Birth Story

So, I thought I'd write down the whole "birth" experience, before I forget all the details and years later I want to remember everything that happened.  It's REALLY long, though, just to forewarn you... only read this if you're really bored! :~)

On Monday, January 21 (the day after my birthday!), I prayed that God would let me go into labor early.  It was a particularly challenging morning with Toby and CJ, so I was really anxious to be done with my exhausted 9-month-pregnant body (since a new baby is SO much less exhausting :~).  A few hours later, around noon, I was in the kitchen, looking for a quick snack before putting the boys down for a nap, when I was shocked with the thought of, "Did my water just break, or did I just completely lose all control of my bladder?!" :~)  It wasn't long before I realized my water did in fact break, and this baby was coming!  How kind of God to answer my prayer!  I was 5 days late with both Toby and CJ, and my due date for Bo was February 2, two weeks away!  So, I was sooo excited, and I think there must be some hormone or something that makes you incredibly energetic and crazy when this happens!  My voice suddenly raised about 2 octives, and I sounded a lot like Minnie Mouse or something!  I was running around, excitedly telling the boys that their brother was coming, and put them down for a nap as fast as I could (let me tell you, this water-breaking thing is NASTY!).  Of course, Toby demanded a story before naptime, so I told a familiar one as fast as I possibly could.  Seriously, I was like Micro Machine Man (remember those commercials?  Yeah, that was me!).  So, then I called Keith at work, who was on a call with a guy, about to lock a huge loan.  He told the guy his wife's water just broke, and the guy didn't believe him!  Oh well.  While Keith came home, I scrambled to find someone to watch the boys while we left.  Thank God for His church!  Keith came home and we were ready to go!  We got to the hospital around 1:00, and were pretty much the only people there.  They admitted me, put me in a labor & delivery room, and wanted to monitor my progress, as I hadn't had hardly any contractions since my water broke.  Around 4:00, they decided to put me on Pitocin, as they were concerned about infection.  I guess the longer you go after your water breaks, the riskier it gets if the baby isn't born.  So, as opposed as I was to Pitocin originally, I actually welcomed it, as I was only about 2 cm. by then.  They gave me only a little to begin with, hoping that my body would kick in and go into active labor, so they could turn it off.  No such luck.  After several hours, around 10 or 11 pm. they finally gave me an epidural.  I was only about 3 cm, but I had been asking for it for a while, as the contractions were beginning to get unbearable (gotta love that Pitocin!).  They also turned off the Pitocin, hoping that giving my body a break would maybe start something.  At about 1:00am, they checked me and I hadn't made any progress, still about 3 cm. so they decided to call the doctor and see what she wanted to do.  I was terrified that they were going to do a C-section.  God met me through the Word, and led me to promises in Psalms about fear (I don't remember exactly what verses, though!  It's still fuzzy in my mind now).  Keith and I prayed while we waited for the doctor.  She came in to check me and chuckled to herself.  She looked at me and said, "How does 10 cm sound?  You're fully dilated and ready to push!"  I looked at Keith, and we were both shocked!  In 30 min. I had gone from 3 to 10 cm!  It was completely God's grace!  I wasn't even on Pitocin at that point!  About half an hour later, at 2:14 am, Bo Martin Daukas was born!  He was so cute and little, just 6 lb. 5 oz!  They handed him to me, little slimy boy, and I held him for a few minutes before they took him to get cleaned off.  While they were examining him, he put up a big fight, and even swatted the doctor's stethoscope out of the way!  We've got a fighter! :~)  They handed him back to me, I nursed him, and we got ready to go to the postpartum room.  As they wheeled me down the hallway, I was overcome with love for this precious baby boy, and looked at Keith, and said, "I think we should have another one!  Let's have lots more babies!"  He said, "We are NOT having this discussion right now!" :~)