Goodbye, New Car Smell; Alden's birth story

Everything you read says every pregnancy is different and every baby is unique. I’m lucky that my pregnancies are pretty easy – almost no morning sickness and few other “pregnancy symptoms” like food aversions, moodiness and edema. In fact, of all three pregnancies, Alden was probably the easiest – it was barely evident at 20 weeks that I was even pregnant.

Deciding to add Alden to our family was the biggest hurdle in his story (which is a nice change of pace after the first two). Number 3 – a major parenting transition, so I’m told (and so I’m beginning to see in action). We took the plunge and decided to go for number 3 despite minor trepidation. I’m 98% sure it was the right decision, but I still have tiny waves of panic and wonder how I’ll manage (but I know I will).

Welcoming Vaughn via a natural, unmedicated birth was a wonderful experience. His labor was fast and there were almost no complications. Unfortunately, we were still held in the hospital for 48 hours following his birth, which for me, is one of the least restful places on earth. We had considered alternatives to a hospital birth when we were expecting Vaughn, but we weren’t ready to take that step. When we crossed the 20-week threshold with Alden, we agreed to move our care to a birthing center and fortunately Labor of Love in Dunedin wasn’t entirely booked up for December babies! I can’t say enough about how wonderful my care was at Labor of Love, and I would definitely recommend that everyone with a routine/uncomplicated pregnancy check out alternatives to hospital birth!

Alden was due on December 20th, but unlike his older siblings, he decided to show up a few days early rather than a few days late. That was totally fine with me, might I add! I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions since around 32 weeks (which is a very long time considering I didn’t have them with Emerson or Vaughn) and by 38 weeks, I was having long periods of discomfort – lower back tension, abdominal tightness, and achiness. I hoped it was a sign we might welcome him on December 13th (12/13/14) but the day came and went with no Alden. The days between the 13th and the 17th (when he joined us) were frustrating! I kept wondering if I was just having more Braxton-Hicks contractions or if it was the real thing, and I worried that when it was the real thing, I wouldn’t recognize it in time to make the 40-minute drive to the birthing center. Especially frustrated and uncomfortable on December 16th, I stayed on the sofa and wondered if I would get any sleep at all. I woke up right before 6AM pretty uncomfortable and discovered my first signs of labor, the bloody show. I was relieved that the ball was rolling, but the question still remained – how long do I have? I wasn’t having any contractions, just a steady dull ache in my back, so I prepped the kids’ breakfast and got their backpacks ready as I texted friends who would come to make sure the kids got to school and had a place to go after school.

By 7, I started to feel a rhythm to the discomfort, so I made the call to my midwife at 7:15. My contractions were still 6-7 minutes apart and were only about 30-40 seconds long, so according to the books, it wasn’t time to head to the birthing center (which is usually recommended when contractions are 5 minutes apart and last for 1 minute). I let my midwife know the kids were almost ready to head out the door and then I planned to get in the car and head to the birthing center. I estimated we would arrive at about 8:30. Within 15 minutes or so, my contractions had gotten stronger, but were still pretty spaced out. I told Nick we needed to head out. A few more last minute preparations and we were in the car by 7:40. The mapping app told us it would take about 33 minutes to get there if traffic cooperated, and it largely did. Nick drove us in my car (a Toyota Sequoia) so there was plenty of room in the back for me to maneuver and labor in pretty much any position. I had actually done some test laboring to make sure there was room for me and the logistics of the situation worked.

It was all going swimmingly… my contractions were getting closer, but were still 3-4 minutes apart, and lasted only about 45 seconds to a minute. I wasn’t exactly worried about our timeline – in fact, I distinctly remember hoping the labor would not be drawn out once we arrived. While a natural birth is an exhilarating experience, it is definitely not a comfortable one. However, about five minutes before we arrived at the birthing center, I felt (and I really mean I FELT) my bag of waters break. It was like those chemical ice packs that you pop one bag inside another and with the next contraction, my water was all over the car.

My 5-month old car.

No more new car smell, but hey, if there’s one thing better than new car smell, surely it’s new baby smell, right? Before my next contraction, we arrived at the birthing center. Nick jumped out of the driver’s seat and opened the rear door, but I couldn’t seem to maneuver myself out of the car. In hindsight, I realized I had neglected to consider the fact that Nick would move the driver’s seat all the way back, which significantly decreased the space between it and the seat behind it. I was trapped.

With the next contraction, I was sure Alden was on the cusp of crowning, but Nick said his head wasn’t yet visible. I knew from my experience with Vaughn (who was born after just a few contractions and about 30 minutes after my water broke) that time was short and insisted that Nick stay with me because Alden’s arrival was imminent. In fact, Alden crowned with the very next contraction (in case you’re counting, this was the second contraction after my water broke) and the contraction that followed (contraction number 3) delivered the rest of him. In the car. It was at this point that my midwife joined us, which you can hardly fault her for – I had told her we would be there at 8:30 and Alden joined us at 8:21. After a moment or two, I maneuvered around and scooted out of the car while Nick held Alden. I took Alden from him and walked into the birthing center with Alden still attached by the umbilical cord.

The car has since made a complete recovery following a full detail. :D

#newborn #baby #delivery #birth