Final Days of Beta

Well, my little guy is turning month old right now. Figured it was time to catch up on this blog.

Alistair Bryant arrived only minutes after we made it to the hospital on Friday, December 14. He was a healthy 6lbs, 11oz and 19.25" long. Both his dad and Grandmother Gates were present for his birth. My entire immediate family was still in the area following my brother's wedding, so were all thrilled to be able to meet him as a newborn.

For the extended birth story, continue reading. If the gory details of labor and birth aren't your thing, you are encouraged to move onto another activity.

My entire extended family was visiting for the week of Dec 9-16 to participate in my brother's wedding and celebrate Christmas as a family. Between four women in two generations (my mother, myself, and two sisters), we had completed a total of eight births with NONE of the babies arriving before their due date. In our planning, we never seriously considered the possibility of the arrival of the ninth baby that week; he was due the following week.

We had a great time together preparing for the wedding, including decorating the reception hall on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we were at the church by early afternoon for pictures. The afternoon wedding was beautiful and went smoothly. The reception went into the evening with dinner and dancing, but we were headed home before too late.

During the late part of the reception, I lost part of my mucous plug. While I knew it was possible to lose the mucous plug days or weeks before giving birth, that was the first time I seriously considered the possibility that I could give birth before my family left.

After a trip to the bathroom in the early hours of Thursday morning, I noticed some very mild contractions coming every 3-5 minutes. I wouldn't have even noticed these contractions happening, except that Beta had the hiccups at the time and the contractions muted the sensation of the hiccups significantly.

Once I was up for the day a few hours later, the contractions ceased on regularity. But the word spread through my family that there were contractions and a birth could be imminent.

In the morning, my mother and two of my sisters went with me to my regularly scheduled 38 week midwife appointment. I had gained almost 3 pounds over the 9 days since my previous appointment, bringing me to 148 pounds and a total of ~32 pounds gained during the pregnancy. My fundal height had gone down from 37 the previous week to 36 this week. Between difference in measurements and possibly baby dropping, not a concern. Beta's heartrate was in the 150's--higher than it had been the last couple of weeks, but still very normal. I declined the cervix check, still largely in denial that this birth was likely to happen very soon.

Through the day, the contractions slowly gained intensity, but never regularity. By supper time, the contractions were strong enough for me to easily notice them. I decided I'd still go to clogging practice.

I took it very easy at clogging practice, basically only walking through the few routines I practiced. But I even had to stop that when contractions would hit. By the time we left clogging sometime after 9:15, I was definitely having to focus and breathe through the contractions.

We went home and I headed to bed pretty directly. Sometime after 10:30, I vomited and started thinking about needing to go to the hospital. Shortly after 11:30, I told Jesse it was definitely time to head to the hospital. He packed a few last-minute items for the hospital, let my mom know so she could go with us, took things out to the van and started it warming up. By the time he got back to our room, my water had broken.

When my water broke, I felt things shift (baby drop) and I was suddenly feeling a lot of pressure and wondering if we were going to make it to the hospital in time. We called our midwife, who was fortunately already at the hospital having just finished another birth. When we pulled up to the door of the hospital, my mom ran in to get a wheelchair for me. Then Jesse took me into the hospital while mom went to park the car.

The midwife had given instructions that I was to be admitted immediately, since my water had already broken. So by the time my mother came in from parking the car, we were already in the room and the midwife had already confirmed that I was fully dilated and ready to deliver. The midwife's declaration that I was ready to deliver had produced a flurry of calls and activity to get a neo-natal nurse in the room for the baby and other preparations.

Between the time the hospital first used the fetal monitor to check Beta's heartbeat and his arrival was less than 15 minutes. It was another 12 hours before we settled on a name, but it was hard to sleep much in that time with the excitement and wonder of his arrival and presence.

My blood draw they took at birth registered my platelet levels around 102,000--the lowest it had tested. They tested it again before I was dismissed, but I forgot to find out what it was before I left the hospital. Without the anemia associated with my previous pregnancy and TGM's birth, I felt very noticeably stronger and more energetic. I felt well enough to go ahead with an early dismissal from the hospital on Saturday afternoon and spend the evening celebrating Christmas and Dad's birthday with my family. Al was a great baby and was passed around as everyone tried to enjoy him as much as possible before they started to leave in the morning.