Remembering 2 years ago...

Warning: This is a long birth story and kind of graphic but I wanted to share anyways.

I went to see the midwife 14 hours before Lucas was born and found out she was 1 cm dilated and 30 percent effaced. I woke up at 3:45 am to go to the bathroom and could not go back to sleep after tossing and turning. E asked if he was going to get out of work today but the answer was "probably not". I decided to work on the computer and try to do a project for Shutterfly and returned some emails. I noticed that cramps were coming regularly but just thought I was dehydrated. I drank some juice to see if that would help. By 4:45 my contractions were becoming uncomfortable and more regular at probably 4-5 minutes apart so at 5 am I woke E up to tell him I thought I might be in labor and needed him to get up.

I started getting things together, got a long shower, sat on the labor ball, and breathed through the contractions. I even worked on a word scramble in the newspaper. I did not want to wake anyone up until 6am so we called the midwife and told her I thought I was in labor and she said she would meet me at the birth center around 6:40. We called Erin in the neighborhood and she said she could be over soon. She arrived quickly by 6:15, we gave her too many instructions about what to feed Logan and we left the house.

By the time we got in the car my contractions were probably 2 minutes apart and by the time we got to the corner of Custer and hwy 121 (which is only 3 miles away) I was starting to feel the urge to push. E was speeding at this point, but not fast enough. I started getting worried at that point because we still had a good 12 minutes left to go. I remembered that if you tried to pant then it would be physically impossible to push. I could not figure out how to pant. I could not make myself do it. I made E turn on the hazard lights on the car. At the corner of Custer and McDermott we saw a police car in front of us. I was actually disappointed because I was going to make E try to really speed and felt like the police officer in front of us was going to slow things down but then I thought we should try to pass him and get his attention. We drove by him with our window down on the left. I tried to get his attention and show him that I was in labor. He drove up on our right side and asked if I was in labor and what hospital I was going to. We told him the Allen birthing center and he said to follow him. He pulled up ahead of us and we were following him. We realized that he was not going any faster than the speed limit, did not turn on his lights, and was not going through lights, passing anyone or anything. We must have looked entirely too calm. I made E go a different way than the police officer because by that point I felt like the baby was coming out whether we liked it or not. He did run one light and cut in front of someone to turn left to make it one more block to the birth center. I was telling him that something was coming out and to “go, go, go”.

I felt relieved that we made it there but then was really concerned when I realized that no one was there but us. The birthing center was completely dark and there were no other cars. Then the police officer pulled up right behind us and got out of his car. I was screaming and yelling to E that the baby was coming out and I needed help. I pulled my shorts off, flew open my door and reclined my seat. I felt between my legs and there was a bulging amniotic sac. I was screaming “what is that?” and E said “it is a bubble” and I screamed “well, is there a cord in it?” I was really freaking out at this point and not acting civilized at all. I starting screaming at E to call someone so he grabbed his cell phone and called the first number he could find and it was Amy, one of the nurse midwives. The police officer was shocked to see what was going on and said something like “oh, wow” and called for more help. Apparently the rescue squad was just two blocks down the street.

While E was on the phone with Amy I had another contraction and the head came facing the right way – downwards. The sac broke as the baby’s head came out but was covering the baby’s head. E had to move the sac away from the baby’s head. E was asking the midwife what to do and the cell phone was being held by his ear and shoulder so both hands would be free. She was telling him that if the head was out to tell her to push. With the next contraction I pushed again and Lucas was born; he came out very quickly and smoothly sometime around 6:45 AM. E caught and delivered his baby and then we pulled him up to my chest together. We were screaming and crying all at once. We were trying to get the baby to breathe so we were rubbing him and he did finally make some cries. He was wet and beautiful. The police officer finally chimed in and said “Do you have any blankets?’ and we just remembered that we did bring 3 blankets. So we grabbed one and started to try to dry him off with one of them. It was a cool morning and it was starting to rain. Lucas did start crying and breathing and turning a little pink. I remember not being too concerned about getting him to breath the very second he was born because as long as the cord was attached then he was still getting oxygen from me. I was telling Lucas I was so sorry to have him born in such a crazy way. I just kept thinking and saying “It was so fast, it was just so fast”. I think I was in shock for a few hours that something like this had happened to us.

After Lucas was born the fire trucks, police cars and ambulance/rescue squad showed up. They came over to the car and checked on the baby. Amy was still on the phone and told E to make sure that the rescue squad did not take us anywhere like the hospital. The EMT worker used a little oxygen in front of his face; they took my blood pressure, and listened to the baby’s heart. They said he had an Apgar score of 8. I realized that I was nude from the waist down and there were 15 men standing around looking at us as well as nosy neighbors across the street. I had brought some chux pads in the bag and wanted to cover up with that. The midwife showed up at around 6:50 but disappeared into the birthing center and was asking some questions. The EMTs clamped and cut the cord. Eventually they decided to take us into the birthing center with a metal chair they strapped me into. They had to carry me up the stairs and the men were still standing around looking at me while they were pushing me up the front porch with E carrying the baby and walking up behind me. After we got upstairs the EMT worker asked us some more questions. I delivered the placenta and the nurse midwife started her normal postpartum exams and procedures.

The midwife monitored me for a couple of hours. She went downstairs and made some cinnamon buns and hot herbal mother’s milk tea that was supposed to encourage my milk to come in faster. I was able to try to nurse Lucas right away. E went downstairs and cleaned up the car with some supplies from the birthing center. He also ran to McDonalds to get us some breakfast with protein and more to drink. I never had any IV fluids so the midwife was really encouraging me to drink a liter or two before we left. I do remember feeling very thirsty. I called some family and friends on the cell phone. A few friends said that they wanted to come by but I told them that we would be home soon. Lucas and I were able to be together for two hours or more before anything was done to him. I got an injection to help my bleeding slow down. Lucas got a shot of vitamin K and the ointment in his eyes and a bath. I was able to get into the shower to rinse off but felt a little faint so ended it quickly.

One of the other midwifes stopped by the birthing center to see how I was doing and to help since the RN that helps them did not have time to get there. I felt faint another time while walking to the bathroom. E and I were ready to get home to pick Logan up from our friend’s house to put him down for his nap. We left the birthing center by 12:45 and picked Logan up at 1:00. We had a quick introduction of Lucas and Logan and Jennifer went to relax in the bed.

It was a very interesting day. We were thrilled that our newest son was born perfect and healthy. We were told afterwards by the midwives that if I would have delivered in transit or in the parking lot of the hospital that the baby would have been keep in isolation as soon as we were admitted into the hospital and I would not have been able to be with him. I would have had to have been transported by the ambulance with the baby. We would not have been able to have the bonding time right after he was born. I will always remember such a special labor experience. My husband was able to deliver our baby. We were the first people to hold him. We had plenty of time to spend with our baby without all of the medical interventions or being taken away to a nursery. He never left our sight. I had envisioned a labor at the birthing center in the water and possibly deliver in the water with relaxing music playing and E at my side. The delivery was not exactly that but I would not change it for the world. Lucas is our perfect baby that was in a very big hurry to meet his family. We are so thankful that everything went well and everyone was healthy. It was a wonderful experience and I would do it all over again.