Labor Day

After the infamous Saturday, I was a little gun-shy concerning mentioning contraction variations or the possibility of labor to my husband. For another week and a half I continued to have the short but regular contractions at intervals at night (which I had been having for weeks) longer and stronger contractions at random during the day, and persistent low pelvic crampiness. (The crampiness was new. The strength of daytime contractions was new.) It was exhausting on top of everything else. It was also distracting. 

While all this was going on, my sister arrived to help. My "due date" came and went. And my husband started working from home. You see, although my first labor was a multi-day marathon, each of my labors progressed more quickly than the last. He wanted to stay close so as not to miss the arrival of our newest family member.

We planned to have another "home birth" this time. (I know, some of you think that's dangerous, selfish, and stupid. Believe me, I've thoroughly researched this choice and compared the risks and outcomes associated with home births and the risks and outcomes associated with hospital births. So please spare me any judgmental comments you may feel inclined to make.) The idea of a birth at home was extra comforting this time around, knowing that I'd probably not have time to get to the hospital (and the fact that I have a friend who delivered a child of hers in her car on the side of the road en route to the hospital without the help of a qualified attendant or any supplies because she and her husband couldn't get there fast enough.) Given our new location, we even opted to work with a different midwife than usual, picking the one nearest us who lived about 20 minutes away at most, given traffic conditions and stop lights.

After my oldest daughter was born after a mere 3 hour labor, I purchased a laminated, "When Baby Comes Before the Midwife" sheet with my next set of birth supplies. It started out as mostly a joke, but it soon became a serious item for my husband to review. After all, my last labor lasted only about 45 minutes!

And then on the 5th of February I felt "funny" again. The nighttime contractions remained short and regular, but seemed more intense, and they still came and went. The random contractions during the day seemed even stronger too, although completely irregular. I messaged my midwife to let her know that I was having stronger and longer contraction, although still at random. I went about my normal business, trying to ignore the random contractions.

Then in the mid-afternoon, I was sitting on the couch in the living room with my sister and husband and a couple kids chatting when I experienced a particularly strong, random, distracting contraction. Then it crossed my mind that theoretically my "water" might "break" at any time. I figured I'd better not let that happen on the new couch, so I went to lay down for a nap. (I'd already put a chucks pad under the sheet in case my water broke during the night.) I also figured that if it wasn't labor, the contractions might subside if I rested. 

Well, I had a few long and strong contractions. And I lay there wondering at what point I would know it was "the real thing" since I seemed to have been laboring in slow motion for weeks. My husband came into the room. I told him about the contractions and that the closest the contractions had been together was 10 minutes. He went to tend our 3 year old and whatnot. While he was gone I got a REALLY strong contraction and my amniotic sac broke. I called out for him or anyone, but no one answered. (My sister happened to be playing board games in the "stone room" with the kids and didn't hear me.) I waited for what seemed like an eternity for my husband to hear me, for the contractions were instantaneously back-to-back and killer, and I didn't want to get up and cause them to increase in intensity. After learning of my water breaking and seeing the level of the contractions, my husband immediately called the midwife. Then he crawled onto the bed next to me.

Soon my contractions changed, and it became clear to him that things were progressing quickly. He called the midwife again and learned that she was stuck behind a slow driver not too far from our house. Soon she called back, asking if he wanted her to stay on the phone as labor progressed. But he quickly realized that she was not going to make it in time for the baby's birth, and set the phone aside and focused on the arrival of our newest blessing.

So anyway, my husband had reviewed the aforesaid mini instruction manual recently. I had pointed out to him where the cord clamps were, the umbilical scissors, the newborn hats, etc. In the end I'm not sure that any of that helped him at all, for this child arrived in a grand total of 28 minutes- a few minutes before the midwife arrived! He placed our third son on my chest, covered him up, and put a hat on him. He had the bulb syringe to suction the baby if he needed it. And then our midwife came in- in time to take the 5 minute APGAR score, and to tend to everything necessary. Our youngest child was born at 4:30 pm, weighed in at 11 pounds even, was 23 inches long; he was perfect and healthy. Praise God!