Today was leap day Feb 29th, 2012. I read somewhere that only 1/1500 of births are on leap day, which is less than what I would expect since that is less than the number of days in 4 years, and I would think many would schedule deliveries for that day if it was in their birthing window. I always thought that it might be cool to only age every 4 years and have a birthday on leap day. Just think by age 84 your really only 21 again! :)
I had seen some TV shows earlier in the week that seemed to all be leap day themed TV shows (such as 30 Rock), which I thought was interesting. I certainly find February 29th to be an interesting day, it does only come once every 4 years, which is much rarer than any other day on the calendar :). While it is just another day, there is something special about that day. I wonder why there is nothing scheduled country wide to celebrate that day (such as Valentines Day), but then I suppose the marketing companies wouldn't make big money if they did have some sort of holiday that occurred only every 4th year.
My wife was due to have our second child (Sarah Ann) on March 14th, which was still two weeks away (but in the birthing window). She had seemed convinced that because our son was a week late that this one too would be late. While we had packed and were mostly ready for the Sarah to come, the urgency hadn't really set in yet.
For whatever reason that leap day felt just like another Wednesday. I was scheduled to work a half day, and was running around trying to get everything that needed to get done at work before heading home, and then to our normal weekly appointment at the birth center (at 1:30). It was about 9:00 and my wife calls.
"What are you doing" she asked. "Just working" I responded. There was a pause there, like I should know why she would be calling me. I recall with our son every time she would call I would ask if it was time to go to the birthing center. For whatever reason her call did not seem peculiar to me, even though most of our communication is relayed through text messaging. That is when she informed me that she was having contractions, 5 minutes apart, lasting like 30 seconds each. To me that seemed fairly progressed and minor panic set in, so I asked if I should rush home so we could get going to the birthing center (which was 90 minutes away after the 20 minute trip home, and then time to pack the car). Her response was as if it was probably nothing and would go away (fake labor), so I shouldn't be too overly worried. Since the birthing center is far away, we both thought it would be better if we were close to there, so we decided I would finish up what I needed to at work, then come home and pack.
When I got home, there was no change in the contractions, still like 5 minutes apart and 30 seconds each. Even though we would be early for our appointment we decided to go ahead and travel to the birth center. We dropped off our son with my mom, and we headed off to the birth center. We had extra time, so in a town along the way we stopped at Arby's (one of her favorite places to eat) and Long John Silvers (she doesn't like to go there, so it is special to me..). One of the Long John Silver employees was sitting in the establishment eating food from a neighboring restaurant, which I thought was funny, but understandable, I wouldn't want to eat Fried Fish/Chicken every day (and probably especially after I see how it is prepared...).
Once we got to our destination we were still rather early, so we stopped at Wal-Mart, and wandered around the whole store. Maybe we should be featured as part of the people at Wal-Mart, a couple aimlessly wondering the store while having contractions/labor. Not as weird as some, but definitely interesting :). We went looking for some baby clothes in search of something uber cute that is newborn size that would be better than what we had for the outfit to take Sarah home in, but the selection was terribly limited. Just then we found something that we just had to have! Angry Birds stuffed ball toys! Our son LOVES Angry Birds, so we just knew he had to have those. Then we went to Albertson's to see if they have some things our local grocery store does not have. To our amazement they did have the bread my wife prefers, but they stopped carrying at our local grocer. Hurray! After our shopping splurge we were still 20 minutes early for our appointment, so we went on a walk nearby the birth center. Post walk we went to our normally scheduled midwifery appointment. During this time there continued to be no change in the contractions: 5 minutes-ish apart lasting 30 seconds.
My wife was a fingertip dilated, and of course she didn't have any contractions while the midwives were there to see what the contractions were like. After discussing with the midwives a little bit we decided to shop around town until 4:00 and see if there was any progression.
Our first stop was a consignment store, we wandered there for a while. There was some interesting items there, but nothing we had to have. Afterward we went looking for a coffee shop, one with free wi-fi. The coffee shop was basically empty the entire time we were there, I suppose that 3:00 PM is not the prime time for the coffee shop (although our local Starbucks seems packed at all hours of the day). I tried an Italian Soda while we were there, it was definitely not for me. Hopefully I can remember to never order that again, and as I read this over the years hope to remind myself, do not order an Italian soda, regardless of how good the picture looks! We made it to four o'clock and it was time to head back to the midwifery.
There had been no change to the contractions. Was this fake labor? How long would this continue for? Without any progress we decided that instead of sticking around in a hotel we would travel back home. We went home and got there about 6:30.
My wife had been pretty tired for most of the day, so she went to lay down. I got busy getting dinner ready for our son and the animals. I had been periodically checking on my wife, and it appeared that the labor had been progressing slightly. The contractions were becoming more painful, and she was having some trouble resting. We decided we should get back to the birth center, and we left our son off at my mom’s house at about 7:30. We also called the midwife to let them know we were on our way and expect to be there at about 9:00 PM.
I think that every father-to-be's nightmare must be having to deliver the baby while on the road to the hospital. Based on the length of time of labor/pushing for our son, I wasn't really worried about it. I was expecting a long labor, with a couple of hours of pushing, so I was not terribly worried about having to do the delivery in the car. Amazingly I drove the speed limit or less (due to nighttime conditions). Her labor was definitely progressing, she was starting to breath heavier, and I could tell it was more painful. However she continued to use the contraction tracker application on her phone, so again I was not too worried about an immediate birth, based on our last birth there was a point that the contractions were painful enough and close enough together that she stopped using the application to focus on the labor.
We made it to the birth center right before 9:00. She was having a contraction so we waiting in the car until the contraction was over. She calmly let the midwife and intern know that her contractions were now like 4 minutes apart and lasting for a minute or so. We went into the birth room to be checked out, where she promptly had another strong contraction. This one reminded me of the later labor contractions she was having the first birth, so I knew we were close, but still figured about 2-3 hours away. (After discussing with he afterward this one was the same as the ones in the car, so she was closer to pushing than I thought)
My wife needed to use the restroom, so I went to start bringing stuff in from the car. Also the pilot light in the heater for the room we were going to use was out, and I was going to try to get that re-lit. I brought everything in, and went to look at the heater. The midwives had moved my wife to the other room, and I didn't hear any noises coming from the other room. I looked at the heater for a couple of minutes and decided that I should check on my wife and see how she was doing.
When I went in the midwife told me that my wife was complete, as she left the room to call the other midwife and (I presume) the other intern to let them know the status, and probably let them know they better get there quick! My wife was laying on he side on the bed clearly in pain, so I rushed over to he side to hold her hand. I could tell that these were not normal contractions, it was time to push! Wow that was quick! My wife confirmed that she had the pushing urge, and the midwife quickly came back in. Shortly thereafter her water broke. After a couple of other contractions we moved my wife to sit up on the bed, to get her in a more comfortable position. A couple of contractions/pushes later the midwife could see the head. I tried to look, but didn't really have a good vantage point. I was at my wife's right side holding he hand, not really knowing how else I could help but by trying to be as supportive as possible. This was definitely different than our first time around!
The midwife told my wife that the head was coming and she was able to reach down and touch Sarah's head. My wife was able to keep her hand on the babies head and was able to judge the progress of the birth. A couple more pushes and the head was out! The midwife was very happy that my wife was able to basically deliver the baby into her own hand. It was pretty amazing! It was just before now that the second intern and the second midwife were able to arrive, and just in time too! Here comes Sarah! Another couple of pushed and she was here, right at 9:24 (Which happens to be the exact time that our son was born at as well). We had been at the birth center less than 30 minutes and we were new parents! What a whirlwind! The umbilical cord was a little shorter and didn't have much slack to get all the way up to my wife's chest. The midwives had me cut the umbilical cord to allow free movement of the baby.
Both mommy and baby were healthy, and doing great. In fact this time my wife didn't tear, lost a lot less blood, and with the quick pushing stage her muscles weren't as soar. The midwives were able to get the cord blood, and then did all of the normal birth checks/documentation as appropriate for the birth. Sarah was 20" long and 6lbs 9.5 oz.
Shortly after the birth gave both our parents a call to let them know that Sarah was here. My mom was actually on the phone with my wife's parents when I called, none of them expected that the birth would be so fast. Neither did my wife or I, but it did. It did allow for a quick recovery for my wife, and for that I am thankful. The next time I think we will just stay the night near the birth center, and not risk the trip home and then back up to the birth center.
The midwives let us stay the night at the birth center, which allowed us to relax and settle in for the night. The next morning we had the day after wellness check, and everything was good, so we went home to enjoy the new addition to the family. When at home our son did fine with the new addition, while he did not want to be near Sarah, he did want to know where she was at. He has been great with the newest member of the family, and I know he will be a great older brother! :)
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