I spent the morning helping our administrative assistant transfer files to the back room, so I could walk the halls. We both laughed often as we knew things were progressing by my rapid increase of moments. I’d have to stop to breathe through contractions. So when I headed to the doctor and they said it could be a week or even two until delivery given my erratic contractions, despite having lost my mucus plug three days prior, it was defeating and confusing. I knew my body, but I was getting conflicting messages. Who should I trust?
Honoring my instinct, I went home for a lunch-hour nap before returning to work. By 5:00 p.m., contractions were consistently every six minutes apart. Waiting for the 5-1-1 formula (contractions every five minutes that last for one minute over the course of one hour), I urged my husband to go ahead and help our friends load their moving van, assuring him we had time. It’d only be two hours, I told myself.
I decided to bathe our 18-month-old daughter and quickly realized speaking and laughing with her was becoming more and more challenging. A bit panicked, I decided to call my husband, only to discover that with no cell phone and our friend’s already canceling their phone line (it hadn’t occurred to me before then), he was unreachable. No worries, I thought. I called my parents to come pick up our daughter, so we’d be ready when my husband did get home. They’d be to our house in an hour. Needless to say when both cars pulled in the driveway that I had been pacing for an hour, I was so overjoyed and relieved I would have jumped for joy if that had been possible.
After quick good-byes, we whisked away to the hospital. I was so grateful to have my husband by my side and not be alone on this journey. As we approached the hospital at 9:30 p.m., we were met with locked doors. What?! Oh yeah, after hours we were to use the ER entrance. At this point contractions were every three minutes apart and one minute in duration. When we got to the delivery floor, they did the prescreen and said contractions were erratic and wanted to send me home. I had to consciously choose calmness.
Logically I know the nurses see hundreds of mothers and probably do see many moms with whom it’s not time yet. I knew my body though; today was the day. Emotionally, it was incredibly challenging to convince others what I knew my body was clearly telling me. They allowed me to stay, and after getting situated and two hours on a birthing ball, it was time to push.
I was proud of myself this delivery for not having an epidural, but my inability to relax and trust myself and others made the pain excruciating. As we prepared to push, we realized little guy had moved into an unhelpful position and needed to be turned. So very calmly, up on all fours, the doctor worked to adjust our little one for a smooth, grand entrance.
It was successful and after three minutes of pushing at 1:15 a.m., Kya Landon arrived. We were so eager to hold him and shower him with love, even his cute little cone head. He was here, safe and healthy! We were together! Such aliveness filled the room. Today had been the day. Happy Birthday, buddy!
Read Angela’s first birth story “Birth #1: Trusting in an Induction,” her third story “Birth #3: Having Learned a Few Things,” her fourth story “Birth #4: A New Way of Thinking” and “Birth #5: Finding Faith Through Adoption.”
Would you like to share your birth story? We’d love to hear it! Take a look at our “What’s Your Story?” post to find inspiration and direction.
Angela is a woman passionate about connected, committed families and encouraging others as a licensed counselor to intentionally choose ways to love well in marriage and parenting. She is grateful to have walked alongside her husband for 14 amazing years and feels privileged for being entrusted by God to care for their six kids. It’s a continuing journey of learning through the beauty of other people’s stories.
