MADDIE'S BIRTH STORY!!
I know every mother says the same thing, so I will just be normal when I say that I can't believe that my baby is already TWO! Seriously, where does the time go and why does it have to pass by so fast?

Since I started this blog a year after Maddie was born, I am going to tell her birth story so that I have a record of it somewhere besides her baby book! So, don't feel obligated to read this:

Steve and I lived in Breton, Alberta at the time and it was an hour and 10 minute drive to the hospital. The night of February 11, 2007, I started to get some minor cramping, but didn't really think too much of it. Steve and I went to bed and about 2:30 the next morning I had heavy cramps and started to spot a little. I woke Steve up and told him that I thought it was going to be time soon and I jumped in the shower. We sat awake for a few hours, watching lame early morning television to pass some time and then we went back to bed for awhile. I woke up about 7 with bad contractions and they were coming every 5 minutes on the dot. I called my mom in Utah to ask if I should go right away or maybe hold off since they always say the first one takes a long time and usually people come in way too early. She told me to get in the car and go!! She was freaking out a little...ha ha.

We drove the hour to Edmonton and they hooked me up to the machine and my contractions totally stopped as soon as they did. I was so frustrated because for 3 hours already I had been having steady contractions. So they sent us home. Two minutes after I left the hospital, my contractions started up again, but we decided to wait until they got really bad. We stopped at Smitty's and had some breakfast (french toast and has browns for me), and then took a trip over to West Edmonton Mall so I could walk around and hopefully speed this up. I walked as much as I could and then we decided to go do some grocery shopping since my parents were coming as soon as she was born and then we drove an hour back home.

After an hour of being home, I was in so much pain. Steve called the hospital and asked if we should still wait and they said to put me in a warm bath and to lay down for a few hours. The bath made it worse and I couldn't lay down, so I made Steve drive me all the way back to Edmonton because I needed some pain killers!

When I got back, they hooked me back up to the machines and by this time I was dilated only to a 5 and they wouldn't let me have my epidural until it was closer. They made me walk the halls to speed things up. Someone had forgotten to check my chart and they realized that I had the strep B virus and hooked my up to an IV of antibiotics AND a drip to slow down my contractions so they could make sure I got 2 doses of antibiotics.

I was ready to strangle someone because the pain was unbearable at this point and so they finally took me to my own room,broke my water for me and noticed that Maddie had meconium staining of the amniotic fluid (when the have a bowel movement before birth), which can get in the lungs and be very dangerous. They panicked and put me on a drip to speed up my contractions and gave my my epidural! It was heaven after that.

Steve and I slept for awhile and the nurse came in about 2:15 to check on me and when she reached inside of me, she felt her head and rushed to call my doctor, and the NICU nurses who had to be present because of her bowel movement.

At 2:24 on February 13, 2007, Maddie Layne Kapcsos was born, with a MAJOR episiotomy because her head was so large, and came into the world SCREAMING. She weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. She was delivered by nurse Carrie and Dr. Evans in the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Her first picture

The worst part of the whole experience came after the birth. Steve wasn't allowed to stay overnight with me, because I had a roommate (yes, a roomie). He didn't even get to give Maddie her first bath, they just let us take her and drop her off at the nursery and sent Steve on his way and wheeled me to my room. There was no TV or phone in my room, unless I paid a $50 fee for them and I also had to pay $50/day for them to put up a curtain to separate my roommate and I. I shouldn't complain about the socialized medicine because I didn't have to pay a cent for having her (just my $33/month for health care).

After Steve went home, I was so exhausted because I had been awake for 28 straight hours and the epidural had pretty much worn off so I could feel the episiotomy. I just wanted to sleep and as soon as I laid in my bed, the baby of my roomie started screaming and did so ALL NIGHT LONG until almost 9 am. During the early morning (about 5 am), this cute little black nurse who stood about 4 feet and 7 inches had to help me up to my first bathroom break. As soon as she pulled down my mesh diaper, blood covered the floor. She said it was totally normal and cleaned the floor and me up. While I stood the sink (with her wiping my backside) and me washing my hands, I got light headed, told her I felt dizzy and the next thing I knew, I woke up to 6 nurses standing over me, shaking me.

I felt so ridiculous laying on the bathroom floor in the arms of a midget nurse and everyone trying to pick me up and help me back to bed. When the took my blood pressure, it was 60/40. I was so out of it at that point and to top it off, they wheeled Maddie to my room 5 minutes later and left her for me to take care of. I just couldn't do anything but cry. I had no help, I was totally out of it and I had no way to call anyone or even watch a TV show to take my mind off of it.

I won't complain about how my husband didn't even show back up to the hospital until 3:30 the next afternoon, had taken my camera home and then didn't stay for more than 3 hours. At least he took time to help me shower, but I still hadn't even slept a wink because of the screaming baby in my room!! Thankfully, Steve's mom had sent balloons, a darling pink hippo and some candy to cheer up the day. Finally, they let me take Maddie home on Valentine's Day 2007 and we picked my mom up at the airport on our way home. My dad came down with bronchitis and didn't get to come, which was sad, but having my mom stay for week was so nice. I just felt bad that it was her first trip to Canada and we didn't get to take her many places. So in a nutshell, that is Maddie birth story. I am sorry if you took the time to read the whole thing!Half a Day old