Roxy’s Birth Story

Roxy’s Birth Story

20/12/2012 was only 5 days ago when we met our new member of the McCullough family.  Roxy Jade McCullough, a girl! 

At 10:00pm that night I started to have contractions 10-15minutes apart just like the last couple nights.  Only this time they didn’t go away in the wee early hours of the morning.  At 1:30 am we made the call to Janet, Fred, wrote the email to mom and dad, and off we went to the Cowichan District Hospital.  My contractions were painful and 5 minutes apart when we left and they stayed that way for about 45 minutes while we were at the hospital.  Sadly I have very small veins and I needed an antibiotic because I was group B strep.  The first try in my left wrist didn’t work, and thankfully because when they put it in my right hand it was a dream, if you can imagine an IV being a dream.  After 4 iron infusions with IV’s this pregnancy I have had enough.  I must say that the one really good thing about having an IV in while delivering was the easy access to them giving me feninall (not spelled right).  The nurses learned not to say exactly how much they were giving me because ones she said “Ok, we’ll start with 25.”  I quickly said “ 50! 50!”  The nurse was curious if I was a nurse, but soon realized that whatever she gave me would never be enough.  The gas was helpful.  They have a new mouthpiece so you don’t have to hold this big mask over your face.  You can just hold it in your mouth and puff away till your ears start to tingle.  At 4:30am I felt the first tightening like it was time to push and the doctor was not there yet.  The nurses were all ready to deliver but the feeling went away and I continued contractions for another 45 minutes.  The baby’s head and body was slightly turned which slowed things down a little bit.  Dr. Ann Thompson arrived and I told her that my water has still not broken.  If she waits till I push then she just might have the same fate as Lyla’s doc.  Let’s just say the doc had to have a shower after my delivery.  So Dr. Thompson said “OK”. And broke my water. 

During all of this Mike has been by my side rubbing my shoulders, giving me water, and letting me hit his chest.  He stood over me for 4 hours with a smile on his face telling me how great I was the whole time.  After the doctor broke my water Mike went to go get me some more water to sip on.  On his way out he noticed that his leg was really cold.  The poor guy had a very wet left pant leg from when my water broke.  Mike was standing where there was the bend in the bed and got a little surprise.  I guess I can’t give birth with out someone getting wet J

It’s 5:15am and now I really do feel like it’s time to push.  The nurse pulled the gas out of my grasp and told me that pushing needs my full attention.  I let her have it.  Then a miracle happened.  When I had a contraction I pushed with all my might and when the contraction stopped, so did all the pain and I could lie still on the bed and rest for it seemed like 1 or 2 minutes.  This happened 3 or 4 times.  I have never had that happen before and it was the calm before the storm of Roxy actually coming out.  Ones she was born Mike cut the cord and they placed her on my chest and said “Look!  Look at what your baby is!”  I then had the wonderful surprise that we have a new baby girl.  The doctor said she looked like a c-section baby because her head is so perfectly round.  She has the most beautiful pink skin and little wrinkly hands and feet from being 3 days over due.   She is our Christmas Angel this year and I feel so blessed to have her in our family.  Prayers have been answered for the safe arrival of our sweet Roxy