Little Leeroy's Birth Story

In honour of my little Leeroy being 11 days old today, I thought I'd take the time to write out his labour and delivery story!

It's true what they say about how easy it is to forget the nitty gritty details the moment your baby enters the world.

The transitioning out of the workplace, the seemingly never-ending waiting, the on and off contractions, the moment where you realize.. it's finally time to go to the hospital, it all kind of slips your mind the second you set eyes on your little one.

At least, that's how it happened for me. So here I go trying to rack my brain for all the J.R.R. Tolkein-like descriptive details in order to remember this time for the years to come.

A little backstory...

I stopped working on Wednesday, January 30th. It was a weird transition to home life while Riley still went in to work every day.

My week and a half wait was spent nesting. I swear I must have re-organized everything in my entire apartment, if not twice. I watched Netflix shows like Yummy Mummies (lol... fitting), I read, and I did Sudokus. What a life!

It would have been nice to go outside and take some walks, but fortunately for me, this was the week that ice hit the streets of Montreal. It was less than safe for a pregnant lady to be frolicking around.

At my 39-week doctor's appointment, I had already progressed to 3cm dilated and 90% effaced. Which, for those of you who don't speak pregnant-lady, means things had already kicked into gear slowly but surely before my 40 weeks were up.

As my due date, February 11th, approached, I was feeling anxious to meet our baby son. Riley could tell it was taking a toll on me and he witnessed how little sleep I was getting due to my bulging belly.

I had been experiencing contractions at random that were as close as 7 minutes apart consistently for a couple days before my due date. This left me discouraged as every contraction had me thinking: "Is this the one that will set me into active labour??"

It was a long wait... and the wait seems even longer when you're carrying a hunk of love in your tummy.

However, the day finally arrived.

February 11th, 2019

Riley went to work as per usual and I was off to my daily routine (see above).

9:18am

I had started getting contractions that were steadily 5 minutes apart. I informed Riley and thought we still had a bit of waiting to do. I wasn't convinced after all my hopes were trashed on previous days.

11:30am

Once I had experienced a good two hours of 5-minute contractions, I called the hospital nurse line and explained my situation. The lady on the line convinced me to take a bath, walk around, have something to eat, etc. These were all the things they would have had me do at the hospital, and I agreed it would be much more comfortable for me to go through the motions at home.

All activities checked off (I did over 1000 steps pacing my kitchen and dancing around as a mega effort), I went back to my routine and waited. Contractions were still 4-5 minutes apart.

1:38pm

I decided to Facetime my mom (having contractions throughout our chat) who told me that the moment I have to lean on something to support myself throughout a contraction and that I couldn't comfortably breathe through it, it was GO TIME.

Coincidentally, that moment sunk in almost immediately after I ended our call.

1:52pm

The contractions hit me like a tidal wave.

They started coming 3 minutes apart, lasting for a minute and a half. I immediately called Riley and told him I thought it was best that he came home. After calling the hospital line and trying to make it through a 2-minute phone call in order to tell the attendant to have my file ready and waiting upon our arrival, I threw on my coat and shoes between contractions.

It was the longest 10-minute wait EVER as Riley made his way home from work.

We could not have gotten to the hospital fast enough. Luckily, we seemed to get every green light on our way there. I wouldn't have known for sure since my eyes were closed almost the entire time.

I'll embarrassingly admit that I hit a few high notes on the car ride over (as Riley loves to remind me) trying to make it through the increasingly painful contractions that were coming with little to no break in between at that point.

2:32pm

The walk to the maternity ward from the parking lot was ENDLESS. I feel like my eyes were closed almost the entire way, which makes me wonder how I actually got there in one piece.

Riley reluctantly sped ahead (one of the couple times I "snapped" at him as he kept trying to walk patiently beside me), as per my instructions, to alert the nursing staff that we needed a room ASAP.

I'll never forget laughing as Riley told the lady behind the desk "Hi, my wife is basically giving birth right now."

2:41pm

I changed into a stylish hospital gown and someone came to check my progress. I was already bordering 6cm dilated, so we got a room right away.

Room #111.

It was going to be a good delivery.

3:00pm

What seemed like minutes later, I was getting an epidural during a painful contraction. I was surprised at how still I was able to be. I did my best to suck it up and not cause any problems for the anesthesiologist who (I'd been warned) could be a bit of a grouch.

However, he was perfectly pleasant with us, and even was able to offer a kind smile before leaving (something that impressed virtually the entire nursing staff in our room since apparently "that never happens").

While the numbness slowly worked its way through my lower half, I was hooked up to an IV and some penicillin. I was instructed I needed to wait a cool four hours for the penicillin to kick in and protect little baby upon his arrival in the world.

I told the nurse I was feeling a bit of pressure below, but otherwise was quite comfortable. She checked me again, and I had already progressed to a 9cm.

Things were moving quickly...

Our saving grace was the fact that my water hadn't broken yet. As long as it could stay intact, the nursing staff was confident my body wouldn't start pushing on its own. I got an extra dose of *something* to further numb my entire legs so I wouldn't feel any pressure anymore.

After that.. we waited.

3:56pm

It was a perfect time to make some calls and send some messages to friends and family to update them on where we were.

It all happened so fast! I was fighting to keep him in until at least 7:15pm when they said they'd break my water if it didn't do so naturally by then.

-- Time passed so quickly even though it was a four-hour wait. Our nurse was so friendly and funny. She really made it a pleasant experience and I was so numb that I felt no pain for the entire wait time. Pretty lucky! --

7:15pm

The doctor came in to break my water since I had successfully gotten all the penicillin in my system.

7:20pm

The nurse said we could start trying to push to practice for the real deal. With every contraction, I held my breath and pushed as hard and as efficiently as I could.

A little too efficiently...

After only a few contractions, the nurse had to call the doctor since the baby was so close to being born, she wasn't comfortable me pushing without the doctor present anymore.

A team of people came flooding into our room, and before I knew it, I was pushing on command since I still couldn't fully feel my contractions.

7:45pm

I pushed one last time and our baby son was lifted into the air by our doctor. His eyes were wide open and he was looking around, super alert and surprisingly quiet!

Riley and I were parents to our baby son: Leeroy Jack Wallace.

They put him on my chest and I just couldn't believe he was ours!! I barely remember the words that came out of my mouth, but Riley tells me it was a loop of "oh my goodness, he's so cute! he's our baby! he's so cute!"

I kept him in my arms for a little while as the remaining portion of the delivery (like stitches) finished. Leeroy was a great distraction! Haha. I still didn't feel anything, so it could have been much worse.

Then it was skin-to-skin with Daddy!

He looked so tiny in Riley's arms.

Riley and I were left alone for the next two hours to bond with him as my epidural wore off. During that time, we messaged his vast collection of aunts, uncles, Nana, Papa, Grandpa, Grammie, and honourary aunts and uncles (our friends) to inform them he had arrived.

What a celebration.

9:45pm

They came in to weigh him and he was 7.6lbs and 20 inches long. Our tiny king.

He was so calm. So very unlike how he was in my tummy (constantly moving around and squirming). Our little baby boy who came into the world exactly on his due date just one month before I turn 26 years old.

Riley and I are so in love with him and have been adjusting to life at home as new parents for the past week. The firsts are special, albeit slightly intimidating, and we'll remember these moments for the rest of our lives.

It's a strange feeling. The feeling you get when everything you've ever wanted is seated (or cuddled in your arms) on a couch with you. My two boys. What a lucky girl I am to be surrounded by such handsome men.

I am forever grateful for my loving husband who supported me throughout my pregnancy and was incredibly encouraging throughout labour and delivery. I know it wasn't always an easy ride, but we did it. We did it together.

So, Leeroy, if ever you read this some day, thank you for not putting me through too much pain as you came into the world. AND for arriving on the 11th and giving me a lucky number eleven buddy for life. I love you my son.