Birth Stories

Jess over at Making Home is sharing her birth stories while anticipating the any-moment arrival of her fourth child, Silas. I thought I'd copy her and do the same here. Edit: Jess gave birth Thursday night to a healthy & beautiful little boy-Congrats Jess & family!

My labor with Ash was right out of the textbook. My water broke before dawn on my due date. I loved it that my water broke, since it was a for sure sign that I was to head to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital still in the early stages.

We walked scores of miles trying to get labor to speed up. This was when the new mother/baby wing of the hospital was being added and we walked that corridor before beds were set up. I'd stop and have contractions in the hall, breathing through them and holding on to Shane. Finally, in the afternoon my doctor told me we'd need to use some pitocin if things didn't pick up soon. I was terrified of pitocin and the horror stories I'd heard about the harsh way it threw a woman's body into labor. I narrowly escaped it, since my body finally got busy about the business of the day.

My sweet nurse, Marianne, conspired against me with Shane. They knew I wanted to attempt a natural delivery so when I asked for a narcotic when I was dilated to a five or so, she got "busy" elsewhere or had to go find some...whatever they could do to put me off. I finally received a half dose, which made me a bit talkative--Shane had to tell me to be quiet and get ready for the next contraction--but it helped me cope so much better.

This baby still caused some trouble, though. Every time I was checked, she's just float right back up when her head was touched. Somewhere around 9:30 that night, it was time to push. She continued her floating antics up to the very end. I'd push her down but after every contraction, she'd move back up a little. I'd pushed for an hour when this stubborn baby finally made her appearance. The doctor had delivered her head and was suctioning out her nose/mouth and said not to push. I'd only had Stadol, not an epidural, so all the feelings were very intense. I told him I couldn't tell if I was pushing and he said I was fine just like I was. In the next moment, my body took over and pushed. He said, "Well, I guess we'll go ahead and deliver the baby now!" And out she came while I tore in a V shape.

We handn't been able to find out her gender with the sonogram, so we were surprised at birth-a sweet surprise. There were no problems other than the tear. I didn't know any better, so I thought every woman who had just given birth had a super-duper tender bottom for a few days.

We pulled out of the hospital parking lot with Shane driving oh so carefully. We'd never transported such precious cargo before. We arrived home and cried tears of joy for days, at the amazement of our daughter.

That was 11 years ago this month. When I call her name, I still think of the little baby, our first little one. Yet my words don't jive with that. I say, "Jaybird, go tell Ash to change your diaper." Or, "Ash, could you start dinner?" Those aren't the things you say to a little baby...when did this all happen? Overnight it seems.

Oh, and she still amazes us.