Urijah's Birth Story!!

Short Version: Urijah Andrew was born at 3:35am on Halloween by VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesearean)!! He was 6lbs,5oz, and 20" long.

Long Version: I had had pretty intense pre-labor since Monday night with contractions no more than 20 minutes apart. Thursday I was going crazy and decided I HAD to go with Zarik to pick up my mom from the airport - I just needed to get out!! We picked her up and went to Chili's for a late lunch. I must have looked pretty funny as I had to stand up every 10 minutes or so and lean through a contraction! We got home about 5 and my contractions immediately picked up to about 8 minutes apart. They were also getting pretty intense. My mom and sister went to the store, and while they were gone I realized this was probably it. The shower I took even made them more intense! Zarik was going to work out when my mom and sis got home, but I told him it was a bad idea - I think this is it. After the last 3 days he was sceptical, but after an hour and a half he was convinced and we were off! I have to add here that he was awesome at stalling me during this time. We have taken Bradley Birth Classes, and he knew I wanted to stay home as long as possible. He kept puttering around getting us ready, doing little chores, making me a protien shake, etc. Then on the way down(it's a 45 min drive down a mountain pass and through the city to the hospital) he casually says "I'm going to swing through the Starbucks drive-through if that's ok." I was remembering during Mika's labor when he left me to go get a cup of coffee, so I replied "Fine. Just make it fast." His response? "YOU FAILED! We'are going back home!" It was another "test" to see if I was truly ready to go down, lol! At the time he got growled at, but now it's pretty funny.

We got to the hospital at about 9:45pm, walked up to triage (in between contractions), got the "ok, you're in labor!" and got escorted to the same room we had with Mika! Zarik got our stuff from the car, I got settled in, and our midwife, Sharon, showed up. Contractions were every 2 minutes at this point and I was 6 cm dilated. They needed to do a hep-lock (the arm part of the IV - but not a full IV) since I was a VBAC patient, and it took them FOUR tries!! They'd just about get it in and the vein would blow. UGG!

As labor got more intense, I found my favorite position was standing hanging over Zarik's right arm with Sharon pushing on my low back. I figured since Zarik can bench press 385 lbs, he could hold me up, lol! I went from having no back labor when we arrived, to almost complete back labor by the end. After a couple hours I was still at a 6, so Sharon asked if we wanted the water broken. We said we'd wait a while longer - I was scared at how intense that might make it. An hour or so later (I lost all track of time so these are guestimates) we gave our ok since we were still at a 6. I decided I just wanted him OUT and I better just get it over with. OMG contractions immediately got SO much more intense! I pretty much immediately went into transition (the part right before you're ready to push) and was at a 9! It took another li'l bit of me baring down to get from there to complete (10 centameters), and during that time they put up the squatting bar because that position felt best. After that Zarik joked I looked like a weird pole dancer - I was up, down, twisting, sqatting, biting the bar, swaying. I was "shaking the baby down!" I had hardly any breaks at all now and next thing I knew I was pushing! Sharon quickly saw sqatting wasn't going to be good for me tearing wise, so they got me in a side laying position and got a mirror. It was SO amazing seeing his head crown! I reached down to touch it and decided I was just going to leave my hand there. About 3 contractions later he was born and I was helping pull him onto my chest!! I did have a 1st degree tear 'cause I wasn't a good girl and didn't listen when Sharon was telling to slow down and let the skin stretch. I just wanted him out!!

I cuddled my boy for about 5 minutes before they insisted on taking him for a minute because he really needed his throat suctioned out. They gave him back as my stitches were being finished and he immediately went to the breast and stayed there for an hour and a half!!

The rest of our stay was just too many nurses and blood draws, lol. We're home now and adjusting to life with a newborn who LOVES to eat ALL the time, a toddler with a bad diaper rash, and all our assorted animals (we have 5) and helpers (my mom, her dog, my sister).