They Say It's Your Birth-Day

WonderBaby turns one today. At 3:23pm, precisely.

That precise notation of the time of her birth is important to me today, because it' marks the moment that I gave birth. Yes, it's her birthday. But it's my birthing day (thanks, Amber, for the apt description!), and I'm seizing the opportunity - while she is still too young to demand all of the attention - to make this day about me.

One year ago this morning, I was in labour. I had been in labour for nearly thirty hours - over twenty of those hours in very painful labour. When I arrived at the hospital (Women's College, Toronto) at 2am - after labouring dutifully at home until the contractions were eight minutes apart (I was supposed to wait until they were five minutes apart, but, um, screw that. I'd been suffering for going on 14 hours. I was done with being dutiful) - they praised me for being a trooper and (on my request) shot me up with an epidural (which, um? UNPLEASANT.) Which was great, me not being a hero and all, despite my pre-labour bravado about having an unusually high tolerance (HA) for pain. Great for about 4 hours, after which the epidural began to fail and I got thrust back into the pain of labour in its most painful (all the more painful for the oxytocin that was pushing the labour along) stages.

So the last 8 hours of labour were a blur of pain and determination. There were some complications (meconium in the amniotic fluid, WB facing backwards, knot in the cord) and so we - me, stalwart Husband, sweet Doula, and various labour nurses and OB's and respiratory specialists - were rushed into an operating room, where WonderBaby decided that it was, finally, time to emerge and popped out within minutes. 

I heard the respiratory therapist exclaim - before WonderBaby was even halfway out - that her eyes  were open. I heard someone else state that she was blond - a little yellow budgerigar, even at the first. Someone else asked - as she was rushed to the side to have breathing checked and APGAR and the like - if she had a name. Husband looked at me, and said her name, with a question mark.

Yes, I said, repeating her name. Yes.

So began the life of the WonderBaby, and my life as a mother.

And what a blessed life it is.

*********

There are some other November babies out there: Bub turned three the other day, and Mo-Wo and P-man's E just turned two. Happy birthday, lovelies. And happy birthing day, sweet mamas.

(Who am I missing? Any other Canadian babies born in November? Please leave links!)

Comments

[Lisa b]

Damn you are a trooper! If I got an epidural and it wore off I would have been pissed. My labour was pretty quick so I was lucky. Serioulsy though 8 hours of pain. No thank you.

I love, love, love the tiny little wonderbaby. You forget so quickly how small they were.

[Kath]

I know I've said it before, but I loves me a good birth-story! I don't think I'll ever tire of re-living the crucible of childbirth. To me, it was the most meaningful rite of passage in my life so far (short of being born, I suppose). It truly is a day of birth for both the babe *and* the mom.

Hope you enjoyed your birthing-day celebrations, Catherine!

[Sandra/Sunshine Scribe]

Happy birthday again to Wonderbaby! I am a November baby myself ... good women are born in November :)

[Haley-O]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WONDERBABY!! One of these days I have to record my birth story -- before I forget!!!

[Lady M]

It's totally about you, for the first birthday. I couldn't believe that I'd done it, thinking back to the actual birthing-day.

Happy Birthday to you and WonderBaby!

[bubandpie]

I really love this blog of yours, Catherine - it's such a cozy place.

Re: the epidural. You're so right about the best-before-four-hours thing: in Bub's case, that meant an additional four of hours of not-nearly-so-good relief, and in the Pie's case that meant the epidural loveliness was at its peak when she arrived (wonderful!). And I don't remember the insertion as being at all unpleasant, probably because of the unremitting body-crunching contractions that were going on at the time. The worst part was trying to hold still and worrying about paralysis if I didn't.

Not to hijack your post with my own birth stories!

I love the way you ended this post: that was the best moment for me too, saying the names of these small humans that we dreamed up and brought into being. Happy birthday, E.! I've been thinking of you all day.

[ali]

joshie turned 4 on november 2nd :)

congrats on your birthing day! how are you celebrating??

[LAVENDULA]

happy B day to both of you.for some there should be a special celebration just for getting through giving birth.anyways hope you both have a special day,full of love,joy and remembrance.

[gabriella]

Happy Birthday Wonderbaby! And a big happy birth day to you HBM, one year done!

[Jen]

Congratulations, Catherine, on your 1 year Birthing Day! Celebrate, reflect, give WonderBaby cuddles because, before you know it, it will be about her and the memory of pregnancy and labour will be so far away that it will seem like a story you were told not a memory of your own.