This sweet baby boy was my biggest baby (8lb5oz) and fastest labor (4 hours). I had previously experienced false labor 4 days prior to his delivery, with fairly strong contractions every 3 minutes. I had taken a brisk solo walk around the block and we were settling the kids down for bed when they began to intensify. Erick spoke with one of the midwives on the phone (the one I birthed Simone with) and we decided it was probably wise to have me go down to the hospital.
Once I was there they remained consistent but ultimately slowed around midnight. Instead of intensifying I felt tired and decided to sleep. I ended up resting fairly well (for being in the hospital) and decided around 5am I wanted to go home. The midwife came in and we decided that I could go home, as my vitals (and the baby's) were strong and healthy and I've never had an issue going into labor before.
I anticipated that I would go into labor in the next few days but nothing really happened. I enjoyed the final days of being pregnant with my little family. On Sunday morning, which was my due date AND Simone’s birthday, I woke up to bloody show. I knew that labor would likely come within a few days but felt totally fine that day. That evening I took a bath and felt a bit neauseated and had to lay down. After about an hour of rest I felt well enough to help get the kids to bed and hang out with Erick.
Around 12:45am I woke to some fairly strong contractions. I remember thinking “oh THIS is a contraction”. It was double the intensity of what I had felt the previous Wednesday when I went in with false labor.
As I've done with both Jeff & Simone, I tried to go back to bed. My midwives always recommended “going back to bed" in early labor as your body needs to rest before active labor. However I kept waking up with painful contractions. They weren’t consistent with the timing but looking back, active labor was building. Around 4am the contractions were getting so painful that I was beginning to moan and couldn’t lay down any longer, my body felt it needed to move. I decided I needed to wake Erick up, but was in so much pain I made it to the bathroom but couldn’t get back out.
Thankfully he heard me and found me on hands and knees in the bathroom moaning through a contraction. He took one look at me and said “we need to get to the hospital”. He called my sister, Suzie, who woke up and drove over to our house to be with our sleeping kids.
He got the car ready and me dressed with a jacket and shoes, the contractions were building so intensely I couldn't do either on my own and was either leaning on something or on my hands and knees on the kitchen floor. I remember crying and saying “I don’t want to do this!” To which he replied “you're already doing it" Haha!
He called the midwife from the car to tell her we were on our way. Once we go to the hospital I got into a wheelchair in the emergency department because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to walk/make it to the delivery ward. I crawled into the wheelchair but remained sideways on hands and knees. Apparently Erick almost hit my head on a door while nervously steering me and the nurse took over haha
Once I was in the delivery room the midwife and nurses met me. I got out of the wheelchair and climbed up onto the bed, remaining on hands and knees. The midwife came to my head and said to me “calm your breathing, that's the one thing you can control right now and it will help you". She reminded me of my breathing periodically throughout the delivery and I was so thankful for that small bit of advice, it did help to calm my mind and give me something to focus on as I reached the pinnacle of pain prior to delivery.
I've read through the midwife's chart notes from the birth and she noted that I presented in the wheelchair “clearly in transition”. The nurse noted Erick telling them “knowing how my wife labors, she’s almost ready to push". She also said that once I got onto the bed my water broke after only one contraction. I remember my water breaking and taking my pants off. I remember feeling the baby’s head descend which actually panicked me, I told that to the midwife and she was so perfect for me in that moment. She told me "you're here in a safe place, your body is doing everything it's supposed to, so you can push and everything will be all right"
That really calmed me. Within a few contractions I felt his head push out. Within one more contraction his shoulders and body were out and I was so relieved. I asked Erick what it was and he had to do a double take because he had been so convinced the baby was a girl, but it was a boy! So thankful for a healthy and positive delivery experience and for my baby boy!
