Humbled and amazed, and completely taken by surprise:
This week, was week 6 of our "bed rest" . . . done in the hopes of keeping this precious babe cooking til at least 37 weeks gestation (full-term). My dad was here for the week, taking care of the house, kids, and meals and allowing me to take it easy and keep my feet up.
I had been experiencing irregular contractions for the last several weeks. These early contractions, for me, are hardly noticeable - I am only able to discern them if I'm actually feeling my belly, when it becomes hard and tight, I know it's a contraction. With my history of pre-term labor, I have become very sensitive to them and am careful to monitor these "tightenings." On Tuesday, August 27th, these contractions seemed to be coming a bit more regularly, every 10-20 minutes all day. This didn't concern me too much as I had experienced contractions every 5-10 minutes for several weeks before Maclaren was born. But I was careful to drink extra water, and took a few more herbs in an attempt to settle things down.
Wednesday morning, August 28th, I woke and did my best to time the "tightenings." They seemed to be coming about every 4 minutes. I still wasn't too concerned, convinced this baby wouldn't be arriving for at least 10 more days, but mentioned it to Mike as he was preparing to leave for work. He thought it wouldn't hurt to call our midwife, who was out of town on vacation.
At 7:15 AM, I called our midwife, who suggested I elevate my hips, to remove gravity from the equation, and drink a half-glass of red wine to calm things down. (Thankfully our neighbors had some available). She said to call back in a few hours, unless things seemed to pick up.
Downstairs, my dad started making pancakes for the kiddos. Mike tried to help me time the "tightenings," and I sipped on some wine (I really don't care for wine), and lay in bed with my hips raised up on pillows. The baby was kicking my ribs, I was still carrying this babe high.
The "tightenings" didn't increase, but they didn't slow down either. At 8:15, we spoke again to our midwife and discussed options. She suggested we go visit our backing OB at the clinic to see if I was progressing before going to the hospital. At just 35 weeks, we were not comfortable having a home birth, so if this was actual labor, we'd be going to plan B, a hospital delivery.
Shortly after, although still not painful, I did notice I had to catch my breath a bit with each "tightening", and I threw-up all the wine. Yuck. At 8:30, our midwife called back to say our OB was working at the hospital that day and he had prepared things for our arrival. I got out of bed and worked with Mike to quickly pack up a hospital bag. But, when it came time for getting dressed, the "tightenings" caused me to focus my breathing a bit, and were coming so close together I had trouble getting dressed. We were practically ready to go, but I wanted to visit the bathroom before heading out. I figured we'd get to the hospital, they'd be able to slow down these "tightenings," and we'd head home to wait at least another week. I was sure this wasn't labor.
Apparently I was wrong.
I sat down on the toilet, and my water broke. It was 8:38 AM.
Mike immediately called our midwife. Who calmly and expertly coached Mike. My dad called for an ambulance. Would we need help getting to the hospital? Would we need assistance delivering a baby? Would the baby, born at 35 weeks be okay?
I was still in complete denial, sure I was not in labor and was not having a baby.
Our midwife insisted Mike to get me off the toilet. He had to drag me off, onto the floor of the bathroom, where I landed in a upright kneel. I was definitely not thinking straight, not fully realizing what the intense pressure was, but my body knew just what to do, I started pushing. With the phone cocked on his shoulder, Mike was able to apply counter pressure as the head emerged, followed quickly by the rest of our precious girl. Mike brought her into my arms, as she let out beautiful wails. Our girl was born at 8:53 AM. Dabney Hazel.
At this point, with my babe in arms, I realized I had been in labor, but it all seemed surreal.
Mike wrapped her up snugly with clean towels and coached me to keep talking to her. About this time, Maegli walked into the bathroom, curious to see what had taken place while the kids were eating pancakes, her eyes the size of dinner plates. Mike welcomed her with a "meet your new baby sister, now go back downstairs." Grandpa also got a quick view of his newest granddaughter. The placenta arrived shortly after.
Mike prepped the bed with blankets and pads, wrapped up the placenta, and helped me walk with Dabney to the bedroom to lay down together.
About 15 minutes later, the EMT crew arrived, parking two ambulances in our front yard, only to find me and Dabney snuggled in bed. They were quite shocked, they had expected to find a woman in labor! I was feeling quite relaxed, and Dabney was nice and pink and breathing beautifully. The crew exchanged our bath towels for a hospital blanket and hat, and clamped the cord. After looking Dabney over, they agreed she was perfectly healthy, not looking at all like a typical 35 week baby. They gave us the option of a hospital transfer, and we decided to stay home. Since they didn't transport us, we would not be charged for their visit. They said that seeing this beautiful newborn was payment enough :)
Downstairs, on their way out the door, they commented to my dad, "We've never seen anything like that before!"
Mike got to work, cleaning up the bathroom/birth room. The kids downstairs sang "Happy Birthday Dabney" and made beautiful cards. Grandpa did a great job keeping the kids calm and entertained.
We want birth to be a celebration, beautiful and positive for our kids. After everything was perfectly cleaned up, Mike welcomed the kids upstairs to meet their new baby sister. They were so thrilled and proud to give their cards.
Back downstairs, the kids worked hard to decorate the house with pink balloons, and then left for a playground trip and special lunch with Grandpa.
Mike, being the expert mid-husband, drew an herbal bath for me, while I nursed our sweet baby girl.
The backup midwife arrived a few hours later to do a full newborn-check on Dabney and make sure we were all doing okay. She found it humorous that we had absolutely nothing ready, we had certainly not planned to have a baby that day. It took some time to find our pack of diapers and the supplies from our birth kit.
With Donna, we cut the cord, listened to, and weighed and measured Dabney.
6 pounds, 4 ounces.
20 inches long
She was perfect. The only mar, was a bruise to the forehead, due to a brow presentation and the result of her incredibly quick and forceful arrival.
Grandpa entertained the kids downstairs after their special lunch, while we napped in bed with our precious #9. It was such a blessing to have my dad here with us for the birth of Dabney. It was more excitement than he had anticipated (he had planned for a week of bedrest), but the help was incredibly needed this day. He made this day so special for everyone. We could hear the kids commenting throughout the day: "This is the best day ever!"
Later that day, the kids were thrilled to have us join them downstairs for a "Birthday" celebration. We brought in special food and had a family movie night. We have so much to celebrate!
So, our sweet Dabney Hazel, barreled into this world on the floor of our bathroom, with her daddy's help, and without me even realizing I was in labor. It's hard to believe we now have a sweet, perfect, precious, beautiful little girl in our arms. We are incredibly thankful.
And we have a really cool story!
(My husband rocks!)
Praise God for this precious gift.
While we had certainly hoped she would have stayed in a bit longer and been full-term, we are so thankful for her safe delivery and health. God's hand of protection was clearly over us this day. Praise be to God!
