A Year Ago Today My Baby Was Born

For Behn's account of Graham's birth, click here.

I cannot believe this year has come and gone. I always wanted to be a mom, and was thrilled when God allowed me to become pregnant. And now my little baby can stand, has 4 sharp teeth, and loves to play with a ball. He still kind of looks and acts like a baby, but even those days are vanishing.

A year ago today, I was 39 weeks, 1 day pregnant. I was ready to have him. I hadn't been having contractions (that I knew of) and had no idea when he'd come. I got up and went to work. I worked nearly every day of my pregnancy, as I'd had no complications. I was SO tired of working, but didn't have a physical reason not to, so I plugged away. That day they were calling for snow in the evening. I sent Behn this text, "It's supposed to snow- I hope I don't go into labor. I heard weather can cause labor to start." I wonder why I didn't want to go into labor? I think I actually did, but I was just scared and also driving 45 minutes in the snow to get to the hospital sounded scary.

That evening when I got home I felt weird. Tired, not very hungry, listless. I had some leftovers but didn't enjoy them. Then I sat down and opened a book, just to kill time until Behn got home. When Behn walked in the door, he looked at me and asked me if I was ok. I said I was just tired. I was kind of quiet the next hour or so, and Behn kept asking me if I was ok. I thought I was, but wanted to go get in bed and relax. We made some popcorn and headed upstairs to watch "The Holiday" on the laptop. I had no idea that I might be getting close to being in labor.

We were enjoying the movie and popcorn. All of the sudden and out of the blue, at about 7:45 p.m., I felt a distinct 'pop' in my belly. I almost heard it. And then, the gush of water. I immediately knew what it was. I jumped up and said, 'my water just broke!' I know that having your water break before labor starts only happens like 15% of the time, but that's how it got started. Behn and I went right to the bathroom to inspect the fluid. All clear- a good thing. We started shaking, both of us. I said, 'Graham's birthday will be December 16th!' After all, I was going to be in labor at least through the night, right?

We said a prayer and sprung into action. Called the hospital, got a few odds and ends that we hadn't packed, loaded the car, made phone calls to family. And then, only a few short minutes after my water had broken, contractions began. They were exactly how I'd imagined them to be. And from the start they were 8 minutes apart. We needed to get on the road. I couldn't get through to my mom, but dad picked up his phone and said he'd track her down for me. This was it!

In the car, I texted and called family and friends. The contractions were already getting uncomfortable, but I talked through them. We were on 81, and briefly slowed down due to some construction, but THANK GOD He was merciful and we got through that quickly (just the week before on my way to an OB appointment, I had sat in traffic for an hour. How awful that would have been during labor!). In the car I realized my contractions were now 4 minutes apart. What the heck?? We cruised into the hospital and to the ER. They were ready for me and made me get in a wheelchair. I was still chatty and silly at this point. Up to Maternity I went.

The had me put on the gown and started to take my vitals. I was bummed to hear my least favorite doctor was on call that night. They talked to me about epidurals. I said I wanted to try to go natural. The nurse looked skeptical. She said if I changed my mind, be prepared for it to take an hour until I could get pain relief. It would take a while to fill me with the proper fluids via an iv, for the anesthesiologist to arrive, get the needle in, and for the medicine to take affect. She checked me. I was 4.5 cm and my cervix was 'paper thin.' The contractions were getting bad. We decided to hook me up to the iv and get the fluids in, so that 'just in case' I decided on the epidural I'd be all set. Laying in bed was the worst. She finally let me stand next to the bed, which helped. Behn was encouraging, but honestly I don't remember much about him during this portion of labor. I'd only been in labor about 2 hours, but it was rough. What the nurse and I didn't know was that I was progressing very quickly. She rubbed my back while I stood next to the bed. Soon, I felt the nausea. I knew I was going to lose my cookies, or popcorn actually, and sure enough I did. Behn had a bin ready for me to use. I felt a little better after clearing my stomach. The contractions were bad at this point. And I caved. I figured I had hours to go, and I needed a rest. There would be no sleeping in this pain, and I wanted to save my strength for the long run. I asked for the epidural. The nurse said ok, and left the room, but came back right away. The anesthesiologist was in the OR, and would be 30-45 minutes. I told her, 'ok, then I want to get in the shower to help ease my pain.' My mom had always said to go stand in the shower. The gravity would help and the hot water would feel great. My nurse check my iv- I was all tanked up on fluid, so she unhooked me.

The shower was great, but the pain was just awful at this point. I initially wanted Behn to put on his swim trunks and join me, but as the pain increased, I didn't even care that he stood outside the shower, calmly encouraging me. He checked in with family (on the phone of course). Hannah, who had been babysitting, was on her way. I think I was in the shower about 45 minutes, and started asking where in the world was that epidural? At some point, I realized I could no longer stand during contractions. My body told me to squat. I wanted to push. This didn't even alarm me. I just figured it was the misery of labor, but when my nurse peeked in to check on me and saw me squatting, she told me to get right back in bed.

It was so cold getting out of the shower. I was shivering and they put a heated blanket on me. Behn helped me back to bed, and the nurse checked me again (it was about time!). I was 9.5 cm. Wow! WHERE WAS MY STINKIN' DOCTOR? I suddenly knew I wasn't getting an epidural. The baby would be here before all that. The nurse ran out of the room, and I heard her on the phone, urging Dr. Bukovac to hurry up, that I was nearly ready. When she returned, as I was having another pushing contraction, I asked her if there was another doctor around, just in case mine didn't make it in time. She told me yes, but I'm not sure if I believed her. The room came alive. Hannah walked in. I was hot now, so she started fanning me with a clipboard she picked up. Nurses came in, quickly setting up utensils and the baby station. Just when I thought Dr. Bukovac was MIA and I was just gonna have the baby without her anyway, she waltzed in. She checked me (unneccesary at this point) and declared me ready. I was unsure of what to do, and asked what was going to happen now, to which her smart remark was, 'you're going to have a baby.' Thanks for the info, lady. I was wondering why I felt like I was being mauled. I asked more poignantly, 'should I start pushing?' The answer was yes, and the nurse and doctor instructed me on how best to do so. Behn encouraged me and held one of my legs. When I was feeling hopeless, hearing his voice is what brought me through. I started pushing a little before 11 p.m., I think.

I hated pushing. It made everything worse, not better! The pressure was enormous. It really does feel like a watermelon or cannonball coming down the shoot. Because of the pain it caused, I hesitated to give it my all. My doctor declared my pushes as 'wimpy,' which truly made me angry. My nurse whispered in my ear, 'prove her wrong, Megan!' In between contractions I rested and actually felt normal. There's not really pain in between the contractions. I even joked around. When I felt another one coming on, I sarcastically jested, 'Oh great, here we go again.' Dr. Bukovac and the nurses even laughed. I pushed for about 30 minutes until I realized the only way out of this misery was to get Graham out. There wasn't going to be an epidural, this wasn't a bad dream I was going to wake up from. I looked at the clock. 11:20. I decided I wanted to the done with this by 11:30 (I like to stay on schedules and be punctual). On the next push, I finally gave it my all, and out Graham popped. In one push, his whole body emerged. Hannah said it was like a cork. 7 pounds, 5 ounces. 11:23 p.m., December 15th. Labor was less than 4 hours and I was all done! Such a sense of relief. I felt joy, but had no tears.

Little baby had the cord wrapped around his neck, so the doctor quickly cut it. Behn didn't care about doing that too much anyway. I wanted to hold him, but they put him on the table because he was grunting weirdly from the cord being around his neck. I was kind of worried, but since he was still in the room, I figured he must be ok. The doctor stitched me up (Truly annoying. Hadn't I already been through enough? Took her forever.) Behn enjoyed seeing and touching Graham until I made him come stand next to me during the stitching. Then Hannah went to be near Graham. The finally let me hold him a little bit, and eventually nurse him. His breathing got better as the night went on.

None of us had the clarity of mind to get any of those bloody, naked baby-on-the-table pictures, but that's ok because they're a little gross anyway. We took pictures after he and I were cleaned up. About an hour after Graham came into the world, my mom arrived. And the snow was softly falling. The nurses said that most likely the incoming storm front messed with the barometric pressure in my belly and caused my water to break.

The next morning, I think, was the best day of my life. Even better than my wedding day. We played Christmas hymns, admired the snow, and reveled in our son. We praised God for a safe delivery and a beautiful child. I couldn't get over how we were a family, all three of us, and how I was a mother. There was such a sense of peace that day. Mom and Hannah came back to the hospital and we laughed and ate pizza. Such fun! Yes, I do think that was the best day of my life to date, and I love remembering it.

He's here!

First Family Picture

Father and Son