Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys!: April 2009

So, to tell you about my birth experience...

To start off, let me put in a reminder that Steve got laid off from his job at the end of February and has been actively seeking a new job for the past month. Around the end of last month, we started receiving offers, one of which was a job in Tooele, Utah and he needed to be able to go out and see the facilities before he would be able to make a decision. However, there was another job that he had promised to give a decision to on the 15th (ish) so he had to tour the Utah facilities before that date.

I am telling you this because Steve Hardy left from Dallas to fly to Utah on Monday, April 13th and would only be gone until the evening of the following day, Tuesday, April 14th. So, Steve told me that I was "on bed rest" until he got home.

Nothing different had been happening. Same old random contractions that I'd been having for a couple of weeks. Nothing that seemed out of the ordinary or too painful. I spent that evening packing my children's bags for their respective sitters' homes in the event that I did go into labor.

Around 1:30 in the morning I was sitting at the computer catching up on some things while wrestling with some midly uncomfortable contractions. This, again, was nothing new but I went ahead and went to bed because I just couldn't stay up any longer.

At about 3:20 in the morning I woke up with more contractions and tried to go back to sleep but they wouldn't let me so I decided to go ahead and get up and take a shower. If this was the real thing I needed to be clean, right!?

I was hoping that the shower would relax me enough that I could go back to sleep, however this was not the case. They kept coming so now I had some decisions to make. Remember, Steve was in Utah at this point, so all of the things that he would normally take care of while I was dealing with being in labor were now my responsibility as well. The first thing I did was to text Steve to let him know that I thought I was in labor. He called me back quickly and we discussed what my next step should be. We decided that I should call my doula (a professional birthing coach) and get her started and then talk to my babysitting people to get the kids taken care of.

I called Jennifer, my doula, and she and I discussed how far along I thought I was. I have such a hard time deciding this. When you hear birth stories it always seems like the whole labor thing should be rather gradual but this is not how my body works. (Really, it's pretty much how I do everything... ) Instead I hit it head on and full force. So, after some discussion I decided that I would go through a couple more contractions before I made a decision about when she should come over. I hate getting people up and going if it's not necessary and it was four in the morning.

The next thing I did was to call my friend, Tiffany, and ask her to come over. For some reason her husband, Steve, was already up and sounded bright and chipper when he answered the phone. "Hello, deGala residence!"

Hey there Steve, sorry to wake you up.

That's okay, I was already up. What's up?

I think I'm in labor. (choking back a sudden emotional outburst)

Do you need me to come drive you to the hospital? (how sweet)

No, I just need to talk to your wife.

Okay, I'll go get her.

Tiffany got on the phone and I asked her if she could come over and hang out with the kids until they woke up and then dole them out to their respective sitters. She agreed and headed over. It didn't take long before she was there and I was grateful to see her.

In the meantime, I had gone through three more contractions and at this point they were about 3-4 minutes apart and 1 minute long. And, they were starting to get pretty rough. I texted my doula and she responded saying she would be right over.

Tiffany helped me go through my closet to pick out my "going home" outfit and to finish packing my bag for me. I had started my bag the night before but hadn't finished it. Thank goodness I had had Steve get the box of baby clothes out of the attic for the me the day before so I could have a boy and a girl "going home" outfit picked out.

The whole time Tiffany was helping me I was sitting on my bed. Once my contractions start, any movement on my part spurs on another contraction and, since I'm not a huge fan of them, I try to do everything in my power to lessen the chances of them happening any quicker than they have to.

By the time my doula, Jennifer, arrived I was really having to concentrate through my contractions. I don't know if I'd mentioned it before, but I had Olivia naturally and this was my plan again with this baby. No meds, all natural child birth. As we sat there the thought crossed my mind that I would really like to just have my baby there at home and not go to the hospital at all, but I didn't think that Jennifer and Tiffany would be too cool with the idea and I think Steve wouldn't have approved either so I decided to stay with the plan.

At about 5:25, Jennifer and I decided that it was probably time to go to the hospital. It takes about 30 minutes to get there from my house and some of my contractions were lasting for a minute and a half to two minutes. So we headed out to her SUV. It took me two contractions to get there. One I had to go through standing up in the front yard. That one was not very much fun. So, we got in the truck and I mentioned to Jennifer that I my water hadn't broken yet and did she have somthing that I could sit on. She got a blanket out of the back of her truck and handed it to me but, first of all, I was afraid to try to sit up enough to put it under me for fear of going into another contraction. And, second, her seats were heated and it felt really good on my back so I didn't want to lose the benefit of that.

I probably should have gone ahead and put the blanket under me but it all worked out. My water never breaks until right at the end. The drive to the hospital always seems like the longest drive on earth. And my contractions were getting REALLY had to deal with during it. At one point I had a contraction that I thought for sure was going to send me through the roof and make me lose control. Afterward I told Jennifer that I was concered that I wouldn't be able to avoid getting medicated. I said, "I have too many factors going against me here. My husband is gone, I started off being in labor tired (remember, only 2 hours of sleep) and to top it off, I have Restless Leg Syndrome (always have for as long as I can remember) and it always acts up when I'm tired so I am dealing with that as well as the contractions!" We decided that there wasn't anything we could do about it at that point, we'd just have to wait and see how things were going once we made it to the hospital.

A couple of contractions later (Jennifer said one of them lasted for 3 minutes!) I said, "I'm scared." Jennifer then did something that completely changed how I was handling my contractions. She said a prayer. As she was saying it I thought to myself, "Of course! Prayer! Why didn't I think of that? My husband might not be here, but my Father always is." So from that point on prayer became my mantra. When a contraction would start, Jennifer would say, "Roll over the top of it, Catherine." And I would imagine a huge clear ball coming toward me that I would slide over the top of while the pain (the ball) would slide below me. All the while I would say over and over again in my head, "Heavenly Father, please help me get through this one... Heavenly Father, please help me get through this one!" I began to gain my control back and things became more manageable (not easier, just more manageable).

We finally made it to the hospital and I got wheeled into the ER where we checked in and then we headed for the Labor and Delivery floor. It was the strangest thing. The whole time I was being wheeled around the hospital I could have sworn that I was being pulled backward. I had my eyes closed so I could consentrate on my contractions (my nurse that was transporting me was a lively one and kept talking really loudly and cracking jokes with people... so I had to make an extra effort to block her out). The whole time I was being wheeled around I felt the nicest breeze on my face and I thought that there must be doors open to the outside. Finally I opened my eyes for a split second and realized that I was actually being pushed forward and that explained the breeze on my face. Strange.

We got to my room and got me up on the bed. The nurse checked me and said, "You're almost there!" I asked her how far and she just kept saying, "Almost there." How frustrating! Of course, at this point I thought I was probably at a 5 (out of 10) and that I still had a couple of hours to go. The nurse went out and found the doctor on call for the evening and then she came back in and let me know that I was complete. I couldn't believe it! I was all ready ready to have this baby. It seemed impossible. I was totally underestimating how far along I was. (Good thing we decided to go ahead and leave the house!)

I checked into the hospital at 5:55 AM and made it to my room and was all set up by 6:10AM. The doctor on call came in and checked me, confirmed I was complete and that's when I realized that it was time to push! My body just took over at that point. It was CRAZY!

One of the things that I wanted to do this time that I didn't do last time was to try to control how I handled my contractions, not to try to control my contractions. I don't know if that makes sense to you. But, trying to control your contractions just doesn't work. They have to happen, however, you can control how you handle them and I went into this one with the desire to differentiate the two. As I had contractions this time I realized much more clearly that the contractions not only had a definite purpose but I could actually understand and could tell that they were doing their job. This was the most clear to me when I realized that my body was pushing my baby down the birth canal all on it's own. You just become a spectator at this point.

Right before all of this happened, I had Jennifer call Steve on my cell phone and put him on speaker phone so he could at least be a part of what was going on. I felt so bad for him. I knew he wanted to be there to support me.

During my contractions I am always completely quiet. There is no sound, just concentration. This, however, is NOT the case when it comes time to push. When it's pushing time, I scream. It's not like I want to, it's just what I hav to do to get me through that part.

My doula really started working on coaching me and focusing. I was past being able to listen though. All I heard was her saying once, "Can you stop, Catherine?" I guess the doctor needed me to stop pushing so he could check for a cord. I told her "no" however I guess I did manage to stop for a second or two. Then I really bore down. And, in the matter of two good pushes, my baby was out!

It was funny because after the second push I realized that I was done and calmed right down. Jennifer, however, did not realize that I was done and she was still trying to coach me. She said, "All of a sudden you were really responsive and I thought, I'm doing a really good job." Then she heard the doctor say, "And that's it." and looked down and saw a baby there and realized it was all over.

This was at 6:23 AM. Just thirteen short minutes from the time they got me to my room.

My doctor didn't get to be there to help me deliver the baby and I was bummed about that. He knew that I was waiting to find out the sex of my baby and was supposed to annouce it right away, however, none of this crew knew it so here I am looking and looking and waiting and finally I started say, "What is it? What is it?" Everyone was ignorning me. I felt like I had to stand up on my bed and yell, "Is it a boy or a girl!!??!!" But Jennifer caught what I was saying quickly and announced that I had just had a baby girl! It was so exciting!

They handed me my sweet little girl and all I could say over and over again was, "She's so pretty!" I got the phone over to me and just kept saying, "Oh Steve, she's soooo pretty!!!" It was amazing!

I got to stay in that room with her for a little bit and then we headed to another floor to my recovery room. It was a crazy day. I couldn't go to sleep. Steve finally made it there that evening around 10 PM and, of course, he was immediatly in love. Who wouldn't be.

Now, we still haven't named her, but we will have a name for her by tomorrow afternoon. That's when I have to go into town to see my lactation consultant and I told the Medical Records lade, Mary, that I would be by to finish filling out the Birth Certificate Records then. It's been challenging to come up with a name. I think Steve has all but given up. I asked him if he just wanted me to tell him what I put on the Birth Certificate and he said yes. Maybe I will just do that. We'll see.