Delivery (39 weeks)

Brian took me to the hospital. I was getting extremely uncomfortable with contractions sometimes only 2 minutes apart. It was hard with Brian driving because he had to focus on driving and was unable to comfort me much like back at home. I was pretty emotional during the trip to the hospital. Throughout this pregnancy my hormones have not been that crazy and I have not been too emotional. But during the car ride there, I was emotional. I was scared, in pain, and did not know what to expect. I had never done this before and I was starting to doubt myself.

Once we got to the hospital, Brian dropped me off at the door and I waited for him to park the car. There was no way I was going anywhere without Brian. I decided I wanted to walk up to labor and delivery. It was a long walk but I knew I could do it. I had to stop a few times along the way for contractions but I made it. Someone saw us and offered to get a wheelchair, but I told them I wanted to walk. We checked in at the desk. They were not that friendly at first. They asked why I was here and seemed to be annoyed that I was having contractions at the desk. I was completely in control however. I was not screaming or acting funny. I would breathe though them then continue to do what they asked. I don't think they thought I was really having strong contractions that far into labor.
Next they placed me in a triage room. The nurse made a rude comment about us bringing our hospital bag. She was skeptical that we would even be admitted. This did not start things off on a good note but we were determined to make this a positive experience. The physician checked me and realized I was 6-7 cm and 95% effaced (you need to be 10 cm to deliver). Need less to say, we were staying and having this baby pretty soon.

I was never really sure if my water had broke. In triage the one test showed it did however the other showed it did not. Later we realized that the bag of water was still surrounding baby’s head. My bag of water probably had a small leak, but had never really ruptured fully.

They moved me to a labor and delivery room. It was amazing because now all of a sudden everyone was in rush mode to get everything ready. They prepared the room for delivery and with equipment needed for the baby after the birth. There were 4-5 nurses doing a lot of different things to get me settled and ready. Now they knew we meant business and we were not so crazy for coming to the hospital.

All the nurses were much nicer from this point forward. In their defense they probably see a lot of people coming to the hospital when they should not be there yet. Also, as we later found out, most first time moms come in planning to have a natural child birth but few actually do. We at least took natural childbirth classes so that helped. They said only a few percent of people deliver naturally. Our second shift nurse said it has been 1-2 months since she last had someone who delivered naturally. We wrote a birth plan, but never actually handed out copies. Brian just talked to them about what we wanted and decided it wasn't necessary. It was nice because the nurse allowed me to be on the birthing ball. At first she was not too sure about this idea but soon agreed that it would be fine. They even let me take off the monitors for a while once they established that everything looked good. The birthing ball was wonderful. It really helped with the pain and pressure. I put it at the foot of the bed and held onto the bed while facing the bed with my head on a couple of pillows. It worked out nice.

After about an hour or two alone on the ball the nurse asked me to please get in bed. Baby’s heart rate was dropping during contractions. Also it was hard for them to pick up baby’s heart beat all the time when I was on the ball. I agreed and it was probably a good time to get into bed. Once I got into bed I tried making a nest like we learned about in Bradley classes. I needed to get a comfortable and relaxed as possible. A hospital bed is not the most comfortable. They checked me and I was about 8 cm dilated now.

Brian was amazing! I could not have done this without him. Yes, I delivered the baby but Brian really did do so much work too. If it was not for him, I know I could not have done it! Brian would get me cool washcloths as needed. I was hot most of the time during labor. He would massage my head and back constantly. Anything I needed, he was there! I really cannot give him enough credit! Even the nurses were jealous of what a great support person Brian was and wished they could have had all those massages.

When I hit the transition stage in labor things got pretty intense. I tried to focus but I did not have one certain thing to focus on. I had brought things but none of them interested me at that time. Most of the time I had my eyes closed and was holding on to the side of the bed. Brian kept reassuring that I was doing great and encouraging me to keep it up. My doctor arrived and had to break my water. They had talked about having another doctor do it about an hour earlier, but he got pulled into a surgery so I had more time to wait and see. Since it still hadn't broken and I was already 9.5 cm at that point, they went ahead and broke it. Towards the end of transition, I still was not able to push but they told me I could bear down if needed. That was wonderful. I really wanted to bear down so I did that a lot. That was the first time that I really started making noises. The pain was pretty intense!

Finally I was at the pushing stage. I was thinking that was going to be better. Pushing did not go so well for me. I could not find a comfortable position. I would end up fighting against myself and I knew I was not making any progress. Then one of the nurses suggested the squat bar and that was the best thing ever. They lowered down part of the bed so I could use the squat bar to squat and push. I did that a few times and it helped, but it didn't work for long. Eventually I ended up laying back down on by back. The squat bar was there and was helpful because I could rest my feet up there while waiting to push again between contractions. I pushed for about an hour before our beautiful son was born! He was born at 8:56pm on 1-22-11. He was 8lb 1.5 oz and 21 inches long.


Right after he was born they placed him on my chest. I was still amazed that I actually delivered this baby naturally which we had been waiting for so long. I was shaking from everything my body had been though but it was such a great feeling to have baby in my arms. Brian cut the cord and took pictures. We named our precious baby boy: Austin Patrick. We just love him so much! We could not ask for anything more. Everything so far says that he is healthy and that is all that matters.

The nurses took Austin to the nursery to get him cleaned up. Before they did this, Brian went downstairs and got my parents and they came up to see the baby. To help me focus, I wanted Brian to be the only one in the delivery room with me other than the doctors and nurses. My parents had been down in the waiting room since we got to the hospital. I also ended up taking a shower because I felt so gross from everything from labor.

Finally they took me to my new postpartum room around midnight. My dad was nice enough to go get us dinner at 11pm at night. We were all hungry. Then the nurses brought Austin back into our room and I fed him and we all tried to get some sleep.

We never told our family what the names were going to be. During labor, Brian sent everyone pre-programmed clues as text messages. Several people figured out what names we had lined up. Our theme was cities. Austin (city) Patrick (Brian's middle name) was the choice if it was a boy and Sydney (city) Lynn (my middle name) if it was a girl.

Here were the clues Brian sent out via text message during labor:

• If it is a boy, it could have the same nickname as one of the Cavs players. (Anthony Parker - nickname is A.P.)


• If it is a girl, its nickname could be similar to a medical syndrome we want to avoid (SIDs)


• Both names have a common theme. The theme is not the Cavs but it is something we have spent more money on than the Cavs. (Travel)


• The most fitting day of birth for either name might be January 26 because of this holiday (Australia Day)


• No worries mate. You'll find out eventually (hint towards Australia for Sydney, Australia and Austin for starting like Australia)


• Both names have decline in popularity over the last 10 years but were both still in the top 80 most popular names as of 2009