Bonnie's Story

This was my third and last pregnancy, (I think!) and it was the longest, most painful nine months of my life. With each child, the discomfort was worse. I was told I was built to have babies, yeah, right!

I was so excited to be expecting again and I hoped for a boy because my daughter is eleven and my first son is three so I thought it would be nice to have another boy to grow up with Christopher. My husband has two girls that are close to my daughter's age, so how perfect could it have been to hear it was a boy.

From about the third month I started feeling cramps quite frequently and the doctors were concerned because I had had a miscarriage previous to this baby. The next six months consisted of ultrasounds and checkups and still more pain but no problems were detected, thank goodness. When I was seven months along, I fell on the ice. Every week, I would go for a check-up just to be safe.

Around the eighth month the infamous Braxton Hicks started teasing me. My husband is a truck driver so there were a lot of people on baby watch. My best friend was constantly called to come over and watch the other kids while I rushed to the hospital, sure it was the "real thing" this time! Each time they would pat my hand and send me home. When it was three days past my due date, the big blizzard hit. And I had to go to the hospital...Our neighbor had a plow on his truck and a nurse for a wife, they plowed the way to town, just to have me sent home, again, during a blizzard!

Two days later, I woke up around six in the morning in labour yet I just laid there calm as could be because I knew this was "it". My husband had woke up and went downstairs to check the fire. He came back in the room and seen I was awake and asked how I was feeling. I told him we were going to have a baby today. He smiled and went to sleep.

I got up a couple of hours later and called my sister because with every step I took, I had a pain. She got there in record time and we talked about when I would go and what she should do for my kids, the usual routine. While we were talking I noticed that if I didn't move, I didn't have any pains. So, I sat around as long as possible. By four that afternoon, I was getting restless and irritable. I said maybe I should go and see if this really is labour. After all, I had made seven trips to the hospital for nothing, and the pain did stop as long as I didn't move...

We got to the hospital at four thirty and two nurses were practically arguing about whether or not I was really in labour, one saying if the pains stopped when I sat still, I wasn't in labour, the other saying that was a sign that I was. Ugh! The doctor came in and decided it for them, I was five centimetres dilated! She broke my water and let nature take it's course. I decided to help things along and I walked and walked until my legs were getting rubbery. My husband finally insisted I lay down because he feared for my safety, my legs were pretty shaky. By five thirty, I was getting nasty and impatient. I couldn't have any strong painkillers and the laughing gas was no laughing matter! All it did was take my mind off the pain a little and made me sound like Darth Vader! By six thirty, poor ole dad was getting pretty hungry and I insisted he go get something at the cafeteria, but to hurry. He walked out the door and I said "You better come back!" I buzzed the nurse and she asked if I thought I was ready and before I could say yes, the urge to push took over. The look in my eyes must have told her because she started hollering for me not to push while she and my husband wheeled me to delivery. The doctor was there in no time and she gave me the go ahead to push. It is amazing how, the harder I pushed, the less it hurt. Well of course I didn't want to stop pushing but she said I had to and she would make me huff and concentrate so I wouldn't push till she told me to. I think that is so unfair but it's unsafe for the baby if you hold your breath too long. So, between pushes and gritting my teeth, I listened to what the doctor said and before you knew it, the head was out. When I tried to push the rest of him out I suddenly ran out of steam and stopped. Everyone started shouting for me to push but I just couldn't. My husband and the nurse each grabbed one of my legs and hauled them back towards my chest and shouted for me to push, which of course I had no choice by then!(ha ha) Come to find out, the head had come out and the cord was around the baby's neck. When I stopped for that second or two, the doctor couldn't reach the cord. I pushed long and hard this time and the baby was born and the doctor had the cord off before that little bottom seen daylight.

Bradley Keith made his arrival, safe and sound weighing in at 8lbs, 14ozs and 21.5 inches. He's perfect! I felt like a million bucks and we were released the next day.

Sir Bradley turned one a week ago and he is 26lbs now and 31 inches tall. What a man!

As for me? I get baby fever now and then but I think we are going to get a visit from the vasectomy fairy real soon...