01 November 2013

Giving Birth, Canadian Style

My fears about giving birth in Canada were unfounded.  My prenatal care in Scotland was definitely better than my experience here, but my birth experience with baby number two was so much better than I anticipated.

The day after my parents arrived, I had a doctor's appointment.  The doctor who saw me was by far my favorite doctor of my pregnancy and after she checked me out, she said, "Don't be surprised if you have a baby this weekend."  Seven hours later I was in labor, something that made my dad quite nervous.  As soon as I said that I thought I was having contractions, he was ready for me to leave for the hospital.  As soon as I said that I thought I was having contractions, Steve started planning what dessert he'd like to make that evening.  I ate dinner and put The Bairn to bed and told Steve that this was not a good time to be cooking blueberry grunt but that he was welcome to run down the road to the market and pick up Nanaimo bars (Canadian labor requires Canadian desserts).

The baby was delivered less than 8 hours later by a relief doctor visiting from Halifax.  The whole thing was so much shorter and less painful than The Bairn's birth that there were no conversations with Steve afterwards about how we were only adopting in the future, although right toward the end there I was asking for an epidural, a request that was refused because baby delivery was imminent.  I remember asking at that point, "Is this transition?" but no one answered.  Of course it was transition.  You can tell by the fact that you go a tiny bit crazy and decide you can't possibly carry on at that moment. 

What else?
  • I had a private room.
  • The hospital food was actually good.  
  • The nurses were all very nice and attentive.
  • The Bairn didn't care that I was gone because he was busy eating doughnuts with Grandma and  Grandpa.
  • I didn't experience the huge weight of anxiety with this baby.  I just felt like she was my cute and welcome baby. 
  • Having my mom here to help for the first little while made our life so pleasant (let's not talk about the fact that she left this morning).
Check back here for a picture one day after I've had a nap.

3 comments:

CSIowa said...

Congratulations!

CSIowa said...

Congratulations!

eliana23 said...

I'm so glad to hear all this!

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