Today is my son’s 10th birthday. It feels surreal that ten years has passed so quickly. It seems like just yesterday we welcomed him. I have decided to share his birth story to honour this day.

It was 2009 and I was due on July 9th. It was hot, I was big (baby was estimated to be a full pound bigger than my first) and my midwife kept saying she thought I would go early. So when my due date came and went I was feeling like he was never going to come. I had an active 23 month old daughter so laying around in a cool, air conditioned home wasn’t really an option. At two days overdue we decided to head to a local, outdoor pool to enjoy a sunny, summer day. I remember how wonderful it was to swim and see my child and my husband enjoying themselves. I was cool and weightless in the water and I felt my entire body relax as I surrendered to the fact that this baby was going to come when he was ready to do so. We had a lovely bbq dinner at home and we all crashed in our family bed with that summertime satisfied feeling after being outdoors.

I slept very well that night. At 6am on July 12th I woke up suddenly and noticed that I felt different. I could feel some faint contractions and I thought to myself….my baby boy is coming today. I showered and washed my hair knowing it might be the last time for a while. Then we simply went about our day. We went for a walk on the trails by our home, played in the backyard, I polished my appliances and tidied the house between surges. Then in the heat of the afternoon I closed the curtains and made the house dark. In between rushes I laid on the couch and slept. While my daughter was napping my husband asked if we should call our midwife. I (naively) said “no, I’m good. Let’s wait before we bug her.” I then got into a cool tub of water as the contractions were getting much more intense. My in-laws came to pick up my daughter and in that moment I felt so much sadness. I asked to see her before she left and I hugged her so tight and had a bit of a cry. A feeling I can only describe now as grief of the loss of our family unit as I knew it. Little did I know then how great things would become as a family of four. She was fine and just said, “bye, bye Mommy!”.

I hadn’t yet timed my contractions as I was just in the moment all day. My middle sister arrived at our house as planned because she wanted to be at my birth. She timed them for me and declared that they were less than two minutes apart! Out of the tub I went to dry off and call my midwife. During our phone chat I had a couple of surges and she thought that by the sound of my voice we had time so she would come and see me in an hour. She advised me to hop in the shower. I did, but 2 minutes in I got out and said I could feel his head pressing down on my cervix. We called her back and found out she lived on the east side of the hospital whereas we were on the west side. She gave my husband the option of calling 911 if he saw the head emerge or drive me to the hospital as fast as he could….which he did. So transition phase was in the car, which was not pleasant but only for 10 minutes. He dropped us off at the door and I waddled in holding my hands between my legs and stopping often when things got intense. I was whisked into a room, laid on the bed and was told by a nurse (my midwife hadn’t arrived yet) that I was 9 1/2 cm. Wow, I wasn’t expecting that! When my midwife arrived she told me it would be best to break my water and then baby would be born soon after. Problem was my husband wasn’t back from parking the car and checking me in. So we waited….more contractions…it seemed like forever. Then when he got back (he’s going to kill me for saying this) he needed time to answer nature’s call, so I waited some more. Then waters were ruptured, I pushed about 4-5 times and Oliver was born! He came out so quickly that he wasn’t breathing, no sound, purple baby. His cord was clamped and cut and he was taken to be suctioned. My husband felt uneasy but for some reason I was still calm. Within a few minutes he was crying softly on my chest. He was the most amazing thing to me and I felt so in love. He started to show signs he wanted to nurse, he latched right away and nursed for 30 minutes each side while I ate the most delicious toasted Tim Horton’s bagel with a tea (actually it was just the usual food from Timmie’s but after birth everything tastes amazingly good). We looked at the clock and figured that if we went home right away our daughter could meet her little brother before her 8pm bed time. Everything went well so my midwife discharged me less than an hour and a half after he was born. I was so excited to sleep in my own bed.

It was just such a peaceful and enjoyable day which ended in my little family all being together in our home. I slept with my son that night while my daughter slept with my husband. I had a beautiful breakfast in bed and my midwife was there at 8am to check on me and baby Ollie. I feel so much joy and love thinking back to those days. How is it that my little man is 10?!