Hello there. I'm not really big into birth stories, but this one is crazy. Lots of people have requested it, so here it is. It's not a masterpiece, just my own story. If you want to read my friend Abby's account, go here.
April 1st, 2014
“I’ll do
those in the morning,” I thought, as I looked at the dishes in the kitchen. I
had just put the kids to bed after a fun trip to Costco. We ate treats in the
food court and I told them this was our last hurrah before the baby came. Even after three kids, I’d never gone into labor on my own. The next day, April
2nd was induction day.
Adam came
home from his meeting and I told him let’s just go upstairs, shower, cuddle, talk and go to bed. "I’ll do the stuff that needs to be done before baby
tomorrow, " I told myself. "Tonight I wanted to spend time with Adam."
We both
showered and got into bed and talked about life. He listened to my worries over having a baby. It’s my favorite part of the
day.
We fell
asleep around 10:20, his hand sprawled across our new king bed to touch me. At
10:56 I woke up with a hard contraction. But no big deal, I had gotten these 3-6 times
a night for the previous three weeks. I got up and peed.
As I laid
back down I saw Adam’s hand still reaching across the bed. As I got down he
didn’t move it, which is unusual. He was dead asleep.
I fell back
asleep for a few minutes. Another hard contraction at 11:11. No different than the others. I stood up to pee (yes, again, I’m 40 weeks pregnant!), as soon as
I was vertical I felt hot water run down my legs. I cupped my hands under my
crotch, as if I could contain it.
My water
broke! What?! This has never happened before and it’s very clear it’s not just
a little pee.
“ADAM. My
water broke.” Nothing.
I waddle
into the bathroom so at least I’ll drip on the tile. “ADAM.” I say over and
over as I start to flip lights on. He starts to move and I say, “My water
broke, we need to go now.”
I grab my
phone and text two friends. "Water broke. Who can come over?" One responds quick,
she’s on her way. Texts to our parents go out.
Adam groggily stumbles out of bed and tells me this is great! He starts getting dressed.
What do you
wear to the hospital when your water breaks? I threw a shirt of Adam’s on, took
off my bottoms, shoved a towel in between my legs and put on a pair of
Adam’s basketball shorts. All the while I’m throwing last minute things into
the suitcase.
Abby comes
to the door. I’m at the top of the stairs having a contraction and she looks up
at me and says, “OH MY GOSH.” I waddle down the stairs and I tell her a few
things. You can sleep here, Sam has a field trip, blah blah blah. As I finish
talking about packing lunches, a contraction hits like no other one. I can’t
talk through it. At the end of it, I know this is it.
“I have to
push.”
Adam says "No, let’s go get in the car."
“No I have
to push now!” He lays me on the floor. At this moment I know that I’m having
this baby here. In my house. With no medication or doctor. Abby looks down and
says, “Should I call 911.” It’s quiet for a second and I say, “YES.”
I tell Adam
he’s crowing, he takes off my pants and says, "I don’t think so." But I know so.
Abby walks
back in and puts the phone on speaker and sets it in front of Adam, which very
conviently is on the kitchen table. The dispatcher is asking Adam questions.
All I know is that he’s there and he’s coming right now.
I cringe
when I think of what I sounded like at that moment. Lots of moaning and crying
and whimpering. I always think it’s crazy when people in labor go insane in
movies, but now I know why. It was terrifying. Adam was talking to the
dispatcher, very calmly. I had full confidence in him. I knew that he would do
whatever it took to make sure me and baby were okay.
Abby placed
my head in her lap and started to stroke my hair, rub my back and encourage me.
I kept telling her, “Abby I can’t do this. Abby I’m so scared.” She told me I
could. Adam was going to do a good job. I was strong and I would do this.
The pain was
awful. But I think you reach a point where the pain doesn’t even matter
anymore, I wanted it over. Adam told me to hold on a second, wait to push. I
couldn’t. He wanted out, and my body was going to do it no matter what. I felt his head start to come out and then
terror hit my heart when Adam said, “The cord is around his neck.”
I sobbed.
Not at home. Not here. Another contraction and I felt his head slip out. The
dispatcher instructed Adam to pull the cord over his head. Another contraction,
and his body was out.
“Adam is the
cord around his neck!?” I was petrified. No he said, he slipped it down over
his shoulders with the last push. Hallelujah.
Then I see
him. Adam is holding him with babys chest on his hand and his limbs are
hanging. His head is blue. Arms and legs are blue. I cannot have this baby die
because I didn’t make it to the hospital in time. "Why is he blue Adam!?"
"I don’t
know."
Dispatcher
tells him to put baby on my belly and get towels. Adam asks where the bulb
syringe is. “White dresser upstairs!” I had been debating on throwing it away
for a week, but for some reason left it sitting on my dresser. Adam ran up
stairs to get that, Abby ran outside to flag the ambulance down as they passed
by.
Baby is on
my belly, I don’t really know what to do besides touch him and talk to him. I
don’t even know what I said. He’s not moving. Adam runs back, picks him up and
suctions his nose out.
Baby cries!
Wonderful baby cries. Abby runs back in at that moment and says they’re here.
Adam and Abby start piling towels on me and baby as I start to shake. I’m not
cold, but I think the adrenaline is coursing through my body and it’s too much.
Paramedics
start pouring into the kitchen from both directions. They assess baby and leave
him on my stomach as they cut the cord. They keep reassuring us he’s okay, but
I am still worried. They wrap him in a solar blanket and poke around on him. I
can’t even remember what they were doing to me in that moment. I told Abby to grab the camera and start
taking pictures.
Adam came
over to my head, leaned over me, gave me a kiss and told me good job. I was so
proud of him. He stayed calm and delivered our baby despite me falling to
pieces.
“What time
was he born?” Adam, Abby and I all look at each other. Eleven twenty
something……none of us know. I say, “Let’s just call it 11:30 for ease.” It was
probably more like 11:24ish.
They took
all the blankets off me, helped me stand up and helped me to the gurney. As I
walked, I felt the cord dangle between my legs. I was so grossed out by it. It
didn’t help that I was just in a t-shirt either. I had to close my eyes as I
got on the gurney because I was so grossed out.
They placed
baby in a solar blanket in my arms. He was still blue. I asked again, and again
they reassured me. They wheeled us outside in the windy night.
Right before
they shut the doors Adam ran up and asked if he should follow or ride. I wanted
him to ride so bad but I knew he needed a way home. As they shut the doors he
blew me a kiss.
The ride to
the hospital was so slow. Probably because there was no hurry. It’s ridiculous
how close we live to the hospital and I didn’t make it. They put an IV in my
hand and I cringe. He says, “You just delivered a baby on your kitchen floor.
An IV is nothing.” True.
I told the
guy I need to deliver the placenta, I am fighting waves of contractions. They said they would rather I wait if I could.
They wheeled
me in through the ER. Everyone just stared at me. I tried to smile, it felt so
surreal. I know people could see I was naked from the waist down, but who
cared, my baby was in my arms breathing and his face and arms are starting to
turn pink and red.
They wheeled me
into a delivery room and transferred me to the bed. "Ewwww," I cringe, "the cord is still there."
Babe goes in the warmer thing in the corner of the room. The nurse with baby
says to the one over by me, “Look at this.” She looks over and laughs. I ask
what. “This is a big baby.” Adam walks in.
I feel the
urge to push the placenta, but with each time, it’s not coming. The Dr on call
walks in, on the next contraction it comes. He starts to prep to sew me up. He
is rough, and hurting me. I tell him and he just says that it’s because I’m
tender but even Adam is flinching as he cleans it up. He starts to numb me and
sew. A few times I say, “That’s not numb!” He seemed to get annoyed with me, but
hey, it’s my crotch he’s sewing up. He is pulling and tugging and it was so
uncomfortable. Adam has a look of disgust on his face.
My Dr walks
in and laughs. He told me I would have this baby at home. We talk about it, he
congratulates Adam on the delivery and asks details. Adam asked him to look at
my stitches because he’s worried the Dr was rough. They’re fine. It’s a third
degree tear.
They weighed the
baby, and he was 9 lbs 6 oz.
We cuddle up
in bed and text our families. My parents were awake so we google hangout with
them. They cannot believe it. They wake up Sydnee and she comes and sees us and
him.
I sent Adam
home around 2ish. There was nothing really more that he could do.
He kisses me
softly on his way out. I couldn’t be more happy with my choice in a husband. Like he’s
always said, “I look forward to all our adventures together.”
It's now April 12th, and we all are doing so great. Duke is darling and my recovery has been the best one yet. Not sure if it's because it's #4, or because he came so fast, or because I was active to the very end. Whatever the reason, I'll take it. I have had multiple Dr's and nurses tell me it's a miracle nothing went wrong. There was maconium, he was big, he came so fast, etc etc. We're just glad it's over and all is well!
