Julia's Birth Story: Part 3 (Jai's Version)

For weeks I'd been frustrated that nothing was happening. I came home from work on Monday, the 8th and Tara looked a bit more tired than usual. She expressed some concerns over the contractions but I didn't think much about it since we'd been dealing with Braxton-Hicks for awhile. I asked her if they were more intense, she said not really. I asked if they were more frequent, she said she hadn't noticed. I pulled out one of my dad-to-be books and asked Tara to time them...the book said something about 5 min apart. She said they weren't and we continued our night. I fixed dinner, we watched a little TV and Tara decided to go to bed.

An hour or so later she says she can't go to sleep b/c of the contractions which were only a minute or so more frequent than before. She told me I needed to come to bed earlier than my usual time b/c who knows how much longer I would be able to get sleep, I didn't listen. I crawled in bed about 12midnight and we spooned and I rubbed her back as I dozed off. Within 15 minutes, Tara exclaims something. I ask and she says her water just broke. She carefully walked to the bathroom, I got the phone, Tara gave me the midwife office phone. Soyehl was on call and asked me what color was the fluid; just as I asked Tara she says "Oh, gross, that's nasty." I tell Soheyl that its greenish and tells me that is meconium and we should go straight to the hospital. She doesn't explain, I don't ask. I call Bonnie and tell her what's going on.

We were both hurried but I felt surprisingly calm and focused. Nervously, I let Johnders out. It was the middle of the night and I didn't know when we would be back. He thought it was a game. I got my bag, filled with a change of clothes, a book, Tara's laptop, my iPod, a comb and toothbrush. As we left, it was obvious that Johnders knew something was going on.

As I think about it, I knew something was going on too, it had only been a day or two earlier that I sent an email to my desk replacements to make sure I had proper contact info. It had been only a day or two that I filled a giant plastic bag with Johnders' food. It was earlier in the evening that I first asked Tara which route she preferred to get to the hospital. I asked b/c invariably I take the highway and Tara asks why I went that way and I didn't want to be on the way to the hospital and have THAT conversation.

We calmly make it to the hospital. Along the way Tara had couple of contractions but she was far more worried about getting messy...amniotic fluid continued to flow...more than the pain she was feeling. Her calmness allowed me to be calm. We made it to Vandy's Emergency Room and the valet was about to take the car, I had the bags and the car wouldn't start. I went back to see what was going on - the battery had died. Let me repeat.

We ARRIVED at Vanderbilt Hospital and the battery died.

The universe conspiring to move my life forward (I'll tell you about the night my dad died at some other point). Tara proceeded to check in and have contractions but finally the valet said he would figure it out, which he did and I finally got inside with Tara.

Julia's Birth Story: Part 1 (at home)

Apparently I was in labor all day Monday, December 8 ... didn't realize it for sure until quite late that evening. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for weeks and on Monday, the contractions seemed a little different, stronger, slightly more intense, but not anything I associated with labor "pains." They were uncomfortable, but not frequent, not lasting long, not what I expected. I'm at work, going about my daily routine, I think I might have seen a few students which I hope I didn't because would you want to talk with your school counselor while she's in labor? : ) Actually I joked with Niki that I wondered what if they were real labor contractions and I was in the bathroom and had the baby. You know like in a cheesy after school special or those random stories you hear about 'teenager has baby at prom.' I call out "hello, anyone there? " while I hold a slimy, newly born baby in the middle school's girl's bathroom. How possibly true this story could be you will learn as I tell the rest of this story.

So after work I decide to go to Target, I don't know why, just wanted to get a few items, nothing that crucial. However, I had a To Do list and wanted to cross these items off of it. So I'm walking to the check-out and I have the most intense back ache thing and thought I would pass out. Still I pay for my stuff, walk to my car, get in, drive home, still having the same kind of contractions (not like the one in Target) and I'm keeping track of the frequency (it hadn't been more than 3 in an hour and they were 15-20 minutes apart). However, now I'm wondering if these might be something real. I get home, decide not to go to water aerobics even though it's Monday which is my routine, head to the couch for my TV fix and knit (I have a hat I'm trying to finish before Dec. 20), still keeping track of frequency. Jai gets home around 6pm and I say "hey, don't want to worry you, not sure what's going on, but I'm having these contractions that seem different." Jai handled this info quite well, said something like "OK, so what do we do?" I said I don't know, just see what happens. He goes and gets one of our many pregnancy books : ) and reads some details and we decide to keep a true record, not just in my head, so I start noting the time and length of the contractions.

Again they were still 12-20 minutes apart and less than 40 seconds ... so we ate dinner, watched TV, I kept knitting. Around 9pm I couldn't take the stress anymore and went to take my evening shower. When I got into bed close to 10pm, I'm hoping to rest. I don't get a chance because an intense contraction happens and they continue to every 6-7 minutes. Now I'm thinking this is real, oh, my goodness, this is real. I tell Jai "hey, I need you to do some laundry, there's some stuff in the basement to wash, also clean my bathroom (he hadn't had a chance to do it on Sunday), make sure the dishes are done in the kitchen. You know all of those nesting activities people talk about, but I'm not able to do though I'm constantly getting up to go to the bathroom since I cannot relax. I also tell Jai he might want to come to bed so one of gets some sleep because this is REAL.

At about midnight Jai comes to bed and rubs my back which felt like heaven. Around 12:30am (Dec. 9) I feel this gush of fluid and I roll out of bed SO QUICK and fast walk to the bathroom where I discover that indeed that is my water breaking. I tell Jai and jump in the shower to wash off this slime while enduring another contraction. Jai calls our midwifery center and discovers that Soheyl is the midwife on call. YEAH!

I get out of shower, go to the bathroom again and discover more nastiness - green/brown version - which Jai reports to Soheyl who says that is meconium and she asks how far are we from the hospital (no more than 20 minutes) and instructs us to head there now. That's what I thought we were planning to do anyway, but I couldn't remember what the deal is with meconium (possibly some kind of distress for the baby). Luckily my hospital bag is packed (you know me, packed for weeks) so we get dressed, Jai puts Johnders in back yard (who knows what he's thinking, he never goes to the yard at 1am!), starts the car and puts our bags in the back while I make my way as fast as possible out the door.

We drive to the hospital which is strange because there are hardly any cars on the streets. Every bump in the road is annoying and the contractions are happening, but I have no idea of the frequency anymore. I forgot to track them. Jai says I barely grimaced or moaned, but they sucked!

TO BE CONTINUED ... "Julia's Birth Story: Part 1 (at the hospital)"