This is not a story of a peaceful home birth; the dramatic
entrance of Theodore into this world was anything but peaceful.
This pregnancy was the most unusual pregnancy I went through, ending with the most unusual birth. Theodore was born into his father’s arms
because he decided that he just wouldn't wait.
In the last few weeks preceding the delivery I kept having
lots of strong, irregular contractions. I was pretty sure they were getting my
body ready and also remembered my – then – youngest son’s birth that lasted
only 1.5 hours. So – partially seriously, partially in jest - I looked up
“Emergency Birth How-to” video on Youtube and had my hubby, Petr, watch it “just
in case”. He concluded after watching the video that he hoped that wouldn't
happen to him…
Fast forward to Wednesday, May 21st. I woke up at around 5 am due to pretty strong
contractions. They were strong, yet irregular. My doctor always told me the
difference between the “real deal” and Braxton Hicks is the regularity of contractions…well,
I thought, this wasn't the case. So I tried to go back to sleep, as I knew I
had couple of things to do during the day and wanted to keep my strength. I
woke up again about an hour later and told Petr that we would probably go to
the hospital today, but let’s take things slow and see…because I was still
unsure whether this was just a false alarm. Upon agreement Petr woke the kids,
got them ready for school (while I wallowed in bed) and we agreed it’d be best
if he dropped them off to school and came back home to take me to OSF. I
decided to call my midwife and doctor, shower, eat a lot of food (because they
never let you eat anything but those darn ice chips in the hospital), and
generally be ready for him.
They left home around 7:30 and at that point my contractions (really painful) were around 8 minutes apart (but still not regular!)…so I thought we sure still
had a lot of time. On top of that my water didn’t even break and in all my
three previous pregnancies my water always broke first and then the contractions
kicked in. I decided to make myself scrambled eggs (Girl’s gotta have protein
before any hard work, right?) and at that point I was bending over and
breathing through the contractions as they came a little closer and lasted
quite a long time (2 minutes…I know some of you more experienced moms would
know then, but I was still clueless - or in denial?). As I was cooking the eggs,
the thought that this might be an active labor occurred to me and I thought how
funny that would be if I later told the doctor that I cooked eggs through the
active phase of my labor…
At this point, I lay back down and tried to eat and watch
Netflix to distract myself. I realized that my favorite sitcom is making me
seriously annoyed and that was a first red flag because I remembered how
irritable I was during Victor’s birth during the active labor approaching the
transition. What now? I called my midwife and told her that I was in labor, but
didn’t mention that I might be far into it (denial anyone?), we agreed to meet
in the hospital in about 30 minutes. I called my doctor but he was in a
surgery. Then I frantically started calling Petr, at that point I thought we
were still gonna make it to the hospital, but had no doubts about being in
active labor anymore. I ended up moaning/screaming through the next couple of
contractions (Scientologists wouldn’t approve) and sat on a gym ball/birthing
ball to relieve the coming pressure (thinking back now, I’m pretty sure I
helped speed up the process doing this). I called Petr again and told him that
I felt like I needed to push. He said he was about 15 minutes away from home. I
then set my mind to not having this
baby any time soon. Mind is a powerful thing and so is the state of denial.
Petr was frantic at that point – he realized that we were close to having this babe, that I was
home alone, there was no gas in the car and he was still far away from home.
When he got home, he found me on the birthing ball rocking back and forth and
immediately grabbed our stuff and ran for the car. I tried to follow…veeeery sloooowly
– but didn’t make it far. I was about to walk out the main door when I dropped
to the floor and started screaming at Petr to call 911 that we were having this
baby right now. He didn’t see me, as he was by the car and thus tried to
persuade me that I can make it. Nope. It took him only one glance at me to
realize that this is real.
I was so overwhelmed that I pretty much completely lost it.
My doctor’s office called back and I picked up and told them (I’m pretty sure I
screamed at them) that the baby is coming now and the only thing I can remember
is the nurse telling me to find something to tie the umbilical cord
with…shoelaces anyone? Yeah, no hot water and strips of linen as you see in the
movies, you need shoelaces, people.
My water then broke and I couldn’t talk to her anymore, so I
handed Petr the phone – at this point he is on two phones at once, talking to
my doctor’s office and the 911 operator, who is telling him to turn me on my
back (I was on all fours). I absolutely refused to cooperate with him, poor
guy. I remember him telling me to lie down on my back and me screaming back at
him, NO, NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT and trying to kick him!
So picture this beautiful
scene – our door wide open, me lodged in the doorway on all fours screaming - I mean screaming
– my head off and Petr trying to figure out what to do. He ended up pulling me
in by my legs just enough to be able to close the door (and save what’s left of
my dignity before the neighbors) and managed to get me on my side. By then he
saw the babe’s head and I started pushing already anyway. I think this was the
first time I sort of calmed down…my mind finally let go of the idea that I have
to hold that baby in and listened to my body - and Petr. The baby was born so
fast the only thing Petr had time to grab was a towel (no shoelaces). He said
he didn’t even wash his hands, so much for sanitary environment, ha. The one
thing I kept thinking was that my floor is so filthy and this is where my baby
will be born! Theodore’s shoulder was slightly lodged and Petr had to loosen it
up. But after that, he was out.
The whole thing didn’t last more than 5 minutes
and there was the baby in Petr’s (unwashed) arms! Thank God at the same time
the EMTs arrived and immediately took care of the baby’s cord and generally
took over, which we were very grateful for.
Amazingly the baby’s Apgar score was a perfect 10! The
paramedics loaded me up on a stretcher and got me to the hospital. After that
everything was a boring routine compared to what we just went through. Petr
drove himself to the hospital and came to the nurses’ station shaking; when he
announced that he just delivered his own child, I’m pretty sure they thought
they had a lunatic wander into their department.
We are beyond grateful for the protection and safety that
God provided for us that morning. My friend told me that she prayed for me all
morning (didn’t know what was happening at that time) and one of the nurses on
the phone was a friend from the church who also started praying for me
immediately. God truly gave us an amazing gift that morning, even if the
“unwrapping” was a crazy mess.
Petr is and always will be my hero. I really don’t know how
he kept calm throughout the whole thing and was able to do what he did. I told
him that if I was the one in his place, I’d be running through the woods
crying!
Theodore is our last child - nice little period at the
end….or rather an exclamation mark.
