Oliver Bruce's Birth Story

Oliver Bruce King

Sunday, April 26, 2015 at 4:36am

6 lbs 15 oz 20.5 inches long

Oliver birth story is a crazy on for the books! 

I seriously don't know where to begin. From the move, to house showings while packing and planning for a baby (landlord was trying to sell his place), to the wrong induction date etc. Crazy times over at the King home.

SO for those who didn't know, Jason started his work season on April 21, we had to be out of our apartment by May 1, my babysitter for Autumn (Breanne) was only available for the weekend Friday the 24-Sunday the 26th. A very small window to try and get an induction date with so much happening.  It is clear that we didn't plan this pregnancy very well.  With all the moving and work starting it is normally not a great time for he year, but then just add being homeless by May 1 and a baby needing to come. 

Talk about stress. 

Everyone said, "well, just move to Regina and deliver there." First off, I just couldn't. Delivering in a place called "Regina".... come on guys, you see why that isn't a good idea. And secondly, the apartments in Regina weren't ready for a week, and I was not going to live in out of a suitcase in a hotel with a Toddler and a new born all by myself.

Breathe.

So here is the story.

We decided to get an induction date for Saturday, April 25, 2015 so that Jason would just miss a couple of days work and then head out by himself on the Tuesday and come back and get us on the weekend. (Our landlord hadn't sold his place yet, so he let us start a couple days longer to make the transition easier.)

I went my 38 week doctors appointment that Monday the 20th to confirm the induction etc. There was a resident on staff that day (hate that) and so the appointment was longer than usual and you had to work through a middle man to get anything done. I explained my situation for like the billionth time and finally the real doctor came in to work everything out with me. She said that since  I was only 1 cm along and wanting an induction at 39 weeks gustation that it would be tougher to get me in. She said she would contact the hospital and book my induction for the 25th, but if there were any emergencies etc at the hospital I could get bumped to the next day. I was fine with this because I received the same speech when I was induced with Autumn.

That day I got a call from the radiologist clinic to book my last ultasound to make sure everything looked good before they induced me. I also got a call from the hospital confirming my Saturday morning induction of pitocin and Friday night 8:00pm Cervadel insertion (to start softening the cervix and get me ready for Saturday morning). I was thrilled that things were working out just so and anticipated Friday!

Friday comes around and Jason, Autumn and I go in for the ultrasound. Everything looked great but he was measuring big for 38 weeks 6 days gustation. I was measuring at 41+ weeks!! I knew that the calculations were off. The ultrasound tech was baffled.  She kept saying that they must have gotten my due date wrong. That he was big and healthy and no need for an early delivery because he was measuring 10 days older. So frustrating because if they hadn't moved my date, I would have been able to deliver closer to the 15th of April and given me more wiggle room for the move etc. I asked her how big he was measuring and she said that it looked like he was weighing 7 lbs 9 oz!!! That is soon big for my babies! Autumn was a week overdue and weighted 7 lbs 1 oz, so adding 8 oz to a baby that would be born 2 weeks earlier than Autumn was crazy to me!!  Back story: my original due date was the 21st of April, but when I went for my first ultrasound they moved me 10 days up to make my due date the 2nd of May. I was so annoyed at that because by all my calculations and tracking, there was no way it should be that date. 

My sister in law, Breanne arrived ready to watch Autumn that afternoon. At 8 that night, Jason and I went into the hospital to get the cervadel inserted. I was so nervous because I had never had that done with Autumn. I got my bracelet on and put into triage room 1 to wait for the doctor. An hour later the same resident doctor from my Monday appointment came into the room with the head nurse. The nurse said that my cervadel induction was scheduled for Saturday night at 8, and that they would induce me tonight, but all the beds (30 beds) but 2 are full and they had already induced 2 others that night (which is their nightly limit). I immediately started crying. The nurse was so harsh and made me feel awful. She told me that my induction was a "social induction" and not priority so I shouldn't worry. After trying to explain my situation a million times over with her, she said there was nothing she could do and that I was to come the following night at 8 to get induced.  I was crushed. Breanne was only there until Sunday and most of the time Cervadel takes 12-48 hours to start working and I just didn't have that kind of time to play around with!!!! Doctor Bishop came in 2 minutes later to check me. She said they were really busy that night, but that I should come in the morning and they would start my induction then!! They were discharging a bunch of ladies that night so there would be rooms available to put me in. I was immediately happy! She was seriously the nicest doctor ever. She was bubbly and wanting to help. She apologized for waiting me wait as long as I did that night, but that they were crazy busy so it just happened that way. Once she left the head nurse came back in, to give me instructions. We told her what the doctor said and she said, "No! The doctor may deliver babies, but I schedule them and there is no way we are taking you in the morning." I have never wanted to punch someone in the face as much as I did that night. Bottom line is that woman was heartless!!  We went to the front desk on the way out that night and they gave me their desk phone number to call at noon tomorrow to see if there was room to bring me in early. They also said that if rooms opened up and things slowed down they would call me.

I felt so defeated.

With that, Jason stopped at my favourite chinese restaurant to pick up all my favourites. lol  We drowned our sorrows in fried rice and chicken balls that night.

I didn't get a call from the hospital all night or in the morning. 

I phoned the hospital at noon and there was no room in the inn so I was told to come at 8pm as "scheduled".

Crushed.

I had sooooooooo many people the next day sending texts, messages, pictures, phone calls of love and encouragement for my "Induction day."

I didn't have the heart or energy to answer any of them.  I was still fighting the hurt and all the complications this mix up at the hospital would bring.

After a good pity party, I worked up the courage (thanks Jason and Breanne) around 2pm to start the induction on my own with my midwife sister in laws concoction of 12 hour inductions. 

At first I didn't feel anything.

And then it came. 

Maybe this is TMI but that concoction didn't bring contractions but extreme, unpredictable dirreha. 

I felt so ill

To the point where when I went into the hospital at 8 to get the Cervadel put in, I was still running to the washroom. Luckily the dreaded gomboo was over with by 9pm.

We waited for the doctor for 2+ hours. They were still really busy that day, so we were just waiting around. At 11pm, Dr. Bishop came in to do her assessment and insert Cervadel. She had another intern with her this round, and I am glad she just had him watch and not insert it himself. He seemed really new, and I didn't want to be the experiment. After they insert the gel, they make you wait at the hospital for an hour to tract contractions, if any before they decide what to do with you. They came in and said nothing was happening so I needed to go home, get a good sleep and come in at 8 in the morning to get the pitocin started.

We got home around 12:30am, and started dozing off to sleep. At 1 o'clock, I woke up with some intense cramping. I had never been in natural labour before ( I was induced with Autumn), so I didn't know if this was natural or if they were contractions. They really really hurt! But i didn't want to be a wuss so I tried to wait them out. They were coming every minute and a half and lasting almost 2 minutes. I was worried to just go into the hospital though because I didn't want to go in, still be 1cm and for them to tell me that what I was experiencing was just mild contractions and send me home.  But they hurt soon bad! So I opted to head to the hospital.

As we were leaving I felt a huge gush! I was in too much pain to look so we hopped in the car and headed. When I got there I was having to breathe through every contraction and at the front desk taking a minute to work through a contraction. 

I told them I was here for my epidural! lol no mention of a baby... just an epidural.

They looked at me in pity and told me that the anesthesiologist had just gone into a complex C-section and it would be a while.

Nooooooooooooo!!!

There was no way I could take one more contraction like this. 

IT WAS KILLING ME!

They put me into triage room 3 to wait for the doctor. 

The contractions kept coming. No break, Just death.

My nurse, Erin, was super awesome though. She was all over every other drug to give me. When she told me I could have morphine I was thrilled. I had never had it, but I didn't care, I just needed relief. I waited over a half hour for the needle and after every contraction without morphine I shouted, "MORPHINE!" 

I had to have it!

When it finally came it barely did anything. I told them, "Thats it?! Thats all it does? Thats about as good as a regular strength tylenol, you should have just given me water!" lol  

I was a little delirious and so crushed by what little the morphine did.

Dr. Bishop came in at 3am and told me I was 4cm. Of course I was! You cannot be in that much pain and not be at at least 4cm!

They moved me into a room and nurse Erin put me in the shower. 

I. LOVE. THE. SHOWER!

Waaaaay more effective than morphine. 

At every contraction Jason would lean over and give me the gas mask which also cut the edge.

The nurses checked me at 3:50am and I was at 10cm. I was in such agonizing pain. 

Kept calling out for the epidural! It was a total out of body experience. I was shaking uncontrollably and I felt like I needed to push.

Jason and Erin were the greatest coaches ever! I couldn't have done any of it without them! They kept me in the zone and only 2 times did the nurse tell me I needed to keep it together. 

hahaha. Sometimes it hurts so bad you just have to scream. hahaha

 I told her I needed the epidural, I couldn't push without one. I pushed for 40 minutes with Autumn and I couldn't fathom pushing without an epidural for 40 minutes or longer. Some woman push their 2nd babies out faster and some push them out slower. I was in so much pain and so tired I had to wait. She said I could wait until the doctor came in. 

It was so busy at the hospital that I waited 40 minutes after that for the anesthesiologist to finally make his appearance.

I could have kissed the man! 

40 minutes of holding in a baby, I needed this!!

I didn't even feel it go in, but the sweet relief of it seconds later. 

The doctor arrived not 2 minutes later and broke my water and I started pushing. 7 minutes later, Oliver Bruce was born. (In hindsight, if I would have known it was going to be 3 pushes, I would have just done it without the epidural. I just at the moment couldn't handle the thought of me pushing for 4o minutes without one). I also loved that I could enjoy the birthing part of the labour. Dr. Bishop had me reach down and feel Oliver come out. As I was on my last push she said, "Wow! He has a big head!" It took everything for me to not dwell on a massive head and a huge baby! lol But as he started coming out she said, "I change my mind, he is a little guy!!" 

Relief!

Yes, it was worth it to have the epidural for 7 minutes. It was 7 minutes of heaven!! Because of it, I couldn't feel the delivery, them kneading my stomach to deliver the placenta, the catheter and all the other unpleasant after birth stuff.

Oh, and no tearing! So grateful for that. 2 for 2 with no tearing or need of stitches!

I delivered Oliver Bruce at 4:36am... a whopping 3 1/2 hour delivery from first contraction to birth.

After we were alone, Jason and I were going back and forth on names. We decided to take 3 names into the birth. 

We were deciding between: Oliver, Hunter and Hendrix

We quickly ruled out Hunter and were stuck between Oliver and Hendrix. We loved the name, Oliver but it is super super super popular! There are so many babies out there with that name and I being a Brittany didn't love the idea of my son having the same popular name problems as me. Jason said that girls care more about that than boys though. We loved Oliver because it has special meaning too. I went to school in Jerusalem for a semester and it was the greatest time of my premarried life. 

Oliver means Olive tree.

I love the significance of it tied to Jerusalem and also to the atonement. 

Hendrix was just one of those names that we LOVE and still love. It has the class of Henry with a little spunk to it. It isn't really popular and is bottom line just a rockin name!

We decided on Oliver because of the meaning of it. We gave him the middle name of Bruce because my dad is someone Jason and I both look up to. We wanted Oliver to be named after someone who loves the gospel, is kind, loves God, is generous and always puts the Lord first. We couldn't think of anyone who suited that more than my father. The traits that his grandpa Bruce has, was everything we hope Oliver to become.