I will put a warning up at the very beginning of this post because the birth of my third child was a bit...messy. For anyone that has never seen an animal or a person giving birth or had children yourself, I would recommend skipping this post.
The anticipated arrival of our baby girl was fast approaching. I drove by myself to pick up my mom and grandmother from the airport 2 days before my due date and didn't have any problems other than the massive rain storm I had to battle to get there. The days leading up to my due date, I felt nothing other than super pregnant and uncomfortable, but no contractions or any signs that I could see of baby coming sooner.
The day before my due date, I took myself, my mom, grandmother, and both of my sons to town to do a little last minute shopping and, as my grandmother said, "to walk that baby out". We did a ton of walking at the store and at home. Still nothing. No contractions, nothing.
We all ate dinner, took showers, and went to bed finally about 10 pm that night. I woke up an hour and a half later with severe stomach pains. My mind thought that it was maybe something I ate earlier so I got up and started walking around. As my sleep fog started to clear and I noticed that the pain had a very distinct pattern, I started to time them. The pain lasted about 30 seconds to a minute and was a minute apart! Oh crap!
All of a sudden the house became very busy. I woke my husband and told him it was time to go. So he instantly jumps out of bed to get dressed. In the time it took me to walk from his side of the bed to mine to throw a few last minute things in the suitcase, my water broke all over the floor. In my previous two pregnancies that usually meant that baby was very close to being born. I screamed for hubby to grab me a towel and managed to waddle to the bathroom to strip my soaked clothes off.
I sat down on the toilet while I took a breather in between contractions and at this time I could hear my mom and grandmother moving around outside the bathroom door asking if I needed anything before we left for the hospital. I asked if they could grab me some new shorts and undies since I forgot to grab some before I waddled into the bathroom. My mom appeared in the bathroom a minute later and said to let her know when I was ready to go to the pickup and she would help me.
Keep in mind this is all happening in the 5-10 minutes since I woke my hubby at about 12:15 am. About this time hubby and my mom were outside finishing loading the stuff up for the trip to the hospital, when all of a sudden I started to scream and felt the most intense pain of my life. Up until that point I had been focusing on my breathing and trying to stay calm and relaxed. I knew the minute that the intense pain started I was going to be having the baby right there in the bathroom! Ironically, I had just read a story about a woman who had given birth in her bathroom unexpectedly. The whole time I was reading I kept thinking that that was not going to happen to me...Karma bit me in the ass on that one!
Blood and fluids went everywhere as my body pushed my baby girl out. I stood up and pulled her out the rest of the way and noticed that her cord was wrapped around her neck. As I started hollering for my mom and grandmother to come help I unwrapped the cord and made sure she had started breathing.
Mom and grandma came rushing into the bathroom when they heard me yelling and were both shocked at what they saw. Me, legs and arms covered in blood holding a crying baby. Grandma instantly leaped into action and grabbed several towels to wrap the baby in while yelling at my mom to help me sit down and scream for my husband. At this point I finally sat down, my mom is helping to hold me up because I am exhausted, and my grandma is sitting on the floor holding the new baby.
Hubby comes in when he hears all of the commotion and turns white as a sheet. We all start telling him to dial 911. He does, but forgets our address and is looking at me to tell him. Me. The one that just had a baby in our bathroom...you gotta be kidding?! He eventually remembers our address and the ambulance is dispatched to our house. Two ambulances showed up and my house became filled with EMT's and a stretcher. Amazingly, our two boys stayed asleep throughout the entire event. Our dog stayed quiet as well, but I think he sensed that we were ok and the men in the house were there to help, not hurt us. Even with all of the screaming and commotion from the EMT's in the hall.
At this point, I have calmed down, but I'm shaking like a leaf from hormones and shock. I was able to walk to the stretcher and lay down without help and hold my baby without feeling like I was going to drop her.
The EMT's were all super nice and were surprised that I was so calm and wasn't an hysterical mess about having just had a baby in the bathroom. I told them that I didn't see any reason to get upset as long as the baby was healthy and I was in good shape, might as well enjoy the experience! The main EMT told me they would probably use my story in training to tell other EMT's that they will probably never get a calm new mother like me. That just made me giggle. They gave the baby her first stuffed toy. A little beanie baby raccoon. And entertained me during the trip by telling me about some of the more wild birth calls they had been on. Saying mine ranked in the top 5 for most unusual..haha, thanks guys.
It was my first time riding in an ambulance, and I hope the last, but it wasn't a horrible experience for me. The EMT's treated me well and we were all making jokes and laughing by the time we made it to the hospital 20 minutes later. The hospital staff was all out of sorts when we arrived because I had already had the baby and so it had messed up their routine with labor and delivery that they are normally used to.
The nursing staff got both me and the baby checked in and made sure we were healthy and finally got all of the baby's measurements and stats while I had to tell the story of her birth to every single nurse that came in asking about the unusual patient. When the on-call doctor arrived, she was impressed with how well both myself and the baby were doing considering all that had happened. The doctor pretty much said that if it wasn't for the rule about keeping the baby 24 hour minimum, she wouldn't have any problems releasing us both later that day, but unfortunately we had to stay an extra day.
Once I was checked by the doctor and things settled down in the room, I was finally able to take a shower. When I stepped into the shower and turned on the spray, it looked like a scene from Psycho. So. Much. Blood! I had not realized how blood covered I was until I went to wash it off. No wonder my mom and grandma looked at me like I was dying for a second when they came in the bathroom.
Although how she was born was not what I had planned AT ALL, I am glad it wasn't a horrible experience and that everyone was healthy. My mom and grandma were minor celebrities when they went home back to Oregon, they both thought it was funny and exciting. Even now, when I talk to them on the phone they both have a hard time believing that the baby was born in the bathroom.
All I know, is this kid will never live down her wild birth! Anytime she gets out of hand as a teenager, I'm going to use this story on her...I hope it works anyways! I'm glad we are done having kids, although I will miss the newborn babies in the house I will not miss being pregnant or labor. I can only imagine how fast a fourth labor would be, especially if this one only lasted about an hour! I would have to camp outside of the hospital!
If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the story and weren't too grossed out.
No comments:
Post a Comment