A Baby is Born

Before Luke was born, I spent a lot of time thinking about what his birth would be like, preparing for labor and delivery, and trying my best to be as healthy a possible in order to give him the best start in this world. I practiced the HypnoBabies process for at least an hour every day, listening to affirmations, relaxing to scripts via my Nano, and doing birthing exercises. I in no way thought I was an expert, but I did feel confident that I was doing all that I could to prepare for something I had never done before.

My water broke on August 17th at 5:30pm while I was walking on the treadmill. I had come home from a day of teaching, and as I was already four days past my due date (guess date), I was a little tired. I had been e-mailing back and forth with another teacher who had used the HypnoBabies process, and she had just sent me an audio file of the script "Come Out Baby!" John and I listened to the script, and then we chatted about when and how the baby would come. John suggested I go to the gym as it might make me feel better. I had been walking at least two miles around five times a week during my entire pregnancy. I had thought to skip the gym that day, but I relented, put on my gym stuff and headed out.

I was almost at two miles when the treadmill clock hit 30 minutes. I decided to push on, get the entire two in before I quit. I remember thinking, just relax, push on, and as two miles closed in, I felt this gush of wet. It wasn't a gush like it is on TV, but it was definitely more than a trickle. At first, I thought I had relaxed too much and peed my pants (Weak bladder is a symptom of pregnancy; and although I had not suffered from it, I thought being overdue may have pushed me over that edge.). But based upon the amount of wetness I saw, I quickly changed my thinking and knew what had happened. Fortunately, nothing went on the treadmill, and I was able to waddle to the bathroom with my little white gym towel placed strategically in front of me.

After I had gotten things relatively under control, I waddled out of the gym and into my car. I immediately called John saying, "Well, I guess that HypnoBabies script worked because we are having a baby. My water broke on the treadmill." John asked if I had called the doctor and amazingly that thought had not entered my mind. I hung up with him and called the doctor. My doctor was not on call, so Dr. Cox (a practice partner) called me back and told me that because my water had broken I should come on in to the hospital and be admitted. I told her that my contractions had not started, and she said that I should come in any way because of the risk of infection.

I got home and told John that I wanted to take a shower. He seemed concerned, and I said that we had plenty of time as I was not contracting and that we would be at the hospital for a very long time. John was calm, or at least he appeared calm, and he gathered all of our stuff and got it into the car. I couldn't believe my luck as I was able to call my sub (at a reasonable hour) and let him know that I would not be there the next day and John was able to call work and get them to cover for him also.

I asked John to stop at Wendy's and although he seemed concerned about getting to the hospital, he relented and I got food. He also got Subway, and we picked up cookies for the nurses at Kroger. He rolled into the hospital around 7:30pm and had to wait while they checked another woman into labor and delivery. I didn't realize how much water there was left to come out, and so while we waited I accidentally put a wet spot on the waiting room bench. A VERY kind nurse who walked by brought me back a pad to sit on. Embarrassing yes, but at the same time, it was kind of funny.

We got checked in, and they brought me directly to a room because my water had broken. I had to be wheeled in a wheelchair, which I thought was rather funny. Once inside the room, I was check by the nurse, and I have to say that it was a very unpleasant experience. Dr. Cox then came in and informed me that I had roughly 24 hours to have the baby and because I had still not started contracting on a regular basis she suggested Pictocin to get things started.

I wanted to have a natural birth so I declined and our night of walking, sitting on the exercise ball, and squatting began. I was monitored ever 45 minutes, which was fine until it got past 1am. I was very tired and thought it best to try and get some sleep. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and a IV, and John and I tried to get some sleep.

At 5am, Dr. Cox came in and I was checked. I was dilated 4cm but I was still 0% effaced. He had not dropped, so the Pictocin was started. I labored comfortably using my techniques until 9:30am. The Pictocin was increased every 30 minutes, and although it was only increased by .5ml, I could feel the change each time. At 9:30, I was checked, ad I was at 8cm and 100% efaced, but I was done. I was exhausted and couldn't focus enough to relax through the pressure waves. The waves were also not natural as they were reinforced by the Pictocin. I know this because when the anesthesiologist went to put in the epidural, the nurse turned off the Pictocin, and I immediately felt the difference between the pressure waves with and without the drugs.

John was amazing through this entire process. He kept me company, rubbed my back, supported me through all of my decision, and held my hand while keeping me steady as I was given an epidural during pressure waves that were less than a minute apart and off the chart. I can't imagine what was going through his mind during this entire time. I sometimes think it is really unfair for men during this process as they have no opportunity to really "feel" the baby growing during the nine-month process and they must simply watch as their partner goes through the birthing process. I know they are apart of the process through support and encouragement, but it isn't the same as doing the growing and birthing.

I labored for two more hours and finally made it 10 10cm. By 3:30, I was ready to go after I had sat up for an hour in an attempt to use gravity to bring the baby down (he just wasn't interested in coming out). I pushed for almost an hour. My Dad made it past two nurses' stations with no one stopping him and came into the room while I was pushing, but I have to say at that point in time I did not care. John was right behind me holding up my back for every push, and Luke Michael Williams was born at 4:17pm August 18, 2009, weighing in at 7lbs. 13.6 oz, and with a whole head of hair.

He came out sunny-side up with the cord wrapped twice around his neck. Dr. Storck (my doctor) was surprised by the delivery as was the nurse because I had no back labor, which is typically an indicator for this position. Dr. Storck later mused that he would have shot out had he been in the correct position as I only had to push twice once his head had crowned. Because of his delivery, Luke was only placed on my chest briefly, and it felt like an eternity before he cried. His APGAR scores were 7 & 9 (for coloring).

John went out to the waiting room and told all of the Grandparents and Uncle Michael that Luke had finally joined us. He accidentally got the APGAR scores wrong, telling my Mom that they were 4, She of course freaked out and tried to get into the delivery room, but we held everyone off for a little while longer as Luke latched on for the first time, and I had my first breastfeeding experience. What a miracle.

Once we were ready as a new family, John got everyone put of the waiting room, and we celebrated our new little one.