My Birth Story + First Two Weeks of Motherhood
Welcoming baby Ziyad
On Monday, October 19, 2020, at 6:52 a.m., I delivered my first child — a boy named Ziyad.
These past two weeks have been a blur. Every day seems to blend into another and it makes me forget how fast time truly is going. While baby Ziyad is still fresh, we aren’t on a set schedule yet but our days are pretty predictable. He wakes up to feed at night, I take him downstairs for the day at 6:30 while my husband sleeps in a bit more. He loves being fed in any way but enjoys breastfeeding the most. Omar takes over one night feed to help me sleep — a choice we made to help my mental health.
After a very tough pregnancy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I was worried my birth would be difficult. I am glad the hospital I had him at allowed Omar to stay with us the entire time.
October 17, 2020
At my first appointment with my OB back in April, we mutually agreed that inducing me at 38 weeks was the smartest thing to do due to a genetic blood clotting disorder I have. Because I have had large blood clots in my lungs before, I had to be on injection blood thinners my entire pregnancy and stop them 24 hours before my induction.
My induction appointment was set for 10 a.m. at a hospital in downtown Toronto. Omar and I arrived at 9:30 a.m. and waited 45 minutes until we were taken to the room where I would be labouring and having the baby.
Because I was barely dilated and effaced, the doctor decided to slowly ease labour onto my body. Instead of jumping to Pitocin (oxytocin through IV), we did pills every four hours for over a day. My body did not respond to it right away but I slowly had progress overnight. My contractions were starting around 10 p.m. but nothing too unbearable.
October 18, 2020
The OB on call came to see me at 10 a.m. and said she will continue me on the protocol for a little while longer but assured me we would meet the baby before her shift ended at 8 a.m. on the 19th. I believed her and rightfully so. Because of my clotting issues, she allowed me to walk in the hallway — a big no-no during COVID but it was necessary in order to make sure I do not clot.
Omar and I walked in the hallway and I felt like doing squats. I held onto the hallway railing and did 20 of the deepest, proper form squats in my life. Five minutes after I returned to my room to rest in bed, my water broke on its own. That is where everything went crazy.
My contractions went from two out of ten to eight very quickly. I laboured naturally for six hours until I couldn’t handle it anymore. I took the epidural at 6 p.m. and was in bed from then on. My contractions started picking up but not enough to dilate me so they decided to start the Pitocin later that evening.
October 19, 2020
I guess my body just needed a nudge because as soon as I was on the second-lowest dose, my body went into active labour on its own. My body did its thing so well that in two hours overnight, I went from three to ten centimetres dilated.
When the resident came to check me, he said, “Wow you must have done something right!”.
I replied, “Well all I did was rest and relax.” I thought I was maybe at a six but he told me it was time to push soon but he wanted to give me some time to relax and prepare.
One hour later at 6:40 a.m., I did a practice push with my nurse. She told me to stop right away because the baby was crowning already and they needed the doctor ASAP.
The resident and fellow came in and told me to stop pushing. I wasn’t pushing at all, baby Ziyad just wanted to come out!
At 6:52 a.m., Ziyad made his entrance weighing exactly three kilograms or six pounds, nine ounces. He was just under 20 inches long.
While we have decided to withhold from sharing pictures of Ziyad for the time being, I will tell you he came out stoic and brave as I did over 25 years ago.
Reflections from Days 1-14 in Ziyad’s life
For me, the saying that maternal instincts come out as soon as your child is born is so true. Prior to delivery, I was always fretting about how I am going to adjust to being a mom. The mere fact of having a human reliant and dependent on me was and is still daunting.
Ziyad is a blessing to me after a long time of prayer.
It has been hard, I won’t lie. I barely have time to shower. I do my school work with one hand while I carry him with another. I even forget to brush my teeth in the morning sometimes because he really wants me to hold him.
I’ll be honest, some days my mood is really low. However, having family around and a husband who is so hands-on has made my transition better.
Being fiercely vocal about my needs and health prior to motherhood has allowed me to do the same after. I truly believe Ziyad deserves a mama who takes care of herself in order to take care of him.