Happy Thanksgiving to Me!

I have not had much time to write this week, but I really wanted

to talk (or blog) about my Thanksgiving weekend, cause it was

a DOOZIE!

It started off like any other long weekend, except having to be up 

every morning at 6:30am to be poked and prodded at a fertility clinic, 

definitely not a preferred holiday activity, but what can you do?

Saturday night I was off to a wedding, a big fat greek wedding!

If ever there was a place to go to feel bad about your fertility

problems, this is it. My husband and I were seated at the 

"newly married couples" table, and of course, since their weddings 

the other couples had popped out wonderfully perfect babies, 

who were also joining us at the table. If the conversation swayed

at all from the intense cuteness of  the babies, it was only to 

comment on us and our lack of children. Aunts and Uncles would 

stop by the table to wink, smile, and say "your next!" 

I could tell this was starting to get to my husband a little bit, but

I was more then shocked when he finally gave up and told a cousin 

that we were trying, and it wasn't going well. I knew right away this was 

a mistake, and I instantly began to search my brain for quick and 

easy statements to go along with the "advice" that I was sure we would

soon be getting. 

Just as I suspected, within 15min, everyone at the wedding knew 

we have been trying and the advice started coming at warp speed. 

"relax" 

"take a vacation"

"stop trying" 

This was of course the top three pieces of advice. I spent the 

rest of the night smiling and saying "thank you, we will try that"

It was hard, to say the least, but we made it through, and It 

actually felt better to have it all out in the open, to hear words

of encouragement rather then "what's taking you so long?"

I went straight to bed after the wedding, I needed to forget about 

the evening, I just wanted to sleep. The night, however, had bigger 

plans for me. As soon as I laid my head on the pillow my cell phone 

rang. It was my client calling to let me know she was in labor, her 

contractions were coming quick and she wanted to meet me at the 

hospital. She was not due for another week, so the call was unexpected 

but I quickly got dressed and ran out the door. 

When I arrived it was 4am on Thanksgiving day. I met my client

and her husband in triage and she was right, the contractions 

were strong and quick. From looking at her I would have guessed

that she was 6 or 7cm dilated, but when they checked her, her 

cervix was still closed (far from time to have this baby)

Fast, strong contractions in early labor normally means baby is

in a funky position, usually looking up "stargazing" as they say. 

My client decided they wanted to go home until they had 

progressed a bit more, they also sent me home to get some sleep. 

I suggested positions and comfort measures to use while they 

were back at home, ones that would ease the discomfort and 

also help the baby turn. Then I was off to "sleep".

By this time it was 6am, I had two choices....go home to sleep 

or rush to my appointment and have my diagnostic tests done

for that day (CD13) I chose to go to the testing (eating at 

Tim Hortons while I waited for the clinic to open at 7am)

So there I was, at the clinic with no sleep and a dildo cam 

searching around my lady bits. All I could think was 

"Please god, please god, let this baby turn, give this mother the 

strength she needs to get through, please bring her peace". Then

soon as the testing was done, as if it was written in the stars, 

my phone rang and It was time to meet my client at the hospital. 

They felt labor had changed and my client wanted to go to the 

hospital to see how far along she was. I knew how badly she wanted 

a natural birth,  but I also knew that if her exam showed she was still 

in early labor that an epidural would be soon to follow. My prayers 

picked up again "Please god, let her be in active labor, let this baby 

come soon"

I got to the hospital just as they arrived, it was clear that labor 

had picked up. She hugged me and moaned through a contraction, 

soon as it was done she cried "I am not handling this very well". 

I continued to rock back an forth with her until it was time for her 

exam, the nurse was very nice, gentle and excited when she felt the 

dilation. "Your 8cm dilated" she said. Of course the 3 of us broke into 

tears and I thought to myself "thank you, thank you"

A few hours passed, she rocked back and forth on her birth ball, 

allowing low moaning sounds to escape from her body. Soon she was 

dilated to 10cm and began to push her baby down. Then, just as the 

rest of Toronto, husband and in-laws included, were gathering 

around their Thanksgiving feast, a baby boy was born, birthed

naturally by his mother and supportive father. It was a beautiful 

birth and I was so SO happy for them. It was a wonderful

way to spend Thanksgiving and I TRULY felt thankful that this 

birth turned out exactly as my clients had dreamed. I left feeling like

my prayers had been answered, But as I said my goodbyes and walked 

away from the happy new family and those perfect 10 fingers and toes 

I couldn't help but think "when will it be my turn?"