Mila’s birth story
Born: 12:10am - Monday January 22, 2018

I’d been having really mild period cramp type pain for a day and a half leading up to Mila’s birth. They started Saturday afternoon at about 2pm. Not painful at all just irritating really and very mild. I lost my mucus plug over the course of the weekend. Then Sunday night we went to bed as normal around 10pm. At about 10:30 I had my first real contraction then 10 minutes later the next. They were moderate but after about 30 mins and 3 contractions I woke up joe to tell him that I thought I was in labour. 11:15pm - Joe suggested that I stand up because I was getting more and more uncomfortable in bed. When I stood up I had a fairly intense contraction almost right away and from this point on things got intense very quickly. Joe called the midwife to tell her we would meet her at the hospital in Mississauga - a thirty min drive away. He also called his mom to come over to watch Jack. My contractions were really random and didn’t follow a pattern...but each one was more intense than the last. I was in the bathroom for the most part and felt panic and was completely overwhelmed by the pain because they were so close together. If I was in the hospital at this point I think I would have asked for an epidural even though it was my plan to have a natural birth. I couldn’t speak to anyone, I was totally in labour land trying to keep it together. For about 20 mins after every contraction I’d have diarrhoea If it wasn’t for that we probably would have left the house sooner. I think joe was getting pretty freaked out to see how fast everything was happening. 11:45pm - He managed to get me dressed and helped me down the stairs which felt absolutely torturous. I was having a contraction with every other step down the stairs. In retrospect I was probably nearly fully dilated by this point. By about 5 mins to midnight we finally got into the car and I was hoping things might ease off with change of atmosphere but they didn’t. Joe raced to the highway - it was cold, very foggy and rainy. For the split second that I opened my eyes I remember being surprised at how bad the conditions were. The next 15 mins my body kind of took over and went on autopilot. I don’t remember making any decisions to do certain things, it all happened very innately - Cavewoman style . I took off my seatbelt and put my chair back. Somehow managed to strip off my shirt first I think (don’t know why?!) Then I had an unbelievable contraction where I felt my water bulge down then pop everywhere. After that I felt amazing relief, and suddenly felt very clear and like I could talk again. I told joe that my water broke and that I felt good. At this point I thought we would be ok to make it to the hospital...it was about 12:10. Within a minute or so I felt the most incredible wave of a contraction, a burst of Adrenalin and let out the most Cavewoman-esk scream. I remember being freaked out hearing myself. I pulled off my pants and underwear. I felt, for the first time, the infamous ‘ring of fire’ and I suddenly realised what was happening. I wasn’t consciously pushing but my body was. I reached down and felt the baby’s head. I didn’t have time to say anything to Joe because a second contraction came like the one I just had and I felt the rest of her come out of me. She cried a split second later and I think I managed to say something ridiculous and obvious like...the baby’s here joe!! Joe pulled over to the side of the highway. I brought her up to my stomach and looked at my baby’s face, all covered in blood. I wiped it off and pressed her against my chest. Panic set in as our circumstances dawned on me. I scooped my finger into her mouth and cleared as much mucus as I could and the bubbles away from her nose. She was breathing and pink and crying - thank god. Joe called 911 and found any possible piece of clothing to wrap us both up in to keep us warm. I was shaking pretty uncontrollably at this point. The 911 operator instructed joe to tie off the umbilical cord since she had now been born for about 10 minutes. He had nothing to use to tie it off except for his shoelace. After everything was as ok as it possibly could be I realised we didn’t know if our baby was a boy or a girl - joe checked and we named our beautiful little girl Mila Heidi Rand. We took a couple of photos to try to capture what had just happened and then a short time later the paramedics arrived and took us to the nearest hospital. Mila weighed 7lbs 8oz, was 55cm long () and was perfectly healthy. Compared to my first labour I felt amazing, honestly cloud 9. I could move around without any pain and only needed a few stitches. Such a difference from the first time around! Truthfully believe there were angels watching over us that night as Miss Mila made her appearance into the world.

-Heidi