The 5 reasons I'm grateful my daughter was born in the car.
It's been 6 weeks and people are still talking about the story of our crazy car birth. Some people I know and they may have heard it from my mouth, some people I do not know at all and they may have only heard bits and pieces of our story from others so I figured that I would put it in a blog and explain to everybody what truly happened.
Where do I even begin? This is a story that's gonna be crazy and it may be a little too bold for some people but after all it is a birth story. You have been warned. Here are The 5 reasons I'm grateful my daughter was born in the car.
1- I am Grateful I was able to Labor at Home
I had a silly fear that i would be in labor for days in the hospital and not be able to eat, be starving, grouchy and not have the strength for labor. Well I was WRONG.
Flu or Pre-Labor?
December 15, 2016 is a day that I had been waiting for. It was the night of Jason’s employee dinner and holiday party. Being pregnant and in my third tri I had not really got out much. I was pretty excited to actually get ready and to go out looking pretty cute if I do say so myself. The date had been marked on the calendar and days had been counted down. Kentlee (my toddler daughter) was chilling at home with Gigi (my mom) and we were on our way.
It was a great prime rib dinner and the entertainment was a very funny hypnotist. It was fun to see everybody having a good time and I was tempted to be one of the volunteers when he was describing how great they would feel and sleep after he was done. What hugely pregnant lady would not want a good night sleep. And the no aches and relaxed body sounded even better because I could not help but be uncomfortable.
I had to get up and walk around several times and then I sat squirming in my chair most of the other time. Some of it was normal super prego pains and some of it was new. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for months and they were not getting worse so I thought I had just overdone it carrying my daughter around or doing household chores, who knows I just kind of hurt all over. I also started to feel queasy. Was I getting the flu? Did I eat something bad? I had eaten Chinese food for lunch so of course I'm thinking I must have had something bad. It got worse and I actually got very sick and ended up puking as we were getting ready to leave... not fun anymore and really not the impression I wanted to leave with my husbands co workers but it happens.
We came home and I remember telling my mom goodbye, thank you, and that I did not feel well. I knew it would get better or it would get worse. I told Jason the same thing as we were getting in bed. Nothing really seemed to extremely different from normal pains I had been dealing with for a couple weeks. I just felt off and could not pinpoint it.
I did not get very much sleep, I was still sick and making frequent visits to the bathroom so I decided to stop fighting for sleep and just get up and do something. I figured at this point I had to be pretty dehydrated and maybe that is what was causing the pains. I grabbed a book about essential oils and pregnancy, Might as well study and see if I could figure out what to do if the bath did not help me feel better. I also made a batch of my power bath salts, using my favorite 8 essential oils to help balance the body systems and create homeostasis. Big talk for super relaxing and soaked in the tub knowing that the bath salts could help with some of the dehydration. For one more fighting strategy I made some of my homemade electrolyte drink to really kick this sickness to the curb. The bath helped and was heavenly so I soaked until the water got cold and then filled the tub up again. I ended up soaking for almost two hours.
Big surprise being pregnant and drinking my electrolyte drink I got out to pee a few minutes before 3:30 and noticed a spot of blood in the tub. Yeah random that I know the time but I knew it was probably something that needed to be remembered. I thought-wow I just lost my mucus plug. I jumped back in shower rinsed off and started to feel the contractions kick up another level no more Braxton Hicks so I also began tracking and timing the contractions. They were not much stronger just a little more annoying.
I did a couple things around the house, pretty much started to grab my oils and a few things for the hospital because I did not have a bag packed yet, we had not even talked about who we would have watch Kentlee or anything. I also had not pre registered at Labor and Delivery. I had been seeing my Dr every other week, we had not even down any pelvic exams to check for dilation yet. I was just under 36 weeks, I had planned to do most if this prep the following week. But it looked like this was happening and it was way too early. 4 weeks too early.
I wanted to let my poor husband get as much sleep as he could. I also knew we needed to pawn Kentlee off on a family member and it would be a rude awakening for others this early in the morning so I was trying to hold out. But this baby did not care and she was coming.
I had to pee again (can’t say I miss the prego peeing every 5 minute thing at all)and this time there was a pretty good amount of blood I was thinking yep definitely passed the mucus plug there is no stopping it now. Time to wake the troops.
I woke up Jason and started throwing a couple things in a bag. We called Jason’s parents and thankfully they live right by us so it was easy to take Kentlee to them. Now my sweet and amazing husband is adorable and put on her shoes and coat and I think he even had on a hat. Normal labors considered this would not be a problem, there is usually hours to go and time is not in short supply. But I was getting grumpy and starting to hurt, I still did not realize how close we were getting but I had thoughts that we should just wrap her in a blanket and RUN. The contractions were starting to hurt and slow me down when they hit. No more kidding around time to go.
While he was gone I called Labor and Delivery and told them we were coming. We were 20 minutes away. Just as the phone call was ending a contraction hit and it was on...this one stopped me in my tracks, even worse it also made me throw up again. So Jason comes back, tells me they had lost the binki on the way up and he needs to run one up. Kentlee drops those damn things all the time, and yet she usually has to have one too. Yeah they are pretty annoying and I have a stockpile of them and cannot bring myself to stop giving them too her. So he runs off again and I head to the car because I KNOW Puking and labor are not good, it means the baby is coming and it is happening soon.
Let me back up a little and tell you how I know some of these tidbits. I love learning new things. The last few years I have been learning about alternative and natural options for health and wellness, thus the mention of essential oils earlier and making my own electrolyte drink. I am actually quite obsessed with essential oils as many of you know and will talk/teach about them as long as I can but this post is about Josephine, but if you want to know how I use oils with her you can follow one of the links for more information. Anywho...In my thirst for knowledge and learning new things I heard about a natural birth class and felt drawn to it. I was excited for the nights out with a friend and excited to learn during the six week class.
Now I did not know if natural birth was something I wanted to do. I did not know if I wanted to deal with the pain of it etc. I was going to just go with the flow and probably end up drugged and numb in the end anyway just like the last one. I tossed around the idea of a water birth or at home birth but Jason said NO. At one time he was going to be a nurse so to him it was out of the question. The babies would be born in the hospital incase anything happened the help would be there. I respect his opinion and did not force the subject, hospital births it would be and I was okay with it. When I mentioned the class he had no problem with me going, options and learning are never a bad thing. So in this great class we learn all sorts of amazing information in the all natural birth situations and I really enjoyed it and am soooo grateful I took the class it very well could have been the thing that saved my daughter's life.
So being all sorts of confused and not wanting to freak my husband out I got ready to go. I grabbed a garbage bag to sit on because I was still thinking my water was going to break and I got a small garbage can because of the puking. I thought it was still part of the flu or the food poisoning, Flu or whatever I had going on who knows, I was tired, I was in pain, I just knew we needed to go. I didn't want to be one of those crazy bitchy pregnant people yelling at her husband and screaming in pain but I was about to scare him to death and show him something that he would not believe.
My husband can drive anything with wheels on it so I have never felt more safe in a car than when I'm with him and I'm so thankful for that comfort that day. It was raining and cold with a chance of ice but the driving was the least of my problems at the time. It was great to not worry about that. I am grateful it was early and we did not have traffic to worry about either, there was only one time that we had a couple cars blocking the way. We hit every light green by some miracle and did not have to stop. I just did my thing and let him drive knowing that we would get us there.
2- I am Grateful I was able to experience a Natural Birth
The pain and lack of control over my body was nuts but the calm after the storm is like nothing else.
Super Human? No, I just let my instinct guide me.
Things had majorly changed once we got in the car. The contractons came back to back and they were pretty freaking strong.It is like someone had flipped a switch. I would have a slight reprieve for her maybe 30 seconds in between and I would try to catch my breath and tell him what I thought was going on without scaring him to death or being too big of a bitch. I know the noises coming from my side of the car were out of this world I'm sure I sounded like some sort of crazed alien bear.
The one thing that was kind of interesting was to just zone into my body and what it was doing. Our bodies have been designed for exactly this kind of thing and all I could do was step back and try not to control the situation. The only thing to do was literally sit back and enjoy the ride. During one of these brief pauses I was able to squeak out that I think I can feel something…”I think I can feel something down there” yeah not what you would expect to happen but it was.
I laid the chair back, pulled down my pants and with the next contraction I decided to check and sure enough there was a head. She was crowning I could feel her hair and quite a bit of it so she she was coming, there was no stopping her now and I better catch her before she plops out onto my floor. I waited for the next contraction to push her head out and I just kind a held it and supported it until the next one pushed out her shoulders. I grabbed your underneath her arms and lifted her up onto my chest.Neither of us could have guessed we would have the shocking and surprising twist of seeing that baby come into our lives like that. I don’t know if i had time to tell him she was coming she was just all of a sudden there in my arms. Again it was like someone had flipped a switch. All was well, no more stress or pain, she was here and I felt completely calm and relaxed.
3- I am Grateful we had a minute to be together
For a moment there was just the three of us in that car wrapped in a awe inspiring moment
“Oh my Hell, in the Freaking CAR?!” Words of a new Daddy (thoughts of a new mommy)
Step one now was to check and make sure the cord wasn't too tight around her neck. And step two I made her cry so that I knew she was OK and breathing. The lucky thing is as I was catching her and checking her over we were pulling into the hospital parking lot. We were there we had made it and everything was calm she was here she was in my arms she was OK. I put her inside my shirt with me cuddled trying to keep her warm.
When our first daughter was born the room was packed to the gills with Doctors, Nurses, assistants, students, and family. I think everyone there had someone tagging along with them for some reason or another. We had decided we did not want that this time around. However we went pretty extreme, For a few seconds we were together alone with her, just the three of us. Jason pulled in by the Main entrance of the Hospital and came over to help me get her fully situated with what we had. Side note- I should have grabbed a blanket instead of a garbage bag, I was way off in thinking my water would break in the car. It had to have broke in the tub, what a great way to miss a huge sign of Labor. So all we had was my light jacket to help keep us warm. He threw it on top of us gave me a kiss and then he ran to get help.
I am pretty sure I have given my husband PTSD. He just witnessed me giving birth in the car and then he had to leave us to run around an empty hospital to try and find help. It was 5 o'clock in the morning, a shift change and there really weren’t very many people milling around. I will try and get him to add his words to this blog as well so that you can understand his side of the story. I know it had to be pretty stressful for him and hard to find somebody but he did and boy did they come running.
4-I am Grateful I was able to have some time for Skin to Skin
There is nothing in the entire world that can compare to holding your newborn for the first time
While Jason was gone getting help I was able to have a few months with Josephine. With her being four weeks early she would have been whisked off to the NICU before I could even see her if we been inside a hospital. This way we could have skin to skin for a couple of minutes and that was something I had wanted more than anything.The sense of calm and peace was astounding and the stress and the pain was totally gone.
It did not last long before help arrived. One of the guys, a respiratory therapist stuck his head in and checked her and cut the cord to get her ready to go. My poor husband was not able to cut the cord for either of our daughters so I was kinda sad it was a whirlwind and he lost the chance to do that again but I understand the importance of getting her out the car. I guess he thought she felt pretty stable so he just grabbed her and ran. My husband went with the baby and I was on my way up to labor and delivery.
Well almost we had to get me out of the car first. So there I am standing next to my car with my pants down... hello world! It was only for a second and at the time I did not even think about it but once we got in the room I had a moment of embarrassment about it- I was really glad at that point that it was early morning and no one was around.
I didn't have to worry about delivering the placenta it was already done. It had came out with her or it came out after I don't know, it was just there. We got me in a wheelchair and ran to Labor and delivery, leaving my mark as we went... Sorry poor custodian guy.
Now it was kind of weird I had delivered a baby and then we were separated. Mom went one way, daddy and baby went another. Any NICU mom can tell you that it sucks! I'm was sitting in my room I didn't know how much she weighed, how long she was, or if she was still breathing. I had no idea about anything. All I knew is she was gone, my husband was gone, and there I sat. After having her with me 24/7 for the last 36 weeks it is an empty feeling that is never fun to experience. It had been a whirlwind 90 minutes from the first spot of blood to her being in my arms. She was in a big hurry to get here and I am so grateful it worked out the way that it did. We are lucky and everything lined up to keep her safe and get her the help she needed in time.
5-I am Grateful she has a Crazy and Awesome Birth Story
Who doesn't love a good story?
Josephine Beth Hansen was born December 16, 2016 a 5:00 am on 1400 N in Logan Utah. Her Labor was only 90 minutes long and she was born in the car. She was 4 Lbs 15 oz and 17 inches Long. She stayed in the NICU for 19 days. For the first few days she needed help breathing with a CPAP machine and used forced air for a couple weeks. Getting her strong enough to eat all her food without a tube was our biggest challenge but she overcame that and is now home. We are currently giving her oxygen when she eats to prevent her heart rate from dropping but that is getting better and we should be done with the oxygen really soon. She is gaining weight and growing those baby rolls that are so adorable. She is an awesome baby and we sure love her. It has been suggested that we keep the car and give it to her when she gets older. We will have to see if she is still in a hurry like she was the first time she was in it. One thing is for sure she has one Hell of an amazing birth story.
