I wake up around 1:00am to the shout of "My Water Broke!" Like an stubborn Lindner of course I say "are you sure?" I mean, how could she not be sure of a gush of water coming out of her? Next thought, towels. We had the waterproof liner over the matress already, whew... So I grab some towels and wrap up Dina's lower half and she waddles to the toilet to let it all continue. She calls the Doula, Laura and I step out to start preparing the suitcase, etc. Dina hangs up pretty quickly and says Laura wants us to time the contractions. I never even thought of that. It's amazing how 9 months of training can suddenly slip out of your head in a minute. Granted it was 1 in the morning and I was still slightly out of it.
Dina and I move back to the bed after I lay some more towels down and we turn on The Ultimate Fighter (DVR). I start to time contractions. 3, 3, 6 (must have missed one), 3, 2, 2. Dina says call Laura back. I say "let's just time one more." Now, the rule is 3-2-1. 3 minute contractions that are one minute long for 2 hours. Now, Dina has been having contractions for the past 7 weeks, so I haven't really been timing all of them. In hindsight, she had probably been at 3 minutes for a few hours before the water broke but just never bothered saying anything (she was asleep too). oh, back to me stalling on calling Laura... Dina wasn't so happy with that, but once again, I'm stubborn and she has learned to pick her fights. 1.5 minute, 1.5 minute, 1... Wait, 1 minute? Are you sure honey? "YES!" So the contractions are now on top of each other. Ok, at this point my head is less foggy and uhm, it's time to call Laura.
I call Laura this time because (in hindsight) Dina is in transition at this point. This is the point where contractions basically never stop and overlap each other. It is generally the most difficult point for women to get through in childbirth, and the point where most women lose their mind. I had assumed we would be in a L&D room at the hospital at this point and I would be working lots of scented oils and massage magic while Dina shouts "YOU DID THIS TO ME" and simultaneously biting my arm. I would be reassuring her that she is in transition and the goal is just around the corner. Pushing starts very shortly after transition and normally doesn't take much time at all. But I digress, this was all in my mind leading up to this day. In actuality Dina is sitting next to me calm and collected with half a groan every 30 seconds having overlapping contractions. I am on the phone with Laura and tell her the timings. 3, 3, 6, 3, 2, 2, 1.5, 1.5, 1 uhhh I try to explain it became hard to time them. She asks me "what do you want to do Todd?" WHAT? I have to decide? now I start getting nervous. I give a typical dumb man's response of uhh uhh and between the Home Improvement re-enactment Laura hears Dina let out on of her own, much more intelligent and calm sounding, grunts (from the height of a contraction). Laura immediately says "I'm meeting you in the hospital. There is no time to labor at your house" Now, when I heard this all of I sudden I realized this is serious. We took Laura's class for 2 months so I understood her a bit, as we sat down a few weeks earlier and hired her as a Doula she reminded us that if labor is starting in the middle of the night it is best for everyone to try and finish a good nights sleep an not waste time in the hospital. She (and everyone) prefers to arrive in the hospital at 6 cm. I tell her it will probably take us an hour to get to the hospital (it is 20 minutes away, but we are not as prepared as we should be).
Dina works her way back to the toilet because she is still leaking quite a bit. I start to pack the last minute things while getting Dina some clothes to wear. That takes a bit because she can only talk for 30-60 second bursts between the contractions. Dina begins complaining of pressure down in her bottom now. Of course I just push that tidbit aside, but looking back she had completed transition and was now pushing (involuntarily). I take a 3 minute shower and brush my teeth. So does Dina and I remind her to take the automatic toothbrush out of her mouth during contractions. I load the suitcase, diaper bag (after Dina packed the "take home outfit in it"), and Stem Cell donation kit in the car and pull out. It's been about an hour since we told Laura we were leaving. Between the slow packing and feeding the cats, etc it just took a while.
As we are driving the phone rings and I answer on the handsfree. It is Laura asking if we are already in. I tell her we are driving and Dina lets out a grunt of a hello. I buzz my Dad to let him know we are headed to the hospital. Dina had already called the mothers and they were already enroute. They actually showed up at the hospital about the same time we did (they stayed in the waiting room until after the birth). We arrive at the hospital and Laura is very calming and supportive for Dina, which is good because my way of being soothing and supportive is to not say a word. We have to pull into the ER because the main entrance is closed (it is 3:15am). Dina refuses the wheelchair. Sitting was nearly impossible for her, probably because the head was right there (or +2, whatever that means).
We slowly walk up to L&D while Dina stops every 2 minutes for a contraction and toe standing (I later learned this means she is fully dialated and pushing). We are well acquainted with L&D after the pre-term labor at 32 weeks so I walk right to the desk with Dina's insurance card and ID and the first thing Dina says is "can we have a nice room?" Later I learned all the nurses sighed right then because they figure she is only 2cm dialated and we are going to clog a room for 16+ hours on the day after a full moon (they were full BTW).
We get in the room and our excellent nurse Lorainne examines Dina and says in shock she is fully dialated +2 and she can see the head. WOW. Good job baby! I think we high fived. Bad news is they can tell that the baby is sunny side up and it would be best to flip her over. We knew this from the ultrasound a few days before also. So Dina gets up on all fours and goes through some contractions with a little rocking. I get the music going and we turn off the lights and it's just me, Dina, Lorainne and Laure. They laughed a few times because of the music selection. Whats wrong with Avenged Sevenfold, Evergreen Terrace, U2, and Between the Buried and Me? Dina and I were talking to each other between the contractions, singing along, and making jokes. Lorainne and Laura are beside themselves we are so calm. It's in my blood I think...
After about 45 minutes little Madison hasn't turned over yet. Laura has an idea to do some squats with one foot elevated. She asks and Dina is not excited about moving but agrees. She actually liked the squats, except for the fluid falling out. Ewww. We put a bunch of pads on the floor and I wipe down her leg a bit. Dina was very thankful, I knew she wouldn't want to be standing there with amniotic fluid on her leg.
She moves from one leg up to the other, all while we have a spotlight on because the head is starting to crown and Lorainne doesn't want the baby to fall out. Wouldn't that be horrible? HA. I can catch.
My job at this point is fanning Dina during contractions and letting her squeeze the heck out of my hands. I should have taken off my ring because at one point I thought my adjacent fingers were going to snap.
Dina gets back up on the bed on all fours and Laura starts to open her hips with pressure on the outside of them squeezing in with her arms. I have tried this move myself a few months ago and it really takes a lot of upper body strength. We all know I don't have any of that, and Laura is petite. Lorainne (who is training to be a Doula) says they should each get one hand of each hip and hold each others arms and pull towards each other. Essentially doubling the pressure they can apply. Laura says its much easier and Dina is loving the relief. Then Dina yells WHOA I felt something. A quick check and Madison has flipped over! Good girl. She was already in the birth canal so that much have been quite a trick.
The resident comes in now and Dina moves to the traditional back position while holding her own legs with elbows up. Now she starts pushing. This we remember from class. Lorainne is counting and Dina is pushing on queue. It's a real workout. I am standing to Dina's right side and even from her side I can see the head moving out with each push. They use Mineral Oil and do the Perineal massage to reduce the risk of a bad tear. For the 10 seconds of a push she moves out and then right back in. Dina had a hard time getting a full push on the third 10 seconds of the contraction. But it was fine. Slowly and surely Madison crept forward. It was probably good that Dina took a while with the pushing because it minimized the amount of tearing.
Now they take the bottom of the bed off and call in the Doctor. The head is probably a good 2cm visible and moving down with each contraction. I know its almost done so on the next contraction I speak up for the first time the whole night probably. "Deep breath, push push push baby!" "Come on, one more" (after the third) "It's almost there!" I convince Dina to give 5 pushes on one contraction (2 more than usual) and that was it. The head was out. That was the only time she got loud, and let out an "Oh my god!" and started quivering. I knew it was because the pain skyrocketed past the point of comprehension. Dina says she saw stars. That's a pretty good safety mechanism. The doctor tells Dina to give her her hands and Dina grabs Madison by the armpits and pulls her our and onto her chest. The nurses frantically start yelling "skin-to-skin!" and unbutton Dina completely. Madison lays down on her chest with eyes wide open looking at the two of us (I have a picture) and we are crying our eyes out in happiness. About 3 seconds later they ask if I want to cut the cord. Uhm no thank you, I'm a bit mentally overloaded right now. 10 seconds later they call out of confirm the time. 6:32 am. The doctor had entered the room around 6:27 am.
Madison lets out her first cry and then latches on immediately (like a champ). All 3 of us get bracelets with unique numbers on them and Madison gets a lo-jack attached to her umbilical cord end. She is covered in Vernix and absorbing it quickly. After about 45 minutes they take me and Madison over to a heater on the other side of the room for someone from the NICU to do her first doctors visit and measurements, etc. 8lb 6oz, 20.5". She gets a clean bill of health (8/9 apgar, didn't cry immediately) and back to mommy. Dina had been stitched up, took an ibuprofen, and given Pitocin to get the placenta out. It took a good 30 minutes. In the end the Doctor had to go in hands first and grab. The cord, cord blood and placenta were boxed and donated for research and/or people who need it.
All in all a magical experience I would recommend to anyone. My life has changed for the better. We are a family now. My wife is truly amazing and I love her. Madison is perfect.
-Todd
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