Accelerated Development
Rambling thoughts...
I can't even begin to put together the whole picture of the birth of this baby. But I want to give a few highlights while the house is quiet and my beautiful wife and child are sleeping. Sunday/Monday night was perhaps the strangest trip I have ever been on while being cold sober.
3:00am - Monday Morning (one full week before babies official due date)
Bronwyn wakes me to tell me that she had had some mild contractions intermittently and that her water just broke. She tells me to go back to sleep, it will be quite a while before we even need to call the midwife. A woman's water can safely break two days before the birth actually happens.
I napped for about another hour. We had been on a four day cleaning and decluttering binge getting ready for the baby and we were both exhausted.
After an hour I got up to finish a few minor touches up to cleaning up the birth pool room. I spent about an hour in the room next to Bronwyn and I watched her as I cleaned up and ran a vacuum over the room one last time.
...timeline begins to fuzz here...
Finally I am satisfied that the room is clean and ready for the midwife's birthing pool. I am thinking about the need to decide with Bronwyn if the contractions where at a point we should contact the midwife.
I am immediately a little shocked. I saw a contraction hit her and saw her move right into a squatting position, supporting herself on a chair back and rocking and moaning in a LOT of pain.
Whoa. I read the literature...she isn't supposed to have to use a physical contortion to deal with that level of pain for HOURS yet. I am squatting behind her and am trying to talk with her.
"Sweetie...are you OK? I think maybe we should call the midwife now?"
My beautiful girl looks at me with a lost look and confusion says, "I don't know."
Oh gods. She is already in Transition (Google it if you are curious).
Then she starts screaming and writhing in pain. My woman has a pain tolerance that can make active duty Marines flinch. This was NOT the sort of screaming I was led to anticipate after watching a least 2 kagillion birthing shows with my wife. This was a level that triggered a level of fear for my wife I cannot even begin to explain.
I look up at the computer monitor. She has been running a program that tracked the length between contractions and their length. She just had to slap the space bar at the right time and the data was tracked.
She was having 90 second contractions every five minutes.
This Was Not Going Correctly.
Bronwyn begs me to put her in the shower and run hot water on her lower back. Great. I can do this...she is on all fours and I have set up the running shower jet so the hot water is hitting the right spot. Her screams subside to loud moans and I go running for the phone.
I call the midwife...I give update. She explains she is just coming back from a birth where the client's labor had stopped. She would rush back to that mom's house, group her bag and tools and be right over for Bronwyn.
OK. I activated the professional. The Plan is progressing. Must check on wife.
Bronwyn still on hands and knees and weeping and screaming. I check the water, make the temperature more to her liking and try to talk to her. She is WAY into Transistion and not making much sense. She wants a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich...but she won't budge from the shower.
OK. Make sandwich. Put on plate next to shower. Time to make bed. Put on initial sheets. Put on plastic sheets. Put in birth cover sheets.
Birthing Pool room: check
Bed prepped in case of water birth doesn't happen: check
Spaced cleared for midwife to put tools: check
All items to handle and deal with afterbirth and stuff: check
Peanut Butter and Jelly: check
Phone ringing. It's the midwife. She has been pounding on the doors, windows and calling non-stop to get the previously mentioned mother-to-be to open the door so she can get her midwifery kit. No one is answering.
I explain the unusually accelerated delivery that Bronwyn appears to be in.
I remember the conversation ending with something like..."I am driving to you now. I know your wife has gloves...we will just have to deliver right there on your bed."
I go to my wife in the shower. She is weeping and telling me see can't fight pushing. Then she slips all the way back into Transistion headspace and can't do anything but moan.
There was a voice in my head telling me that this was accelerating into a real problem. That little voice that tells you that you are NOT just having a first time dad birth freak out and that this is going too fast.
And then out of no-where...Bronwyn said is a very focused voice, "This baby is coming too fast." She said it twice very calmly and clearly and then slipped back into moans and screams.
OK. Scrub hands in hot Hot HOT water with soap. Then do my best impersonation of a gynecologist and feel for the babies head. Thank the gods, I could not feel anything yet.
The moans are now rather intense screaming again.
I know my wife wanted to give birth as naturally as possible. I know she really, REALLY wanted to have the baby at home.
One last try at conversation:
"Sweetie...do you want me to take you to the hospital?"
My wife looks at me looking even more lost than before and says, "I don't know."
I picked up the phone and dialed the midwife.
"She is having this baby RIGHT NOW. Do you know where Mt Clemens Regional is?"
"Yes."
"Meet me there." <*click*>
I manage to get Bronwyn out of the shower, into some loose clothes and into the car. I can attest the a Honda Civic with the passenger seat tilted all the way back can accommodate a woman in labor.
I relieved a little tension by putting on my emergency blinkers, constantly blowing my horn taking my little Civic to unparalleled feats of urban street stunt driving. (I admit that part was kinda fun.)
I pull up to the hospital emergency receiving doors, run in, grab the security guard and his wheelchair and manage to get her in the hospital.
The ladies behind the desk handle this sort of thing all the time. If the midwife can't make it, at least I have now surrounded my laboring wife with professionals right? RIGHT?
When Bronwyn is sitting in the wheelchair and goes into a full contraction the look on the faces of the ladies at the desk looked more terrified than mine had looked all morning.
They grab her chair and sprint her into a Triage room. The OB happened to be sitting in that room. I help lift Bronwyn into the bed and Bronwyn has another screaming contraction.
Things a little hazy here. I remember moving to Bronwyn's left and taking her hand. I was trying to stay out of the way of the five professional women who where working. My job as I saw it was to keep my wife focused and feeling safe. While I tried to keep her to maintain eye contact with me I only heard snatches of conversation.
I remember the OB saying, "The baby is crowning NOW. You are about to have your baby right now."
This is while one of the med techs is trying to put an IV in Bronwyns arm.
The OB was on the opposite side of Bronwyn and she was holding her right thigh down. Bronwyn's contractions where hitting hard enough that her legs where crossing as they hit. I remember the OB distinctly saying, "Will somebody grab her other leg?" I looked back to make sure someone was and waited what felt like five minutes while no one did anything. As Bronwyn's next contraction hit I slid over and used one hand to hold her thigh down (since no one else seemed to have a brain but the OB) and the other to keep holding her hand.
The OB looked me in the eye, shrugged and went back to work coaching Bronwyn. I like that lady.
Drake was breathing the air less than two minutes later.
There is more...but I am sure hearing the rest from Bronwyn's perspective will make more sense. I didn't have any of the hard work to do. She did all the heavy lifting.
We are off to have the two day doctor checkup. Fortunately, our new family doctor has the certs for it and we won't have to see anyone the family doesn't know.
Love you all. I really do.
I can't even begin to put together the whole picture of the birth of this baby. But I want to give a few highlights while the house is quiet and my beautiful wife and child are sleeping. Sunday/Monday night was perhaps the strangest trip I have ever been on while being cold sober.
3:00am - Monday Morning (one full week before babies official due date)
Bronwyn wakes me to tell me that she had had some mild contractions intermittently and that her water just broke. She tells me to go back to sleep, it will be quite a while before we even need to call the midwife. A woman's water can safely break two days before the birth actually happens.
I napped for about another hour. We had been on a four day cleaning and decluttering binge getting ready for the baby and we were both exhausted.
After an hour I got up to finish a few minor touches up to cleaning up the birth pool room. I spent about an hour in the room next to Bronwyn and I watched her as I cleaned up and ran a vacuum over the room one last time.
...timeline begins to fuzz here...
Finally I am satisfied that the room is clean and ready for the midwife's birthing pool. I am thinking about the need to decide with Bronwyn if the contractions where at a point we should contact the midwife.
I am immediately a little shocked. I saw a contraction hit her and saw her move right into a squatting position, supporting herself on a chair back and rocking and moaning in a LOT of pain.
Whoa. I read the literature...she isn't supposed to have to use a physical contortion to deal with that level of pain for HOURS yet. I am squatting behind her and am trying to talk with her.
"Sweetie...are you OK? I think maybe we should call the midwife now?"
My beautiful girl looks at me with a lost look and confusion says, "I don't know."
Oh gods. She is already in Transition (Google it if you are curious).
Then she starts screaming and writhing in pain. My woman has a pain tolerance that can make active duty Marines flinch. This was NOT the sort of screaming I was led to anticipate after watching a least 2 kagillion birthing shows with my wife. This was a level that triggered a level of fear for my wife I cannot even begin to explain.
I look up at the computer monitor. She has been running a program that tracked the length between contractions and their length. She just had to slap the space bar at the right time and the data was tracked.
She was having 90 second contractions every five minutes.
This Was Not Going Correctly.
Bronwyn begs me to put her in the shower and run hot water on her lower back. Great. I can do this...she is on all fours and I have set up the running shower jet so the hot water is hitting the right spot. Her screams subside to loud moans and I go running for the phone.
I call the midwife...I give update. She explains she is just coming back from a birth where the client's labor had stopped. She would rush back to that mom's house, group her bag and tools and be right over for Bronwyn.
OK. I activated the professional. The Plan is progressing. Must check on wife.
Bronwyn still on hands and knees and weeping and screaming. I check the water, make the temperature more to her liking and try to talk to her. She is WAY into Transistion and not making much sense. She wants a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich...but she won't budge from the shower.
OK. Make sandwich. Put on plate next to shower. Time to make bed. Put on initial sheets. Put on plastic sheets. Put in birth cover sheets.
Birthing Pool room: check
Bed prepped in case of water birth doesn't happen: check
Spaced cleared for midwife to put tools: check
All items to handle and deal with afterbirth and stuff: check
Peanut Butter and Jelly: check
Phone ringing. It's the midwife. She has been pounding on the doors, windows and calling non-stop to get the previously mentioned mother-to-be to open the door so she can get her midwifery kit. No one is answering.
I explain the unusually accelerated delivery that Bronwyn appears to be in.
I remember the conversation ending with something like..."I am driving to you now. I know your wife has gloves...we will just have to deliver right there on your bed."
I go to my wife in the shower. She is weeping and telling me see can't fight pushing. Then she slips all the way back into Transistion headspace and can't do anything but moan.
There was a voice in my head telling me that this was accelerating into a real problem. That little voice that tells you that you are NOT just having a first time dad birth freak out and that this is going too fast.
And then out of no-where...Bronwyn said is a very focused voice, "This baby is coming too fast." She said it twice very calmly and clearly and then slipped back into moans and screams.
OK. Scrub hands in hot Hot HOT water with soap. Then do my best impersonation of a gynecologist and feel for the babies head. Thank the gods, I could not feel anything yet.
The moans are now rather intense screaming again.
I know my wife wanted to give birth as naturally as possible. I know she really, REALLY wanted to have the baby at home.
One last try at conversation:
"Sweetie...do you want me to take you to the hospital?"
My wife looks at me looking even more lost than before and says, "I don't know."
I picked up the phone and dialed the midwife.
"She is having this baby RIGHT NOW. Do you know where Mt Clemens Regional is?"
"Yes."
"Meet me there." <*click*>
I manage to get Bronwyn out of the shower, into some loose clothes and into the car. I can attest the a Honda Civic with the passenger seat tilted all the way back can accommodate a woman in labor.
I relieved a little tension by putting on my emergency blinkers, constantly blowing my horn taking my little Civic to unparalleled feats of urban street stunt driving. (I admit that part was kinda fun.)
I pull up to the hospital emergency receiving doors, run in, grab the security guard and his wheelchair and manage to get her in the hospital.
The ladies behind the desk handle this sort of thing all the time. If the midwife can't make it, at least I have now surrounded my laboring wife with professionals right? RIGHT?
When Bronwyn is sitting in the wheelchair and goes into a full contraction the look on the faces of the ladies at the desk looked more terrified than mine had looked all morning.
They grab her chair and sprint her into a Triage room. The OB happened to be sitting in that room. I help lift Bronwyn into the bed and Bronwyn has another screaming contraction.
Things a little hazy here. I remember moving to Bronwyn's left and taking her hand. I was trying to stay out of the way of the five professional women who where working. My job as I saw it was to keep my wife focused and feeling safe. While I tried to keep her to maintain eye contact with me I only heard snatches of conversation.
I remember the OB saying, "The baby is crowning NOW. You are about to have your baby right now."
This is while one of the med techs is trying to put an IV in Bronwyns arm.
The OB was on the opposite side of Bronwyn and she was holding her right thigh down. Bronwyn's contractions where hitting hard enough that her legs where crossing as they hit. I remember the OB distinctly saying, "Will somebody grab her other leg?" I looked back to make sure someone was and waited what felt like five minutes while no one did anything. As Bronwyn's next contraction hit I slid over and used one hand to hold her thigh down (since no one else seemed to have a brain but the OB) and the other to keep holding her hand.
The OB looked me in the eye, shrugged and went back to work coaching Bronwyn. I like that lady.
Drake was breathing the air less than two minutes later.
There is more...but I am sure hearing the rest from Bronwyn's perspective will make more sense. I didn't have any of the hard work to do. She did all the heavy lifting.
We are off to have the two day doctor checkup. Fortunately, our new family doctor has the certs for it and we won't have to see anyone the family doesn't know.
Love you all. I really do.