And then there were 4....

SHE IS HERE! and we are now a family of FOUR!

Before I share the dramatic birth story I have to share my total amazement and joy that I am a mother of two! It is the best experience and better than I ever experienced. It is so easy (I might be jinxing myself now) and even the hard, stressful parts are a blessing for me.

And now for the story...

Last Monday (December 27th) I had an OB appointment and I was hoping she would just send me right over to the hospital and kick labor into full gear. WRONG! I was dilated to 2cm and she said, "It shouldn't be too long now and I think you will be surprised at how well you will go into labor." I left and immediately contractions were regular and hurt. We decided around 6:30pm to head to the hospital. After 3 hours there I only dilated to 3cm. So I was making some progress but not enough for them to keep me. My gut was saying, "NO- just keep me and put me into labor....something isn't right." I should have listened to my gut and spoke up a bit more.

I had tried everything all week- massage, pressure points, walking, stairs, tea....and Friday night I decided to take my sister's advice (from her boss- who is a single guy with no kids) to eat Chinese food.

Saturday morning at 1am Brandon woke up and could not fall back to sleep. I let him climb into bed with me and we watched Toy Story for an hour or so. The whole night seemed off and I was having pretty strong contractions that were getting hard to breath through but nothing consistant and regular. After finally getting him back to sleep I tried to sleep myself but the contractions kept waking me up. At 5 and 6am they were still painful but really irregular and not lasting long.

Brandon woke for the day at 8:30am and I asked Rob to take him so I could try and sleep a little longer. I tried for 10 minutes when the contractions were still strong and coming more frequent. I decided around 8:45am to hop in the bath and see if that would help. In no way did I think I was in labor. The contractions were 15-20 seconds long (hurting and strong) and were about 3 to 4 minutes apart. The bath really helped even though I started moaning through contractions at the end. I sat in the tub for about 15 minutes and then had to pee (like I do every 5 minutes). So I got out and immediately had a strong contraction. I immediately called Rob into the bathroom and said he needs to get Brandon out of the house. He called my Mom and Tim while I was still in the bathroom struggling. I knew it was time to head to the hospital and was working on finding some strength to get dressed and ready to head out. About the 3rd or 4th contraction out of the tub I started feeling faint. I grew pure white and started sweating from head to toe and dropped to my hands and knees. I was able to breathe through that one bad contraction (and a little scream). Brandon was still in the house and he was crying knowing Mommy wasn't feeling well and he was scared. I kept trying to tell him that Mommy just has an owie and that I would be fine.

While on my hands and knees I just wanted to catch my breath to get up and get dressed. Rob was grabbing me clothes. The next contraction my water broke and I felt the immediate urge to push. I knew then I wasn't going to make it to the hospital. Rob tried to help me up but I knew I was going to pass out and wasn't able to move. I laid on my side to get me through the contractions and asked Rob to call an ambulance. He had a hard time getting dispatch to understand this wasn't just the start of labor but her head was crowning and ready to come out. I laid on the floor through 3 bad contractions. I pushed a little on one contraction and felt her head half way out. It was then I knew I couldn't push and had to breath (and a few more screams) through the contractions.

The police arrived first and asked if they could do anything for me. I was never able to get dressed after the tub so I asked them to get me a blanket. The officer got the blanket from the living room and pillow for my head. They had a look on their face like, "Oh shit." Right after that the paramedics arrived. I was in the middle of a contraction when I heard it was a female paramedic. I saw her and felt immediate relief and lots of comfort. She stepped over me and got me through another contraction and noticed I was doing okay and not fully crowned. I was starting again to pass out when she had to slap my face a bit and tell me to just stay with her. She held my head in her hands through one more contraction and then helped me get to my feet. I had her grab my robe and Rob grabbed me slippers. I had to walk down the stairs myself (we have a split level so they couldn't get the gurney up the stairs). I got out the door, sat on the gurney and had another contraction. They were all worried about me freezing and being cold but the fresh air felt good. Our paramedic (didn't get her name- I think Jen) helped me through that contraction as I just wanted to push. She got firm with me because I couldn't have a baby on my front door step in the cold. They finally got me laying down and into the ambulance. There were 2 paramedics- one driving and Jen helping me. The police officer asked if he should ride with and Jen said 'No, I think I'm good' when another one hit and she saw Abby's head half way out. She asked me not to push and get through that last contraction so she could get ready for the next one and have the baby. She yelled for the police officer to come back in the ambulance and told her partner to just 'go and hurry'. Rob was able to send me off with a kiss while on the front door step and was getting in the car to follow us to the hospital.

Another contraction hit and I tried so hard NOT to push but she slid right out. We had just left our driveway to start to the hospital.

She put Abby on my chest and worked on getting the cord cut (she didn't even have a scissors but used a razor blade type tool instead). I had flipped Abby over and was drying her off a bit when I asked Jen if she was okay. She took Abby from me in a towel and got her to coo a bit- but never really cried. She had the officer open and OB kit, got a hat on her, and started the oxygen for Abby. I said I was totally fine and just wanted to make sure Abby was fine. I had asked the time because I had no clue what time it was. Jen said she was probably born at 9:41am.

We were now pulling into the hospital and she handed Abby back to me with the oxygen and I had to cover her up the best I could since we had to go outside a bit to get into the hospital. The second the ambulance door flew open there were 10 people there waiting for us and asking a ton of questions. We got a few feet inside the door when the nurse stopped us so she could shake Abby a bit and get her breathing a bit more. She was still really purple and we needed to take some time to get her breathing. She did a little scream and I kept the oxygen by her until we got to our delivery room.

They took Abby immediately to get her breathing and taken care of. They got me on the bed, changed out of my robe (which was destroyed) and all the sheets/towels/blankets/pads and got me into a gown and into position to deliver the placenta. They were waiting for any OB since my OB was still 20 minutes out. The room was filled with nurses and assistants helping me and Abby. I asked the nurse if I could just push once and get the placenta out. It took one little push and it was out and I felt so much better.

By that time Abby was fine and they handed her back to me. That was when Rob got there. He walked in the room and said, "NO WAY!" He still says he knew I had delivered in the ambulance. I apologized and told him I tried not to push and wait but I just couldn't. He knew it wasn't in my control and that she wanted to come. Rob took Abby right away to meet her while I was being taken care of.

Jen came back in and talked with me for a bit. I had to sign some ambulance paper work and we took a photo with her. I thanked her a ton!!!! She was wonderful and I couldn't have done it without her. It turns out this was her second delivery (she delivered her nephew- but that was planned) and it was the police officers first delivery. I apologized if I kicked her or anything and for the mess in the ambulance. But she said I was actually pretty calm and only heard one little scream from me.


The on-call OB finally made it in a few minutes later and made sure I was fine. I needed one litle stitch and we were done. I was able to nurse her right away. She did have to go to the lab/nursery for blood tests since they weren't able to use the umbilical cord blood to test her blood type. She was gone for over an hour when the nurse told me it was because the pediatrictian was looking at her too. There was some meconium in the fluid so they needed to make sure she was fine.

The pediatrician came to see us and asked, "So, what happened this morning?" I shared the story and she said, "Well....I'm very surprised....she is totally fine and healthy." Other than a little purple at birth she had no other complications and was totally healthy. She was a bit gaggy the first 12 hours after her birth because she was born so fast and swallowed some of that fluid and it was gaggy for her. The blue bulb syringe became our best friend at that point!

Finally at about 11am I was able to shower. I handed Abby off and jumped right in the shower and got cleaned up. The nurses stayed in the room with me thinking I was going to feel faint or have extreme pain but I was just so happy to be up and showering I felt fine. Everyone was surprised I was up and about and not taking any pain meds. I was also surprised at how well I was feeling. I didn't just feel like I delivered a baby in the back of an ambulance.

We just spent the rest of the afternoon together as a family. She got her bath and some visitors came. We were able to be discharged exactly 25 hours after she was born!

We were known in the L & D department as the 'ambulance baby'. I guess the word spreads fast around there.

We are now home, settled in, healthy, happy, content and still a bit in shock at how the whole thing went down in about an hour- so fast!