Quite a Ride...and Baby Makes Five!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hi Friends! Here is the story you've been waiting to hear (as posted over on facebook)...WARNING: This IS a birth story, so if you are sensitive to the knitty-gritty of birth, you'll need to prepare yourself for details or just not read it.

"The cops delivered my 3rd baby in my bedroom!" "Some third babies are just sooo laid back." "My friend's 3rd baby came so fast they had to pull over on the highway!" "Third babies can be stubborn and take forever to come!" ---these are all stories I heard at some point over the last three weeks or so as I clenched my teeth in discomfort and continued to walk around with our 3rd baby all nice and cozy in my tummy.

Then yesterday became reality...9:30 a.m. I had my first-one-day-over-due-date appointment with my (way cool) midwife, Crystal. The kids and I got to see our healthy baby on the sonogram screen yet again, and all was well. After waffling back and forth, I decided to let Crystal strip my membranes to see if that would jumpstart labor for me...I'd never had that done before, and it really sounds much worse than it was...just a little uncomfortable exam and done. I thought that it was supposed to be a full moon (Eric must have found the wrong online calendar...it was actually the night before) and this would just add to my list of probabilities of having the baby in the next 24 hours!

So home we went, after a fun stop for storytime/Mommy-chat-with-friends-time at the library. By 2 p.m. I was feeling a bit funny, but that's not unusual, so I went down for my nap, giving the kids their rest-time instructions before shutting the bedroom door (this would prevent me from seeing them goofing off instead of "resting", HA). I started having contractions, but irregular, again not unusual for me late in pregnancy, so jotted the times down here and there and just tried to rest.

By 3:30ish I was up, uncomfortable and decided to call my sister, Jodi. She said I should get off my butt and walk around to see if the contractions would pick up and get stronger. So, that's what I did and that's what happened! Between 4 and 4:30 the contractions started to get uncomfortable enough for me to have to stop whatever I was doing and they were 3-4 minutes apart. Seriously though, I wasn't sure if it was the real thing! I knew the whole "stripping" thing could cause some cramping, plus when Kai was born, his 3 hour labor just started with me hitting the wall with 2 minute apart pains...I wasn't so sure about the whole "gradual" thing.

Anyway, I called Crystal, Maria (who was to watch my kids) and Eric (to get home)...since I was still a bit wishy-washy, Crystal recommended a warm bath to see if they would slow down or speed up...then I was to call in 1/2 an hour. (This is the beginning of a substory!)

So at 4:35 p.m., into the tub I went...remember those 3 min. apart contractions? 2,3,4,5...well, aren't I glad we didn't get into the car and start trying to get to the hospital during rush hour and then have to drive all the way back home and find something to fix for dinner and when ARE you going to come little one you are a stinker...AND THEN SIX MINUTES and HOLY COW...OOOOWWWWWWW! THAT was a contraction. Okay...?! Hmmmmm. 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes and yup, SIX...YOWZERS again. Oh, thank you Lord for warm baths to sooth those pains, but I've got some calls to make and we better boogie.

(Enter Elena with the phone): It's Grandma J...okay Mom, I have 1 minute to talk to you then I can't as another contraction is going to hit and okay, love you, bye. Calling Crystal back...what? she thinks you're already on your way to the hospital...(ME) no, I was supposed to call her back at 5...no, no, she knows your going, just go on and she'll meet you there....(ME) okaaay. I have this conversation with two gals during the same phone call.

So out of the tub to get back in my clothes...holler at the kids to get their loveys to take to the Jones' and get in the van...contraction...excessive jubilation from the kids: "WE'RE HAVING A BABY! I'M SO EXCITED! WHOOOOOOOT! I'VE NEVER YELLED THIS MUCH WHEN I'VE HAD A COUGH BEFORE! A BABY! WE GET CHEETOS AND ICE CREAM!" Kai comes into me as I'm folded up on the bathroom floor and says quietly, "Oh Mommy, I hope we have a baby sister!". Once I'm out of the tub the six minute thing is out the window and every two minutes I have a "dive into the pile of pillows instead of trying to stand" kind of pain. Needless to say it took a while to get down the stairs.

Eric gets home (obviously finds some time to update my status on facebook...no friends, that was not me!) and we both drive the kids over to drop them off...I was in the van and we were to take the Buick with us. (By the way, don't try to drive while in labor.)

By 5:15 we are on the road, destination, 123rd between Metcalf and Blue Valley Parkway. Then we stop. Almost 10 minutes at the light waiting to get on 71 Highway. Faster to have gone across and taken the next exit in the middle of construction and rush hour? Maybe, maybe not. We're on the way again, opt for 150 across to Kansas, then 143rd over to Metcalf...I make him run the red left turn light at 150 & 143rd and am starting to get a little nervous as it sounds like I'm either REALLY getting close or having REALLY good sex. The speed limit is 35. Eric got a ticket on this road two weeks ago. We drive 35ish.

At 135th and Metcalf we decide the freeway is the way to go up to 123rd, turning left, changing lanes...oh....dear...I think, yup, my water just broke. Eric steps on the gas as we merge on the freeway and I can tell he's thinking of going around all the accelerating cars on the shoulder...but refrains, probably out of safety. (We're amazingly calm at this point). I seriously can sense that the baby is ready to come (i.e. 10 centimeters & ready to push) but am holding baby in with all my might. No! No! No! Baby...just wait a few more minutes!!! (It's not listening)! Eric says, "Can you just relax hon?!" I say "There's nothing I can do!" 5:48 p.m.

As we are merging off the freeway, I throw off my seatbelt, turn onto 123rd (hospital in plain sight) I'm wriggling out of my pants and panties as fast as one can and reach down just in time to feel baby's head, then practically climb the seat backwards to ease out the body...ohps! cord around the neck, let's unloop that, pat, pat, pat, are you crying baby? Oh, honey, it's a boy! 5:50 p.m. And out come his little feet. (Pulling into the parking lot...Where do we go? To the ER!) Man this is going to get on my favorite shirt. What did I just think? Put that baby on your chest silly woman. (that was me to self).

We park under the ER overhang (5:52 p.m.) and Eric goes to the counter and says "My wife just had a baby in the car". They look at him with wide eyes and say "Really?!" He says, "No." They come out with hot blankets and a guerney (sp?) and then peer in the car from the cold outside like, hmmmm...what do we do now?

So I get my naked butt out of the car (baby still attached and held tight to my tummy), they wrap me up in the towels and up I go to the Birthing Center where all the nurses EXCEPT my midwife (who never got the message that my labor did indeed kick in) are waiting for me. One gal takes off my sunglasses, another holds the scrunchie that was in my hair, they lift me and baby over to the real bed to finish taking care of business. I ask them is someone is please, taking care of my poor husband? I thought he was in shock...actually, as he came around the corner, he was just cool...what a guy!

30 minutes later, my midwife comes in with a big smile on her face. One healthy baby, one healthy momma...I'm guessing that's all in a days work for her. Zane Charles Eastwood's birth certificate lists the birth attendent: Resa R Eastwood, mother, en route to St. xxx Hospital. And we'll let him know who was driving!

7 pounds, 14 ounces, 19 inches long. Zane is our smallest and latest newborn, who came with the biggest story! God has been ever-so good to us and continues to pile on the smiles and laughter around here!