Oaklen's Birth Story

Today is Oaklen's birthday, he's 2 yrs old!

My friend Catey posts her birth stories on her blog when it's her child's birthday and I like that idea so I'm going to do it too! Warning: this is a long post, and has a lot of information, possibly even “TMI”, read this if you’re interested in birth stories, otherwise skip it! :)

Oaklen's Birth Story
First of all you'll need a little background. When I was pregnant with Oaklen (Okay Darrell, now is your time to chime in and say "you can't be pregnant with..."), I was working at Overstock.com.

My due date was June 9th and I planned on working through the end of May and begin working from home June 1st. That way I wouldn't go into labor with all my worried co-workers. :) Every day I'd leave work, my friends would wonder if I'd be back the next day; then when I arrived bright and early the following day, they'd all take a sigh (of relief since they didn't want me to leave!) For some co-workers this was their first experience dealing with a pregnancy so it was quite interesting. They watched my belly (and my nose) get bigger, I let them touch my stomach (don't listen to that HR department), they wondered "what on earth is she eating now?", they helped me think of names, and they placed bets to see if the baby was a boy or a girl.

Since it was my second boy, there was no need to throw me a shower but a bunch of my co-workers wanted to have a party/shower anyway. They talked to me and I decided to schedule it for Wednesday May 31. Monday would be the Memorial Day holiday and Tuesday didn't work since some would still be on vacation so we decided on Wednesday May 31 for the shower.

I went to work on Tuesday May 30 and had a great work day. For some reason, I had a feeling that I should bring home the laptop and a few work supplies "just in case." I figured I would just bring them back the next day.

I got home and Darrell was there with Salem, Candace, and Eli. Candace & Eli had come over to do some laundry at our house (since we offered) and then stayed to eat good ol' frozen burritos with us for dinner. I wasn't really feeling too well, but didn't really do much about it since my friends were over, I just put my head on the table and let my belly hang over and that seemed to help my discomfort. (Little did I know that those were probably mild contractions!)

After we ate, (about 6:30 PM) Salem wanted to go show Candace & Eli his new bedroom upstairs. By the time I got to the top of the stairs, I felt a rush, and then suddenly REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet and thought that I “didn’t make it.” I thought that it was strange since that hasn’t really happened to me before. Then I realized “oh, maybe that was my water breaking!” I didn’t want to believe it; I wanted to fake myself out of it. Was this it? Was I really going into labor? ( I hadn’t experienced these things on my previous pregnancy since I was induced and had an epidural so I felt like I never had a real “labor” experience, I didn’t even know what a contraction felt like.)

After I realized what might be happening, I yelled “Um Darrell, will you come here for minute?” Darrell came in and I sheepishly told him that I thought my water had broken. Darrell: “What? Can’t you tell if you’re water broke or not?” Heather: “Well I don’t know… it’s weird.” Darrell: “Well what else could it be? You’re 9 months pregnant and it’s bound to happen!” So, Darrell finally convinced me that I was in labor. While I was changing into different pants, Darrell told Candace & Eli that I was in labor. I came out of my room and looked at Candace with a worried, unbelieving face and said “I guess this is it!” They collected their laundry and said goodbye and good luck. (One a side note, it’s funny that they were there when I went into labor because they were also there the night that I found out that I was pregnant. We had taken a home pregnancy test that evening and they came over 30 minutes later and Darrell, of course, had to tell them!)

I called my mom and asked her what “water breaking” feels like and she said that yes I had probably broken my water. I called my midwife and told her what had happened. She said that she happened to be at the office (even though she took the day off) and to come in and get checked to verify that it truly was amniotic fluid. I then called my mom back to have her meet us there so she could take Salem home with her if needed.

We arrived at the birth center and Rebecca, my midwife, verified that it was amniotic fluid and I was in labor. She was excited of course, but the week prior, she told me that I "couldn't" go into labor on May 30 or May 31 since she paid for this midwife conference that she was going to attend and jokingly said that all of her patients weren't supposed to go in labor then. :) I felt bad that I was going to disrupt her non-refundable conference.

I still wasn't really feeling any contractions but since my water broke Rebecca said that if I don't have the baby within 24 hours that I'd have to be transferred to the hospital. She set me up on the fetal monitoring system for just a while to track my labor. She had to tell me that I was having a contraction! I thought "Oh, is that was they feel like?" I was thinking more about the juice that she gave me and my family than my contractions.

It was about 7:30 PM and we decided to head home to labor there and then call Rebecca when things started to pick up. (I didn't expect to call her until late morning the next day.)

My mom followed us home so that she could get Salem's overnight bag. I kissed Salem & my mom goodbye about 9:00 PM and then it was just Darrell, me, and my belly that was starting to look like a baby with a bunch of skin over it.

Darrell and I knelt together and said a prayer, and then I headed upstairs to "rest" while Darrell finished cleaning up the kitchen and living room. (He had the nesting instinct too!)

I knew that rest was a good thing that laboring women needed so I went straight to bed and closed my eyes to sleep. I thought that I could sleep through the contractions. I stayed lying down in the bed for a few of the first contractions but they were distracting enough that I couldn’t sleep. I then started to sit up when I had a contraction they lay back down (on my side) after it was over. The contractions were then coming closer & closer together so I remained sitting up. I instinctively started to rock my body from side-to-side and just breathe deeply when I had a contraction. (Later I likened that to when the Polynesians rock/sway side-to-side after they have eaten a big meal to help them digest their food. If it works for them, it’s got to work for helping the baby get in place too.)

The contractions were getting to a point that I no longer wanted to do it by myself and wished that Darrell would finish cleaning and come upstairs to help me. Luckily he must have heard my unsolicited wish and came upstairs in a timely manner.
It was about 11:00 PM by then and Darrell was excited that the contractions were happening. We sat on the bed together, he behind me, and I grabbed his hand whenever I started to feel a contraction. I didn’t really want to talk so the only way he knew I was contracting was when I squeezed his hand. He noticed that they were getting pretty close together so he grabbed a pen & paper to time the contractions. After a short while, I wanted him to stop writing them down and to focus on me instead of the paper. He kept telling me that these contractions were quite close and that we should call Rebecca. I was still faking myself out of it and thought that we still had a lot of time to go.

I decided that I should try to get up and go to the bathroom. As I was getting up, I had another contraction. Darrell was quickly right there, and got up so quickly that he stepped on the garbage can next to the bed and smashed a hole in it. (To this day, I haven’t gotten a new garbage can because it still works and does the job, plus it’s a fun memory every time I look at it.)

Anyway, I made it to the bathroom and after a few more contractions; I had the urge to push. Darrell ran to get the phone to call Rebecca. While he was dashing for the phone, I let out a yell for the first time and it felt good to use my vocals. I remember learning that when you think it’s getting too hard to manage, that it was almost over. I was now hoping that this was “it,” though I was still preparing myself for possibly more hours of intense labor.

Darrell arrived back upstairs with Rebecca on the phone. By now it was almost 12:00 midnight. I wasn’t in the mood to talk on the phone but Darrell wanted me to talk to her. I just yelled from a distance and said “I’m pushing!” I heard Rebecca say “Heather, don’t push, don’t push!” She wanted me to wait until we arrived at the birth center so she could see if I really was ready to push.

We got off the phone and collected our things to go to the birth center. It took me a while to get from my bedroom all the way to the car in the garage. I kept crossing my legs, and holding my hand down there as I walked. I’m sure that the walking helped Oaklen get down into place.

We hopped on the freeway and went a little over the speed limit but not too much. When we exited the freeway and traveled down the street to the birth center, we wanted to go faster but there was a slow car in front of us. It’s quite ironic that the one time that we could warrant breaking the speed limit, we couldn’t because there was a slow car in front of us, at 12:15 in the morning!

We arrived at the birth center and Rebecca was already there. The nurse/owner, Susan, arrived shortly after. Months earlier, I had chosen “my room.” I chose the ivy room since the bed looked like our bed at home and there was a nice big tub. We went in the room and Rebecca was already starting to fill the bathtub. I started taking off my clothes to prepare for the bath and Rebecca looked down there and said “I see a head!” Heather: “Good!” Rebecca: “Do you want to push?” Heather: “YES!” They stopped filling up the tub and drained it since I was ready to push. I got on the bed and laid on my left side to push. It felt the most comfortable.

Meanwhile Darrell and I realized that we forgot the camera! I told him to call my mom to go get the camera. She woke up and left Salem sound asleep with John (my step-dad) and came to the birth center. She gave us her brand new digital camera still in the box and wanted us to use that one. I told her that I’d prefer to use our camera so we gave her our keys for her to go to our house to get it. She left for our house, I was pushing, and Darrell was fiddling with the new camera trying to see if he could get it charged. I quickly told him to forget about the camera, and to just come on the bed and be with me. (Throughout the whole labor I was proud of myself that I didn’t get too ornery and start yelling at people. I anticipated that I’d do that. You’ll have to ask Darrell for sure if I was as nice as I think I was, but I thought I did pretty well.)

I didn’t count how many pushes that I did, it was more than just a few but it wasn’t an hour like last time. Rebecca and Susan were really great and patient. They knew just the thing I needed at every moment. Darrell also was a great labor coach, I mainly just needed him beside me for moral support and to hold my hand or stroke my hair.

Oaklen officially arrived at 1:10 AM on Wednesday May 31, 2006, less than an hour from the time that I arrived at the birth center. My mom happened to come in with the camera just after Oaklen was born so we were able to get some “right-after” pictures.

The moment Oaklen was born, Rebecca laid him on my chest & belly, skin to skin, and draped blankets around the both of us. He stayed on my belly for a while then he nursed for even longer. My mom said congratulations and then headed home to finish her sleep. Darrell and I sat on the bed and just stared at our new son. After about an hour Darrell finally got to hold him and weigh & measure him while I got up and took a shower. Oaklen was 7 lbs, 10 oz and 20 inches long. After the shower, I came back to the bed and slept/rested with Oaklen by my side for the remainder of the night. Darrell tried to sleep there on the bed too, but since he has a hard time sleeping anywhere except his own bed, he decided to get up and go to another room to watch a movie. Rebecca went home to sleep and Susan stayed there and snored in the next room, loud enough that Darrell could hear it.

We got up about 7:00 AM. I called my mom to tell her to bring Salem to meet Oaklen. Rebecca came about 8:00 AM and gave me an exam to make sure everything was okay. She and I were happy that she could still make her conference that she paid to attend that day. :)

My mom came with Salem and he got to meet his new brother. He was very happy and gave us a rose from Grandma’s garden. I got myself and Oaklen dressed and our family of now 4 headed home. We arrived home about 9:45 AM. It was great to be home with the comforts of my own house.

Many people came to visit that day and by the end of the day, I was quite tired! My co-workers still threw me the shower even though I wasn’t there. They even brought over the presents that evening. Thanks!

Oaklen’s birth story will be an experience that I’ll never forget. It was amazing and there is nothing that I would have done differently!

Happy Birthday Oaklen, I love you!