Birth of Braden

I got the call at 3:38. I looked at my phone as Chad handed it to me. It was Brad the husband, and he told me that she was down at the hospital and they were 5cm, and could I come down. OF COURSE. It's funny, she had called me last night and told me she lost her plug. The LOGICAL part of me said eh, weeks to go. Baby born on January 5th. But, there was this tiny nagging part of me that knew, and instinctively, at around 10pm, I put my bag right next to the door. Which I don't generally do. So, it's a good thing I did that!

I woke up, got dressed, got my stuff together, kissed A and C goodnight and headed down. It was on a military base, so Brad had to come and meet me at the gate, and then we drove to the hospital. When he picked me up he said she was 7cm last time they checked, but when he left, she was 'getting the urge to poop'. I told him to get there quick. Laughingly and calmly, but I really didn't want him to miss the birth of his baby because he had to pick me up.

She was in the tub when I got there. She breathed through a few contractions, and then her water broke in the water. They got her out of the tub and back into her room. The positions that felt best to her were the ones that didn't put any pressure on her bottom, so she ended up with the top of the bed elevated resting on that, on her hands and knees. Lots of sacrum pressure and about 45 minutes later, and she was ready to push. She started spontaneously pushing but was encountering some pressure. I told her to push very slowly against that, and the nurses 'overheard us' and checked her. The Dr. checked and she still had a bit of a lip on her cervix. I told her to push slowly against that and the Dr. helped slide her lip back. Then we got down to business.

They actually called in some extra people. Not only are natural births rare, but hands and knees births in this hospital are really rare, so they had another Dr. and another nurse come in to observe and 'help out'. Miranda did a lot of really wonderful pushing for about 45 minutes, and hit a bit of wall. I was up at the foot of the bed with her, and Brad was applying some sacrum pressure with her contractions (she REALLY liked that and the Dr.'s commented WOW, that's a cool trick ). I ended up giving her a really big pep talk, whispered in her ear, and she had the baby out two pushes later. The cord was wrapped TIGHT around the baby's neck. They had to cut the cord and take him to the table to start his breathing. But, he came out PERFECT. He was 7lbs 8ozs. And a chunky little thing in the face! So cute! Dad cried, Mom cried, the nurses cried. It was wonderful.

She had some minor tearing (well not entirely minor) but outside of that, she was in great shape. The afterbirth was born (they did cord traction ) and she had a bit of a bleed, but within about half and hour, her uterus was WELL down. Baby was great, and they had to sew her up. I got baby over to Mom quick and that helped her get through the stitches better. After that, a nurse tried to help her latch baby on. (This was the only really negative experience of her birth. The nurse stuck her gloved finger inside of baby's mouth and tried to get him to suck on her finger. and he was WAILING!! 'See I am showing the baby how to suck' : and then she was showing her how to latch all wrong. 'don't support your breast' : ) Anyways.

WONDERFUL experience. They were great. It was quick and beautiful. Just like birth should be!