I found out I was pregnant on Christmas morning, we had the confirmation ultrasound a few weeks later, and it finally really started to sink in a couple of weeks after that. Everything went very smoothly throughout my pregnancy: no morning sickness or heartburn to speak of, just the typical aches and inconveniences as I got bigger. I felt the baby move for the first time when I was about 16 weeks along (she became quite the little acrobat as time went on), and we found out shortly after that that we were having a girl. Towards the end of my pregnancy, the doctors became concerned that the baby was measuring small, but she was growing consistently so they finally relaxed a bit about it.I was due August 26, which came and went with no baby. August 26 was also my last day of work, so I got to enjoy some time off with no job and no baby. I was having contractions on and off most days and was trying various methods to induce labor on my own (walking, eating pineapple, etc). At my appointment on September 6 I was scheduled for an induction the morning of the 8th. Alfred and I did not want it to come to that, so we decided to take some more drastic action. So on the 6th I had an acupuncture appointment, and drank a couple of ounces of castor oil. At about 7:00 that evening contractions started. Since this was the fourth or fifth night in a row that this had happened, I wasn't too hopeful. Alfred had a meeting with someone at 8:30 and I convinced him to go, sure the contractions would taper off again. Not this time!
Alfred left the house a little after 8:00 for his meeting, and my contractions kept getting stronger and closer together. They were 5-6 minutes apart just before 8:30, when my water broke. That was probably the scariest part for me, because I was alone and suddenly didn't quite know what to do. I texted both Alfred and our doula, then texted a bunch of other people to try to distract myself.
That didn't last long though, because the contractions started getting even stronger. Alfred got home shortly afterwards (he cancelled his meeting and sped home) and started coaching me through and timing the contractions. We spent most of the time in the bathroom, since I was feeling sick from the castor oil on top of being in labor. He rubbed my back, talked me through each contraction, and kept my spirits up when I felt like I couldn't do it anymore and was getting discouraged. At one point I became convinced that it wasn't working because the baby was facing the wrong way (she was facing my front instead of my back). Alfred kept me calm and cheered me on. He also kept updating our doula, who assumed that since I was a first time mom labor would take awhile.By about 10:45, my contractions were only 3 minutes apart, and sometimes there was no break between them. Suddenly, my body started pushing. To say it's an urge to push is quite an understatement; it was like my entire midsection was just seizing and moving completely out of my control. That was when I said we were going to the hospital. Alfred threw everything into the car as I made my way there slowly. I got in the backseat on my hands and knees and he started driving. He called our doula on the way and put her on speakerphone so she could hear me. Once she heard me grunting and groaning as I tried as hard as I could not to push, she realized it really was happening that fast.
She told Alfred she'd meet us at the hospital, and that if he needed to pull over to deliver the baby to call her and she'd meet us wherever we were. Once he heard that, he really stepped on the gas! We were going over 100 mph with our hazard lights flashing. He made the usual 25 minute drive to the hospital in 13 minutes flat.We pulled up to the emergency room entrance and someone ran in to get a nurse for us. I somehow got out of the car and into a wheelchair, was wheeled into a room and transferred onto a gurney. They checked to make sure the baby wasn't already coming out, then whisked me up to labor and delivery. I was put in a room, moved to a bed, and checked: 10 centimeters dilated and ready to go. By this point it was just before midnight. For some reason, the answering service hadn't contacted the doctor on call when we called to say we were on our way, so he was finally called and told to come in. They made me wait to push until he got there, which was probably the hardest part of the whole ordeal. At some point our doula arrived and they put an IV port in my hand, but I was pretty preoccupied. I was clinging to the side of the bed, trying with everything I had not to push.
Finally the doctor arrived and I was allowed to start pushing. After pushing for about half a dozen contractions, maybe 10 minutes, everyone said they could see th
e head. My doula told me to reach down and feel it, which was the trippiest thing. Another push got her head half out, the next push got her head all the way out, then one more and she was born, at 12:37 am on Wednesday September 7. She was covered in meconuim (fetus poop) so they immediately rushed her over to the warming table to work on her. I didn't know it until later, but they put a tube down her throat 3 times to pump her stomach, and used a hand held respirator pump thingie to get her to start breathing. Alfred was watching them work on her (he even ended up cutting her umbilical cord!) while I was getting cleaned up and stitched up. I had a small tear from her coming out with her hand up to her face.Finally, maybe 10 minutes later, the baby was cleaned up and breathing fine, and I got to see her and hold her for the first time. I had her on my chest and she sort of baby army crawled down so she could try to eat. With a little help, she latched right on and breast fed within an hour of being born. Those first few hours went by pretty fast, between all the medical people coming in for the two of us, her going to the nursery for some tests (accompanied by her dad), and just looking at her. Finally the adrenaline started to wear off and we all decided to take a nap.
The next morning (which was really just an hour or so later) we officially decided on the baby's name: Tabitha Jean. Alfred and I had gone in with a few possible first names (Jean was set before this kid was conceived), though Tabitha had been the front runner since about halfway through my pregnancy. We had to stay in the hospital for 2 days so they could monitor her and get some test results back since her birth was so fast. We got home around noon that Friday and have been settling in to our new life as a family of three ever since.Tabby's a pretty good baby; she has her fussy moments (who doesn't?) but she's a good eater and (usually) a good sleeper. It's been pretty tough at times, but overall we've been doing really well. She was a little peanut, only 6 lbs 8 oz at birth, but has been chunking up nicely since: she was already 7 lbs 13 oz at her doctor's appointment yesterday! Tabitha's a pretty awesome baby, and Alfred and I are so lucky to have her!
