It is hard to believe that less than two weeks ago I was wondering exactly how Isaac's delivery would turn out. Now we know! This pregnancy had been my longest, much to my surprise. I had so many episodes of false labor with this pregnancy that I quit counting. I certainly quit trying to predict the day he would arrive because the days were coming and going as quickly as I could pick them. It was physically and emotionally tiring, but I knew God had a plan in it all and was fully trusting in His timing for Isaac's birth whenever it might be.
One really amazing occurrence in all this was how well my Bible Study Fellowship class on Genesis lined up with this pregnancy. A few weeks before my due date we read and studied about the covenant God had made with Abraham to bless him with a son. Then, we saw how Abraham and Sarah became impatient in the wait and resorted to their own measures to grow their family (which did not turn out well and was certainly a lesson to me in my own impatience around this time). Finally, God fulfilled his promise and Isaac was born. I had no idea when we picked Isaac's name last Fall that I would be reading the story of the biblical Isaac's birth just a few days before our Isaac would be born. It will be something I will never forget.
On January 30th, Marc and I sat down on the couch after the kids were in bed to watch Twilight since he had never seen it. I ended up timing contractions through most of the movie. They started out every 4-6 min. for the first hour, but then faded out to every 8-10 minutes by the time we went to bed and were certainly not painful. I had decided it was another false alarm.
Throughout the night, I had a contraction that was strong enough to wake me about every hour, but then I would doze back to sleep. Finally, at 5:30 a.m. I decided I was tired of wrestling sleep and pulled out my phone to catch up on Facebook. While laying in bed on my phone at 5:45 a.m., my water broke. I woke up Marc who jumped out of bed faster than I have ever seen. He immediately got busy making phone calls to our parents and packing the car while I got a quick shower. My contractions were really beginning to pick up at that point and I knew that we were going to have a baby that day! Marc's parents drove over from Bloomington (45 min. drive) to watch our still sleeping kids so we could head to the hospital. When they arrived to our house, Marc was still loading our things and I was putting on some make-up while eating breakfast (through contractions at least). I think our "calm" state made them a little nervous and they kept trying to hurry us out the door so we didn't have a baby on the way to the hospital. :)
We eventually left the house around 6:45 a.m. and headed to the hospital which is a quick drive from the house. The contractions were close and painful by the time we arrived. However, being slightly stubborn, I decided I didn't need a wheelchair as Marc had suggested. So, we parked in the parking garage and set out on the 0.25 mile walk to the ER. Had I known how cold it was outside, I probably would have opted for the front door service. ;)
By 7:15 a.m. we were on the OB floor getting checked in and the nurse told me I was 5 cm dilated. This was exactly how far along I was with Eli when I arrived to the hospital in labor in 2009 and that labor was fast. So, I knew Isaac would be on the scene before we knew it. Our room wasn't ready so we waited for what seemed like forever. My bed in the triage room was backed up into a corner making it very difficult for Marc to help coach me through contractions. The contractions were right on top of each other and I remember telling Marc I didn't think I could do a natural childbirth this time. It was just too much. Then, the nurse came back and told us the room was ready and we were moved to a room. At this point, I knew I was going to get an epidural. I was rechecked and was 6-7 cm but didn't think I could go another few hours. By this time, our OB group's midwife had arrived and wanted me to hold off on the epidural until she rechecked me. Amazingly, I was already complete at 10 cm. Isaac was born just 3 or 4 contractions later at 8:26 a.m., just over an hour after we checked in. In the end, I am really thankful I didn't get the epidural. There is no experience like giving birth, and I love being 100% involved in that process and seeing how the body works. It is a miracle indeed.
After Isaac was born, everything seemed great for the first 10 minutes. But then after the placenta was removed, the uterine bleeding would NOT stop. I ended up with a severe postpartum hemorrhage. My hemoglobin was 12 when we arrived and dropped down to 6.4 after delivery. Through it all I realized that I am thankful for modern medicine, a calm and collected husband, and a gracious God who was with us through the entire thing. The experience made me think of all the women who bleed to death after childbirth in other parts of the world because they don't have access to the care that I received. We are so fortunate to have what we have and we take it for granted all the time. It is good to have reminders of this.
Well, without further ado. The pictures of the day...
