Baby Draper's Birth Story

I've tried to sit down and write Drapers birth story many times over the last couple of months but I "somehow" always seemed to get interrupted. So now with a large mug of coffee and a sleeping baby here goes nothing!

Let's start from the beginning ...

We found out we were pregnant on July 29th the morning after my office summer party. Yup I was so hungover and in shock to see the two little blue lines! Mind you, the second line was rather faint so I wasn't 100% sure we were even pregnant. After a quick trip to the walk in clinic we knew for certain our family was growing! I remember crying in the doctors office because I was so happy, scared, shocked... basically all the feels! You see, Diego and I had just moved into our first home earlier that month and we knew we wanted to start a family but we didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Looking back now, I know how lucky we were to have gotten pregnant so quickly and my heart goes out to all the families out there who are trying.

The pregnancy

Diego and I always wanted our baby's gender to be a surprise. But for the 9 months I was carrying our little bean I thought I was having a boy. I would have bet a million dollars (if I had it) that we were having a boy. Everyone I came in contact with said 'oh yeah, you are definitely carrying a boy!' Boy or girl, the gender didn't matter to us as long as the baby was healthy. But if I am being honest, deep down I secretly wanted a girl. ;)

I absolutely loved being pregnant. To be honest I never felt sexier. Yah of course I was tired especially during the first trimester and towards the end. But I had no morning sickness or nausea and felt good enough to stay active by doing pre-natal yoga and light workouts at the gym. I commuted to and from the city for work every day which consisted of a car ride, go train and walk to work. Okay, near the end of my third trimester I opted for a streetcar instead of the walk but it was mostly due to the cold weather! ;) Overall it was such beautiful experience. I wish I could have somehow shared it with Diego because to feel a human grow inside you is something I cannot explain in words.

Me pregnant at 28 weeks in Palm Springs on our Babymoon

I was due on Thurs April 5th 2018. I had finished work on Wed March 28th and spent a glorious week, running around the city and putting the final touches on the nursery. I did everything but relax like they tell you to. But I felt great and thought I had lots of time (I thought for sure I'd be late).

Getting closer to D-Day.

On Wed April 3rd I had a BIG day. I was part of a photography shoot for Fierce Mama. We are a group of working mamas who designed and created a series of greeting cards to celebrate women who are equal part mama and boss babe. I was downtown Toronto at a wicked cool space called 'The East Room'. We got our make up done, were dressed to impress and got this amazing shot below for our website. I felt great the entire day. I loved being pampered and seeing these amazing ladies. Can you see my bump? It's hidden in my black dress but its there.

Sidenote: Both Kim (bottom left) and Kammy (bottom middle) were pregnant at the time too!

Founders of Fierce Mama. A group of working moms who designed and created a series of cards that celebrate women who are equal parts mama and boss babe.

Fast forward to that night...

10pm: After enjoying a nice dinner and catching up one of our fav shows (which I cannot remember for the life of me now), I started feeling cramps. It felt like period cramps or indigestion. Honestly, I wasn't concerned and told Diego to go to bed. But I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned for hours holding my belly. I had a bath. I walked around the house. Got back into bed. Then the cramps started getting worse and worse and closer together. So I had ANOTHER bath.

1am (Wed April 4): I couldn't take it anymore so I finally woke Diego up. The pain was getting to be too strong. He popped out of bed and called the hospital right away. They told us to stay at home if we could and let the labour progress a bit more. So we let another hour go by but we knew we'd be going to the hospital soon. Diego packed the car and made sure we were all ready to go when it was time. It was a terribly awful rainy night. And by terribly awful I mean POURING rain and cold for April.

2am: I couldn't take it anymore so we hopped (I waddle) into the car and off we went to the hospital. Thank goodness South Lake was only 10 minutes away. Diego dropped me off at the front door and went to park the car. I waited for him sitting on the chair in the waiting room with my head down between my legs and breathing as deep as I could.

2:30am: We were finally checked in and the nurses take a look 'down there' - I am only 2 CM dilated!! The pain was getting worse and my body went into shock. I was shaking because I was so cold and I even threw up a little. While all this was happening Diego was doing his Masters picks for the weekend - hahaha go figure! Priorities, right?

3:30am: The nurse checked me again and I was still only 2CM dilated but she made me 3CM which was painful AF! They hoped this would speed things up a little but it didn't really make much difference. I'm lucky because at this point they would have normally sent me home but I knew one of the nurses on call. She was a long time family friend and fellow Mansfield Ski Club Member. So thankfully she took me under her care and admitted me because I needed that epidural!

Sidenote: I forgot to tell you earlier that during my entire pregnancy I thought I was going to have this baby all natural. I did hypnobirthing training and truly thought I could deliver without any interference of drugs. We'll not all things go according to plan.

Waiting to get admitted. Eating a popsicle to get the baby moving

4:00am: I was having this baby today so I thought it was time to alert the troops. I called my mom in tears telling her I was at the hospital. My parents live 15 minutes away so there was no need for them to rush to the hospital yet. I still had a ways to go and we told them we would call them once things progressed. But if you know my mom you would not be surprised to hear that after that phone call she jumped out of bed and cleaned the whole house. She was so antsy and excited to meet her little grandbaby!

5:00am: At this time I said goodbye to the idea of a 'natural birth' and hello to the epidural. Hallelujah! It was probably the scariest part of my labour because you have to be so still when they insert the needle into your spine but while this is all happening I was experiencing painful contractions. But once the drugs kicked in it was life changing! I felt comfortable enough to get some sleep and recharge my body which I desperately needed.

Sometime that morning. I started to lose track of time: My labour wasn't progressing as quickly as I had hoped. I was slowly dilating more each hour but nothing drastic. This is where things went a bit funky for a while... They decided to break my water. POP! They found meconium in my sack which meant the baby had pooped probably due to some stress. This meant they would have to have a team on standby during the delivery to suction any poop out of the baby to help it breath. I was terrified when I heard this news but apparently its more common than you would think. Something like 13% of babies poop in the womb but dont quote me.

Then the doctor tells us that the heartbeat is steady but not fluctuating which is a problem. The doctors look for an ascending and descending heart rate during contractions because this shows that the baby is responding to the stress of the contraction. My baby's heart rate was strong but stagnant. It wasn't fluctuating at all. They told me they may need to do a c-section to get the baby out quickly. I cried because this is so far away from how I imagined the birth of my baby. But at the end of the day I just wanted this baby out safely so I said 'okay, whatever you need to do'. The nurse said they would give it an hour and monitor the heartbeat closely. Luckily they started to see some fluctuations so I could continue to labour. But that's not it! The nurse then proceeds to tell me the head was sunny side up so I had to lie with the peanut ball in between my legs in order to turn it around. That took a couple of hours but finally I was told the baby is in the right position and ready to go.

12pm: I was finally 10 CM dilated and ready to push. I was surprised that everyone was so calm at this time. It was nothing like the movies or Grey's Anatomy. The nurse held one leg and Diego held the other and they coached me through everything. Thats right Diego was on the receiving end of it all and saw everything! You may think he would have been scared from this experience but if you ask him he will tell you how magical it really was.

It took me a good 20 minutes before I actually figured out the proper pushing technique (man it was much harder than I thought!!) Like most people, all I could think of was how I felt like I was going to poop. I kept asking Diego 'Did I poo?' and he would just laugh. Once I got over that fact I pushed and pushed for a total of 50 minutes (which apparently isn't that long for a first time mama). This all happened so fast but I'll never forget the nurse taking my hand and guiding it down to feel the head crown. 'WOW this baby has a lot of hair' I thought as tears ran down my face. And with one big screaming push out she came.

She's here!

After 15 hours of labour, at 1:20pm on Wed April 4th, Draper Virginia Di Tolla entered this world and changed our life forever. She weighed exactly 7 Lbs and measured in at 19 inches. She had a full head of dark hair and very squinty eyes (like her Daddy). She screamed when she came out of the womb which was great news. It meant she didn't swallow any meconium. I screamed and cried with so much happiness when Diego told me she was a girl. They placed her on my chest and I instantly fell in love. She was so tiny and so precious and she was finally here. My little baby girl.

We decided to do delayed cord clamping (DCC) which means that the doctors wait for 1 minute after delivery before clamping the cord. This allows more blood to transfer from the placenta to the baby, sometimes increasing the child’s blood volume by up to a third. The iron in the blood increases the newborn’s iron storage, which is vital for healthy brain development. Then it was Diegos turn to shine. He cut the squishy cord and just like that she was free! After 9 months of being attached to me this was a surreal moment.

Shortly after I delivered the placenta with another big push. I never actually got to see what the placenta looked like but I wish I had. Apparently it's quite beautiful... Next time. Then all of a sudden I look down and the doctor was down there stitching me up. Yup thats right I had a 2nd degree tear and needed 1 big long stitch. Ugh. It didn't hurt at the time but once that epidural wore off, ouchie!!! There will be more later on post natal care.

Magical hour

After delivering Draper and doing all the routine checks. We asked to be alone as a family for an hour. This was such a special time for us as a new family. I would highly recommend it. Diego and I cried and just stared at her in awe. I tried breastfeeding and she seemed to latch okay which was great. She was everything we dreamed of and more. At this point our parents didn't even know that the baby was here and they were all anxiously waiting in the waiting room.

Meeting the family

Shortly after our special family time, our parents bust into the room and we introduce them to Draper. I think they were as equally shocked that it was a girl but like us, they instantly fell in love. Our family stayed by our side that whole day and took turns passing Draper around. She was already so loved.

So, that's Draper's birth story. It wasn't exactly how I imagined but I don't regret one moment of it. I am so thankful for the nurses and doctors who supported me every step of the way. And I'm even more thankful that Diego was able to play such a large role in Draper's birth.