Day 1 (Sunday Oct 11): Renée started to have contractions every 20 minutes or so. They were pretty irregular, and not that painful. During the evening they started to get a little more frequent, and more painful. By the time we were ready for bed, they were at about 6 minutes a part. We were up pretty much all night dealing with the contractions, and trying to cope with it.
Day 2 (Monday Oct 12): Still dealing with the contractions early in the morning. We are at the point where they are 3 minutes a part at 10:00am. We decide to head to the hospital to get things checked out. Renée gets an exam, and they determine that she is only 3cm dilated and send us home. They tell us to come back in a few hours. Rather then chancing zero progress Renée decides to tough it out as long as possible. When we got back from the hospital we took a 3 hour nap just in case it was going to be a long night. At this point the contractions are very painful, but are about 6 minutes a apart. At about 11pm, Renée decides to try and grab a bit of sleep. I watched TV until about 1am, then head to bed.
Day 3 (Oct 13th): 3am, Renée wakes me up telling me her water broke, and we should go to the hospital. I wake up Joan and Norm, and off we go once again. After all the testing in Triage, they confirm that Renée is now 5cm dilated and that we are staying this time. After a few hours, Renée was extremely tired and in a lot of pain. She decided to get an epidural. Once that was done, we was in better spirits, and was able to joke around with my again. At about 11am, she was fully dilated, and was ready to push.
Renée did such a good job pushing, but unfortunately after 3 hours, the baby was not positioned correctly. She did not want to come out, so we had to make a decision and get a C-Section. I didn’t have time to blink and Renée was gone. I waited a good 20 minutes for the nurse to come back with scrubs. I got changed, picked up the camera and off I go to the operating room. As I walk in, they are already elbow deep in Renée. They get me to sit right beside her face so I can talk to her during the operation. At 3:41pm Esmée Desjardins was born. It was honestly the most emotion I have ever felt. The rush in my body was something that I have never felt before.
Once Renée was all closed up, we were sent to the recovery room. This is where Renée and I got to hold Esmée for the first time. We had to wait for the room to be ready. We had family sitting patiently in the waiting room. After a few hours, we were still in the recovery room, and visiting hours were almost over. Our nurse Heather decided to wheel Renée and Esmée out to the waiting room so the family can say hi and see Esmée for the first time. We finally got our room at about 8:10pm. We ended up in the ward room with 2 other families. With 2 other crying babies, I knew Renée and I would never be able to sleep in this. I decided to try and get us in a semi private room. At 120$ a night, I think it was well worth it. They didn’t have one for the first night, but would try and switch us in the morning. With the babies crying and an other couple yelling at each other all night, I didn’t get any sleep. One good part about it is that I was able to hold Esmée all night, and walk the halls with her. As Renée was sleeping, I noticed that Esmée had to be changed. I head to the nursing station to ask for help as I have never in my life changed a diaper, and didn’t want to screw it up. While I was changing the diaper, I was thinking that if I ever was going to run for mayor of Ottawa, I would campaign to save the city money on road work, and use the first poo to fix the cracks in the streets. The meconium they call it, looks and feels like tar!
On the second day (Oct 14), we were switched to a semi private room. I was very happy to see that we had much more room, and was very quiet. At this point Esmée was having issues eating, and pretty much didn’t eat anything in 24 hours. I was getting a little worried. Joan (Renée’s mother) offered to stay the night and let me go home and get some much needed sleep. I gladly accepted. From what I was told while I was away is that the baby, was still losing weight, but they weren’t worried at this point. It was normal of new borns to lose up to 10%. Supposedly newborns given birth by Cesarean lose more weight then natural born babies.
On the third day (Oct 15th) I got to the hospital at about 11am. Esmée keeps losing weight, the nurses were getting a little worried at this point. She peaked at about -11% of weight. They wanted to start giving the baby formula with Renée breast milk. Renée and I were devastated and didn’t really want to do it, but we do have to think about the health of our little angel. They got Renée to start pumping, and turns out we only had to use a little bit of formula. Since nobody was home to take care of the dog, I had to sleep at home to take care of her. Bella is a pain to take out because she pulls so much. Joan volunteered to stay at the hospitals for the nights with Renée so I can tend to Bella.
On the 16th it was supposed to be the that Renée and Esmée come home. The Doctor and nurses informed us that we would have to stay another day in the hospital, as Esmée’s weight has now plateaued at -11% and would need to see weight gain before they could send us home. Hearing this news was very devastating I was looking forward to having them at home.
Saturday the 17th. I got to the hospital at about 9am, and was greeted by Renée with great news. Esmée had gain 2% of her weight, and they they were coming home.
During the weekend Esmée has been eating well. She met pretty much all of her immediate family, and Renée has been recovering well. Other then that, it was not very eventful. Just sleepless nights.
On Monday (19th) Esmée had her first appointment with her nurse practitioner. I am very proud to say that is extremely healthy and perfect in every way. She is now at 8.3 pounds! Renée and I are no longer worried about the weight and are able to relax a little bit.
I am sure I am missing a few details of our adventure with delivery and stay at the hospital, but we will save those stories for another time. Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I will try and update a few times a week, and will also try to add a daily picture of our princess!
