A (Very Short) Labor Story

I always tell myself that I'm not going to expect my babies to be early.  I always end up expecting my babies to be early.

I went to the midwife for my 36 week appointment mid-December, when she informed me that I was dilated to 4 cm.  4 cm?! I thought.  Surely I'm not going to make it another month!  My midwife told me to take it easy, rest if I started having contractions, keep that baby inside for another couple of weeks.

So I did what any obedient patient would do.  I went home and hosted a Christmas party for 30 something parents and toddlers the next day.

This proved insufficient to coax the baby out of me, however (not that I was really trying).  I did continue to have some light contractions throughout the next month.  Is this it? I wondered.  Could THIS be it? How about THIS?  But the contractions never became regular, and as I approached my due date, I began to doubt that I would ever go into labor.  I felt overdue long before my due date.  I sighed a lot. 

Then, the calendar ticked over to January 10th, my due date.  Almost at the stroke of midnight, I awoke to a very strong contraction.  Three or four minutes later, I had another.  I started timing them.  It quickly became clear that I was in active labor.

I began to wonder when I needed to wake Daniel up.   The next contraction hit.  NOW.  Now is when I need to wake Daniel up.  

Shortly after I woke Daniel, my contractions got closer together and even stronger.   I told him I was going to get in the bath to try to relax a bit.  "No you're not," he replied.  "You're getting in the car."  We called my midwife and told her that I suddenly seemed to be in hard labor.  She confirmed that we should come then, and in 15 minutes, we were out the door.  


Daniel ran the first red light we came to, and proceeded to drive 90 miles per hour on 53 and I-290 all the way to hospital exit.  "You don't need to drive 90," I said.  "Yes, I do," came his reply.  (He did.  His sense of things was a little better than mine at this point).  He ran another red light on Austin Blvd.  He made the 32 mile drive in 22 minutes.  Thank goodness it wasn't snowing. 

I continued to time my contractions throughout the drive.  The peaks were between a minute and half and three minutes apart, but they were overlapping at times.  All I wanted was to be able to relax.  We walked into the emergency room, and they put me in a wheelchair and called for someone to come get me.  After what seemed like an eternity, someone wheeled me up to the labor and delivery floor.  They monitored me for a few minutes, then called in my midwife, Mary.  She checked me and confirmed, "Yup, you're complete."

Immediately, they wheeled me into the alternative birthing room.  "Do you want to deliver here or on the bed?" Mary asked.  Deliver? I thought.  How are we already to this point?  After transferring me to bed, my water immediately broke.  I began pushing through contractions, and after being in the room for only 10 minutes and being in labor for just under two hours, Genevieve Grace was born.

I guess punctuality is important to her.