The Birth of Liliana Grace, May 9th 2008


This was my fourth pregnancy and my due date was June 29th. I had experienced bleeding on and off starting when I was about 19 weeks. My intention was to have another homebirth and I was being seen by Katherine Wallace, a wonderful midwife at Womancare Midwives. Because of the ongoing bleeding, and some abnormal findings on ultrasound (which later turned out to be nothing) I was referred to Dr. Renato Natale at St. Joseph's Hospital, who I had seen during my last pregnancy. There, we kept close eye on my cervical length via ultrasound every two weeks.

During the last week of April, I had a few nights of painful contractions and more bleeding. At around 31 weeks gestation, I was admitted to St. Joe's antenatal unit for close watch. I thought I would be going home after a few days, but a fetal fibronectin test came back positive, and a repeat cervical length ultrasound showed funneling and change in my cervix. This was not reassuring information and I also felt as if things were not "right".

After about 10 days in the antenatal unit on the night of May 7th, I started having my usual contractions but noticed my bleeding was heavier. I took a shower and as the night went on, there was a familiar sharp sensation with these contractions. I buzzed the nurse to let her know something was going on, and I called my husband to tell him he should come because I absolutely knew I was in labour. I knew this was it and I started to feel very upset about the possibility of having another preterm baby.

The contractions were about 7-10 minutes apart but were difficult to pick up on the monitor. I was offered morphine and I accepted, because I have read that relaxation can sometimes stave off labour. Contractions started to lessen and my husband went home around 2am. I slept until 7am when a resident came to do rounds. I was telling him everything seemed fine now, but that I was so sure I was in labour last night. A few minutes after he left, I got my first real labour contraction. I was about to get up to the bathroom when I had a gush of watery blood (which was not my membranes rupturing, but possibly a partial placental abruption). I called the nurse and she hooked me up to the monitor to make sure the baby was okay, and the resident came back to check me. I was now 3-4 cm dilated. An IV was started and I was taken to a labour room in the delivery area.

My husband met me at the labour room. A resident offered me an epidural, saying that they like to offer them earlier to moms in preterm labour. I had done the preterm labour thing before with my last baby, and though it isn't proven, in my mind the epidural helped slow labour, so I was strongly considering it. I asked for morphine again, since it seemed to stop labour for me earlier that morning, but if labour is going to progress quickly, it isn't good for the baby (it can cause respiratory depression). My midwife arrived to provide support and I had called Rachel to let her know what was going on. When I was checked again and found to be at only 4cm hours later, they agreed to morphine and I slept a few more hours.

When the morphine wore off, I was checked again and found to be at 5cm. My midwife had left so I could sleep and told me to call her to come back at any time. The resident offered an epidural again, and this time I agreed, because they were saying that this labour definately wasn't stopping now. I was sad that this was happening, and I really did not want to give birth prematurely again. I wanted them to do everything they could to stop it, but I was told nothing can be done. The epidural placement went well and I called Rachel (my wonderful MamaAssist partner) to see if she wanted to drop by. Rachel had been doing postpartum overnight work, and even though she may have been sleep deprived, she still managed to stay for several hours and cheer me up.

After Rachel left, my husband and I tried to sleep since it was the middle of the night, but my epidural wore off. The nurse tried to top it up, but we determined the catheter actually slipped out of its place. Contractions were intense and the epidural had to be replaced. The nurse called my midwife in and she arrived just in time to support me while I received my second epidural. It worked, and I was able to rest again. A few hours later I felt the familiar sensation of pressure, and knew the baby would be coming soon. Almost 24 hours after labour actually started, I gave birth to Liliana Grace at 7:20am on Friday morning, May 9th at 32 weeks and 5 days gestation. She was 4 pounds 15 ounces, 18 inches long and breathing on her own.

Liliana stayed in the NICU for a few days, and was moved in the Neonatal Progressive Care unit for 3 more weeks. She came home on Monday, June 2nd and is doing very well!