Lucky #7

I'm blasting through these birth stories. I am determined!

Luckily #7 is a synch to tell:

8pm: brother asks if husband wants to play poker

I say yes, but no way is my husband leaving me this pregnant (I am 4 days overdue). Poker games last late.

8:30pm brothers and brother-in-law + sister (and 2 month old sleeping in a car seat) arrive for a night of fun.  I chat with sister as menfolk play cards.

10pm: I have one good contraction while chatting with sister.  I yawn.  Sensitive and intelligent sister suggests I go to bed and she get her man to leave soon.

10:27pm: big contraction in bed, urgent need to use restroom (use your imagination, I'll spare the details here)
10:30 pm: brothers and all leave.

10:35 pm:  husband comes to bed, I hesitate, but suggest to him that I am in labor and get out of bed.

I panic, start to shake. Loving husband calms me down. I note that I have not had another contraction and doubt whether or not I am in labor.  I decide to return to bed.  BIG contraction.

I panic and tell my husband to call the midwife immediately.  Poor husband cannot locate our phone book. I am having more contractions, running the bath (you know me and tub deliveries), and ...still "stuck in the bathroom", as it were.

I hear thrashing downstairs. I go to rescue my distracted husband by showing him where I had secreted the phonebook away to (the kitchen desk, near the phone).

11 pm we convince the midwife to come.
11:05 pm Husband calls my Mom to give her a heads up in case of emergency.
11:06 pm contraction on stairs as I return to our bedroom. I suggest I go to the hospital for an epidural. I am not kidding. I do NOT want to do this.

Return to bathroom.  Attempt the hot bath.  Big contraction. The water isn't helpful. I am miserable (not in pain, but full of self-doubt and fear of the impending labor).

Blessed husband suggest I just lay down on our bed (already!) and let him push on my back (I always get back labor).

11:20 on bed, water breaks.  11:20.30: I feel the head.
11:20.31: someone shouts "Call 911! Call 911!"

Dearest, beloved, and intelligent husband calmly declares he will "call the midwife".  (Puts a new spin on that BBC series, doesn't it).

I hear words like "Do you see the head?"; and "I see the head".  "Catch the baby and hand him to his mom".  "The baby needs to be warm and dry; I repeat, warm and dry".

At some point all of that became background noise.  Again, I noticed the quiet glow of the room in the middle of yet another stormy night.  Once it occurred to me that the life of my child was going to depend on myself and my husband, I became very very calm.  I also knew I needed to help my husband out (he's not the type, guys! Not the type for this!). I looked at him (in a very unlike-myself-during-moments-of-delivery way) and said "I'm fine".  And I was.  He looked back at me blankly for one moment, and then we both were brought back by the voice of the midwife on speakerphone.

The moment my 9 pound 1 ounce baby boy was delivered, I knew he was fine. He was screaming lustily. He was bright red.  I know what lethargic babies with cords wrapped around their necks look like.  This boy scored 10's on his Apgar's!

Time: 11:27pm

I strongly reassured my husband of my baby's health.  I am not sure why my husband didn't pass out at this point.  Instead he put tons of blankets around me and the baby (he took the "warm and dry" directive seriously).  We waited in the quiet warmth of our bedroom, delighting in our seventh child, praising God for the miracle we had just shared in, just the two of us.  I fell in love with my husband that night in a new and powerful way.  For days, my husbands hands held a magical power over me. I would look at them and marvel at what they had done: deliver our child!

The midwife arrived in time to deliver the placenta.  She checked me and the baby, tucked us in, and by 2am said goodnight, with a promise to come back in the morning.

The great fun was the children coming in the next morning to find a new baby snuggled in next to me.


At risk of making this post longer than necessary, I will now state what is admittedly giving me a bit of trouble this pregnancy.  My beloved does not wish to repeat the above performance, and I will admit that while it was a blessed gift, it doesn't necessarily seem prudent to choose an unattended delivery.
My husband suggested it be best to return to a hospital for the birth of #8.  Please stay tuned...