Jake's Birth - Part 3, The Finale!

As we zoomed off to the hospital, Scott started making phone calls to his parents and our friends to give them the great news. We both knew this was it! Jake was on his way! The contractions on the way to the hospital were pretty bad, but I was breathing through them. When I had Tyler, I did exactly what they tell you NOT to do - I was holding my breath and tensing up during each contraction. For that reason, I think this car ride to UNC seemed a lot shorter than the one on the way to have Tyler. We pulled onto Manning Drive and Scott asked me if I wanted him to drop me off or if I wanted to walk from the parking garage. Walk, I said. When people heard I walked in from the garage, they think it's because I'm some badass superwoman. Not the case. The reality? I just did not want to be alone. I needed Scott with me and he held my hand as we walked towards the maternity ward.

Once we got to the 4th floor - labor and delivery - I got checked in. I was standing up at this point at the counter, but still having contractions about every 3 or 4 minutes. It was funny to see the progression of the nurses' reactions. At first, they were going to admit me into triage and then in about 2 seconds, they said, "OK, I think we can put you straight into a room." I heard one nurse call over the phone "We need to get Room 5 prepped for delivery. We got one huffing and puffing out here."

They walked me to the delivery room and Susan - the midwife on call at the time - wasn't too far behind me. Susan is awesome. She is the kind of person who would remain calm in ANY situation. She has this calming voice and has a way of saying things in such a positive way.

They had me change into a gown and pee - which I really needed to do since I had downed a ton of water earlier to stay hydrated. As I was changing in the bathroom, my legs started to shake a lot. At this point, I'm thinking, "I've got to at LEAST be 5 or 6cm". I was 5 when I came in with Tyler and since I was 4cm just a few days ago, I was really hoping for 6.

I climbed into the hospital bed and got checked out. I will never forget what Susan said next.

"Well Katy, I know your preference was to go drug free and you're in luck, because you don't have a choice. You're 9 cm."

Scott and I were elated. Then scared. Then excited. All in about 5 seconds.

I was continuing to have the same type of contractions as they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and took my temp. In fact, as the nurse was taking my temp, I was having a contraction and had to tell her point blank, she needed to get that thermometer out of my mouth so that I could breathe.

Next Susan said, "Now Katy, as you feel these next contractions, you might try and moan a little."

Huh? I thought. Moan? See, I'm not what you would call a reserved person, but I don't let it all hang out either. There was a room full of people in there and I wasn't exactly wanting to moan through these things. No thanks.

About 30 seconds later, I understood.

HOLY CRAP!!! I really can't explain transition contractions. It was like I had a vice grip wrapped around my entire body and it was pulling me in every direction. There was NOTHING that could have kept me from screaming out. Seriously, Ed McMahon could have been in the delivery with the big check, offering me a billion dollars to keep my mouth shut. It was not happening.

After a few of these Godzilla-sized contractions, my water broke.  Susan immediately noticed there was meconium in it. In layman's terms...poop. Not mine, Jake's. Because of this, they called in the peds unit. Apparently, pediatricians in the hospital travel in packs. There's always like 8 of them, so the room got a little crowded.

Susan told me it was going to get a little crowded in there, but not to worry about it and to focus. At this point, I was ready to push. As I was pushing, I kept leaning over to Scott and asking, "Are we close?" I needed to know if it was going to be 20 minutes or 2 hours. I needed to prepare myself for 2 hours, but was thinking, it HAS to be 20 minutes. Scott assured me we were close.

About 4 or 5 pushes in, Jake arrived! It was 7:07 PM on Thursday, August 19th. Scott later looked back at his phone to see when he called his dad on the way to the hospital. That was 5:45 PM, and we were still in Mebane, which is 30 minutes from the hospital. Bottom line, if I hadn't have listened to my instincts, we would have had Jake on the side of the Interstate.

After I delivered him, I couldn't hold him immediately because of the meconium issue. If a baby breathes it in, it's pretty serious. But I was able to lean up and see him. He was beautiful and looked JUST like Tyler. The peds checked him out and returned him to me in about 10 minutes, but it seemed like an hour before I could hold him.

My two labor experiences were really quite different, but ended quite the same - with a beautiful, sweet baby boy!