Today is my due date. And we are so grateful sweet baby Janie is already with us. I wanted to write down her birth story before I forget.
Wednesday morning I woke up at 4 am with a very uncomfortable contraction. This wasn't too unusual at night at the time. Usually, after going to the bathroom, I could go right back to sleep and didn't have any more contractions. Well, this was the second or third time that night this had happened and I was thinking this might actually be labor. I tried to go back to sleep very briefly and quickly gave up on the idea. I was already up when Will cried out in his sleep (he's been having nightmares lately), so I went in and comforted him until he fell back asleep. Although I was getting more certain I was in labor, I didn't want to wake up Zach just yet. He had felt sick the day before so I figured if we were really going to have a baby he needed all the sleep he could get. I also really didn't want him to cancel all his patients for the day unless I was certain this was it, and it wasn't going to stop. He noticed I was gone but thought I had just fallen asleep with Will. I decided to get in the tub to help relax me and to time contractions.
By the time I got in the tub they were coming about 6 minutes apart and lasted about one minute. I would read between contractions. Before transition, the best way for me to manage labor pain has actually been to focus on what the contraction is doing, relax my body as much as possible, and breathe deep. So, that's what I'd been doing. The contractions were getting more intense and a little closer together. I had two funny short ones between the others that was throwing the average on the phone so they were timing at about 4 minutes apart. I had initially thought when I woke up that I would labor at home until we took the boys to school at 8:20 am and we would head straight to the hospital from there. I realized things were moving a little faster this time around and I should call someone to watch the kids and we should go to the hospital as soon as Zach and I showered and got ready.
I woke up Zach at 6:10 am and told him. Before I sat on the edge of the bed to tell him I thought about laying down for just a few more minutes, but had a big contraction and laying down sounded like the most uncomfortable thing ever. "I think we're having the baby today!" He gave me a hug and I told him I was going to get in the shower and then we should go. We decided we'd call my friend and visiting teacher from church to get the boys off to school. He originally was going to try and sleep for a little longer, but thankfully couldn't and got up and started eating breakfast and getting things ready to leave the boys. He came to check on me in the shower and asked if this was really it. I told him yes, and as soon as we were ready we needed to leave to the hospital. Things were picking up. I had 4 more contractions in the shower. I could no longer just breathe through them but had to start swaying my hips while I was contracting to get through them. For some reason I was still thinking I would have time to dry my hair before we left. I got out of the shower and called my visiting teacher and asked her to come stay with the boys. She answered while I was on the tail end of a contraction. I had Zach let me lean on him while I swayed my hips for a contraction. I threw on a dress that still fit me (the fact I chose a dress made things a lot easier later on.)
I realized at that point we couldn't wait for her to get there we needed to just leave. Zach told Joe, who was awake, that we were leaving and she would be there soon and to stay in his room until she got there. I had another contraction and thought maybe I needed to use the bathroom. When I sat on the toilet my water broke! I stuck a towel in my underwear and started panicking a little. I walked out and told Zach we weren't going to make it. He was so calm and reassuring. He told me everything would be fine and we would make it and ran out to start the truck. He met me at the bottom of the stairs on his way back in. I told him, "really, we are not going to make it. You need to check me." So he checked me and saw her head! Being the wise man he is he did not tell me that. He just calmly asked if I could make it back upstairs to our room. He again told me everything would be fine, we had plenty of blankets and towels and he knew what to do. Zach told Joe everything was fine, but we were having the baby at home and he needed to stay out of our room. We made it to the side of the bed and Zach asked me if I could get on it. I told him, "I can't move!" I leaned forward and put my elbows on the bed and pushed (and yelled) through the next contraction. Her head was out! The next contraction I pushed (and yelled), again, and she was born! Zach delivered our baby girl at our bedside! She cried right away.
Zach looked up and Max was standing in the doorway and had watched the whole thing. He then called Joe in and through him the phone and told him everything is fine, but call 911. Joe was understandably a little flustered and said he couldn't. By then I was on the bed and Zach placed baby girl on me and called 911 (at 6:42 am) himself. He covered us in blankets while the dispatcher told him to tie the cord and check other basic things like that we were breathing. He couldn't find a string to tie the cord, so he used a shoelace like the dispatcher suggested. Later he realized he has hemostats he could have easily used, but our brains were in a little bit of a fog. Joe woke up Will (who somehow had slept through the commotion) and all the boys came in and looked at the baby. Will's first question was, "Is your belly small now?" Haha. Not yet, buddy. The fire truck and ambulance showed up at our house shortly after we called 911. They clamped the cord a little closer and had Zach cut it. It felt a little ridiculous having them show up and taking the ambulance to the hospital, but we weren't properly equipped for an at home birth! They carried me and Janie out on a stretcher and Zach followed behind the ambulance. I was finally able to nurse Janie in the ambulance. She latched on right away and nursed all the way there.
When we got to the hospital the NICU nurses were right there as we entered, but realized immediately that we didn't need there assistance (thankfully). They wheeled us to labor and delivery. I think Zach was already in the room when we arrived. We were telling the Dr. about our crazy morning and tying the cord he said, "you know, they say you can just use a shoelace for that..." lifting up the blanket, "oh, you really did use a shoelace!" I finally delivered the placenta and the Dr. stitched me up.
The hospital had an unusual number of babies born, so we got to go to a NICU family room for recovery. The boys came to officially meet Janie when they got home from school. They were immediately smitten (it helped that they didn't have a fire truck distracting them!) My mom flew in late that night. She had purchased her tickets months earlier. She has a knack for buying them at just the right time. The last three baby (when I have lived far away from her) she has been there the day after the baby was born. I think she has a sixth sense. Actually, I truly believe it is a tender mercy. She and Zach both came and brought me and Janie home the next day.
I am amazed every time I have had a baby at the human body and what a miracle pregnancy and childbirth is. We are soaking in every exhausted beautiful moment with our sweet baby Janie.
