Duke

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 1^st, 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 2^nd 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!