Heath's Birth Story: Part 1

Wednesday June 2nd

1:00 AM I woke up with fairly strong contractions about 5-6 minutes apart. I had thought maybe the week before I had felt contractions- but feeling them this morning I knew they were different- real. So I tried to go back to sleep and 'rest up' but they were a little more painful and I was a lot bit excited. So I went to the living room couch to not wake Jonathan up- I was thinking one of us should probably be rested for the day.

3:30 AM I felt like the contractions had stayed close for long enough that I should tell my parents in California so I called them (1:30am their time) and said 'I think you are going to have a grandson today.' I felt excited to tell someone and wondered if I should call our doula, Candice or wake up J yet, but held out a bit longer. Good thing I did because at this point the contractions faded back to 10-12 minutes apart. The intensity stayed about the same, not exactly pleasant, but bearable. I watched several episodes of The Office as I waited for time to pass and something to 'happen.'

7:ish AM Jonathan wakes up and I excitedly run to the bedroom to tell him that he is going to be a daddy today (well at the time I thought it would be that day). He was pumped and shocked I didn't wake him up, but later very grateful as we had no idea how long of a day/night we had ahead.

8:00 AM I called my midwife's office to tell them about my exciting night and see if they wanted me to come in for a quick check. They didn't. The nurse was sweet but she was obviously treating me as a first-time mom who likely was having Braxton Hicks contractions because they were spacing out instead of getting closer. I tried to convince her they weren't- they were real, not like the fake ones I felt the week before. She said wait til they get closer again and for 2 hours then call back.

9:ish AM We went out to breakfast at the Little Bread Co and had a nice egg sandwich. Contractions were still about 10 minutes apart- had one in the car going over, one in the place and one coming home. Sitting at the table I closed my eyes as I breathed through the contraction and the woman at the table next to us asked if I was okay and then excitedly congratulated us as her two year old was rather impatient and all over the place (but I think her congrats were genuine).

The rest of mid-day was rather uneventful, albeit the contractions every 10-15-20 minutes. It was disappointing as they got further apart and so I stayed home from work and was on email. I seriously considered going in to Shelia's going away party as I wanted to be there but thought I would probably steal the thunder if everyone saw me contracting at regular intervals in the room. Jonathan went in for one meeting but otherwise worked from home.

7:ish PM Jonathan talked with Adam and we put in requests for a few dvd's to borrow and a delivery from Sonic with their milkshakes. We started Zoolander and it was clear to me that I would not make it through this whole movie. Contractions stepped up a big notch in their intensity and started moving back to 7-8 min apart and then 4-6 min.

9:00 PM We decided that it was time to head to the hospital as we hit that magical two hour mark of closely timed contractions. I thought we could stay at home longer but by this time the pain really was stepping up and I thought the baby might come real soon so I wanted to be there. Our doula and friend Candice was getting off work at this same time and would meet us up at the hospital.

9:30 PM We arrive at the Emergency Room (the other entrance is closed at 9 so we had to go through ER). The woman at the desk read my face and said 'labor?' I nodded yes. Jonathan parked the car and came in to meet me sitting in the wheelchair. They said the ER was packed and they didn't have a spare to offer us an escort- would we mind wheeling ourselves to Labor and Delivery? Sure. Literally this is what we were told: "Ok- take a left through the doors, right, left, right, curve around- it'll make sense when you see it- then left and you'll see the entrance." This sentence was delivered in a matter of .5 sec. We smiled and started wheeling thinking 'we will see signs along the way I'm sure.' We didn't. The maps did not include labor and delivery and it felt like forever as we took this joyride through the hospital passing empty information counter after another. Meanwhile contractions were happening and we paused a few times to breath. Eventually we looked outside and could determine better where in the building we were and needed to head. We did laugh about the journey- then and now.

They checked us in to triage to evaluate my status before deciding to check us in to a room. We met our nurse for the night- Abby (a wonderful woman), and Candice met up with us there. They took lots of stats and we got to first see the contractions on the 'earthquake' monitor here (where you see the intensity on the squiggly line). I was 100% effaced and dilated 3 cm. Good enough news for them to admit me, but honestly a little disappointing after the day that felt like it was going on forever, because well it was. And little did we know this was only the beginning!