Birth Story

    I feel like I have to start by explaining the few days leading up to Eli’s birth. For starters, my due date was originally March 31^st, but at my 20 week check-up they re-evaluated the baby’s progress and changed my date to April 16^th. Well…if you’ve ever been pregnant, you can totally understand that I found this news pretty devastating. I had found pregnancy really hard from the very beginning (I lost about 15 pounds in my first trimester because of the nausea), and I was already really excited to meet our little man…so I was not happy about having to wait 2 extra weeks!

I was due to go down to visit my parents in Co. Waterford the day of my 40 week check-up. I went to my appointment that morning, really REALLY hoping that they were going to tell me I was really close, and that the baby had dropped. Anyway, I got in there and the doctor told me I was only 2cm dilated, and the baby was still quite high up, so it still might be a few days. We decided to book in for an induction on the following Tuesday (my appointment was on Friday) because my dad was leaving the country on Wednesday and I couldn’t bear the thought of him not being there for the birth of his first grand-baby. I was due the next day and couldn’t believe I would probably go past my due date, so when the doctor offered to sweep my membranes I jumped at the chance, hoping it might kick-start SOMETHING. Well, let me tell you, getting your membranes swept is not a pleasant experience. I felt sick and crampy for the rest of the day…but still just regular Braxton Hicks.

By the time we got to Waterford, I was having fairly light contractions, but they were really irregular. I decided not to get hasty about it though because there was no way I was gonna pack my bags and do the 2 hour drive home if there was going to be no baby at the end of it! I continued having contractions on and off for the next two days. So Colm and I tried everything under the sun to move things along – I think I spent half of that Waterford visit bouncing around in the garden and waddling along the country roads, just hoping to trigger something.

On Saturday night, it was time to go back home. I was so sure that I was going to go into labor before leaving, but it just didn’t happen. Once we were in home and in bed, my contractions got steadily worse and more regular, but were still only 15-20 mins apart. I really thought I was going to make it to my induction date.

That night I had a terrible night’s sleep. I was up all night with contractions, timing them, knowing that I had to be up early for church the next morning…I had been looking forward to church that week as it was Easter Sunday and was really looking forward to the service. We went in like it was any other Sunday, except I was really exhausted from being up all night timing contractions. There was no change in frequency by the time we got there…until we started worship. Man, that baby must’ve either loved or hated whatever song was playing because out of nowhere, BOOM. I couldn’t stand with the strength of the contraction and had to sit down until it passed. I decided to wait and see, but by the time the second one hit about 4 minutes later, my friend Alison told me to get my butt across the street to the hospital.

They admitted me and checked me and monitored my contractions right away. STILL only 2cm dilated, and contractions were going about every 4 – 7 minutes or so. I called my parents and told them they should start driving, and my mother in law came to the hospital right away with all of our hospital bags that we had packed and ready at home. It was a perfectly beautiful sunny day, and I was so excited that everything was finally happening!

After a couple of hours, my contractions were starting to get really painful but I was still only dilated to a 3. If this was a 3, I couldn’t imagine what a 10 was. I decided to get an epidural, but wanted to put it off as long as possible. When they took me in to the delivery room, I was starting to lose it a little with the pain so took some Gas and Air, but immediately hated the way it made me feel (dizzy and woozy) so just decided to take the pain. Colm had to make a few phone calls at this point, so he left me alone for a few minutes…and within those few minutes, I went from being able to manage the pain somewhat to my contractions getting downright violent.  Luckily, the anesthetist finally arrived around the time I thought I was going to die and gave me the epidural. They checked me again and I was at a 5 just before the epidural. They checked me again less than an hour later…I was fully dilated.

The midwives said it was unusual for a first time mom but not unheard of, and it explains why the contractions got so intense and painful. I didn’t really mind at this point ‘cause the epidural had gotten rid of any pain whatsoever and I was just delighted to be numb from the waist down. Once I was fully dilated, the midwife said I had 45 minutes or so till it was time to push. Now, the entire day, Colm had been cool as a cucumber up until this point. I think it only actually hit him that we were about to have a baby right in that moment. We spent that 45 minutes mostly just resting and preparing for what was to come…and then I could start!

Well, the time came…and I had heard so much about women pushing for hours with no luck and I was not prepared to let that happen. I gave it everything I got and after I’d say about 20 minutes at most, there he was! I wish every day since then that I could go back to that moment and relive the precise second he was lifted up and placed on to my chest. He had the biggest rosy cheeks, the tiniest little tush, and he didn’t spill a single tear. Not one. I held him there for as long as I could before they had to take him to clean him up, just after Colm cut the cord. The midwives couldn’t get over how perfectly peachy his skin was – not a single blemish, rash, nothing. Just pink and perfect.

I got to start trying to feed him right away and couldn’t stop laughing at adorably earnest he was trying to get that milk (although looking back that could’ve been the gas’n’air).  We had chosen to name him Elijah, and I gave him his middle name right then and there as well. Elijah Thomas. Elijah Thomas Cronin, 7bs 6oz, 19 inches, peachy pink and perfect.

I love our little family.