will has been in our lives for a while, but he officially arrived at 11.57pm on jan 31.
Jan 30th (that nite was the nite it all started)
5pm …chad got on the bus to come home from boulder. typically a 20 min bus ride, but because of a snow storm traffic was backed up and at 6.00 he wasn’t even ½ way here. contractions were starting with me at home.
7pm…contractions getting stronger, chad…still on the bus.
8pm…chad walked home (4 miles, up hill, in the snow, on a sprained ankle… no joke)
9pm…we started calling dog sitters, knowing that tonite would in fact be the nite we’d go into the hospital. we couldn’t get a definite confirmation on morning dog walkers, so later we found out jed got not one, not two, but three morning visitors…lucky dog.
2am…contractions about 1 min long…5 min apart (they say to come in at 4-1-1 …4 min apart, 1 min long, for 1 hr)…we knew I had been 3cm dilated and 75% effaced the day before, so we were thinking things would go quick...chad wanted to be the coach not the deliverer)
Jan 30th (that nite was the nite it all started)
5pm …chad got on the bus to come home from boulder. typically a 20 min bus ride, but because of a snow storm traffic was backed up and at 6.00 he wasn’t even ½ way here. contractions were starting with me at home.
7pm…contractions getting stronger, chad…still on the bus.
8pm…chad walked home (4 miles, up hill, in the snow, on a sprained ankle… no joke)
9pm…we started calling dog sitters, knowing that tonite would in fact be the nite we’d go into the hospital. we couldn’t get a definite confirmation on morning dog walkers, so later we found out jed got not one, not two, but three morning visitors…lucky dog.
2am…contractions about 1 min long…5 min apart (they say to come in at 4-1-1 …4 min apart, 1 min long, for 1 hr)…we knew I had been 3cm dilated and 75% effaced the day before, so we were thinking things would go quick...chad wanted to be the coach not the deliverer)
Jan 31st
3.45 am…starting to leave for the hospital
4.15am…actual leave time…it looked like we were going on vacation for a week.
(times are estimates after this point J)
5am arrived at the hospital (after having to stop on the side of the road 3 times for me to walk around and contract on the side of the road…early morning commuters thought I was crazy)…met our doula jennieve there.
8am…still only 3 cm dilated (10 is complete)…what the heck!?
8-10 am…walked stairs, told jennieve stories (in between contractions) about how chad and I met, started to date, got married, and ended up in this wonderful predicament…used some of our breathing techniques, visualizations, and birthing ball.
4.15am…actual leave time…it looked like we were going on vacation for a week.
(times are estimates after this point J)
5am arrived at the hospital (after having to stop on the side of the road 3 times for me to walk around and contract on the side of the road…early morning commuters thought I was crazy)…met our doula jennieve there.
8am…still only 3 cm dilated (10 is complete)…what the heck!?
8-10 am…walked stairs, told jennieve stories (in between contractions) about how chad and I met, started to date, got married, and ended up in this wonderful predicament…used some of our breathing techniques, visualizations, and birthing ball.
10am…asked chad to remove the clock from our room. good riddens…I thought the sun over the mountains, would be plenty clock enough. Surely by sun set our little guy would be here.
~11am…contractions more and more intense…got in the birthing tub. candles lit. jets on. It felt like the most peaceful, yet most intense location in boulder…one of the nurses made that comment when she came in.
~11am…contractions more and more intense…got in the birthing tub. candles lit. jets on. It felt like the most peaceful, yet most intense location in boulder…one of the nurses made that comment when she came in.
Noon…got checked in the tub (what a great dr.) by candle light (what a really great dr.)…and hoped for ‘birth by candle light’ 5-6cm dilated (getting closer)
4pm…out of the tub…that was the longest I’d ever been in a tub. things were getting more and more intense. (time was really standing still…I had no concept…just floating between contractions)…
~5-6pm…the sun set over the mountains…still no baby.
tried the birth bar and other contraptions to try to get comfortable (comfort was really relative…I kept imagining women birthing in all kinds of positions and locations, as had been shown in some of my books …chad was letting me hang on him, had sat by me in the tub coaching me, talking to me, breathing with me (which was great except for the onions on his sandwich…not a good choice for birth coaches)…and not complaining either.
Somewhere between 6 and 7 …10 cm dilated, 100% effaced (in our birth class this was what we learned of as ‘transition labor’ being over and ‘push labor’ (the quickest, but most intense) as starting. the nurse and doula were telling us, ‘you’re almost there!’
~7 pm…our dr. came back in and they brought in the bassinet for the baby. i started feeling as if i couldn’t go on…that I needed to leave, and that I couldn’t do it. our nurse said this is what all women have been saying for years in every language possible and what women will continue to say for years…..she said that when women start to say “I can’t” this means the baby is almost here.
11.56pm …after many hrs of ‘pushing’ and so many great coaches, leg holders and the sort...my dr. offered an episiotomy… our ‘birth intention’ was clear that this wasn’t what i wanted, but our little guy had been stuck for a while. his heart rate remained good, so they were all patient. the threat of the episiotomy was evidently what I needed…
11.57…will was born.
tried the birth bar and other contraptions to try to get comfortable (comfort was really relative…I kept imagining women birthing in all kinds of positions and locations, as had been shown in some of my books …chad was letting me hang on him, had sat by me in the tub coaching me, talking to me, breathing with me (which was great except for the onions on his sandwich…not a good choice for birth coaches)…and not complaining either.
Somewhere between 6 and 7 …10 cm dilated, 100% effaced (in our birth class this was what we learned of as ‘transition labor’ being over and ‘push labor’ (the quickest, but most intense) as starting. the nurse and doula were telling us, ‘you’re almost there!’
~7 pm…our dr. came back in and they brought in the bassinet for the baby. i started feeling as if i couldn’t go on…that I needed to leave, and that I couldn’t do it. our nurse said this is what all women have been saying for years in every language possible and what women will continue to say for years…..she said that when women start to say “I can’t” this means the baby is almost here.
11.56pm …after many hrs of ‘pushing’ and so many great coaches, leg holders and the sort...my dr. offered an episiotomy… our ‘birth intention’ was clear that this wasn’t what i wanted, but our little guy had been stuck for a while. his heart rate remained good, so they were all patient. the threat of the episiotomy was evidently what I needed…
11.57…will was born.
(the after effects included a bit of blood loss (ok...a liter and a half) since my uterus didn’t want to contract after pushing for so long, and my back being thrown out ….it’s amazing how much memory can fade in two weeks…william may not be an only child after all :)
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