Birth Story

Presenting Aaron David Ashman, born July 10th at 2:28AM. He was 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 1/4" long.

We are in love. I thought it would be so awesome if he was born with dark hair so we could have a blonde, a redhead, and a dark haired baby, just to make people scratch their heads. I had no idea I'd get my wish. I just adore my not so little family. :)

We've spent the last few days just soaking him in, recuperating, and getting used to being a family of five!

So here's the story for interested parties out there. Or at least the highlights. I'll try to rein in my verbosity. :)

Aaron's arrival felt super drawn out. I started having contractions two and a half weeks prior to his due date, which was a new experience for me and threw off my ability to patiently wait for his arrival. It made me really antsy. I'd have contractions for several hours, usually in the evenings, and then they would peter out. This last Tuesday I started having contractions at 9AM and they lasted all day and into the night. I even had some after I had gone to bed that I felt when I woke up a few times, but they all were gone by the morning. It was really mentally taxing. Bill stayed home with me Wednesday because I couldn't handle the thought of another day like that with just me and the two kids.

So Wednesday we just relaxed throughout the day. Early in the afternoon I decided to make a trip to the store to pick up some fabric for a project I'm going to make for Genevieve's birthday. After I got back at about 3:30 the real contractions started, but somewhat far apart, maybe 6-7 minutes. They crept slowly closer together and I decided this was finally the real deal, as they felt as strong as the ones I'd had with Genevieve throughout her labor. I made it my goal to get the kids in bed and then we could head to the hospital. So that's what we did. A friend came over to spend the night and we headed out.

My biggest concern for this labor has been how far we are from the hospital and the logistics of making sure the kids were taken care of and I got there in time. It was 45 minutes away from our house. So this timing felt absolutely perfect. We got to the hospital and got checked in and my midwife checked my progress only to find that I was dilated to a 2. I was so disappointed! We had aired on the side of caution a bit, but holy cow, I'd had contractions for two weeks, plus 13 hours the day before, plus all afternoon and evening by this point, and that's all it had done?! Not fun. We spent the next two hours walking the hospital halls, having tons and tons of contractions, hoping they were doing something. At 11:30PM I got checked again and had maybe, maybe dilated to a 3. My water hadn't broken, nothing else had happened, so they had to send me on my way. The midwife commented she was so sorry, but she promised I wasn't going to be pregnant forever. I would definitely have the baby in the next day or two. Nice words, but not helpful at that point.

We headed out to the car and I had to stop a bunch of times while a contraction happened. These were not easy ones! I had to totally focus on them. It was so discouraging that for how intense they were they didn't seem to be creating progress. We headed back towards home and stopped by Burger King ot get a conciliatory ice cream. The entire drive home I had contractions every five minutes on the dot. They were crazy intense, particularly since I was sitting down. We got all the way home and decided to camp out on the couch and hope things intensified so we could head back. I fell asleep for maybe a few minutes and nearly leaped off the couch and out of my skin a few minutes later as a contraction on a whole new level hit me. My whole body started shaking and I had to vocalize to get through it. I had another one or two of these and Bill said he thought we really needed to head back. I was hesitant because of the lack of progress, but the next one convinced me and he called the midwife. She was totally skeptical but was kind of like, it's your gas, so off we went.

This trip was completely different. I kneeled on the floor instead of sitting and barely held it together and contractions came hard and fast, every few minutes and some even closer together. They would come really hard or one would come small and then stop for a second and then ramp up to a higher level. IT.WAS.CRAZY! I felt like I needed to push, so I did that a little, enough to relieve some pressure, and that helped. I tried not to wonder too much what that meant about my progress. It was one of those crazy, late night drives you see on TV shows. Bill drove like 85 mph the whole way with his flashers on and running the occasional red light. We made it to the hospital in record time.

Walking in was a trick. I ended up hanging onto Bill's neck, quietly vocalizing through each contraction. People kept asking if I needed a wheelchair. There was no way I was sitting down. It was such a long walk. We finally made it back to the 6th floor maternity ward and the same people greeted us. They could tell this was a whole new ballgame. I went into the triage room and the nurse wanted to monitor the baby. Heck no! That required me laying back. There was no way. As I had these contractions she totally understood and jumped to get the midwife there ASAP. She couldn't have taken very long but the contractions were coming so fast that the nurse ended up checking me in between two and found I was a 7 or 8 dilated. Yes! The midwife got there then and approved us moving to a delivery room. I remember a stray comment at this point that I could deliver in that room if need be. lol. Things were moving fast.

We made it to the delivery room and they started filling up the birthing tub. I had intended to do a water birth. There was no time though. My memory gets a little blurred here. I remember moments more than the entire thing. There were a bunch of nurses around calling encouragements, telling me I was doing great. Bill was at my shoulder telling me different parts of my body to relax. I was laying on my side with my arms wrapped around the rail. I don't remember how I got in that position, but it worked. I was having contractions nearly on top of each other and just going with the flow of it. I was listening to my body, not really getting instructions from anyone. I felt a strong need to push, which I did, but discovered it didn't feel good to push with all I could, but just some. It relieved some of the pressure. I was vocalizing like crazy, practically shouting, just in a deep tone. It was awesome. lol. It's kind of hilarious how much that helps. My water broke and I instantly felt Aaron right there and couldn't do anything but push. When they say it's an irresistible sensation, they're not joking. This time I did push with all my might. I wasn't feeling contractions anymore, just this undeniable need to push. I stopped for a second to breathe and the nurses all jumped in to help hold my legs so there would be room for him to come, as I was still on my side and definitely not going anywhere. I wound up to push again after I had breathed and started only to feel a huge whoosh a second later and suddenly there was a baby on  my stomach and I was totally disoriented. Again, kind of an amusing moment. I felt like it couldn't possibly be over. I was like, "Wait, he's here? I'm done? That can't be true!" But it was and I was done and I had only torn a small first degree tear, so I already feel so much better than the last time around.

And just like every birth story, the whole thing was amazing, intense, nearly out of control, surreal, and the ending the sweetest thing ever. Aaron is the most mellow baby. He loves to sleep, eat, and just gaze around. He hardly cries and at this point is just super easy. We'll see what time brings, but for now he's a little angel and I can't imagine not having him.