This post is coming a little late, but Thomas's birth was quite memorable, so I don't think I'll have too much trouble remembering things. This might be too detailed for some, but is mostly just to have it in writing. :-)
Right after Lorenzo went to work on Friday, I started having steady but not at all painful contractions. They lasted for a few hours, and then stopped. Lorenzo and I had an appointment with our midwife(who had stepped in while our original was out of the country) around noon. Our midwife and student midwife both said Thomas could come tomorrow, or next week. And that we should just keep them posted, and update our doula.
My mom came into town and we spent the afternoon together getting lunch and running some last minute errands. I was having some contractions in my back, that were a little painful, kind of like someone was shocking my lower back, but I could still walk and talk just fine. About the time my mom left it was time for Lorenzo to come home from work.
After Lorenzo got home from work my memory gets a little fuzzy. I know I wasn't in a lot of pain yet. I know we went for a walk, and we ate dinner. At around 9 or 10 at night the contractions started to get more consistent, and more painful, and only in my back. Lorenzo used the contraction timer on his phone, and my contractions were lasting about a minute, and coming about every 4 or 5 minutes. He texted the midwife and she suggested I take some benadryl and take a warm bath and try to get some sleep. I laughed when Lorenzo said that, and told him, there would be no sleeping, but I took two benadryl and a bath. I called our doula, and told her what was happening, and she said that the baby was probably in a bad position and I should do some exercises to help get him in the right position, and maybe go to a chiropractor first thing in the morning.
At about 11 Lorenzo and I got in bed. I tried to get some sleep while Lorenzo watched TV and played candy crush. As Lorenzo was playing on his iphone and dozing in and out of sleep, I started to have really painful contractions in my back. I think I told Lorenzo this was NOT the time to play candy crush, and NOT the time for him to sleep. Lorenzo texted and called our doula several times throughout the night, and she said she'd be over first thing in the morning, thinking the whole time that our baby was just in the wrong position.
I purposely didn't look at the clock all night, in hopes that time would go by faster. I spent most of the night in silence, praying that the Lord would give me strength and endurance, and keep our baby boy safe. In the dark and quiet of the night, I felt like Lorenzo, God, our baby, and I, were the only beings in the entire universe. Philippians 4:13 ran through my mind over and over again, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I was so thankful for Lorenzo through all of this, and so thankful that he had paid attention through all of our birthing classes and appointments with the midwife. The one technique (the double hip squeeze) that we had learned in our birthing class, that I thought Lorenzo didn't know how to do correctly, ended up being the ONLY thing that helped all night long.
11PM to 4:30AM was a blur. Lorenzo had called and texted the doula a few times, but we had mainly been in go mode, working through nonstop contractions. At about 4:30 in the morning, Lorenzo could tell that my contractions weren't stopping. If anything, I would get a break of 20 or 30 seconds in between each one. I told him that I felt like I needed to push and that I wanted our doula to come. He called our doula and she said she would be over soon. A little after 5 our doula showed up. She was immediately able to help me calm down and breath easier through the contractions. After about 10 or 15 minutes she said we should head to the birthing center....which was 45 minutes away. The thought of driving 45 minutes seemed impossible, and I didn't think I was going to be able to handle these contractions for another four or five hours.
As we drove out of our apartment complex, the Matt Maher song, "Lord I need You" came on the radio. And all I could do was try to sing along, and make that my prayer.
"Lord, I come, I confess
Bowing here, I find my rest
Without You, I fall apart
You're the One that guides my heart
Lord, I need You
Oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense
My righteousness
Oh, God how I need You"
After driving down the road for about 15 minutes, the urge to push was getting too strong to stop. Our doula, who had been telling me to breath through my contractions and not to push, changed her tune, and calmly just told me to do whatever I needed to. What seems like seconds later,(it may have been a minute or two), Thomas was born, as Lorenzo was driving down the interstate, in our Honda Civic. I didn't even know what had happened until after he was born, and I heard his cry. I think Lorenzo and I were both in shock. The doula picked him up, wrapped him in a towel, and placed him in my hands. He was moving, crying, and absolutely perfect. Lorenzo finally found a place to pull to the side of the road, and turn around to see our beautiful baby boy. We were in awe, and not at all worried that our son had just been born in a car.
At that point we decided to drive back to our apartment, instead of going to the birthing center, which we were still about thirty minutes away from. Our midwife and assistant midwife arrived at our apartment about five minutes after we did. Thomas and I both ended up being perfectly fine. It was a crazy, crazy, night. One which I hope never to repeat. I had originally been afraid that I wouldn't be able to go through a "natural childbirth". But now I feel like I can conquer much more than I thought I could before. Through the whole experience, I grew even closer to Lorenzo, and even closer to the Lord. And, now our son, Thomas Owen Pablo, has a pretty awesome story to tell people when he's older.
It was an experience to say the least, not the experience we wanted, but I did learn from it. I think everyone involved learned from it. I would certainly use a midwife in the future. My advice for mommies to be, would be not to feel like you're going to be a burden by calling your midwife during the middle of the night, if you're having contractions. In the future I will ask for help from the professionals early. And tell them I need help and to come, if asking or explaining is not enough. I will not be worried about coming off paranoid, or as an inconvenience. I think more than anything, I learned that it's important not to put too much importance in an experience you hope to have. I so hoped to have a peaceful birth out in the country at a beautiful birthing center, surrounded by my birthing team and husband. It didn't quite turn out that way, but in the end, that's really ok. God was most definitely present, and was most definitely watching over us, and that is what matters.
