Megan woke up, May 11th at 2:30am, to a gush of fluid. As she stood up she had no doubt in her mind that her waters had ruptured, 2 and a half hours after her due date. At 3:06am I woke to a message from Rory letting Angie, Cheyla and myself ( the dream team)  know what was happening and that they were going to labour and delivery to be seen. At this point, Megan was only having mild surges (contractions) so she was still as comfortable as you can be at 40weeks pregnant and they said they would keep us posted. Upon arriving Megan and Rory were placed is an assessment room and monitored. 

A quick assessment turned into a 5-7hour wait and after a very long morning with a lot of different opinions on how to proceed due to spontaneous water rupture, Megan and Rory were allowed to go home on strict instructions to monitor baby’s movements and Megan’s temperature. This allowed them to eat and get some well earnt rest. 

 

By 11pm that same evening Megan began feeling strong contractions, this was like music to our ears, this meant she could labour at her own pace in the comfort of her own home. 

May 12th 7 am, my phone made that wonderful heart racing chime, it was an update from Rory- Megan’s surges were coming 6.1.1, they called labour and birth like they told them too and they were told to come in after shift change so around 8-8:30am.

As soon as I read she was contracting every 6 minutes, lasting a minute for the last hour I was out of bed and getting myself ready. My Doula partner, Cheyla, was also on her way from Weyburn to meet us at the hospital. 

 

I met them on the L&D unit at 8:30am in assessment room 4, Megan was uncomfortable but handling her surges very well. As we waited I tried grounding her by massaging her feet and legs and spoke with Rory to help try calm him. Rory seemed relaxed and excited but having had the chance to get to know him previous to this birth journey i could tell he was already feeling a little anxious, so as much as keeping Megan comfortable was my priority, so was looking after Rory. 

They had Megan hooked up to the monitor for tracing contractions and baby Willa’s heart rate. She was sitting a little high so they started IV fluids to help hydrate Megan and after 2hours of monitoring, Willa’s heart rate had calmed enough they were happy to let Megan off so she could find more comfortable positions. 

 

Cheyla arrived and waited for updates outside in the waiting area for the Labour and delivery unit. They only allow one Doula to accompany the parents to be  in the assessment area generally but they allowed her to come into the room at 11am due to Rory needing more support. The full ‘Willa team’ was together and excited! 

 

Having been allowed off the monitor, we got Megan on the ball leaning in the bed and helped with vocal support, breathing with her and counter pressure during surges. 

With our new sense of freedom, we got Megan dressed and comfortable and set out to do some walk to help labour progress and give them a change of scenery. Walk definitely seemed to have helped and her contractions were coming very frequent and she needed to stop and concentrate/breathe through them. 

 

Megan got into the bath while waiting for a nurse to come on shift so we could get her relaxed and set up in a birthing room. The warm bath definitely seemed to help her pain but due to getting tired, it had already been 15hrs of regular surges, she decided to check her progress and talk about a couple pain management options. 

After the assessment nurse, Stephanie, checked she was fully effaced (thinned) and at 2-3cm dilated. Baby Willa was sitting at +1 station at 2:30pm. 

 

At this moment I could tell this was not the news Megan wanted to hear and it set some fears into motion but we spoke to her , told her to not do labour math and that anything can happen in labour so just focus on this moment and her breathing. They nurse asked Megan if she wanted to know some options to help manage and get some rest. They agreed on morphine and gravol which was given to her at 3:45pm. 16hours 45minutes after her first contractions started, what an absolute birthing warrior! 

 

Cheyla and I were getting Megan into another position when we got told those glorious words.. we have a room ready. At 4:15pm  we got set up in her birth room and that allowed her to relax get a few good moments of sleep. The morphine made her feel drunk and she didn’t like it but it did allow her to sleep so that she was thankful for. Once in her room her nurse, Kate, told Megan that her surges have started to space out so she recommended starting the pitocin to get her body back into a regular pattern.

They started the IV fluids and Oxytocin at 5:30pm and things definitely got more intense for Megan but she handled it very well, I was already in awe of this woman. Like seriously. 

She was on the bed for a little while before we got her to try the ball postion again as that was very helpful and calming to her before. 

 

Our new nurse was Jocelyn after shift change and Megan’s Ob, Dr kristmanson ( who was on call that day) was sadly headed home and Ob, Dr kamencic and the resident Dr Julie were now looking after Megan. One thing I noticed is how attentive and gentle they were with Megan, I could tell their presence relaxed the entire room. If Megan couldn’t have her actual Ob there, this was the very next pair who came highly recommended by Ob, Dr Kristmanson herself.  

 

She was labouring beautifully and her body was working very hard to bring Baby Willa earth side. We kept her hydrated, helping her go pee and encouraging both of them through stronger surges. 

Megan needed a lot more verbal support by this point, she needed to know just how well she wasn’t doing, how strong she was and how in control she was.. even though to her, it may not have felt this way. 

 

At 9:23pm They checked and she was 8cm so they got the room set up for delivery and just allowed Megan to keep allowing her body to progress without further intervention and by 12:45am the resident, Dr Julie came to check in on Megan and she was at 9cm. Megan was beyond exhausted and with as much support as we could give her it was getting too tiring and emotionally hard. They spoke about an epidural. This allowed her to have breaks of rest but she still got a lot of pressure pain as she continued to progress. 25hrs and 45 mins into her labour was the first time Megan used the words ‘I can’t do it’ which is one of the most common phrases a woman will say when they’ve hit transition stage. This rockstar of a woman was in transition for over 3 hours, one of the most intense stages of labour. Like I said- I AM IN AWE 

 

Just after 2am Megan felt her body spontaneously pushing, Jocelyn checked and Megan only had a slight front lip of cervix left and Willa had moved down to +2 station, at this point Jocelyn got Megan to push with her body. She was a complete natural, with her first two pushes she already knew what to do and kept working to meet her little princess. 

 

After 2 hours of pushing, the Drs came in to check how Megan was doing. Dr Julie wanted to make sure the cervix was moving out of the way to allow Baby to pass through, which was extremely uncomfortable for Megan and Rory had to leave the room. Dr Julie noticed that with every push Megan would do the cervix would spring back and made it hard for Willa to move down. Dr Kamencic was watching the heart monitor and noticed Willa’s heart rate was starting to drop with every push, which indicated she was also getting tired and so they made the hard decision to speak about a Csection. 

 

I watched her face the entire time- there was a moment of relief knowing soon she will finally meet her baby girl and her labour would soon be over but after that it was complete devastation after working as hard and as long as she did, this was the ending. My eyes flickered to Rory who was sitting at the nurses station in the room and to Jocelyn who was wiping her tears, telling Megan how well she was doing and that nature sometimes goes differently to how we envision it may go. I had to turn in that moment to collect myself as I couldn’t control the tears from falling, I looked down to my right and I saw Cheyla kneeling, crying into her hands. It was a huge emotional release for all of us who had been there, watching Megan run her marathon of labour working so hard through painful surges for her precious baby, to see her birth to take a different direction. 

 

As the staff gave Megan information about what was to going to happen during her procedure, Rory Cheyla and I hugged and decided who would go be able to handle going in with megan. Rory was beyond emotional, tired and worried for his one and only. He looked at me and asked if I could go in with Megan, he kept saying he could try but my heart broke for him in that moment. He was being so strong, trying so hard to hide how he was feeling to be strong for Megan, so I agreed to go in as I knew it may be too much for him going in there.

 

Just after 5am, They wheeled Megan away and i was given a gown, hair cover and mask to wear and waited by the O.R doors for the nurse to come get me. Megan had been put in labour room 7,  which was across the hall from the O.R doors. Sitting there I could hear Rory and Cheyla talking, Cheyla was trying to calm Rory and reassure him. They were taking a moment to feel. 

 

Upon entering the OR room I saw Megan lying there and I knew I just needed to go hold her, let her know she wasn’t alone. I told Megan she was safe and soon will hear the most beautiful sound in the world, that everything she has done for the past 2 days will be totally worth it and by that time I could hear the Doctors talking about how much hair Willa had, how much Vernex was on her and all of a sudden there it was- Willa’s first cry! She was here, a perfect bundle weighing 8lb 10oz with a full head of hair.. and I mean full! I’ve never seen a baby with that much hair before, I was smitten.

 

I will never forget the look on Megan’s face, there was instant tears of relief knowing her baby was here and safe but love. She was In love with a little person she hadn’t even seen yet. I couldn’t help but cry with her, I was so proud of her, all that she had endured to meet this precious bundle was no small feat. 

 

By the time the nurse walked Willa and I into the recovery room, I asked if she had let Rory know and she said she would let me go get him but what I didn’t know was that while Cheyla and Rory were waiting in the labour room for us to come out and before anyone told him, he heard Willa’s cry and knew it was his baby girl! He knew she was here and before I had even taken my O.R gear off, Rory had already come to meet the second love of his life. 

 

This is my absolute favourite part of the entire birthing process, Watching parents meet and fall in love with their new little person. Rory was crying before he even got to Willa, the nurse put her in his arms and he was such a natural with her. Talking to her, kissing her and taking her beauty in. I tried getting photos of their first moments together so Megan had them to look back on, knowing though she couldn’t physically be there to see it, these memories were captured for her to always have. 

 

Once the family was reunited in the recovery area and the nurses were finishing up Willa’s check up, it was time for that precious moment, mummy and Willa got to be skin to skin and once she was on Megan’s chest it was like she was home, like that had always been her place and they both melted together. 

 

They waited 10months and 3 days and 50+hrs of labour for their first cuddles with baby girl, Willa but by the look of love on both their faces, it was worth every minute. There little family was complete.

 

Thank you so much Megan and Rory for allowing us to support you through this monumental moment. Although your birth story was different to how you envisioned it would be, you both handled everything with such strength and determination. 

Megan, you have made every woman proud. You are strong, you are incredible, you are enough! You may have birthed your daughter with some help in the end but you did all the hard work and still are, recovery is not easy. Your strength and moments of raw emotion made me fall in love with my job even more and for that, I thank you. 

 

~Amy Selinger.