The Birth of Cameron

Me pregnant with Cameron back in 1999

I was 27 years old

Cameron was born August 3rd 1999. His due date was August 19th...He is our first born. I found out I was pregnant with him in November 1999. We told the family at Christmas dinner. They were so excited because he was the first grandchild on both sides, and all of my cousins. So, flash forward to August 1999. It was the long weekend in August. Hot and sweaty. We had lots of things to do that weekend. On the Saturday we had an open house with the family to show them our new townhouse. On the Sunday we went to a 50th Wedding Anniversary for family friends. It was hot, and I could hardly sit on the chair. On the Monday, we went to visit a friend who was at the hospital at RCH. I was climbing up a hill towards the hospital and I had some "pains"...finished visiting...got home. Went to bed, got up went to the bathroom in the middle of the night...around 1 a.m. This is August 3rd (37 weeks)...started to climb back into bed...my water broke...ran down the hall towards the bathroom...sat on the toilet...woke Cliff up by yelling "my water broke...get me a towel"...called my parents, called the hospital. Tried to rest...couldn't...Cliff went back to bed. No contractions...went to the hospital in the morning sometime. The hospital was soooo busy. They put me in a "non stress test room" and hooked me up. Mild contractions. Sent me to the cafeteria at 4cms...have some toast...water. Walk to bring on the contractions...boy did they pick up. I had to lean against a chair on the way out of the caf. Got back to labour and delivery floor. No rooms for me...back into the monitoring room. Contractions pick up...hard to breathe...this is a couple of hours later...I felt like we were forgotten about...so they came back, they checked me and I was almost 10 cms...so they got me into a wheelchair, and it was a tiny little lady, and she kept bumping my legs on the doors and walls. I finally got a delivery room. The smallest, ugliest room in the ward. I had a bit of gas to take the edge off. Checked me...I was at a 10! They had me pushing in all sorts of directions...over the toilet (hated the smell of the sanitizer) in bed, on my side...I pushed for 2 hours. I listened to an Enya cd over and over LOL, and Cliff was there, and my two sisters. My sister Ape massaged my feet with peppermint lotion, my other Sis Amy took photos. At 7:02 pm. It was thundering, raining and sunny...Cameron Earl came into the world weighing 7 lbs. 1oz. on the 3rd of August. I had a bit of hemmoraging after...they had to give me an IV to give me something to stop the bleeding...it finally stopped...I looked awfully white, and there was an emergency down the hall...so all of my nurses and dr. were out of the room. Cliff called somebody back to check on me...I felt weak. So...two hours later, the hospital ran out of dinners, so Cliff left me and got me a sandwich from Subway (BLT)...that was the best sandwich I had ever eaten! After breastfeeding and recovering...my family was allowed in...that was after 9 pm...they finally got to see this awesome little guy Cameron...they were all crying and smiling...it was a really great moment in time that I will never ever forget.



Cathy