Austin Michael

I'd like to add the story of the birth of my third child, Austin Michael (2/5/98), to the wonderful collection of stories that helped keep me occupied during my pregnancy. My two other children are 14 and 12, so needless to say I felt rather rusty about the whole process. We chose a wonderful Irish Midwife who worked for a reputable clinic here in Fayetteville (AR), and besides throwing up every day for 10 months, I savored every moment of what I decided would be my final pregnancy. Three's a good number for me. Anyway, after having Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks and seeing my due date come and go, true contractions started on Wednesday evening. They were very mild, but regular ( ten minutes apart ). My husband called our midwife, and the butterflies in my stomach from waiting to hear what she would say were much worse than the contractions! I was very disappointed to hear her instructions: go to bed! My first child was born after only three and a half hours of labor, and my second after only five. But that was twelve years ago, and this baby was much bigger than the others, so She seemed to think it was going to take longer this time. So, I went to bed and actually slept. I woke up at 5:30am to pee and on the way to the bathroom I had a contraction. I had just made it to the bathroom when my water broke. This may sound gross, but my first instinct was to reach down and catch it! Something was coming out, and I wasn't gonna let it hit the ground. When I saw what it was, and the greenish color of it, I said " Oh my God ", and my husband was out of bed like a bullet. I knew from the color of the stuff that the baby had passed his meconium(sp?), and that made me a little nervous, so we woke my daughter (my other child lives with his Dad) and hurried to the hospital. I did take time to call my best friend and my Mother in law to meet us there for moral support. During the ride there, every contraction I had would cause a huge gush of fluid, so by the time we got there I was soaked. It was pretty embarrassing walking into emergency like that but it was really early and I don't remember a lot of people around. We went right up to L & D and into a birthing suite. During my whole pregnancy, I had planned my birth to the last detail. I was going to be totally free and natural, I wanted to squat and rock and walk. I was going to shower for hours. Well, it didn't work out that way. Because of my water breaking and the color of the fluid, I was ordered to stay in bed with a fetal monitor hooked up and an i.v. in at all times. I even had to use a bedpan for the first four hours. My midwife arrived shortly after I got settled and surveyed the situation. We decided my contractions just weren't strong enough and she asked me how I felt about having some Pitocin. I'd read enough birth stories here to have some fresh fear of Pitocin, but agreed to it. My best friend and Mother in law arrived, so we spent the day watching the baby's heartbeat and my contractions arrive. I did my breathing excersises, and my husband gazed adoringly and my daughter bathed my brow with nice cool water. Sounds nice, and it was, but soon we realized not much progress was being made. Mari (my midwife) asked if she could give me more pit, and I said yes. They got stronger immediately, and she predicted a baby by dinnertime! That sounded good, I was getting tired. I remember the moment I said to myself " I'm in transition ", a thrill of fear hit me and I had everyone except my husband cleared from the room. Then things started happening fast, the contractions were fast and hard and when they wheeled the bassinet over to the foot of the bed I knew it wouldn't be long, and I started pushing as hard as I could. It hurt, but I knew to push through the pain, and it really does help, ladies. I remember Mari telling me I was a good pusher, and that encouraged me to bear down even harder, and the next thing I knew his head was out! My husband's face as he looked between my legs was priceless ( this is our only child together ). I was told to stop pushing, and I did manage to hold off for a few minutes. Then I screamed, " I gotta push again! " and she said, " O.k. go ahead! " and I did. Austin came sliding on out at 4:34pm, 7lbs. 12oz. and 21 inches long. My first two were only 5lbs 10oz, and 4lbs 13oz, so to me he was huge! I only tore a little on top, and it healed just fine. We were home within six hours, which I kind of regret because Austin was back in the hospital five days later with jaundice. If we had stayed overnight, they would have detected it because by then he had already turned yellow. They would have put him under the lights right away and probably spared him two rather traumatic days of treatment. That was two months ago, thank goodness, and now he's a gorgeous whopper of a boy! He weighs over twelve lbs., and he's happy, healthy, and king of the house. Sorry this is so long, but I'm so happy to finally get to add my experience to all the wonderful stories that helped prepare me once again for the precious miracle of birth. Thank you!