If you are a guy and squeamish about these things, stop reading now.... Here is our birth story:
Wow. they are not kidding when they say each labor gets quicker! I woke up to contractions at 2am and after a half hour or so told Mark i was going to go downstairs to take a shower and start timing them. I had even mentioned that maybe it will work out that we could just take Sarah to daycare when they open at 6:30!
Timed a few contractions using contractionmaster.com, saw they were around 6 minutes apart and then took a shower. Got dressed and went to time some more and they were already less than 5 minutes apart. It was almost 4am. Woke Mark up, told him we needed to go soon and to call his brother to let them know we were dropping Sarah off and that he needed to get himself and Sarah ready NOW.
Left the house at 4:30, dropped off Sarah and called the midwives to say we were heading to the hospital. By this time the contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart. Got to the hospital and headed towards Labor & Delivery. Had to keep stopping during contractions, but I wouldn't let Mark leave me to try and find a wheelchair, LOL. Got to the admitting desk and although it was probably less than a minute, the admitting folks seemed maddingly slow! I was initialing paperwork and such and screaming in my head for them to check me already!
The nurse led me to triage, gave me a gown to change into and a cup for a urine sample and told me which bed to go to. I changed into the gown, said "yeah right" to myself in regards to the urine sample and waddled to the bed, The nurse left me there alone! I was the only person in triage and they didn't even have me hooked up nor the monitors on. I think this is the only time I really panicked. I couldn't find a nurse call button and finally just yelled out, "HELLO?!?" Nurse comes back in and starts hooking me up to monitors (that stay on for all of a minute).
"I really think I need to be checked out - I am pretty sure I am ready to have this baby!" I don't think I was that convincing because the nurse just told me that Pam (one of the midwives-in-training) was on her way down the hall and would check me when she got there. Pam arrived, said that my midwife, Jan was on her way down and checked my progress. "We are at 9!"
Thank GOD! I think I would have gone crazy if she said I was anything less than 8 cm dilated. So then she left to go get Jan and redirect her to one of the delivery rooms while the nurse disconnected all the monitors she just put on and got my stuff together to wheel me off.
None of the delivery rooms had been set up yet for the day, and there was a flurry of activity as Pam entered the room and helped the nurse get me transfered to the the bed. The nurse then got to work flipping on lights and getting all the supplies set up, etc. Jan then came in and Pam gave here the update "9 cm dilated, water is still intact". Jan then came over and patted me on the shoulder and told me not to worry, we have plenty of time. Pam went out to make sure they were getting Mark (he was still in the waiting room), and they continued to prep.
The nurse asked if they had done my HIV testing, etc. and the other nurse had said they were still waiting for my chart to come back there from the admitting desk! LOL- thankfully it was between contractions, so I informed them that both HIV and Group B step were both negative. The nurse then asked Jan if she should still put in a saline lock - good thing I was already planning on going med-free and I didn't need antibiotics! Mark and Pam came into the room and we were ready to go!
I told Jan I was starting to feel a lot of pressure and when Pam checked she said that we were at 10cm. Jan told me this would be the last contraction we would breath through and we would start pushing. She then told Pam to go ahead and break my water. Pam had a hard time breaking it, so she just said she would do it when the next contraction started right as I started pushing.
I told them the next contraction was starting and Jan instructed me to start pushing. I pushed through 3 contractions and he was out! Jan told me to open my eyes (LOL) and I could see his feet kicking and toes wiggling. Jake arrived at 5:54 am - less than 4 hours after my very first contraction.
They placed him on my chest and asked Mark if he wanted to cut the cord. He refused (I was pretty sure he would), then Pam asked me if I wanted to! He was turned towards me on my chest, so I was in a good position, but it kinda caught me off guard, so I said no. Too bad, I think I might have if I had more time to think about it. Everything happened so fast, they were still slapping bracelets on me and filling out my paperwork after Jacob arrived! The funniest question was when the nurse asked what my pre-pregnancy weight was and then what my weight was now. I told her my weight from my appointment Monday, but said it might be about 10 lbs too high!
He was perfect! He stayed on my chest until my 2nd degree tear was stitched up (Pam said she could tell it was where my previous tear and episiotomy were) and after about 15 minutes or so they put him on the scale to be weighed. 8lbs, 5 oz. Exactly 2 ounces more than his sister and exactly what I have been telling Mark for months.
And he has hair! The ultrasound tech had mentioned she saw hair when I went in that Monday. Strange since Sarah was practically bald until 9 months old. Nice dark hair like his daddy. Hopefully he will have the nice, light colored eyes to match. I always thought that was such a handsome combo for guys.
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| my brand new little boy |
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