Here's the story....

THE Birth Story

of
Hannah Elizabeth
born February 14, 2008

Thursday came and early on I sort of felt like it wouldn't be long until Baby came. Not very often but occasionally throughout the day the Braxton Hicks contractions would feel crampy and I'd feel pain in my back. But it definitely wasn't labor, not yet. It was just a clue that something would be happening sometime soon, as in the a day or so maybe...

Kevin and I didn't have any plans for Valentine's Day this year because we never knew if we'd be having a baby or not. But in the afternoon (around 4:00) we decided to go out for dinner (with Eli of course). During dinner I started having very mild contractions, probably about 15 minutes apart. I realized it was probably labor but very early on, so we just continued with dinner and took our time. After dinner (5:15) we went to the mall so I could walk around, as walking is good for labor. Contractions were picking up but still just fine. It felt the same as the early labor contractions I had with Eli all night long. Then (around 7:00) we went home to give Eli a bath and put him in bed. Contractions probably upped another notch and were more frequent, every 3 minutes-ish but still manageable, and I just continued pacing around the house moaning through the contractions. At 7:30, once Eli was in bed, Kevin and I started tidying up the house for the sitter. 8:00 we turned on one of our TV shows (I'm still pacing around the house, moaning. Contractions are only 30-40 seconds long but coming every 2-3 minutes). 8:15 I decided to hop in the shower. Not relaxing and I'm feeling pretty miserable. 8:30 I finish with the shower, get those toiletries packed into our hospital bags, and start crying of the pain. It's getting bad so we decide we're going to call the doctor anyway, even though they had told me to call when contractions were 1 minute long for an hour, which they weren't. They were still only 30-40 seconds. 8:45ish we called the doctor who said to go to the hospital. But as soon as Kevin hung up the phone, labor was over-the-top and I was full-out screaming in pain. I was feeling the urge to push, or go to the bathroom, I wasn't sure which. And before we knew it part of the placenta was starting to come out! So Kevin ran to the neighbor's who is a nurse, and she came over immediately with nursing sheets and blankets and got me laid down on the floor while Kevin called 911. The fire station is only 2 blocks away, so a fireman and the paramedics were there in no time, and in about 10 minutes the baby was delivered right there on our living room floor. 9:17 pm.

The cord was wrapped around her neck twice and it took awhile for her to start crying. But no one was panicked (except maybe Kevin and me) and she was out just fine. They got her toweled off and me onto a gurney and baby Hannah and I were off to the hospital to finish delivery (of placenta), get stitched, check vitals, and recover, while Kevin waited at the house for the baby sitter to come stay with Eli. Through the whole labor Eli was just upstairs sleeping in his crib. I saw (via the monitor) him sit up sometime in the middle but then he went right back to sleep despite all the screaming, commotion, and flashing lights.

It was a long and bumpy ambulance ride to the hospital. It was just uncomfortable since labor still felt unfinished for me. But Hannah and I had a warm welcome when we arrived at the hospital emergency room, and they all clapped for us. It was very neat. And the paramedics gave us a little teddy bear as a keepsake. Kevin arrived at the hospital about 30 minutes later with all our bags and gear. And then we were able to settle into our room for the night.

Eli's labor lasted about 20 hours. I labored at home all through the night but even still we were early when we went to the hospital in the morning and had to walk around the hospital and wait in triage for quite awhile before ever getting fully checked in for still a long day of laboring. I definitely did not want that to happen again, so this time I stayed home for as long as the contractions were manageable (I planned on having an epidural). But somehow everything with Hannah's labor just progressed sooo quickly there was no time between when the contractions were "too hard" and when she was coming already! And the water never did break until her head was coming out, so it was just all fast on its own and a complete surprise!

And there we have it! Little Hannah Elizabeth was born at home on Valentine's Day!

(check my last post to see more pictures)