Bret's Birth Story

This is for all those who love reading birth stories as much as I do! Warning: no details spared! ;)

After giving birth naturally to Serena, I knew that I would never want to give birth any other way. However, I had often wished that I had not had to have Serena in a hospital. The bright lights and sterile atmosphere are just not really up my alley, nor do they jive with my idea of what I want our babies' births to be like. I want to be able to give our babies a drug-free start to life with as little intervention in the natural birthing process (which our Creator God designed) as possible. I also want to be able to welcome our babies into the loving arms of their parents, with as little separation and handling by strangers as possible. I'm thankful God has blessed us with uncomplicated pregnancies and births so we have been able to realize those desires of mine!

When we found out we would be moving to the Dallas, TX, area, one thing that I was excited about was all the free-standing birth centers run by midwives in this area! To me, they sounded like the perfect scenario! Jordan and I don't really feel like a home birth is the thing for us, but these birth centers provide a home birth setting...just not in our house! ;) So, after moving here, I discovered Inanna Birth Center about 20 minutes from us! I loved their philosophy of birth, and the homey atmosphere of their facility. I made an appointment, and soon was enjoying my prenatal care under Jean, Betty, and Kathleen.

As our anticipated due date (Feb 17) drew nearer, I started making plans for what we would do with Serena while Bret was being born. Being so far away from family at times like this is definitely far from ideal! My mom's job is such that she is pretty limited in how much time she can take off, and they need her to ask off so far in advance. Plus, since I was over a week late with Serena, we didn't want her to book a flight and then miss seeing Bret completely. So, we finally settled on her coming at the beginning of March since it seemed unlikely that he could be more than two weeks late. Meanwhile, God worked things out for Jordan's mom and little sister Anna to be able to ride down on Feb 19th with Jordan's uncle & aunt who were driving down to go on a cruise. We lined up a couple families here who were willing to take Serena if Bret came before the 19th, but I started praying that he wouldn't come until Jordan's mom was here! In fact, if he could come asap after she got here, that would be great so we could optimize the amount of time she'd be here to help! ;)

After Serena took so long to come, I had no expectations that Bret would be early. I did have contractions Sunday evening/night and Monday evening/night that week, though they never organized themselves into anything close to serious. So, as anticipated, Thursday, Feb 17th came and went (much to his Aunt Jessica's dismay since it was her birthday!) without any baby. However, I had more contractions that night and Friday night. Saturday the 19th finally arrived! Jordan, Serena, & I went to the mall for a few hours and then came home to prepare for our company. I made a pie (which is one of my favorite things to do), folded & put away 4 loads of laundry, and did a once-over the house. :) Uncle Craig & Aunt Danielle arrived with Kari & Anna around 8pm. Craig & Danielle stayed for a while to visit and have some pie & ice cream with us. Serena loved playing with them! Around 9:30 or so, Craig & Danielle excused themselves to head to their hotel in Denton. I remember Craig said, "You guys might have a long night ahead of you!" ("Haha, yeah, right!" I thought!) I was starting to feel pretty tired though, and the contractions that I'd been having on & off all week were starting to make an appearance again. I figured it was just because I was worn out from all the activities of the day. I did dishes before going to bed a little after 11.

When I woke up, it felt like I'd been sleeping forever. According to my phone, it was only 1:18, though. I was having a contraction. I got up to use the bathroom and then went back to bed. I woke up again about 10 minutes later. Another contraction. This scenario repeated itself until about 2, and then I started to get a clue that I wasn't going to be going back to sleep tonight. I got up to use the bathroom again (labor always makes me feel like I need to use the bathroom, haha). As I sat there, I started feeling very chilled and shook all over. I remember I did the same thing in early labor with Serena. I don't know if it's because I'm genuinely cold or if it's an adrenaline rush or some sort of shock. Anyway, it makes the contractions feel a lot worse than they really are because my whole body is so tensed up from the shivering. Finally, I got on top of that and then I put on some warmer clothes, grabbed my phone, and headed to the living room so as not to disturb Jordan. I rolled out my exercise ball and bounced around on that or draped myself over it during the contractions over the next hour. I downloaded an app on my phone to time the contractions. From 2:18 until 3, they averaged about a minute long and 4 or 5 minutes apart. I knew that was pretty close and decided that I should work on waking Jordan up and calling the midwife. Then, they suddenly jumped to being 2 minutes apart. I let that go for about 10 minutes to see if that was going to be a trend or if it was just a fluke. DEFINITELY a trend!!!!

I woke Jordan up and told him what was happening. He said in a very serious tone that we should be leaving within a half hour. (We cut it pretty close with Serena, only arriving at the hospital about 30 minutes before pushing; she was born 45 minutes later!) I agreed, and went to call the midwife. It's kinda funny how even in labor, I hated calling her in the middle of the night. As soon as I heard her voice on the other end, though, I felt better! She sounded SO cheery! "Hello, this is Kathleen!" (HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?! I was thinking I had woke her up. It turned out that she was actually at the birth center and was just finishing up a birth.) I told her what was going on, and added how quick my labor had been with Serena (about 7 hours active labor). She suggested I come on in so she could check me and see how far along I was. She said something about wanting to know if she should stick around or just leave us with the birth attendant until the next midwife would come on duty at 7. I was pretty sure we weren't going to last that long, though! I brushed my teeth, put on some make-up (heehee!), and grabbed a few last-minute items. Then, I went to wake up Kari. It was about 3:30. It felt surreal handing her the baby monitor and telling her we were going to the birth center to have the baby! They'd only arrived less than 8 hours ago! God answered my prayer!

Jordan & I were on the road shortly after that. That's when I called my mom to tell her the big news. The contractions seemed to stay about the same length and distance apart, but they were getting stronger in intensity. Jordan only ran 2 stoplights (that I know of)! ;) We were tempted to go the wrong way down the one-way street to get to the birth center, but we didn't.

The door to the birth center was locked! We knocked a few times and I had a contraction or two out on the front steps! Thankfully, it was a pretty mild night, so we weren't freezing cold or anything! The birth attendant, Joy, finally appeared to let us in! She apologized over and over! They were still working on getting the other family finished up in the main birthing room, so she put us in another room. Kathleen (the midwife) came in and checked me. I was at 6 centimeters, almost 7, completely effaced, and the baby was at 0 station. My contractions were hard, but still fairly short and close together. I asked her if it would be possible for me to get in the tub soon (it was in the other birthing room), and she said they would get it ready for me asap, but it would take a good half-hour to fill. She left then to work on getting the other room ready. I felt like it wasn't going to be long before the baby came, and I really hoped they'd be able to get that room ready in time! I also felt badly for rushing the other family out of the room, and that Kathleen and Joy had already been up all night! I have no idea about what time all the events at the birth center happened, but they all happened in the space of an hour. Jordan texted our moms to update them on our progress. A little bit later, Kathleen checked on us and moved us into the exam room so they could move the other family into the room we were just in. I had a contraction, and Kathleen asked if I was feeling pressure. "Not yet," I said, and she left again. A few contractions later, there was definitely 'pressure'!!

Jordan left to go find Kathleen, and she had us come on into the birthing room. They were just putting the clean sheets on the bed. I remember feeling so badly that we were making everyone hurry so much! I climbed up on the bed and labored for a while, but it was so intense I felt like everything was spinning out of control. I asked if I could get into the tub yet. Kathleen said it wasn't full yet, but if I wanted to get in, there was enough water that I could. I remember feeling so indecisive, like I wanted to get into the tub, but I felt like I couldn't muster the willpower to move. Finally, I did get into the tub. I immediately felt more relaxed. The contractions were still incredibly intense, though. I felt like I should be able to push with them, but for a while I just couldn't get 'on top' of them enough to do it. When I finally could push, my water broke with a big "BLUP" under the water! Kathleen felt for the baby and said he was 'right there.' Again, I felt like it was so hard to catch my breath enough to work with the contractions and push. With a little coaching, I did get a good push in, and the baby was suddenly crowning. I felt the burning, and it seemed like an eternity until the next contraction came! With the next contraction, Bret came out and I was suddenly holding him in my arms! It was 4:51, almost exactly three and a half hours after I'd woken up. He felt so tiny, and I loved his little newborn cry! His color was amazingly pink right from the start, and his head (having been cushioned by the bag of waters right up till the end of the labor, and then not having spent much time in the birth canal) was not very molded at all. And, having come out under water, he was practically cleaned off already. He looked absolutely perfect!

After a few minutes, they clamped the cord and then Jordan cut it. Then, they handed Bret off to Jordan and helped me out of the tub to deliver the placenta on the bed. With Bret back in my arms and up to my breast, it wasn't long before the placenta came. The midwife examined me and I hadn't even torn! I could have started singing the "Hallelujah" chorus, haha! :D When we got around to weighing Bret, he was 7 lbs, 4 oz (one ounce more than Serena was) and 19.5" long (same as Serena was). Jordan put Bret's first diaper on him and dressed him. Kathleen & Joy (who were pretty exhausted from their busy night) called the next birth attendant on duty to see if she would come in early and relieve them. She obliged, and they left soon after. The new attendant, Rachel, went over all the paperwork we needed to do. Legally, the birth center is 'required' to keep us for at least 2 hours after the delivery of the placenta (which was at 5:15). We passed the time by calling and texting people, heehee! Jordan teased Rachel that we might try to skip out early, but we didn't actually leave until 7:25 with strict instructions for me to eat some protein as soon as we got home.

We walked into the house at 7:45, a little surprised to find it completely quiet. We found Kari rocking a sleeping Serena in Serena's room (apparently Serena had awaken sometime after 6, but had snuggled down into Kari's arms when she sat down in the rocking chair with her). Anna was still asleep in the spare room. Jordan woke Serena up and we introduced her to Bret. I switched places with Kari and held my two babies in my arms in the rocking chair. As we talked about Bret and his amazingly fast entrance into the world, Serena listened and watched Bret very intently. After a while, she started patting him and 'talking' about him, too.

It was so wonderful to be home with my family and my brand new baby just hours after he'd been born! I think that might be my favorite part about this birth! Well, that, and the intact perineum and the water birth!! :) Bret was extremely sweet and content for the first 24 hours. He was awake a lot, but hardly made a peep. He nursed like a pro right from the start, and continues to guzzle like there's an impending shortage of breastmilk (there's not!). I'm sure it won't be long until those skinny little legs and arms will be all chunked up!! We're all really enjoying him and so thankful for our little boy!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!

...Thank the LORD for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man! (Psalm 107:1, 8)