> Shannon's Story (Due Date: June 2007)

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The evening of June 25, 2007, there was a terrific lightning storm.  The weather had been HOT – high 90s – for a few days, but this evening it cooled off significantly as the lightning and even some hail hit.  I thought this could be the barometric pressure change that I needed to put me over the edge into full-on labor finally (And I say “finally” because, while I wasn’t much past the 36 week mark, I had been contracting since my 19^th week and by the 34^th week, my contractions were so crazy that I was praying Johnny would be fully baked early enough to also be a near-term preemie, like his brothers, so I wouldn’t have to endure pain for much longer.  Making it to June 25^th meant Johnny had now “beaten” all his brothers having stayed in me the longest, gestationally.).  Also, my husband and I separately had thought we’d heard from God that Johnny would be born on July 4^th, so I thought perhaps God would decide to take mercy on us, answering our prayers that Johnny would come earlier than the 4^th, so He was now putting on His own “fireworks show” in honor of the Independence Day idea.  Who knows, but it was cool for us to watch the storm from our bedroom window for a while. Eventually we went to bed. 

At exactly 3:51 am, Tuesday, June 26^th, I woke with a start – I was experiencing a HUGE painful contraction.  “Oh, please let THIS be “it” this time,” I prayed.  When the contraction subsided, I grabbed my water and book and descended the stairs to wait it out and see if things kicked into gear more.  No sooner had I put down my stuff on the couch than I had to rush to the bathroom – diarrhea.  I had had this problem the morning before, along with a slight sore throat, so knew it COULD be a sign of labor getting going, but could also mean I was just sick.  But the contraction at 3:51 had been SO powerful and painful, I was pretty sure something was brewing.  However, nothing else happened for maybe ten minutes or so!  Then, I got another KILLER contraction.  It lasted only about thirty seconds but hurt my cervix big time, so I knew it was doing some “work.”  I decided to wait for another one, reading and praying and AGAIN, probably ANOTHER ten minutes or so elapsed.  When the third contraction hit, it was short, again, but absolute killer – reminded me of transition-type pain....I had to hold on to the side of the couch and close my eyes and really concentrate to get through it.  So this convinced me, despite the length and spacing of my contractions, that this was the real thing.  I climbed the stairs and woke my husband, telling him what had gone on and that I was sure we’d be having a baby soon.  I told him I’d wake him after I got out of the shower, but, of course, he couldn’t go back to sleep then.  I wasn’t feeling any pain in between contractions, actually felt completely normal, which was unusual, after months of a constantly tight “stuck in a Braxton-Hicks” belly, so even though my contractions picked up and started to last up to 45 seconds long, only three minutes apart or so, I was able to shower, finish packing, etc. fine in between them.  My poor husband watching me made him vacillate between wondering if I really WAS experiencing the real thing and thinking we weren’t going to make it to the hospital in time!  Sometime in the midst of everything, my husband woke-up my father-in-law (who had been living with us for the past 4 months, caring for our boys while I was on bedrest) and so I stood through a couple of contractions, talking to him in the kitchen while my husband loaded the car. 

We left the house at around 5 am and drove the short drive (5-7 mins, I think) northward to the hospital.  During the ride, I had NO contractions at all, so my husband got concerned that this wasn’t going to be it after all.  So I told him that we could walk around the parking lot at the hospital for a little while to determine if I was progressing if that would make him more comfortable.  It was kind of funny to walk the parking lot because it was deserted and the wind was really blowing and where in the world do you stroll to in a parking lot anyways?!, so I’m sure, to anyone looking on, we looked pretty funny.  My contractions kicked back in quite quickly once I got on my feet again, so after I had three, during which I really needed to breathe through and squeeze my husband’s hand, we knew it was time to head in.  We got up to Labor and Delivery and got checked into Triage.  I looked at the clock then – 5:27 am.  The nurse hooked me up to the monitor and got my info loaded into her computer.  She asked me what my last dilation report was and I told her yesterday at my doc’s office I had been 3 cm, 75% effaced and -1 station.  She then checked me and said I was at a 5, so I’d be admitted.  Again, my contractions were very intense but I only had three while in Triage from 5:27 until about 5:50 or so.

I got settled into my room and put on the monitor again.  My nurse, Sue, was a hoot.  She said since I was a VBAC she wanted to keep me on the monitor but I said, I am a third-time VBAC, so she really didn’t need to worry about me and I wanted in the shower.  We compromised at twenty minutes on the monitor, then I could do the shower.  Meanwhile, my doc showed up and we chatted for a bit in between my contractions, which, I wasn’t timing but honestly, I don’t think ever came closer than five minutes apart for the rest of my labor and, in between I felt nothing but excited – no pain whatsoever!  I remember during one of my contractions Sue and my doc were talking back and forth about me signing a VBAC form which he didn’t have finalized for the new hospital yet…they joked about how if I refused to sign a c-section form but he didn’t have the VBAC one, did that mean I couldn’t deliver at all?  I came out of the contraction and said something about how then I’d just birth Johnathan through my butt instead and they laughed hysterically at that.  It actually kind of embarrassed me – maybe only a woman in labor would say something so crass!

At about 6 am, Sue said baby and I were looking great on the monitors so my doc said he would break my water to get the show moving more if I wanted and I said that would be great.  He went in to break my water and said, “Uh, you at least have a leak going on because your water is already pretty much broken.  When did your leak start?”  I had no idea.  I said that I had been having a lot of wateryish discharge for a number of weeks which might have picked up slightly the previous night but I honestly didn’t know (Thinking back on it now, I think I did “spring a leak” sometime around 5 the night before as I remember wondering if this was more than just my normal discharge that had been going on throughout the previous weeks, but deciding not to worry about it, knowing that I always go into active labor very soon after my water breaking, so if that was it, my labor would take care of itself).  Well, this really bothered the staff in the room.  I think they were worried about infection, so throughout the rest of my labor, they periodically asked if I had any better idea about when it broke.  Later, after Johnny was born, they insisted that I guess at a time.  I SO much didn’t care right then that I just randomly said, “9 pm,” so I’m sure somewhere in my hospital records it says “PROM – 9 pm.”  Anyways, my doc broke my water the rest of the way and I could tell I really must have been leaking because I barely felt anything come out at all when he broke it further.  Oh well!

So now I was allowed to get into the shower.  I sat on the little shower chair, holding the shower head on my tummy while my husband got me ice chips and figured out how to get my CD playing.  Of course, I summoned him into the bathroom whenever I had a contraction so I could squeeze his hand.  I went through three unbearable contractions in the shower and during the third felt like I had to push, so yelled, “Woa, I have to push!”  Apparently, my husband pulled the emergency cord then, but I never saw him do it, so I was so surprised to come out of the shower and see 9 or 10 hospital staff quickly setting up the room for delivery!  How did they know?  It was so amazing to me how they got everything set-up so fast and just whisked me back onto the bed.  Since my contractions were still so far apart, my doc was in place and again we were all joking, talking, having a good time together, waiting for my next contraction.  The contraction wave started to hit and I told them, “Here it comes!”  Sue told my husband to grab my one leg, she grabbed the other, my doc told me to push, I did and it hurt like insanity, but out came Johnathan’s head.  My husband tells me (because I don’t remember/was too concentrated on getting Johnny out) he cried right away, even before the rest of his body was delivered.  My doc told me to stop, so I did for a few seconds, then he said to push again and the rest of Johnny slid right out.  Next thing I knew I had this squirmy thing laying on my chest and it occurred to me, “Oh, this is my child!” so I finally opened my eyes to take him in.  He was so pink and little and cute, screaming his head off.  My doc showed us how he had a true knot in his cord – wild to see – and offered to me to cut the cord.  I declined it and he passed the scissors to my husband who also said, “No thanks,” but then my doc insisted, so my husband cut it. 

So here are Johnathan's stats:

Born at 36 weeks, 3 days gestation, June 26, 2007 at 6:38 am

7 pounds, 1 ounce

21 ¼ inches long

13 ½ inch head

Apgars 9 and 9

I’d never had a son who’s been given to me so soon after birth – they wiped him down right there on my chest as he wiggled and screamed.  It was pretty cool, but, of course when you’re delivering the placenta, you’re not totally able to concentrate on this warm and fuzzy moment in the greatest of comfort.  But my placenta came out nearly as fast as he did, and everyone cleaned me and the room up quite quickly.  I hadn’t been in a hurry to nurse Johnny but since it seemed like the opportune moment with everyone gone and he was really starting to root around, I just gave it a shot.  He nursed like an old pro immediately, latching right on at his first try at 7 am and not stopping until 7:30!  The nurses came in a couple of times, expecting him to be ready to be cleaned up and weighed, etc. but, no, he was still nursing!  He’s been completely healthy and hearty ever since – a beautiful little blessing from God!