check, and by the time I made it to the washroom, it was confirmed. I didn’t do much other than sit there and curse a bit (I needed one more week for my homebirth!), then I accepted what was happening, got up, and woke up Matiss. When I told him what had happened, he asked me if I was joking. I assured him I wasn’t, so we got up, had a chuckle, and paged a few midwives – not really knowing which one we should be talking to, since we hadn’t met our replacements yet. Jan was the first to call us back. She assured me that though unexpected (and requiring a few changes in plans), we were far enough along that the baby was likely fine, and we didn’t have to transfer care – in fact, we made it past that post by 1.5 hours, on the nose.

She came over to see how I was doing, and since I wasn’t really having any strong contractions (though they were fairly regular already), and given that I hadn’t eaten anything in 24 hours, she thought it would be best if we took some gravol, got some sleep, and take some homeopathic herbs in the morning to get things going (or else they would induce me at the hospital, which we did not want). We agreed it was a good idea, so we popped some pills and went to bed. It didn’t last long, though, because as soon as we hit the sheets, my contractions started getting stronger, and they were already 5 minutes apart, lasting a minute. I tried getting in the bath for a bit (we had to move our beautiful labour pool out of the way first….grrrr), but I was so uncomfortable that I got back out and just laid in bed, dozing between each contraction (thanks to the gravol). Matiss was right there with me (no snoozing for him), rubbing my back and staying quiet so I could sleep. We paged Jan to come back around 4am because things were not slowing down, and she told me I was completely effaced and 3cm. I was discouraged, given the strength of the contractions, and started questioning whether I’d be able to do this without drugs. She told us she’d be back between 9 and 10am to check up again, and then we’d talk about going to the hospital. Again, this was not what the baby had planned.

By 8am, I was having contractions lasting longer than a minute, coming every 4 minutes, and they were strong! I started pushing with each one involuntarily, so I told Matiss we needed to call Jan. I was so worried that I was going to screw things up by pushing, but when she checked me, I was almost 8cm! In less than four hours I had gone from early labour, through active labour, and into transition…and now we had to go to the hospital. This is when things got really interesting. Jan went on ahead to get our room ready, while poor Matiss was left packing the car and rushing to me every 3 minutes to hold me up while I moaned my way through each contraction. We left the house (to an audience of construction workers tearing up our street), me in a housecoat and not looking so pleased about the rush-hour drive we were about to make across town. Matiss was a champ, maneuvering through the traffic, rubbing my leg, and somehow managing to stay calm while I held on to the ‘shit handle’, screaming through each contraction and pushing more and more…at one point, I started wondering if I was going to make it to the hospital. We actually flew by our midwife’s car on the Queensway, but I didn’t care…I just wanted out of the car!

Matiss pulled up to emergency, threw on the hazards, and got me out of the car. He carried all our stuff, and had to drop it every two minutes so he could hold me while I somehow made it through a series of brutal contractions. I vaguely remember people in emergency staring at us, and the nurses were nice enough to just point us in the right direction without question. I guess the contractions slowed us down, because Jan went running by us as we made it to labour and delivery, and we had a room ready to go. I was so happy to be in bed again, but I was having crazy contractions, my back was killing me, and I was still pushing. Our second midwife, who we had met before, showed up, and when they checked me again, I was about half a centimeter away, and it didn’t take long to make it to 10cm. I had already been pushing so not much changed after that, other than some seemingly lengthier breaks between contractions, and a slight meltdown on my part.

I’m not going to lie here…I was seriously rethinking my decision to have a baby, and to forgo the epidural. I kept asking how much longer it would take, and when people wouldn’t give me an exact time, I was getting irritated. An OB came in the room to talk about whether I should take some antibiotics, and I remember wanting to kill him because he was so cheery and nice…I just wanted him to shut the hell up, heh heh. They had to send Matiss away to register us at the hospital, and those contractions I had without him were the worst for sure. Even when he was there, I was convinced that I could somehow will the contractions to stop – I didn’t care if I had to be induced later, I just wanted a break! Of course, this was ridiculous, as I could feel the baby moving down with each push. That’s the other thing I wasn’t really prepared for – how much pushing was involved. The midwives were so happy about how far we had progressed, and while I pictured an entire head had already emerged, they were telling me that they could see an area ‘about the size of a loony’. This was NOT what I wanted to hear, and suddenly the prospect of crowning was becoming very alarming indeed. The next phase is a bit cloudy – I remember a whole lot of cursing and screaming on my part, some indescribable, overwhelming sensations, and Matiss keeping me focused as well as he could. Two or three more pushes, and our came our baby boy.
Lukas Osvalds (“Ozzie”) Silins was born at 10:50am, weighed 5lbs, 11oz, and was 47cm long. I’m proud to say that his arrival was perpetuated without the help of any painkillers (though I certainly reconsidered my options on several occasions!). After spending three hours with him in the birthing room, snuggling and getting to know one another, the midwives realized he was breathing a bit funny, so we consulted a pediatrician who suggested that Lukas stay in the nursery and get some antibiotics. They checked him for infection, and although all signs indicated that he was getting better, we weren’t able to hold him for the first day he was in the nursery. It was very hard for both of us, but the next day we were able to hold him and feed him. A day later, after some haggling with the doctor, we were allowed to take Lukas home, where we all immediately fell into a happy life together. Our midwife, Jan, has been indispensible and we're so grateful to her for everything she's done and continues to do for us. She's become a great friend in all this.

It’s an understatement to say that Matiss and I are completely and utterly smitten and in love with this little man, who can scream remarkably loudly for such a little human. We never thought we could be so happy to be exhausted, disheveled, and up to our eyeballs in baby fluids. We look forward to each day we have with him, and it feels like we've known him forever. Let the adventures continue!