"Blitz"

This is the story of Rebekah's journey into the world. If you are not interested in the details read no further...

The last few weeks I have been playing a lot of "Dutch Blitz" ( a fast passed card game where you earn points for each card you put in the community piles and loose points for each card left in your pile when another player goes out and yells "Blitz"). It took me a while to make the connection but I soon realized that playing "Dutch Blitz" was a sure way of having Braxton Hicks (practise contractions). The first time this happened was at the end of June when we were on holidays at Shuswap Lake. I played a few games before going to bed and ended up having 3 hours of braxton hicks that night... strong enough that I was beginning to wonder if Jonathan was going to have to drive me to the nearest hospital. In July I noticed I would have these contractions while playing Dutch blitz and I soon made the connection (Reason #1 for the title of this post).
On Tuesday, July 31 I had a doctor's appointment and discovered I was 3-4 cm dialated. Later that day I ended up having 6 hours of contractions 1 minute long and 3 minutes apart. We were certainly thinking that might be the day our little "Summer" was going to come. As the evening went on rather then get stronger (which I was waiting for) the contractions dwindled to a full stop.
On Thursday, August 2nd I had another doctors appointment so see what sort of progress I made in the pre-labour I was having on Tuesday and sure enough I was a good 4cm and my cervix was getting ready for our little one to arrive. What my doctor said was because "Summer's" head wasn't coming down I was getting "stuck" in the first stage of labour... if her head came down I would have the added pressure I needed for the contractions to get stronger and my labour to progress. His recomendation was  to take 60ml of castor oil to help strengthen the contractions... to help move baby downward... to help my labour progress into the second stage.
I was pretty leery about taking castor oil because I am really a big baby when it comes to medications that taste bad (can't even bring myself to take cough syrup) and I just wasn't sure about "helping" my labour along but I really was not wanting to continue having contractions until baby decided to drop so I mixed the castor oil (the bottle I bought was 50 ml) with a glass of orange juice, plugged my nose and chugged it down (This was at 2:30pm on August 2nd). After drinking my special mix OJ all I could do was wait... so we sat down and played some more Dutch Blitz. By 4pm I was having regular contractions about 1 minute long and 3 minutes apart (same as 2 days earlier)... and I was wondering if labour would actually kick in or if I would be disappointed again. (Did you know there are free apps for timing contractions?.. so cool!) By 5:30pm we took a break for dinner and around 7pm I was feeling really discouraged that there would be no sign of baby "Summer" anytime soon. BUT Heidi made me walk. We walked up and down hills all around the neighbourhood for over 2 hours and my contractions got stronger and closer together (thank you Heidi)! By 9:30pm we were in a mad rush to make a few phone calls and head to the hospital. (Thankfully my sister was here to stay with the kids and they were already in bed at this point... thank you Mandy)!
In the car my contractions got more frequent and we drove very hopeful that this was the real deal. When we got to assessment my cervix hadn't dilated any more but they were quick to get my into a room and to have the gas near by (thankfully)!
It wasn't long before the gas wasn't enough for the pain and I was begging for an epidural. At this point I was 6cm dilated (about 11:30pm and Dr. Farmer broke my water, though I didn't notice), but it felt like 8-10! I really was worried I wouldn't be able to cope through transition. They convinced me to attempt having a shower to ease my pain but it was a good thing I hadn't stood up to make my way to the bathroom. I started having pain right below my c-section which was causing some concern. The next thing I knew I was pushing while I screamed "I'm pushing" and everyone in the room was telling me to pant (which I did, or at least attempted to do). Dr. Farmer got a glove on just in time to apply some counter pressure to the head and Rebekah was born! My shortest pushing time had been 25 minutes so I was quite surprised (as was everyone else). At that point we could have yelled "blitz!" Rebekah made it for an August 2nd Birthday with 5 minutes to spare.
In short I went from 4cm to Baby in less then 2 hours! Heidi was there with us an just managed to catch Rebekah's birth on video. Not my finest moment but I was thankful to be able to watch it since everything happened so fast. Despite her fast arrival she was healthy and I managed not to tare. One week later we are both continuing to do well. At the end it was my most intense labour but I am happy she arrived quickly. Mostly I am thankful she arrived safely and very happy to hold her in my arms! Another labour of love!