Ryder's Birth Story (Part 1)

"Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything." ~William MacNeile Dixon

I figured I better sit down and type this now before I start forgetting the details. Here is how I remember Ryder's entry into our lives...

I woke up the morning of Saturday, October 29th (36 weeks and 6 days pregnant) feeling about the same as I had the entire week before. Uncomfortable, tired, and lots of contractions. I had been having braxton hicks for months, but the 10 days leading up to that morning they had come much more often. On average, I would have about 6 an hour. Some were strong and some were not too bad. So contractions didn't mean impending labor for me like they do to most people. They were just part of my pregnancy.

The day before I had actually gone into the doctor's office due to mild pain in my stomach. The doctor said it seemed to be caused from a healthy growing baby. He checked me, and I was at a 3 and a half. I had been at a 3 for the last two weeks. I was also 90% effaced, which had first been discovered at 30 weeks (along with being 2 cm dilated). So we knew one thing for certain: I was going to deliver super fast again.

If you were to look inside our home at that time you would find lots of random pieces of paper where I had written down contractions. For days I would think they were coming closer together, only to find out after monitoring them for an hour that they weren't. To say I was on high-alert to detect any sign of labor was an understatement. And let me tell you, a couple weeks of being on high-alert takes a toll on someone. Nevertheless, that afternoon I started to track the contractions again.

After looking over the time intervals I noticed that one thing was different...I never went more than 8 minutes without a contraction. Some were 2 minutes apart, some 4 minutes apart, some 7 minutes apart, etc. They were highly irregular, so that made me think it wasn't labor. My parents had offered to watch Ella that evening so that John and I could go out on a date. So I took a shower, got dressed, and continued monitoring contractions. The first hour I tracked them, I had 12 irregular contractions. I was hesitant about calling the on-call doctor on a weekend because I really felt that there was no way I was in labor. My mom prompted me to give the doctor a call anyway. That call was the best decision I could have made.

The doctor told me to go to the hospital and get checked. He said, "It is probably nothing, but we want to be safe." By this time it was about 8 pm. John and I were driving on the highway to the hospital thinking, "There is no way this is it. No way. This is way too easy". We decided that we would just go to a restaurant after the hospital to have our date.

There would be no dinner to be had that night. The nurse checked me and said, "Oh yeah, you are in labor. You're dilated to a 5 and a half." I was shocked. In the parking lot before we entered the hospital I had prayed, "God, if this baby is physically ready, please let him be born tonight." I had been so worried about making it to the hospital in time and having a horrendous delivery experience like last time. We were weary from false-calls and months of apprehension.

It seemed we had beaten the clock this time. We were right where we needed to be at the perfect time. I looked at John and teared up. I couldn't believe we were about to meet our baby.
To be continued...