A "Great" Birth Story

Wednesday, February 13th was my last day of work. I decided on the date because I was going to finish up with the chemistry section of the book and figured it would be a good transition point for the sub. Apparently, the baby liked my idea!

On Wednesday night I was thinking "lets get this baby out," so we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and I loaded on a lot of spicy salsa. I was hopping to get a little action but both husby and I were pretty tired. Went to bed around 9:30 thinking about Valentine's day and how I really had nothing planned.

Around 1:30am I woke up feeling a little wompty but nothing too crazy. I used the bathroom and then went back to bed. At 2:00 am I woke up again and this time I felt a little worse so I figured, instead of waking up Husby I would go out to the living room and suffer through my discomfort. At this point I was completely unaware that I would be having a baby in about 5 hours. By 2:30 I started feeling like the discomfort, which felt like mild menstrual cramps, was getting more consistent. I called the hospital reported my situation and was told to see where it led.

By 4:15, the cramps were very intense and occurring every 3 - 5 minutes. The only thing that made me feel better was pacing around the house. At 4:20, I woke up Husby and told him he probably shouldn't go to work because I think I am in labor. I also called Auntie Bree who was going to help coach me along during the labor and delivery. I let her know that it might be happening today. At 5:30, Husby called the hospital and they said to give them a call in a few hours. Most first time moms have a long drawn out labor so it wasn't imperative that I get to the hospital right away. Husby told me they said to wait another hour and I figured they knew what they were talking about.

For the next forty-five minutes I paced around the house and Husby started packing up the car. Since the baby wasn't due for another 9 days we hadn't taken care of a few details like the car seat installation of packing Husby's bad. At 6:15, I started feeling a new sensation - the need to push. I told Husby "get the car started we are going to the hospital." The car ride was the worst. I couldn't pace. I suffered through 7 or 8 contractions on the car ride over. After arriving we were put in a room so the midwife could check my progress. I could hear Auntie Bree waiting outside the room until they confirmed I was going to be admitted. At this point, I was so exhausted and was just hoping I was at 8 cm dialated. I had been planning on going au natural with this birth, but was worried if I wasn't past 8 cm that I couldn't handle anymore pain. My fears were unnecessary. The midwife did her check and exclaimed "there is no cervix; you are completed." Well, I had no idea what that meant so I asked "how many centimeters am I?" She said "10 cm!" Before I could process anything another contraction hit me and I needed to get out of the bed. I was told to sit in the wheel chair but I declined, asking to be shown the room so I could walk there. Walking was my only solace at this point.

It was 7:15 am when I laid down in the labor and delivery room bed. They were having a very difficult time finding his heart rate, which caused me incredible worry. I was told that I was going to need to start pushing with my next contraction. I didn't actually know what this meant. Apparently, the technique is to take a big deep breath and hold the push for 10 seconds. It would have been nice to be informed of this beforehand. After my second push, you could see his little head. I pushed about 6 more times before the midwife said she needed to cut me. Both Husby and I said "no." She replied back with "then push this baby out." I tried two more times but it wasn't working. She made the cut and after two pushes his head was out followed immediately by his body. He grunted a little and was placed on my chest. The whole experience was so surreal. It happened so fast and so efficiently that I still can't believe it. Besides the episiotomy, I had the most ideal birthing experience.

The end result was the most beautiful child I have ever laid eyes on: Great Prescott Sandoval. He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19.5 in long. My best Valentine's Day present.