(This triple layer banana cake with cream cheese frosting was completely gone by the time labor started.)
Contractions started at 4am on Sunday, May 13th. They caught me off guard, even though I was five days late at that point. I’d been waiting for other signs that had preceded contractions with my last labor, but go figure, every birth is different.
Ha. Ahaha. Yeah. Especially this one.
So I started timing contractions (instead of sleeping, on account of I’m smart with my decisions that way) on my handy iPhone app. They were averaging about 8-10 minutes apart and were very mild.
Two hours later, Levi came in and threw up on my pillow.
An hour after that, Benjamin came in and thew up on my feet. And then turned around and threw up on the dog.
Did I mention it was Mother’s Day?
So by 7am, we were up. And we were not going to church. I hadn’t told Josh about the contractions yet. What… It hadn’t come up… {Shifty face}.
He bathed the kids and the dog, and then made pancakes, insisting I do nothing, like a good husband. Which made me not want to tell him all the more. I didn’t want to sit around and do nothing. But it was Mother’s Day, and therefore illegal for me to lift a finger. I eventually decided maybe if I told him I was in labor, I’d be more likely to get my way. Maybe he’d let me load the dishwasher.
And he did. I also washed sheets.
I then continued to putter around the house. When I was sitting, the contractions would be 10 or more minutes apart; when I was up, for instance, making these awesome energy balls, they would be 3-5 minutes apart. But when they were closer together, they were much milder, so I wasn’t concerned.
The kids went down for Quiet Times at around 1:30 p.m. and Josh and I watched I Love Lucy. Partly because of tradition. We watch old shows while I’m in labor. It was M*A*S*H with Benjamin.
While watching Lucy, Josh started helping me through the contractions. Evelyn hadn’t turned yet, so my lower back was really aching with each contraction. He applied great counter-pressure while I leaned on my yoga ball and everything was completely manageable. I was still timing them and they were still 10 or more minutes apart.
We had had sitters lined up to take care of the kids when I went into labor, but the whole early-morning-vomit thing kinda messed with those plans. Our sitters were mostly mothers of young children, so taking our children into their homes wasn’t really a desirable option anymore. We had also let Josh’s mom know things had started, and she had left for the 7 hour trip at about 9:30 that morning. So we were expecting her at about 4:30. I thought I could definitely hold out until then.
The kids woke up and they were playing Trios with Josh in the living room. I was leaning over my ball, timing my lazy, but intensifying 10 minute-apart contractions. Josh could tell when one would start, just from my breathing, and would come over to push on my back. Pretty sure I was bruised the next day from all the counter-pressure, but I wasn’t complaining at the time!!
I had two 8 minute-apart contractions and Gammy showed up. I had two intense 6 minute-apart contractions and told Josh it was time to go. Which is very unusual. He’s always been the one who has to drag my laboring bottom out of the house.
We walked 20 feet to the car and the contractions started coming one on top of another. The pressure in my pelvis was increasing at an alarming rate.
The last contraction I timed had been at 4:39pm, before telling Josh it was time to go. It was probably 4:45 by the time car was in drive. We drove the 10 minutes to the hospital. Hit every red light. Josh went to the wrong entrance and had to try again. And the whole time, I was recognizing the feeling inside me. She. Was. Coming.
Low, guttural moaning and prayer. That’s all that kept her in. Side note: I don’t recommend experiencing transition in a moving vehicle.
He found the ER entrance and hopped out, keys in the car, car still running. I was already on my way through the first set of doors. I took maybe five steps and stumbled to my knees. Four feet shy of the second set of doors. They hadn’t even opened yet. I remember seeing the man behind the desk. He was on the phone. I remember wondering if he could see me. And then I went down on all fours.
My body refused to listen to me anymore.
It pushed. My water broke. It pushed again. And her head was out.
Someone tried to get me in a wheelchair. I flat refused. (In their defense, I was wearing a skirt, so no one but me knew that her head was out already.) But then Josh realized what had happened and suddenly there were a lot of people around me.
My body pushed again and Evelyn was born. She slid briefly into my hand before she was whisked away behind me. Being still connected to each other, there was a careful dance that followed where I stood, my skirt was taken, and I was finally able to hold my baby girl.
Then I saw the sheets being held up at either end of the entry way. And I realized, for the first time, that I’d just birthed my child in a very public place. I was led to a gurney and wheeled away, past some amazed faces, to labor and delivery.
In L&D, I asked what the official time of birth was. They pondered a bit and decided it would be when ER called up to say there was a lady delivering in the breezeway. 4:58pm.
19 minutes after my last timed contraction.
They never found my skirt.
———————————————-
Now PICTURES!!!
Evelyn Ruth. 7lbs, 7oz, 19.25″ long, born 5/13/12 at 4:58pm – 5 days “late”.
The ER entry way – her place of birth. Also, notice how hilariously appropriate her initials are.
Loving the car ride home (Group B Strep was NEGATIVE!) in a car seat deceptively sold with a weight range starting at 5lbs. We have since borrowed an infant carrier.
We did not expect our dog to love the baby quite this much.
However, we did expect this.
And this.
And this. (There’s the dog again!)
While Levi does love his Babyevawin, he is mostly excited that the Daddy will be spending a WHOLE WEEK at home with us.
Yes, I was waiting for this story… Thank you for the blow-by-blow. I thoroughly enjoyed it and then reread it to Steve who was duly entertained and impressed. lol… What a riot! P.S. Love those energy balls… I make them with raisins and add cinnamon and allspice 🙂 he he…
Oh, that was a WONDERFUL story! And what a beautiful, precious little girl to join the ranks of your other beautiful, precious children. I love that you were clever enough to take a pic in the ER entryway– that one will be treasured, for sure. 🙂 (I bet people hate you for how well you bounce back after giving birth– you look fantastic!)
Oh, the details! The vomit… waiting for Gamma… the breezeway… I think my favorite was this: “They never found my skirt.”
What a story! Welcome sweet Evelyn! (LOVE that name!)
So cool. Beth!! I love the association of her initials with this ER story. How funny. I can’t believe you went from 6-minute contractions to delivery in 19 minutes. Wow. You’re such a great storyteller! 🙂
Oh, I love birth stories, and this one really rocks! Love it and love the correspondence with her initials. So cool!
That is hilarious and what I am slightly afraid will happen to me with the next one. LOVED reading it.
Triple Amen to going through transition while driving. Kyle was going around round a bouts, having to slow down for school zones. It wasn’t fun, and I wasn’t being a good natural birth patient and staying quiet and breathing (I kept saying, “I’m dying! I’m dying, I know I’m not supposed to say it, but I think I am!”) All the while, my well-meaning husband was saying, relax, breathe, you’re ok. It is impossible to relax and be comfortable in the car, particularly when you’re having to hold onto the handle by the window around the curves.
Then, transition was over and I suddenly felt so much better and was able to relax (at which point my husband was very concerned I had passed out or died since there was no more talking). Then, I sat up, said, I have to push. To which my husband replied, “Umm, we’re not at the hospital yet”. And I told him he need to hurry and get there. I debated about taking off my pants or not. I didn’t really want to walk into the ER with no pants on, but it’s not really easy to keep them on and have a baby coming out. In the end, I did leave them on (but am TOTALLY going with a skirt next time–an apparently one that I don’t care about), and was taken up by wheelchair to the delivery room. I applaud you for walking in yourself!
Lincoln ended up getting stuck on his way out (shoulder dysplasia), so it was good that we made it there (like 5 minutes) before he actually came out. My labor was 3 hours from the first contraction until birth and the hospital was 30 minutes away and we had to drop off our other son at our friends’ house. (Of course I didn’t know it was going to go so fast when my contractions were 10 minutes apart for the first hour). I really hope to make it to the hospital in time for the next one, but at least I have inspiration that it can be done even if I don’t make it *quite* there 🙂
So glad to here everything went well and I love the fact that her initials are ER! haha. So glad GBS was a non-issue. I certainly needed a laugh today.
Congratulations. She’s beautiful.
You are hilarious. Only you could have a birth story like that!! Love you girl! Glad you and Ev are healthy and happy!!
Xoxo
L
Oh, wow! Now that’s a birth story! Love her initials and the breezeway picture! Congratulations!
I’m thinking of all of the poor kids in the ER who now know babies don’t come from Storks. 🙂 What fun conversation you must have generated at the dinner table that night. Way to alleviate the boredom of the ER. That birth story just kept getting better and better.
Seriously though congratulations Josh and Beth, we’re so excited for you!
This has got to be one the best birth stories I’ve ever read!! What an experience – you are a Wonder Woman! And what a show for the other people in the ER….you only see that on tv! 🙂
Congrats on a beautiful little girl!
She’s absolutely beautiful! Thank you os much for sharing the story with us. It was just the uplifting post I needed. (:
Congratulations!
That was quite a story- and I am glad I don’t have any nearly as entertaining with the arrival of my children. I love the picture in the ER entryway.. very clever. And her initials.. was that planned?
You win – your 19 minutes beats my 20 minutes. I had my son while Tim was parking the car. When he came back inside, I was standing in the hallway admiring a shock of flaming red hair in the nursery. However, you did have the advantage of knowing you were in labor before. I woke up in labor, most of it having occurred during heavy sleep. When I got out of bed, my water broke and we sped to the hospital, tossing our 2-year-old out the window into Mom’s arms on the way. I highly recommend this kind of childbirth. In fact, everyone who borrowed and wore my hideous orange & brown shirt had a speedy delivery. Yeah, I don’t mess around when I decide to do something. . . . 🙂 And I’m still a really sound sleeper. They did find my skirt, though.
Oh, my! What a memorable birth!!
Congrats!
Mary, mom to many
Evelyn is so so cute. I loved each of the photographs you shared here and enjoyed the story equally.
-Georgia
What an awesome story! It’s especially inspiring to me now since my second baby was due last week and she’s showing no signs of making an appearance 😉
Amazing! I chickened out of natural childbirth each of my 4 times, but def went far enough to know it’s not easy. Just had #4 (our first boy) on May 1. He came 30 min after my epidural was administered, so really what was the point? We were alone in the room, my water had broken, and I told my husband to get the midwife NOW because I knew he was coming. Those speedy later children!
what a great story!! and yeah, the car ride during transition is the pits. did that twice. apparently i don’t learn from past experiences! except the third time, i didn’t even make it to the car and baby was born at home – oops. my biggest worry was that, based on past births, she’d end up being born in the car.
very cool how the initials just happen to be ER!
first time visiting your blog; i’m enjoying it! 🙂
I know this must have been such a trying experience for you at the time, but it sure made for a wonderful story with a happy ending! Congratulations on a new baby girl and thank you for sharing her birth story! 🙂
Congratulations for having a successful labor. Your baby looks very lovely. Thanks a lot for sharing your story here. I had a great time reading the whole post. How are you doing right now?
-Mitch
dad-to-be for the first time here.
found myself sucked into the black hole of the worldwide web, trying to get a handle on all things birth and stumbled on your site.
love the insights, and the general approach to life. great writing too.. i’m sure you have enough for a book by now. think about it.
anywho, great birth story.
blessings,
blissful idiot (for a lil’ while longer)
Oh my gosh! I think we must be twins!!!! I had a VERY similar birth story on Jan. 30th. I love it!!!!! I totally agree…..transition in a moving vehicle..not fun! hehe………so many times i wanted to jump out of our SUV! I also refused a wheel chair, walked myself into the ER (had stuffed toast in my pocket as my way of trying to smuggle food in!………i had already drank alot of coconut water and raspberry leaf tea……..and ate greeek yogurt.) My husband annouced when we arrived “my wife is in labor” ……….they so did not take me serious……just called up to LandD and said “she’s just here pacing” . Then told us which cubicle to go to to register. I said “I’m not sitting down.” so, as my husband attempted to register me i stayed right outside the cubicle in the lobby of the ER, pacing back and forth. The last thing i remember my husband saying was “what’s your social?” i told him then i felt the head come out as i was standing there! (all along i thought i was doing terrible with labor because i said my body would not relax with the contractions and was instead tensing up…………little did i know my body was pushing!!!……..it was my first time giving birth) Anyhow, i yelled his name” Adam” and he came around the corner, i lifted my skirt and he could see the head bulging out of my depends (my water had broke four hours before that at home and i was prepared with depends:) He yelled “oh my gosh, she’s having the baby now, she’s having the baby now! ” He had to act fast then, because right then another contraction and out she came…………..he had to catch her!!! In no time there were 5nurses and 2 docs surrounding……….i guess they decided to take me seriously then! I gave the people in the lobby a show like you did. We also went back to the “scene of the crime” and took pics. Being that this was my first birth, i honestly can’t imagine giving birth in any other way than standing! So, hm….next time may have to be a homebirth. Oh, btw, they still billed us for delivery!!!!!!!!!
but i would not change a thing about my birth story………such a great experience!!! What i did was Hypnobabies (which i said during labor was not working, but yet i was so polite and relaxed about being in labor that i do think the message of how natural childbirth is did get through to me.) , i also drank raspberry leaf tea the last mponth and a half or so of my pregnancy……..increasing as i got closed to my guess date………it tones the uterus, making contractions more effective……….i believe it did. Afterall, my first time in labor was four hours and i couldn’t keep myself from pushing (though i didn’t realize what my body was doing at the time!) and i also did something called Epi-no…………….anyone can look it up online. I had to have it shipped from Germany. It is supposed to be the best thing develeoped to prevent tears……..and it totally worked for me………not even the slighest tear! Now my new project is looking into vaccine safety (or lack of!) I’m becoming more “natural” by the day!!!!
wow! you guys look so happy .. the cake looks nice too .. hope that you always stay happy no matter what ..
Well Yes we also should have a common approach towards all these things…
Thank You
Samir