So Sunday night, I go to bed alone since "Operation keep-our-toddler-in-his-own-bed" includes Daddy sleeping on a air bed on Zayne's floor. I wasn't feeling very great and didn't sleep well, but that is normal for 38 weeks pregnant. I was up and down all night. Around 5:30 AM my back started to really hurt. I noticed a sharper burning sensation in my low back that would ease up a little here and there and I started to wonder if I was at the beginning of labor. I heard the words of the doula I took that birthing class from and decided to lay there and continue to try to rest, not turning on any lights or electronics. By 6:30 AM, the sun had (finally) come up so I grabbed my phone and downloaded an app to start tracking contractions. At this point I was certain that was what I was feeling. Ronnie (my husband) and Zayne (my 2.5 year old) came and crawled into bed with me at 7:30. It was a peaceful 30 minutes we all laid in bed and talked, prayed, giggled with Z, and Ronnie called work to let them know he would not be in (even though I told him he could probably go in for a couple hours and get some things wrapped up). We got up at 8AM. And the fun begins.....
My goal all along was to labor at home for a while so I wouldn't be stuck on my back in a hospital bed for 9 hours like I was with my son. I suspected this labor would go a bit faster, but never dreamed it would ever turn out like it did. I took a shower and took my time getting last minutes items into my hospital bag. Ronnie got Z some breakfast and I proceeded to call a couple friends and send a few text messages. Ronnie came into the bathroom at one point while I was chatting with a friend and drying my hair and said "ok, we better go. I don't want to have the baby in the car" (God was laughing at this point I am sure of it). I finished up and looked into my own eyes in the mirror as I prayed and tried to give myself a pep talk about having a naturally delivery. I prayed I would be strong enough to do it (with STRONG doubts in my head that I would).
8:30 AM
My 38 week checkup was scheduled for 11 AM that day and a part of me thought I may still go in for that appointment. But my doctor's office was going to open at 9 (just an hour after I got out of bed) so I called at 9:02 to see what she suggested I do. I sat down at the kitchen table with a bowl of Cinnamon Chex and as I explained everything to the doc she said to go ahead and head in to labor and delivery. I didn't have much of an appetite all the sudden so I just grabbed some yogurt for the road and we left. The last contraction as we walked out the door was pretty strong. I shoved everything in my hands into Ronnie's arms as I doubled over thinking "ok yeah, time to go."
My friend Christy who lives just a few blocks from the hospital was going to babysit Z for us that day. At first the plan was to drop him off at her place on the way, but about 3 blocks from home I changed my mind on that plan and had Ronnie call and ask her to meet us at the hospital. I started a group text to all the friends and family who had asked to be on the list of people we informed it was baby day. A mile or so into the drive two of my contractions came back to back and I breathlessly said to Ronnie "ugh, I need a break between those!" From there on out there would be no break. The drive became a blur as I tried really hard to stay quiet and not scare my son to death. I heard his sweet little voice in the backseat say "its okay Mama, don't cry. I will kiss it." Early on I assured him I was fine, but as the contractions intensified I could not longer contain the noises escaping from my mouth. I do remember looking out the window at one point to notice the giant Prestonwood Church only to have it register that we were only about half way there. I screamed "PASS THESE PEOPLE!" as Ronnie went about 60mph in a 30mph zone. I believe it was somewhere around there in the drive I asked my husband for an epidural...."Ok, I changed my mind, I want the epidural now!" Meanie wouldn't give me one humph. It was about then too that I realized I was still clutching my phone with intentions of finishing that text. Shortly after I threw my phone on the floor board.
The next 2 miles turned into blood curdling screams I really still cannot believe were me. If you know me you know I am not one to scream. Ever. About anything. Not on roller coasters, not if you scare the daylights out of me, I am pretty sure I would not scream if you told me I won the lottery. I just don't do it. That day I could have been cast in any horror movie ever made. My body was about 100 steps ahead of my brain because I actually still thought that checking in to the hospital and getting an epidural would be possible. Although I could not quite imagine how I was going to walk and get changed into a gown. That might be tricky. I remember actually apologizing to Ronnie for screaming and saying "but I cant stop!" The split second dialog in my head is pretty funny now that I think back on it because I was thinking I need to take my seat belt off and take off my pants, but another part of me was mortified at the thought of showing up with no pants on and another part of me knows how upset Ronnie gets when I take my seat belt off when we are driving (ha). Needless to say basic instinct won and here I was less than a mile from the hospital screaming "Oh no, I am pushing!" and Ronnie putting his hand on my stomach saying "well, stop pushing!" I will spare the gory details (as if this hasn't been enough already) and just say Ronnie had to make a very important decision at that moment as we were passing a fire station just 2 blocks from the hospital. He was thinking "do I stop or do I gun it through one last intersection?" He checked to see if he could feel her head since my water had broken at that point and I was pushing (sorry TMI!). Since he couldn't, he gunned it through the last intersection (a green light, thank you Jesus). I looked over and saw the hospital and begged and begged for him to pull in as we passed several entrances (he was going to the ER).
We FINALLY pulled in to the ER maybe 12-15 minutes after we pulled away from home. He honked at a couple walking in to the ER and swerved around them as he threw the car in park and sprinted into the ER. He pried the automatic doors open and screamed at anyone who would listen "My wife is having a baby - NOW!!!" A team of people jumped up to help and one grabbed a wheel chair. He said "No, you don't understand, I mean NOW!" At that point I am fully prepared to catch my own baby, unconsciously accepting that not only was a private child birth out of the cards for me, so was my coveted epidural. Along with nurses, volunteers, a firefighter, and whoever else came to my rescue, Ronnie came around to check on me from the drivers seat (which I was half-occupying at that point). I screamed "get Zayne away from me now!" Apparently he made it into the ER with Zayne just in time not to witness the delivery, but they were not spared the screams you could no doubt here in Oklahoma. A sweet nurse came around to the drivers seat and grabbed my shoulders and said "we are going to have this baby right here" and seconds later was telling me to push. With the middle console in my rib cage and a foot on the dash, my daughter was born right there in the front seat of my Toyota Four Runner about 3-4 minutes after we pulled up!
In spite of the shock I was in that would last for the next 2 days, I was completely tuned in listening for the sounds of an infant cry among all the buzz from the 12 people surrounding me talking about clamping, cutting, and whatever else. I heard the nurse behind my shoulders say 9:27AM as I held my breath waiting to hear a cry. A few seconds later I heard my sweet baby cry and immediately breathed out "Oh, thank you God". There was not even a doctor present yet, but a man came out and as I saw him reach for the baby I heard words like "clamp" and "cut the cord" but did not realize until he tried to pick her up that the cord was still attached. I so eloquently screamed "still attached!!" I guess someone came up with some scissors and since the parking lot was full of ER staff and not labor and delivery staff, they rushed her inside to grab blankets and get her warm and make sure she was breathing ok. I honestly did not even know she was gone because the moment they got inside they were intercepted by labor and delivery nurses who ordered them to bring the baby back out to mama NOW and get her skin to skin. In that 15 second stretch I sat up, grabbed the "Oh crap" handle of the car, looked at the woman who just caught my baby, and said "NOT in my birth plan!" Meanwhile Ronnie is in the ER holding Zayne and sees his daughter fly by him and says "hey, is that my baby?" They said "yes!" and quickly showed him and said "but we have to get her back out to mama". He yelled "are they ok?" as they ran back outside and he heard a fleeting "yes, they are good!"
Meanwhile back outside, the only man I remember seeing out there is helping me get out of the car and onto a stretcher. They are all buzzing around me talking about cutting my shirt off so they can get the baby skin to skin as they were told. Well, I had just bought that nursing tank so I offered to just take it off (I mean, why waste 20 bucks right?). I looked down at my sweet baby girl and remember trying to ask people if I should try to feed her since the books I read said to always get them to nurse as soon as possible. No one was listening to me so I just went ahead. Never in my life could I imagine I would be naked, in parking lot, nursing my daughter after just giving birth. In a car. In public. Yes, they did have sheets and blankets at that point so I am hoping I was at least mostly covered. But as they wheeled me inside and the sun was no longer shining bright in my eyes I realized I still had my sunglasses on my face. Apparently I gave birth with my cute, new black sunglasses with little rhinestones on the side. I chuckled as I heard comments about paparazzi and joked "no pictures please". I'll tell you what, the look on one patient's face who was standing in the hall in her gown wheeling her IV bag (no doubt trying to get her labor to progress), was classic. As we rolled by Ronnie looked at her and said "good job getting here.You don't want to have it in the car"
So little Lydia Rea joined us, just 25 minutes after I had calmly called my doctor that morning, at 9:27 AM on May 19th, 2014. She weighed 6lbs, 8oz and was 18.5 inches long. She is healthy and just perfect. In retrospect maybe shaving my legs in the shower was not the best decision I have ever made! And a lesson for all of you, be careful what you pray for. God took me very seriously when I said I wanted to try to have a natural childbirth!
The aftermath of the whole experience has been an adventure in and of itself. First of all, my son handled things surprisingly well and has recovered from it all. It took about 2 solid days of asking me "mama ok?" and reassuring himself over and over "mama's ok", for him to feel fully comfortable that I am alright. He has been more independent than ever and stayed with Christy and Grammy and Papa like a big boy while we were in the hospital. He came to visit and even left without me without a fuss. I am so proud of him and grateful that God was with him through the whole thing taking care of him. Later in the day I got a call from the PR woman for the hospital asking if she could share my story on the hospital's facebook page and possibly send it to some local news outlets to see if they were interested in running a story. I reluctantly said "sure" doubting anyone else would really care. But sure enough, we were on the 6 and 10PM NBC news the next day! Many of the sweet ER staff came up to visit us and check on us. They were beaming. Hearing their interviews for the news was awesome. I got to hear the whole story from their perspective. It sounded even crazier coming from them! But it was very cool to see how excited they all were. They see so much tragedy in the emergency room, they were all on cloud 9 getting to be a part of something so happy and positive. Hours later when my mother and father-in-law got there from Lubbock they walked through the ER to find us and said everyone was still talking about it and high-fiving each other. There was a buzz in there the rest of the day!
Just one day after our exciting entrance to the hospital, we were walking out - NBC cameras in tote filming the late night follow up story. Our perfect little angel has had quite the exciting life for a 6 day old and really has been an adventure since we learned of her existence. I cant help but wonder if she was paying me back for zip-lining while I was pregnant with her :-) Or maybe I just created an adrenaline junkie early on! Either way, she will have a fun (or incredibly embarrassing) story to tell as she gets older because no doubt none of us will ever let her forget how she came into the world. I never knew my heart was capable of so much love especially after having my son, but somehow it happens the moment you lay eyes on your children for the first time.
Link to the 6PM news story: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Baby-Delivered-Outside-of-ER_Dallas-Fort-Worth-260042771.html
Link to the 10PM news story: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Mother-Recounts-Dramatic-Delivery-Outside-of-ER-260024931.html
Link to a local newspaper that ran our story as well: http://starlocalmedia.com/planocourier/news/trip-to-hospital-turns-into-adventure/article_1c3db2ea-e1fb-11e3-b075-001a4bcf887a.html
