An absolutely perfect day

The story of Corryn's birth:

I slept really restlessly friday night and was woken up 3 times by contractions that hurt enough to get my attention, but weren't bad. I got up about 6:00 and noticed I was having a little bit of normal bleeding. Dave was already up, so I went to chat with him to let him know what was going on. I told him I had a feeling it would either be today or tomorrow (saturday or sunday). I was still having an occasional mild contraction, but certainly nothing to get excited about by any means. Dillon was still asleep, so Dave & I sat and had a cup of coffee and chatted. We talked about logistics for the labor and birth- who needed to be called first and so on, then moved on to birth plan sort of stuff. We even got to talk a little about hopes and fears and how excited we were about this baby.

Dillon woke up about 9am and we decided to go for a late breakfast out. We got dressed and went to eat. I really had not had any more contractions for about 2 hours at this point. We enjoyed our breakfast, ran an errand, then decided to walk around the mall for a little while. While we were walking, I'd have an occasional contraction that would require my attention, but still nothing regular.

By now it was about 12:45. We were going to stop one more place before going home, but I decided I wanted to go home and rest a little before the birthday party I was supposed to take Dillon to from 3-5. I figured since it was now working on 1:00 and I still wasn't having regular contractions that there was a good chance it wasn't happening that day. So, we went on home, I layed on the couch and rested and Dillon played with a new toy horse she had gotten while we were at the mall. Still having only occasional contractions, but they did seem to be getting stronger.

A little before 2:00, I sat up to get the present wrapped and ready for the party and had a contraction. "Hmm, that kind of hurt!" It passed, I got up and got the present ready. 10 minutes after the previous one, another came. "Hmm, that kind of hurt, too and it was kind of close to the last one." More moving around, more contractions at 10 minutes apart. I'm having some serious doubts about being able to go to this party, but at the same time, feeling really bad for Dillon who was so excited about going. About 2:40, I called my friend, the one who's daughter was having the party to tell her about the contractions and that I didn't think we'd make it. She offered to have us drop Dillon off and she'd watch her. I also called another friend I knew was available to take care of Dillon after the party. Contractions are now closer to 7 minutes apart and definitely requiring me to breathe through them. I told Dillon I wouldn't be able to take her to the party and as expected, she was upset. I also told her the option of going without me. To my utter surprise, she consented to having Dave drop her off and not stay with her. So, right at about 3:00, he took her. By the time he came back between 10-15 minutes later, contractions were 5 minutes apart and breathing through them wasn't really doing it for me.


Dave took care of calling my mom, then the midwife, who hearing me in the background told us to come on in. In the 20 minutes it took to get everything together and get to the hospital (1/2 mile away) contractions progressed to being 1 1/2 to 2 minutes apart. On the way there, I was shaking, even though I wasn't cold. I remembered doing that when I was about 7 cm dilated when in labor with Dillon, but couldn't wrap my brain around the fact I could possibly be that far along. Interestingly, though I was also having the thought that I hoped the midwife would make it in time. It was 4:05 pm when we arrived at the hospital. Laurie, the midwife checked me, and sure enough, I was 7 cm.

I sat on the birthing ball for a few contractions and Laurie offered the Jacuzzi tub, which I would've had to more or less climb out of to push or the shower. I chose the shower. Contractions were still at about 1 1/2- 2 minutes apart when I got in. I could hold the shower sprayer and point it at myself, initially, then quickly lost that ability as the contractions were just on top of each other. "I can't do this!!!!" Laurie, Dave and Annette, my nurse all kept encouraging me, reassuring me I could do and that the end was near. I started feeling like pushing, so we moved me out of the shower to the birthing stool thing.

Laurie checked me again - "You're complete- push as you feel the urge." I pushed about 5 minutes and Laurie saud she thought my water would probably break with the next push. Sure enough- pop!- my water finally broke. 5 minutes later, she was born. "Reach down and catch your baby!" I'm afraid I'll drop her!" I said. Laurie assured me she wouldn't let me and then there she was in my arms. It was 5:13 pm, just over 3 hours since regular contractions started.

Dave had Dillon's care all worked out with my friends. She arrived at the hospital just a matter of minutes after Corryn was born. Dave went out to ask her if she wanted to meet her baby sister while Laurie and Annette helped me move to the bed. She stayed for a while, then opted to go to her friend's house for a little while then come back to the hospital later. That gave us a chance to start falling in love with this new little life, marvel at how fast everything happened and to make some phone calls to let everyone know.

I simply could not have asked for not only a more perfect birth- 3 hours, 10 minutes of pushing, dim lights, no needles- but also a more perfect day. We had some wonderful couple time in the morning, some wonderful family time once Dillon woke up and a wonderful new addition to our family at the end of the day. Dillon had a great time at the party and I was able to labor the way I needed to without worrying about scaring her. Dave was incredibly supportive and was such an immense help in getting through the contractions. Laurie and Annette were exactly what I needed to get me through such a fast and intense experience.

Just an absolutely perfect day.