I was 100% convinced that Sarah was going to arrive late, just like her brother (who joined us at 41weeks gestation). She was due 3/14/12, I had planned to work until Friday 3/16. I had a plan in my mind to make a midwife appointment for the morning of the 16th and have my mom go with me then go out for pizza, just like we did when waiting for David, then hope she would join us a couple days later, just like he did. Well, she decided to surprise us early.
On the morning of February 29th I woke up a few times with stomach pains, but didn’t really think about it, as random pains had become common with my very pregnant body. I got up for the day around 7:30 when David let me know he was awake. I soon noticed that I was having what seemed to be very mild contractions, they were slightly painful, which the Braxton hicks that I’d been having for months never were. I didn’t believe that they were real, as it was far too early. I set up David with breakfast and jumped in the shower. We continued on with our morning and I decided to call Robert to tell him that I thought I was having contractions. When I called he said it didn’t even cross his mind that this could be “the” call. I told him I wasn’t sure they were real and I’d call him back if anything changed. He sounded pretty excited and said he would try to get a few things wrapped up. David and I then headed to the barn to feed the horses, I was timing my contractions with an iPhone app and they were anywhere from 4-10min apart and lasting only 30sec. Robert called back and said he would rather be home just in case and left work.
I texted my friend Kelly to see if she was available to watch David until Robert’s mom got off work. We had a midwife appointment at the birth center in Taos scheduled for 1:30 that afternoon anyway, so I just called them to let them know what was happening, we decided we shouldn’t take David (we usually do) just in case. We dropped David off with Kelly and headed up about an hour early. We stopped at Arby’s (for me) and Long John Silver’s (for Robert) in Espanola for lunch. On the drive my contractions were pretty consistently 4-5min apart, but no more painful. (For those of you that don’t know, the birth center is a 1.5 hour drive from our house, we chose it because of the wonderful midwives, and it is the closest option that isn’t hospital or home, this is also where David was born.) We got to Taos and walked around Walmart for a bit and the contractions spaced out, we then walked a path outside near the birth center, it was about 45 degrees and sunny but the wind gave us a little chill. We headed back to the birth center for our appointment, I was a bit upset at that point because I wanted the contractions to either go away so I could head to work, or show some sort of progress. They took my blood pressure at the beginning of the appointment and it was a bit high, but they retook it at the end after I had relaxed and it was normal. Our birth center has three midwives that rotate and some interns, that day Madrona was in the office/on-call. She checked me and I was only a finger tip dilated and 70% effaced. She suggested that we go see a movie or something and come back to talk to her around 4/4:30. No movies in town started before 4, so we just found a coffee shop with some comfortable couches and free internet and hung around for a bit (we had everything we thought we might need with us, including our laptops). My contractions were still continuing every 4-6 min at that point, and maybe a few were a tad stronger, but nothing that really made me feel like they were really progressing. We went back to the birth center and told Madrona we had decided to go home. I was pretty disappointed that we had spent all day in Taos and nothing had changed. We called Robert’s mom and told her we were heading back to pick up David.
On the drive back my contractions were definitely getting stronger, but I could still talk through them, so I wasn’t worried, but it did make me wonder if going home was the right decision. When we got to Robert’s mom’s I was having contractions that made me pause, and I could talk through them, but really didn’t want to. She later told us that after seeing us then that she knew she should take the next day off of work so she could watch David. We headed home and decided to leave the car packed. I had taken my wedding ring off while in Taos because my hands were slightly swollen, I had put it in what I thought was a safe compartment in my car, but we soon discovered that it actually had a large opening. Robert and I spent quite a while searching the car with no luck, I was bummed, but decided to go lay down and rest while Robert kept looking as I was having pretty painful contractions at this point. I wasn’t able to sleep but did rest for a while, within half-an-hour my contractions had gotten pretty bad, Robert thought we should head back, but I was resistant because I didn’t want to feel stupid driving all the way back to Taos and bothering the midwife if it was still nothing, looking back there was no way those were non-productive contractions. He convinced me so I changed into a nightgown (with David’s labor the pressure from the waistband of my pants was the worst part of the drive), we packed back in the car, dropped David off and headed north. We called Madrona to let her know we were headed back and would be there around 9pm.
This drive was much less comfortable than the last one, when we started my contractions were 3 min apart and lasting 30sec - 1min and I could not talk through them. I decided this was probably it so I decided to call my parents, I hadn’t earlier because I didn’t want to get them excited for nothing. They were quite surprised and excited, they suggested that Sarah might be here before they went to bed, neither Robert or I believed that would happen. As the drive continued the contractions were about 4 minutes apart, but lasting 1.5-2 min each and I was having to really focus and breath. About 10 minutes from the birth center Robert mentioned that if I wasn’t progressed enough to be admitted to the birth center that we would just get a hotel room. I told him that if they wouldn’t keep me at the birth center I was going to the hospital. Those that know me, I really don’t want to be in a hospital for birth, I clearly wasn’t communicating my level of pain very well. I was thinking to myself that I had better be at least 6cm when we arrived.
As we pulled into the birth center I had another contraction, we got out of the car and went in as soon as that one ended. I was able to tell Madrona the timing of my contractions and she asked if I wanted to be checked, I told her yes. They brought me into the pink room, the heater pilot had gone out so they had just turned on a portable heater but it was still quite chilly. I had another contraction and it was better to be standing and having Robert hold my hands than being in the car. I decided that I didn’t want to wait for the pink room to warm up (I had been hot during contractions in the car, but cold between them) so we decided to move to the green room. I decided to use the rest room before moving and had two contractions right on top of each other that were definitely stronger and made me question if I could really do this, a thought that I never had while in labor with David. Robert was working on unloading the car and starting the pink room pilot light. When I got to the green room I had another contraction and had to grab the changing table while Madrona rubbed my back. These last few contractions my hands were really tingly, which I was later told might have been because I was breathing really shallowly. I had another contraction soon after and I definitely felt my body starting to push. Madrona then checked me and found I was complete. She asked Aviva (the midwife intern that was there) to call Kiersten, the second midwife and tell her I was complete and pushing, Kiersten’s daughter was going to be at the birth too to take photos for us. Taya, the other intern, was also called and told to head over, I’m told they were all speeding and running stop signs to get there. As soon as I was checked I started pushing, I was laying on my back on the bed, and I’m not sure everyone else knew I was pushing, but I was. They got me turned so I was not laying at a weird angle on the bed and checked the baby’s heart rate. They also got a blood pressure cuff on me, but never actually checked it. This time I was able to feel exactly where I needed to push, and I know my pushing was much more effective because of it. My water soon broke during a push and I felt it as a big pop. I rolled onto my side and Robert helped hold my leg up, it is interesting how our bodies know what position will work for us. I soon felt her head crowning and was able to hold her head as she was born. This is about when everyone else arrived. The cord was pretty short so she could only come up to my belly, but as soon as it was cut I brought her to my chest and really got to look at the perfect little girl I’d been carrying for almost 9 months.
The midwives collected the umbilical cord blood that we had chosen to save. I was able to hold Sarah for quite a while and nurse her, which she took to pretty quickly. Her newborn exam was then done, she tested at 39 weeks and was 6lbs 9.5oz and 19.5” long (we originally thought 20”, it is hard to measure a curled up newborn). We were allowed to stay the night at the birth center rather than going to a hotel (or home), we had brought Sarah’s bassinet but she wanted nothing to do with it, so she spent her first night in this world in her daddy’s arms. The next morning we nursed and cuddled then headed home.
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