Birth Stories - Isaac

Since I've got birth on the mind, I've been reminiscing over the other boy's births. I love hearing other women's birth stories, so I thought I'd share mine! Here's Isaac's:

My due date with Isaac was Dec 25, 2000. On December 17 (a Sunday), Michael and I enjoyed a movie date together, and throughout the day, I was feeling very crampy. Later that evening, I noticed some "signs" (that, for those who have given birth, may clue into, but I don't want to be too detailed for the sake of any men or squeamish ladies who read!) that told me things might be happening.

I woke up around 1 am Monday morning with a definite contraction pattern, but after timing them for about an hour, they were still 12-18 minutes apart, so I went back to bed. A little after 5 am, Michael got up to get ready for work, and I told him that I thought I was in labor. The poor man panicked! lol! He spent the next hour straying no farther than 2 feet from me (even waiting outside the bathroom door!) and asking if we should call the Dr, if I needed anything, so on and so on. Looking back, its adorably sweet, but at the time I found it a tad bit frustrating! Contractions were still very irregular, and not too painful, so I really had doubts that it was urgent. So after a while, we agreed that he should just head into work and I would call if or when things progressed.

I spent the next few hours doing laundry, tidying up, and then lying on the couch as contractions grew in intensity. Even though they were becoming more painful, they were still irregular, some coming every 5 minutes, some every 15, so I wasn't sure what to do. Around 12:30 in the afternoon, Michael called to say he was going out to lunch with some coworkers, but because we didn't have cell phones back then, he wanted to double check on me before he left. I told him my status and we thought it would be fine for him to go. Within minutes of hanging up the phone with him, however, I threw up! I knew that meant something (although I didn't know exactly what - I do now! ;-) ) so I called him back and asked him to come home.

When he arrived home, I hopped in the shower while he called the OB. When he told them how often the contractions were, they agreed that it was probably a bit early to come in, but since I had been having them for over 12 hours, I could at least come in for a check. So off we went! I told him that if I was only at 3 cm I might actually break down and ask for pain relief (up until then, I had been determined to go naturally) - I was in a lot of pain. We got to the Dr, and he again voiced the suspicion that, since I was a first time laborer, and the contractions, while feeling painful, were most likely too irregular to be doing much and I could probably plan on going home for a little while longer. Imagine ALL of our surprise when he checked me and said "Well... I don't think you'll be going home - you're at 9 cm!" :-o LOL! So they plopped me in a wheel chair and took me straight to Labor and Delivery.

I was admitted a little after 3 pm. Then a slight dilemma began - my water had not yet broken, and I wasn't dilating any further without my water breaking... and the OB said not to break my water until he was done with office calls! Argh! So I stayed, contracting, at 9 cm for 2 more hours - ouch! By that point, though, I was learning how to deal with the pain pretty well, so I didn't ask for any pain relief. A little after 5, the OB arrived, broke my water, and I immediately made it to 10 cm. The pushing began, and a little less than an hour later... Isaac entered the world!

What an amazing moment that was. We all cried, lots of pictures were taken, and he was taken to the warmer for all of the checks and baths and whatnot they do. While he was being attended to, they brought me a sandwich, and I clearly remember sitting there, eating my sandwich, and thinking "WHAT did we do?! We actually had a BABY?! What were we thinking?!" lol! I was a little overwhelmed to say the least ;-)

But God is faithful, and with his blessings come His guidance, strength, and wisdom! And He certainly has provided all of those and more through our child raising adventures :-)