Finally, as promised... the story of my labor! I will go into a bit of detail here for those of you who might actually be curious. For the rest of you, you can skip to the end for a quick summary. :)
Okay, as I mentioned... within the hour of surrendering to the Lord's timing, I went into active labor. Funny how that happens.
December 28th,
11:45 PM. Loss of mucous plug. Knew that something was changing in my body, though not sure quite what it might be. Got up out of bed to check on things. Sure enough, I was losing my mucous plug. Still, they say you can do this many weeks before birth, so that alone wasn't enough to make me really decide I was in labor.
Contractions started to actually hurt. Till this point, I had been having many Braxton-Hicks ("practice") contractions, which tightened my uterus but didn't hurt at all. Now things started to change!
December 29th,
12:30 AM- 1:30 AM.I decided to time my contractions which were gaining in intensity. I wanted to make sure I was ACTUALLY in labor before making Ryan get out of bed. Sure enough, the contractions were about 6 to 8 minutes apart and about the intensity of a period cramp.
1:30 AM I woke Ryan up with something like this... "Well, I don't think you're going to work today..." :) We decided to get up and do some things around the house (of course, we had left things a mess on this one night!)-- laundry, dishes, etc.
I called Chariti to let her know I was in labor. I told her I would just labor for a while, she could sleep a little longer, and I'd let her know when I needed her. At this point I was sitting on the couch, listening to some of my selected music, and laboring. I was surprised by how quickly my contractions started to intensify and how they got closer together. I had anticipated a lengthy labor, much of which I thought would be more of the 6-8 minute spacing. I was wrong! By this time, the contractions (though not entirely regular) were strong enough and close enough (3 minutes apart maybe) to keep me from doing anything around the house.
3:00 AM I called my parents to tell them their grandson was on the way! They were in the car and on their way within minutes, I think!
3:00-4:00 AM By about this point, the couch wasn't cutting it. Onward to the bathtub! I have always enjoyed warm water (it is my cure-all!), and the bathtub is definitely the way to go for labor. Especially as things got more intense.
4:oo AM Chariti showed up! Hooray! She brought a book to read to me between contractions, but we never got to that. I think we were both surprised by the intensity of my contractions. She was such a lifesaver, because she knew exactly how to coach me through each contraction. ("okay, you should be at the climax of the contraction now, and then it'll start to come down... just relax..." etc). Our friendship definitely reached a new level this night!
4:00-7:30 AM We labored, mostly in the bathtub. Enough cannot be said about how superior the bathtub was to any other laboring position! :) I was getting exhausted, as I had had no sleep, no food, and no rest from contractions for several hours now. I wanted to stay hydrated, but even water made me sick to my stomach. My water started to break a little around 6:30 AM, but it wasn't a lot (apparently most of it came with the baby!).
7-7:30 AM Chariti had explained to us that we would "just know" when it was time to go to the hospital. We all knew that laboring at home as long as possible was preferable. So although the contractions got worse, it still wasn't time yet. Until a little after seven.
It was time.
The unfortunate thing about when it is "time" is that you don't have much
time between contractions (maybe a minute and a half)! AND, if it is truly "time" then you are in transition which is by far the hardest, most intense, most painful part of labor.
And so it went sort of like this:
Contraction
Hurry! Put some pants on her!
Contraction
A sweatshirt would be good! Grab the house-shoes!
Contraction
Hurry! Get her in the car!
You get the idea...
7:30-8 AM Probably like the longest half hour of Ryan's life. :)
(One thing about Ryan was that the whole time we labored at home, he was sick to his stomach. He kept himself busy making preparations, packing the car, praying for me and making sure I knew he was proud, helping me move when I needed to, etc. He did exactly what I needed.)
So, imagine us in the car on our way to the hospital. It's early morning- lots of cars on the road. I am having these crazy contractions every minute and a half or so. I would breathe in through my nose and pretty much wail/sing/yell out through my mouth. It was oh-so-pleasant. :) Meanwhile, Ryan is in the driver's seat doing breathing techniques of his own, attempting NOT to vomit in the car. I can just imagine what people were thinking when we were driving by them! We probably looked like crazy people!
We were almost to the hospital when Ryan had to slam on his brakes for a traffic light. Owee!! Finally, we arrived at the hospital. The funny thing was that the easiest sound to make when I was wailing was something like "Noooooo" or "Naaaahhhhh". So when Ryan asked if I wanted him to drive up to the door, I was going "Noooooo" and then quickly correcting myself, "Yes, yes, yes." Then back to my "nooooo"s. He drove up to the door and we got out.
8:00-9:oo AMWe made it just inside the first automatic door before another contraction hit. I stood there in the hallway, leaning my weight on Ryan, and kindly involving EVERYONE in the nearby waiting room in my labor. I am hoping there were no pregnant women in there, because my noise was probably terrifying.
When the contraction was over, they brought out a wheelchair (they could probably hear me upstairs!)- just like in the movies! They pushed me over to the desk where we waited for the nurses to come get me. Another contraction! More lovely noises for all to hear!
It was
8AM, and they took me back to the delivery room without Chariti and Ryan. Yikes!
They hooked me up, botched the first arm for the IV but managed to get the second. They peppered me with questions-- as if I was lucid enough to answer them after almost nine hours of labor! Then, the dreaded question:
"Do you want an epidural?"
I was so weak. I didn't even answer the first time she asked. Then, I weakly cried, "I need my husband and my friend!" When Chariti got to the room, I looked at her as she sat on my bed, and I said, "I really want the epidural." In her inimitable calm style, she looked at me and reminded me that we were almost finished. And she was right.
A check revealed that I was 7 CENTIMETERS DILATED! While seven was awesome, more would have sounded even better to me at that point. I was just so exhausted and in so much pain! But I didn't get it. It's a good thing! There really wasn't time!
Ryan literally had time only to go park the car and get the cameras. Around the time he returned, the nurses were asking me if I felt "different." I'm sorry, but when you've been laboring for nine hours, you really have no idea what you are feeling besides pain. Different? I don't know! The nurse decided to do another check on my progress.
And then, those glorious words.
"10 Centimeters Dilated!!!" (The Hallelujah chorus resounding in the background...)
10 Centimeters. All that was left to do was push our precious baby out. We were about to meet our Holman David. About to meet him. How amazing! And yet how exhausted I was!
Pushing and time to meet him... The doctor who was to deliver Holman had been with us but had stepped out for a cup of coffee. He figured he had some time. He was wrong.
I started to push, having pretty much no idea what I was doing. Thankfully, apparently, I was pretty good at following instructions from the nurse and from Chariti. I listened as they told me how and when to push. And I pushed with all my might. Watching the video is amazing and exhausting... I can remember just how intense those moments were!
8:53 AM Chariti looked at her watch and said, "Okay, it's 8:53. Let's have this baby by 9:00."
On the video you can actually hear Ryan laugh when she says this. But hey, like I said, I was apparently pretty good at following directions.
Chariti coached me and told to show the nurse that I was ready to have this baby. The doctor, meanwhile, was still in the hallway with his coffee. Hilarious (but not at the time). And all of the sudden, Holman was ready to come out! The nurse instructed me to stop pushing (which is one of the hardest things to do at this point-- your body is just ready to get this little one out of there!).
Then it was like a madhouse as the nurses and doctor made the final preparations. I was begging them to hurry and trying to be patient as I had to wait to push him out. Then the doctor finally gave me the go-ahead.
Chariti had given me seven minutes. It only took six.
December 29, 2008. 8:59 AM.
Our son was born!
Holman David Smith
8 lbs. 11 oz.
21 inches.
Amazing.
I have never been more exhausted in my life, but that moment was unforgettable. Perfect, I said. He is absolutely perfect.
Praise the Lord. Holman is beautiful and perfect. And we are truly blessed. Thank you to all of you who prayed for us and for the delivery of this baby. I can only say that God answered us so graciously, and that labor was an amazing (albeit exhausting) experience. I know that the Lord sustained me. And he has blessed us with a beautiful baby boy whom we adore.
Thank you for reading! I look forward to writing more about the first weeks of sweet Holman's life.
