Hunter's Big Day! (birth story)

1:30 am on Thursday morning April 9th…I thought it was just another typical trip to the bathroom for someone in there ninth month of pregnancy. I had grown quite accustomed to the hourly trips to the restroom, as Hunter had made my insides quite crowded in the last month especially. This trip to the restroom was a little different than my others and soon I realized that my water might have broke. Of course it was not the obvious gush of water, the pop of water like you might see in a movie scene, it was more like “did I just wet myself?” Anyway I went back to bed, in denial that I might actually be in labor, and laid there just wondering if it was really happening. I didn’t want to wake Scott up not knowing if this was the “real deal” or not and not wanting to jump to conclusions too soon. So a couple hours passed by, I quietly took a pregnancy book I had by the bed into the bathroom, and tried to analyze the situation and figure out what to do next. Around 3:30 am as I got back into bed and accidentally knocked something off of my nightstand, Scott began to stir and I thought it was a good opportunity to fill him in, so I leaned over and said “I think I sprung a leak”. If I remember correctly his response was “what?…are you serious?” Well I was serious, but I certainly wasn’t really sure that this was it. We both got out of bed at this point and went downstairs, I began searching around on the internet hoping to get some answers and feel a little more confident about my “self diagnosis”. Scott began writing down all of my contractions and keeping track of all of that information. Of course at this point my contractions didn’t really seem any different than the Braxton-Hicks contractions I had been having for the last month or two, but we thought we would see if there was any type of pattern to them. After a couple hours of tracking my contractions and realizing that they were coming on a little stronger we realized they were coming consistently every 2 minutes and lasting about 30 seconds. During this time we had already started doing a few preparation things “just in case”. I think around this time we called the hospital just to check in with them and see what they thought about my timing of contractions. They said it was a good idea to come in but that they didn’t see any urgency, so to come in whenever we were ready. Hmm…now I had to decide when I was ready. I don’t know when I’ll be ready, how do you know these things, and I certainly knew I didn’t want to labor for hours and hours in some uncomfortable hospital. I was certain of one thing…I had a long day ahead of me. Scott put the car seat in the car and packed a few snacks and other last minute things that we thought we might need. Luckily we already were fairly prepared and had Hunter’s diaper bag and our hospital bag already packed into the car so it was just figuring out the last minute things. Scott made breakfast (egg and ham omelet), I took a shower and we called Verizon to increase our plan to include text messaging. We really tried to think of everything! So after we felt like we had everything together (as much as possible) we decided we would take off to the hospital. It was probably around 6 am when we decided it might be a good idea to leave the house. Scott brought up the fact that rush hour might become a factor if we wait too long, it seemed like my contractions might be getting a little more intense, so I decided it was a good decision to go in. I thought we might end up back at home in a few hours (if labor was false), but I was starting to finally believe it might be real so I figured it was good idea. Scott helped me into the car, we backed out of the driveway and pulled up on the curb at the lot next to our house and Scott began to pray before we took off on our journey. I don’t think he got into his prayer two words before I realized that my feelings of nausea that I began feeling just before we got into the car were real. I got out of the car and discarded the wonderful meal that Scott had made for me. Well I almost made it through the whole pregnancy without getting sick at all. I absolutely hate getting sick, and have felt so thankful not to experience “morning sickness”, so I tuffed it out and didn’t let it get to me. I told myself “I can handle one day of sickness”. So after a trip back into the house to “refresh” myself, Scott was able to complete his prayer and we were on our way to the hospital by 6:30’ish. Our trip went well and we arrived at the hospital around 7:30 am. Scott offered to drop me off at the front door to be “wheeled in”, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. My contractions had intensified a little on the way in to the hospital but I was certain that I could still walk in just fine. Well I did walk in, just had to take about a 30-45 second break every two minutes, but before long I was all checked in and in a labor room. The next hour to hour and a half consisted of nurses introducing themselves, being hooked up to a couple monitors to check the consistency of my contractions and Hunter’s heart rate, and just general admittance stuff for a labor I’m sure. During this time I have continued to get sick and my contractions were getting even more intense. I really knew that I was in for a long day, I was able to use the relaxation methods from Bradley class through the contractions, but just could not imagine how much more intense things were going to get. I was just certain that this was only the beginning and that things were going to get drastically more intense and painful. I just prayed that I would be able to keep control throughout the entire labor as I was doing at that point. Scott was so great to have by my side the entire time. He would make sure that I didn’t tense up during the contractions, rub my shoulders/back/legs, put water up to my mouth, lay a wet rag on my forehead and grab the upchuck cup whenever I needed it. It didn’t take long before it just became a rhythmic event. It was probably around 9 am when they pulled out this little chart and asked me to rate my pain between a 0 and 10. I really have a hard time with these things. In my mind I was thinking well this is probably like a 8 or 9 on my scale of pain I’ve experienced before, but I was certain that this was just the beginning so I told her I was at a 4, I had to make sure that I had somewhere to go from there. If I would have said and 8 or 9, I wasn’t really leaving myself any room for the real intense labor I was expecting to come, and by the end my scale would be from 0 to 20. It wasn’t long after that, around 9:30 or so, that they called my midwife (Karen Parker-Linn) to let her know that I was checked into the hospital and in labor. She hadn’t started work yet and had a full morning routine ahead of her, so she asked the nurse if they had checked me yet that way she could determine when she really needed to get there. She knew this was my first child and most likely wouldn’t be anywhere near ready, but she wanted to make sure before made a decision to go about her morning as usual. So the nurse checked me and told us we were “complete”. Now in my mind I was convinced that didn’t mean what it sounded like. I was sure complete meant something like…your cervix is completely thinned out and now dilation will begin or something like that. In my mind complete in this context did not mean “YOU ARE FULLY DILATED AND READY TO HAVE THIS BABY!” So then Scott asks “what does complete mean…fully dilated?” This was the only time I thought any negative thoughts about Scott the whole entire time. I was thinking “no you idiot and how could you even throw that out there and get that idea in my head when I am certain that I probably have 20 more hours to go of completely painful and excruciating labor ahead of me.” But then the nurse is says yes fully dilated, but she is really surprised and asks if it’s okay with me if she gets a second opinion. I am more than willing for a second opinion, this is kinda important to me. So nurse number two checks me and comes up with the same result as nurse number one. They are both really surprised and call Karen back right away with the news. I am instantly the happiest and most surprised person in the whole entire world and I felt a love for the nurses that is indescribable. I just want to give them a big hug and say thank you even though it wasn’t there doing that made me fully dilated, but they were the messengers that gave me the best news ever. I was in shock and so excited that very soon I was going to meet my little Hunter. Things began to intensify quite rapidly and my body began pushing without my control. I knew this meant that he was really on his way. Karen made it there quickly which I know made the nurses very happy, they seemed a little nervous about this baby coming before she got there. They just began preparing the room, but every time I would have a contraction and they could see the progression they seemed to get a little more anxious. Karen probably came in by 9:45 am and went to work right away. She is such a calm and positive lady, which didn’t change in this setting, but she went to work right away getting everything set up and talking to us about what was going to happen. Since she had read our birth plan at our last weeks doctor appointment she knew exactly how we wanted things to go and what our requests were. She remembered that Scott wanted to help deliver the baby and did a great job getting him all ready to go, while letting him tend to me during my contractions. The whole thing was just amazing. Contractions were getting pretty intense and the feeling of my body just completely taking over and pushing was so foreign, but knowing that it was almost over and that we would soon see our baby was all that I need to get me through the pain. I knew that I needed to focus on one thing and that was my breathing and making sure that my breathing was relaxed and controlled and that my body would do the rest (it got me this far didn’t it?) Eventually I could tell Karen was prepared and she told me that I could continue on like I was and eventually the baby would come because I was progressively pushing him out (without actively pushing, just letting my body do its thing) or that if I wanted to I could grab my legs and really push into it when my contractions came and have this baby real soon. She explained what was going to happen and what to expect and I made my decision right there to just “GET IT DONE!” I mean no matter what I was sure it wasn’t going to feel great, but I certainly didn’t want to prolong the pain and I really wanted to meet this little guy. So I began pushing with my next few contractions and I think it was probably 20 to 30 minutes later that Karen and Scott together helped me deliver Hunter into this world. It was 10:42 am and Karen asked me reach down and grab Hunter as I was delivering him and pull him up onto my abdomen. This was something I wasn’t expecting and didn’t think I would ever have the energy to do, but pulling him up onto my body and holding him and seeing him for the first time was so amazing. I was in disbelief of how amazing and beautiful the whole labor and delivery went. To God be the glory. Scott and I, as well as the nurses and Karen, were all in amazement by the whole experience. “It was better than textbook” said one of the nurses. I just kept replaying the whole event over and over in my head, I couldn’t believe what an amazing experience this had been and how it was just a few hours beforehand that I was in denial that I was even in labor. I truly feel blessed and thank God for His strength and calming during a time when people are usually nervous, scared, exhausted and tense. I am slightly hesitant, but at the same time really happy to say that Hunter came into this world totally natural, well not out in a field in the middle of nowhere, but without the use of any medications, I wasn’t hooked up to continual monitoring or IV’s and even during the recovery process I haven’t needed to take any pain relievers whatsoever. I suppose I’m hesitant to mention all of this because people might think that I’m bragging or being boastful, belittling anyone that hasn’t gone the same route, and that is not my point in mentioning these things at all. I mentioned before that I truly feel blessed by this pregnancy and delivery and I truly do want to give God the glory for all of this. I am thankful that He put specific people into my life to encourage me of natural ways to go about childbirth and providing the education for me to learn that there are different ways of going about the childbirthing process. I am thankful that He has provided me with a loving and supportive husband that is extremely interested in the health and well being of our family is constantly researching and educating himself so that we can make well thought out and educated decisions in our life. I am thankful that He has provided an abundance of support through friends and family that continually amazes me. I have always had so much to be thankful for and little Hunter is like the cherry on top! - Becky