When I say he didn't wait around, I don't just mean coming a couple days early. This birth was the complete opposite of Henry's labor and delivery. The last week or two I have been practicing a lot of those "old wives tales" about encouraging baby to make an appearance - drinking what feels like gallons of raspberry leaf tea, eating all the pineapples in England, long hilly walks/hikes...and other things... I think what really did it was going for a 5 mile long hike the weekend before he was born - and having Henry in the baby carrier on my back for what felt like the LONGEST uphill hike in the world, basically conquered the equivalent of Mount Everest in Kent. Just kidding, but that's what it felt like.
On Tuesday (August 21st) I started getting mild cramps around 10:45am and realised that something was happening. But they weren't bad at all, I was still putting away laundry and doing the dishes etc. I called Jake and gave him the heads up, but I knew that he had a meeting that morning and told him there was no rush (Henry took 28 hours from start to finish - silly me for thinking they would be similar). About 11am I took a Tylenol/Paracetamol in anticipation, but wasn't really having massive pains - took a shower and started throwing all the last minute items into the hospital bag.
My sister-in-law was supposed to come over for lunch, and I told her she and my niece were totally fine to come over. Jake decided to leave work early and catch the noon train home from London. I was easily chatting to him on the phone the whole time. I was sat chatting to Jake and my Sis-in-law and timing my contractions. At 12:45pm I decided to give the hospital a call. I wasn't in any pain really, and my contractions were a bit sporadic. The midwife didn't seem too concerned and nonchalantly advised I come in so they could see how things were progressing. She didn't really have any urgency because I was speaking through my contractions just fine.
Jake pulled up in front of our house around 1pm - and thats when things started to get a bit more painful and I knew that we probably should head out. Jake and Esther swapped Henry's carseat from our car so that Esther could pick him up from daycare if we were still at the hospital. We left our house at 1:15pm and I remember saying "This isn't good." Jake reassured me and told me to just get in the car, breathe, relax, and that we were on our way.
Literally 2 minutes after pulling around the corner my waters broke...like big movie style break, "leaving no doubt in your mind that your waters have broken" kind of break. And I instantly had the need to push. AHH!! Jake kept telling me to calm down and just not push (hahahaha - Thanks for that). He reminded me that it was a 25 minute drive to the hospital and just to hold on.
The urge to push kept getting more and more intense - and like you can really NOT push...come on. I was getting more and more panicked. I look over at Jake and worriedly tell him "I can feel his head!!" He asks me "What do you mean?!" ...not sure I could put that any more plainly!! I just remember yelling "No! No! No!" and trying to clamp my legs together as tightly as I could - I was not having this little boy in the car!!
We called the hospital when we were 10 minutes away so they could instruct us where to go and so that I could let them know what was happening - that this little boy was crowning and that they need to be ready for us. They actually told us to pull over on the side of the road and call an ambulance. There was noooo way that we were stopping.
We pull into the hospital at 1:40pm and Jake pulls the car around to the Women & Children's Emergency Entrance. Waiting on the curb is a group of 5 midwives with a wheelchair. They tell me "We can either do this here or try to make it inside." I tell her there is no way I'm having a parking lot baby! Between contractions they throw me into the wheelchair and off we go - Jake parks the car in a parking spot about 20 feet away and I can see him grabbing the bags out of the back and hurting after us. We beat him to the elevator and I am hurried into a delivery room.
The lead midwife asks if I want gas and air and I tell her I most definitely want it. As they are getting it hooked up, I pull off my leggings, sit on the delivery bed and tell her I need to push - she says go for it. One push and out comes the most impatient little baby boy, who is promptly plopped onto my chest.
Jake walks in 15 seconds.
And that's it. That's the crazy story of how, after like 30 minutes of active labor and no drugs, #2 was almost born in the car/parking lot. And how his Dad missed him being born!
A funny side note - After that car ride, Jake's Apple Watch actually sent him a notification telling him that his heart rate was unusually high and to try some breathing exercises! hahaha
Just to really drive him how crazy this day was, here is a look at that timeline again:
10:45am - light contractions start - but no biggie.
12:00pm - Jake decided to hop on a train home.
12:45pm - The hospital tells us to pop over and they will check on progress
1:00pm - Jake gets home and we swap out carseats
1:15pm - We are headed off to the hospital when stuff starts to get crazy.
1:40pm - We pull up to the hospital curb.
1:43pm - Little Boy is born
1:43.15pm - Jake walks into the delivery room.
6:45pm - We are released and head home
7:15pm - 6 hours after leaving for the hospital, we are home.
No comments