I figured there might be a few people interested in reading David's birth story. After all the craziness that happened so soon after he was born, it was fun to think back on how everything started while writing this. :)
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Just before I reached 36 weeks this time, I had an evening and morning when I had regular, non-painful contractions. The only time I’d ever experienced that with the previous two was the day that I had gone into labor, so it freaked meout a little. I was really hoping this baby wouldn’t come even earlier than Annika did, since I felt like 37 weeks had been plenty early! That week, I made sure that everything was ready to go, just in case. At my 36 week appointment a few days later, I found out that I was already at a 3. I knew it didn’t necessarily mean anything, but figured we should makes sure we were really ready just in case. My midwife said it was no indication of when labor would start, but it did probably mean that things would happen pretty quickly when the time came.
Then, the night before I hit 38 weeks, I started having the same kind of non-painful contractions that averaged about 6 minutes apart. I decided to go to bed and get some rest, just in case! I fell asleep after a little while, and was woken up two or three more times in the next few hours. The last time, the contractions seemed to be spreading out, but were actually becoming a little painful. At this point, I was almost sure it this was it…and then I woke up in the morning, still pregnant! I had a few not very strong contractions here and there throughout the morning. I had my 38 week checkup that day, and I was at a 4. My midwife told me that she was on call for the next five days, but today was the day she also had appointments scheduled and so was sort of double-booked, so she joked that I should wait until at least the end of the day to go into labor.
On the way home from my appointment, I had a few slightly stronger contractions, but they were still about 15 minutes apart, and not very painful. I started to worry that if I DID go into labor that day, I wouldn’t know when to call Bryan home from work. Since he works in the opposite direction of the hospital, I was worried that I would call him home thinking I was in labor and then nothing would happen, or I would go into labor, figure out what to do with the kids, have to rush to the hospital, and then Bryan wouldn’t have time to get to the hospital before the baby was born. All day long my contractions continued, but they were 15-20 minutes apart and didn’t seem to be getting very strong. Then in the afternoon they died off altogether for a while. I started to give up on the idea that I was actually going into labor and figured it was just weird third pregnancy pre-labor stuff.
Just minutes after Bryan walked in the door after work alittle after 5, I had a contraction that was noticeably stronger, and I remember thinking, “That felt different!” (Apparently my body was just waiting until Bryan got home and I didn’t have to worry about him making it for the labor! :)) Throughout dinner I had a few more. They were still about 10 minutes apart and starting to be painful. I had to stop and concentrate for a few. As Bryan played with the kids after dinner and we got them ready for bed around 7, they continued. They were slightly stronger and about 8 minutes apart at that point, but I still wasn’t totally convinced anything was actually going to happen this time. After we got the kids to bed, they were definitely becoming more painful and quickly began to come about 6 minutes apart. I sat there for a while waiting to make sure they would continue, wondering if this was really itand we should call our neighbor over to sit with the kids. When it was clear that they were very regular at 6 minutes apart and I couldn’t do anything but sit and handle the pain when it came, we decided to call Nancy. As soon as we called her, the pain got to the point where itwas absolutely unmistakable that this was “it”, and then suddenly they were only 3-4 minutes apart.
All the way to the hospital they continued like that (and once again, let me just say that having contractions in the car is the WORST). We pulled up to the hospital around 8:15. I got in a wheelchair because there was no way I was walking anywhere at that point. When we got upstairs, they took us into the same room that we were in when Annika was born. They got the monitor on and checked me, and I was at a 7-8. The contractions continued to be terrible, and all I could do was make weird noises/hum/sing through them. I remember thinking it was probably awkward for everyone in the room to just sit there and listen to it and wait, haha, but obviously I didn’t really care at that point. Just before 9:00, the midwife asked if I felt the urge to push. I have still never felt this urge, so I’m not sure what I’m missing! But, I was fully dilatedand so we decided that I would just start pushing.
After a little while, the baby’s heart rate was apparently dropping, so they gave me some oxygen and I could tell that suddenly the mood was different. My midwife told me it was time to get this baby out now, and I rememberhearing her ask the nurses who the OB on call was, which really freaked me out, because I didn’t want to end up with a c-section if I could help it! After about 25 minutes of pushing, at 9:19 pm, David arrived with the cord around his neck! I am so thankful that everything went quickly so that he was just fine and not under too much stress for too long. As soon as he was born I asked, “What is it?” (I’m sure there is a more eloquent way to ask this question, but at the moment it was not coming to me, haha.) Bryan told me it was a boy! I had been leaning toward thinking it was a boy for a while, and at that moment I remember it just felt “right” to know that we had another son.
I was able to just sit and hold him for a while right away. Eventually, they took him to weigh him and I was surprised to see that he only weighed 6lbs 3oz, the smallest of all our babies. I figured since Annika was a whole week earlier than he was, he would definitely be bigger, but nope. Just a little peanut. (Annika was 6lbs 11ozat 37 weeks, and Joshua was 7lbs 3oz at 38.5 weeks.) Since this was our first baby that wasn’t born in the 3:00am hour, we could actually call our families and tell them the news right away! It was so fun to not have to wait to share it with them. Also because of the timing of his birth, I slept a little for the first time ever shortly after having a baby! He was so peaceful during the night. Right off the bat he was an awesome nurser and he barely made a peep in between feedings.
At some point I will probably write about our NICU experience too, so we can remember that part of the journey. But now that all the craziness has died down, I wanted to go back and remember the birth experience of our third little one, David Samuel. We love this little guy so much already and can’t wait to see what God does through his life and who he grows up to be!
