Noah's birth story

I spent every day of May wondering *Is this it?* *Is this it?* Starting May 2 I had contractions every single day, sometimes for hours on end. May 23 I went into labor, only to stop 36 hours later at 4 centimeters. It was all very disheartening.

Finally at 4:02 am May 29 my water broke. I was so excited I cried. Contractions started about an hour later coming every 5 minutes. The midwife, Debbie, came out around 9 am . Contractions started slowing down. I went walking around the block several times, but it didn't really do much. Debbie suggested we go driving down some bumpy roads, so my mom drove me. It was horrible. The contractions started coming two minutes apart and were very painful. Debbie checked me and I cried when she said I was only 4 1/2 centimeters. I got in the birth pool and it helped. I was able to find some sort of Zen and talk to myself through my contractions. I just kept telling myself they were almost over. It helped a lot, plus squeezing Bryan's hand was nice, too.

At around 4:30 pm things started getting really intense. Debbie checked and I was 7 1/2. We thought things would go very fast. She had to leave at 5:30 to attend her sons high school graduation. Robin, the other midwife, would stay with us. Debbie and I both talked about how sad we were that she would miss the birth. She said she would be back around 9 ish to check on us. She did not miss the birth. I had a very small part of my cervix that would not move. Debbie called it my bubble. It prevented Noah's head from coming through the cervix completely. We spent hours trying to get it to g away. I went though endless contractions fighting the urge to push hping it would help the bubble go away. It didn't. They massage it and pushed it. Nothing helped. We changed positions, nothing. Finally I pushed while Debbie pushed it back over his head. That didn't help either. Debbie finally suggested I try to use the bathroom and then we were going to try something else, but now I don't remember what it was. While I was on the toilet the bubble moved and all of a sudden his head was right there. I barely made it to the couch. I started pushing and boy it sure took longer than I remembered to push his head out. Finally I did. In reality it probably wasn't that long, but it felt like it. It turns out it was a very good thing I did not get back into the birth pool because right about then all hell broke loose. That really is the only way to describe it. Debbie looked at me and said we needed to get the baby out in the next contraction. It didn't work. I was pushing as hard as I could. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on and asked and Debbie said he was stuck on my pelvic bone. He needed out NOW. I cried that I couldn't do it and she said I had to. My mom started screaming at me that I needed to do it now. She was crying. Bryan, Debbie, and Robin were all down there (Bryan was supposed to be delivering himself before Noah got stuck). One was pushing my vagina back as far as they could while the other two pulled. My poor little Noah has perfect finger bruises. Finally we got him out. They put him on my chest and Bryan told me we had a boy. He was born at 9:46 pm. He was a bit blue. He did not start breathing or crying and got more blue. Debbie rushed for the oxygen while Robin started rubbing him trying to stimulate him. He was still attached to the cord, so still getting oxygen through it, but he needed to breathe on his own. It took four minutes for him to breathe or cry. During those four minutes I heard the word transfer whispered. Luckily we didn't have to. Noah started crying and breathing and pinked right up, but those four minutes were a bit scary.

Now we're both doing well. My pelvic bone is bruised, but other than that I feel fine. Miraculously I did not tear at all, even with all the pulling and pushing. Noah has an appointment with a pediatrician today because he has a bruised nerve in his arm from being stuck and being pulled. He moves his hand and grips, but doesn't move his arm much. Hopefully we can fix it. I feel horrible guilt over his injury and hope it isn't permanent. I have a friend whose son had the same thing, only worse, he couldn't move his hand or fingers at all. In less than a year you couldn't tell that anything had ever been wrong. I hope we have the same blessing.

Oh, and my boy got stuck because he was huge. 22 inches long, 14 5/8 inches head, and 10 lbs 6 oz!!!