This is really embarrassing, but I have wanted to do this for over 2 years now! Andrew knew how much I wanted to have my labor story written down. I had received this email from him around Wyatt's first birthday. Warning: may be too much information.
As a birthday present to you, here is my recollection of last year.
It was a dark and rainy night...seriously though, I think it was raining, and it was definitely dark :). We went to bed late, which I remember thinking sucked because I was really hoping to catch up on some sleep before Wy was born. If you remember, earlier that week I had gotten really sick, like throwing up. I even slept on the couch one night. It was miserable, and I'm 95% sure it was from exhaustion. Anyway, I think we went to bed around 11pm. Nearly two hours later I was awoken by you saying something like "ummm, Andrew?", to which I responded, "huh, what?" (and the crazy thing is, I think I knew what you were going to say even before you said it. It was like I was anticipating it). "Umm, I think my water just broke." and I said, "Oh crap, do you think you can make it to the bathroom?" I think at that point we exchanged a few more words and then I grabbed you a towel or something and you made it to the bathroom. I stripped the sheets and started a load of wash (I think I even drove over to the nurses station to get you pads). We called Sarah SD and the midwives on call and were told to just hang tight and labor for a bit. I distinctly remember being bummed at that because I was so fired up to get down to the hospital. Anyway, you sat in the blue recliner in our room for a long time reading and trying to keep your mind busy. I drifted in and out of sleep, which I think eventually you did too. Early the next morning we began making preparations. We watched friends for a while and when Jonathan woke up we shared the news with him. At around 12pm We finally decided to head down to the mall before the hospital to walk around for a bit to see if that would bring on some contractions. I remember calling family on the way and letting them know that we were going in. I think we only did one lap around the mall before deciding we should just go in. We pulled into the hospital and I grabbed as much of our stuff as I could and we headed in. You were calm and collected but we were both obviously elated with the promise of Wyatt's pending arrival. When we walked in, we saw our dear friend Sarah SD awaiting our arrival in the waiting room. She helped us figure out where to go and continued to calm our nerves. Once in the room it seems like time moved so slow, but it also was over in a blink of an eye. I remember glimpses of it. Like you bouncing on the red ball and the three of us laughing at your adult diaper and making bets on when the baby would actually come. Sarah was the closest and I was the furthest away. We talked about turning the TV on a couple of times but instead decided to sit and enjoy each others company. Obviously at this point they were prepping you and asking you about pitocin, to which I remember you being hesitant, but ultimately we made the decision to do it in order to get that baby OUT! Contractions were coming, but you didn't feel them and they were really inconsistent. Over the course of the next few hours we just waited and waited. Seemed like forever. I can remember people touching base with me regularly and having to text everyone on both of our phones..."no nothing yet." Around 9 oclock the contractions began to kick in. I remember you contracting all over the room. In the bed for a bit, then on the ball, then standing up, then back in the bed, then back on the ball etc. I remember you going to the bathroom a lot and trying to figure out how to pee without pushing. I also remember you saying something like "you did this to me" or "this is all your fault," but you did it lovingly and we all laughed. As time went on you got back in the bed and began having more intense contractions. I also remember them coming in around 1030 or 11 and saying that you were around 7 cm and that it is usually about an hour a centimeter from here on out and when we get to 10 you can push. Gosh, I remember thinking 3 more hours and THEN we push!? This is taking forever. Well, things went really fast after that. In the next hour or so you got to 10 cm and then it was time to push. I remember one of the nurses asking you if you had felt the ring of fire yet and you saying "umm I think so" and they said "oh no, you'll know." I remember my face being so close to yours and us breathing together. It was like everything else was blocked out. You followed me perfectly doing everything I did. You focused and were so incredibly tough. I can remember getting really choked up during parts of it, not because the baby was coming but because you were in pain and there was nothing I could do. But you were incredible. You subconsciously did everything we had learned in our birthing class. You focused all of your energy down to get Wyatt out rather than wasting energy on screaming. You moaned, but it was never loud. As weird as it sounds I remember watching as you pushed and seeing him slowly emerge from your body. It was so crazy. And then after some more intense pushing he came out. Head first and then as his shoulders were working out the midwife looked at me and said, do you want to pull him out? Haha, I remember asking, "Can I wear gloves?", I mean c'mon, he was covered in goo. When it was time I put one hand on his chest and the other on his back and pulled him out an set him right on your chest. It was incredible. He was perfect, and so were you. We experienced this miracle together from start to finish and now he was resting on your chest. They did all of the standard tests after a while, but before that he just laid on your chest, nursing for the first time and just basked in your embrace. After a bit I got to hold him and everyone got to come in and see him. Before that though, Jonathan and Alison came in and got to see him first because they had kept postponing their road trip to get to meet him. Then Josh, Nathan, Eric, and the rest of the SD's got to come in and see him. I remember going out into the hallway and calling our families and revealing the name to them. Wyatt Michael Dean Bradford, our son. Our perfect little son, a gift from God.
Now it is one year later and our little boy is with us and he is incredible. I am so blessed by the two of you. Thanks for being the mom that you are. I am constantly inspired by you. Can't wait to see you tonight. I love you. Happy BIRTHday babe.
What I remember...
We had a doctor appointment that Friday and I was 4cm dilated and 80% effaced. My midwife thought I would go much earlier than my due date and even made a guess of June 5th. She also had said my uterus felt very taut and balloon like - like it was ready to pop. She could feel his head and he was very low. That night (12:51am) my water broke in bed. I obviously woke up and woke Andrew up. He asked if I could make it to the bathroom, and I said there is no way. I had SO much fluid coming out of me. He got me a towel and I proceeded to the bathroom. He cleaned up the bed (of course I was concerned that we didn't have a waterproof mattress pad on our bed and that our mattress would be ruined. The pads I had weren't' enough to hold all the fluid coming out of me, so Andrew went to the nurses station at camp and got me bigger/heavier ones. (The kind you never buy!) Like he said, we called the on call midwife and she said to just hang tight and if/when I start feeling contractions that are close together to come in. Well, I wasn't ever feeling any. We tried to get some sleep and the next morning called them again and they said to at least come in by that afternoon. I think we got to the hospital around 2. They hooked me up to the monitors and said I was having contractions. I didn't even know because I wasn't feeling them. It really was the craziest thing. I think it was around 4pm that they gave me pitocin to make my contractions more consistent. The pitocin started kicking in and a little too much when they I wasn't getting a break between contractions. They were coming one after the next. They put the pitocin back down a little so I wasn't feeling them so heavily. I think this was around 9pm. I remember almost passing out and getting all tingly feeling. They said later it was from the pitocin. I remember them giving me oxygen. Let me tell you, Andrew, Sarah (doula), and I were quite the team. Andrew was amazing - breathing with me the whole night, right by my side. He is going to do amazing this next time around too! At about midnight I started pushing. His little (BIG) head seemed to take forever to come out! :) About 51 minutes later he came out and was put right onto my chest. It was the most amazing thing ever - such a little miracle!
