Tuesday, August 18, 2015

James' Birthing Story: According to Ben



We went to Cafe Rio for dinner. Breanne was at her parent's house and asked if I wanted to go to dinner with them. I said sure, I will meet you there. I texted her as I left work and said I will meet you there. Upon arrival to the restaurant I waited for Breanne for about 15 min before calling here asking where she was. She said "We are 'here' where are you?" "I am 'here' where are you?" turns out "here" for Breanne was her house waiting for me and "here" for me was the restaurant. 

After we ate Breanne said that her stomach was hurting a little bit and that her pants were too tight. She said she was going to loosen her pants driving home. 

When we got home and got Elizabeth in bed, Breanne's stomach was getting a little worse. My sister Rachel was over to see how things were going and we told her no baby tonight. The whole time Rachel was here Breanne's stomach was hurting and she was just biting her tongue. I of course was completely oblivious to Breanne as she told me she was doing okay, but when Rachel left, she said she was going to get into the tub to see if it helped. The pain was in her lower stomach, and she said it didn't feel like contractions. 

After the tub it seemed to still be there so we looked up the contractions online and it seemed to be false labor.  As the loving husband I am, I suggested we go on a walk to see if walking helped. Exercise would help prove if it was false labor or real labor. About 20 steps into the walk Breanne said that the pain was also in her back and this was real labor. So, instead of the full half mile walk around the park, we did the quarter mile loop and called Rachel back to sleep over. During the walk Breanne had to stop frequently as she was having strong contractions. We started to timing them, and when we got home they were 2:30 ish apart.

On the drive there I hopped to run some red lights and speed to the hospital, but the drive was uneventful. While Breanne is in labor, she gets really quiet but doesn't want everyone else to get quiet; so my small talk skills are put to the test. I began talking about whatever came to mind. Breanne seemed to think that my skills need a little work as she thought my random topics were not genuine...When we got to the Hospital Breanne seemed apologetic that we were there and wasn't sure we really needed to come in. It seemed that she was worried they were just going to send us home. After the doctor checked her and informed us that she was 80% effaced and dilated to 4 centimeters, Breanne's worries were discarded. It was finally time for the baby to come. I called Margaret to have her come to the hospital. She said she was on her way. 

One of the things we learned with Elizabeth's deliver is that Breanne's body moves quickly once she gets to 4 centimeters. We entered the hospital at approximately 10:30, got to our room at 11:00ish. Breanne needed to be on fluids for about 20 min after which we got into the shower. Water therapy was really helpful to Breanne with Elizabeth and it was again this time. I told her that we needed to have the Nurse check her again soon so that she knew how close she was for delivery. With Elizabeth, Breanne was already in Transition when she decided to have an epidural. This time as she got out of the shower and we quickly called the nurse, Breanne had past transition and was starting to push. The Nurse came into the room and said "We have a head!!" she called the other nurses while telling Breanne not to push and yelled at them that we need the doctor and everything now! In about 1:30 seconds there were 4 nurses and a doctor rushing around the room all shocked that the baby was ready to come. Breanne pushed twice and there he was! He was beautiful and perfect in every way. They of course made me cut the cord which is a tradition as unique as it is inclusive. 

James and Josh popped into my head for names. I subsequently found out that both those names came to Margaret too. I had given her such grief about the name James before since I had a dream we named our son James and she did too about the same time, that she didn't say anything until we asked her. Breanne was not a fan of the name Josh, so we decided to stay with the original plan from my  (and Margaret's) dream and named him James. 

We of course were teased by all the nurses that we came really late to the hospital and that I should study up for our next child so I can deliver in the car, an experience I will not have the pleasure of doing. It was kind of funny that all the nurses said the same thing about the next child. It seems a little odd thinking about it as we live in an area that people don't normally have multiple children. I got a lot of comments at work, like "one for each of you, now you're done" and "a boy and a girl, got your replacements covered." 

I realized that when Breanne reaches her breaking point in labor it's not because she can't continue, it's because she has reached the point of delivery.

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