A Birth Story: Calvin Davis

----------Short Version-------------

Water Broke at 4:20
Contractions started at 4:30, lasting 1 minute, about 4 minutes apart
Hospital Arrival - 5:50
Checked in at 6:15 and was at a 3, 100% effaced
By 8:45 I was at a 7.5 and +1 station
9:50ish I started pushing
Dr. Najima arrived at 10:00, 3 contractions later, our little Calvin was born!


----------Long Version--------------

Mr. Calvin Wixom Davis joined our little family on Wednesday July 23, 2014 at 10:15 pm-- 6 days early, weighing 8 lbs 5 oz (making me glad he came early) and 19.5 inches in length with a full head of brown hair.

Since my birthday-July 14th- I had been having mild cramping and back pain, making Robert and I hopeful that our little guy would come a little early. Everyday we would get more and more anxious, especially since I was already 3cm dilated, 90% effaced and he was at a 0 station. Every night Robert and I would look at each other, sigh, and say "no baby, but one day closer". I was walking or hiking everyday, bouncing on my yoga ball, eating pineapple, and trying just about every other "natural induction" technique. The week and a half before he came was like anxiously waiting for Christmas morning, but having no clue when Christmas would actually occur.

On Wednesday morning Robert and I decided to go for a 4 mile walk (the trail that we were running a week before). While we were walking I turned to Robert and said, " You know what? I am being a pretty big hypocrite when it comes to this whole birthing thing. One of the reasons I am so adamant about going through this birthing process with unnecessary medical intervention is because I have complete trust that my body knows exactly what it's doing, and it is a completely natural process that I was built to be capable of. I am so anxious for him to get here that I completely forgot that our little boy will come when he is completely ready and when my body is ready. So I just need to stop trying to "naturally induce" this process.".

The rest of our morning and afternoon was spent reading and watching Chopped. Around 4:15 I went to the bathroom and was surprised to find my mucus plug, which both my doctor and I were positive I had lost about 3 weeks prior. About 20 seconds later my water broke; at the time I had no idea it was my water breaking- I just thought I couldn't stop going to the bathroom, haha. I came out and told Robert what happened; on demand I had a terrible shooting pain through my back and what felt like the worst menstral cramp that had ever existed. We started timing them, which was difficult to do at first, and found that they were coming every 4 minutes and lasting 45 -60 seconds. After timing them for about 20 minutes, Robert and I figured it was go time, but were still trying to not get our hopes up. We had practiced relaxation techniques for the previous 8 months and I knew that during active labor I needed to keep myself distracted. We spent the next 45 minutes watching Parenthood, and by the end of the episode I was in Childs Pose because I couldn't stand up due to the back labor. At 5:35 a contraction came, Robert was rubbing my back and I looked at him and couldn't stop crying, we both knew it was time.

We got to the hospital, taking about 15 minutes to get from the car to the admittance desk because I couldn't walk. The nurse greeted us and asked me why were here. I was having a contraction at the time- I looked up at her (probably glaring) and told her I was there to have a baby! What did she want me to say? She found out I had only been in labor for a little over an hour and that we were first time parents and was ready to turn us away when Robert informed her that I thought my water had broken. She took us back at 6:15, I was at a 3 (still) but 100% effaced so she let us stay.

When the two nurses checked my blood pressure I was at 162/120. My blood pressure throughout the pregnancy has been 100/65, so I was shocked. They called my Dr. and she was worried about preeclampsia so they had to do blood tests; I have small veins, so 7 pokes in the arm, 3 collapsed veins, and 45 minutes later they finally had my blood and I was free to walk around, so I thought. Baby boy's heart still hadn't "responded" to the labor, meaning his heart rate hadn't gone up which it should have. They promised me that once his heart rate went up they would let me get off the bed. By 7:30 I ripped off my hospital gown and monitors and said something like "I can't take it anymore". They came back in and had to put the monitors back on and gave me a few different options if I really didn't want to stay connected, but it would entail putting an electronic monitor in baby's skull. I would have to stay still for more than 5 minutes and I wouldn't be able to shower (which is all I really wanted to do). After some talking, we opted out of that option and Robert kindly reminded me that it was just a monitor, not an IV (so it wasn't a huge deal) and I couldn't really walk anyway because the back labor was so bad.

By 8:45 my Dr. came and checked me (I didn't want unnecessary or frequent checking), and I was at 7.5 cm and a +1! I was in transition labor after only 4 hrs of labor and I was at the hardest part (so I had been told). I knew that I could do it. To be honest, I felt absolutely no difference in pain from active labor to transition labor. Robert was a wonderful coach and support. The back labor was the worst part and he was so wonderful do counter pressure during every.single.contraction. There wasn't a contraction that passed where he wasn't by my side, encouraging and helping me through. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that if it wasn't for Robert there is no way I would have progressed so quickly and gone through it all. At 9:30 I started having the urge to push and my nurses couldn't believe it. She checked and I was already at a 9.5 but it was uneven so she had me move from side to side so the contractions would even out the dilation. I was in my own little world, but I did notice that a nurse came in hesitantly (I had on my birth plan that I only wanted my Dr and necessary labor nurses in the room) and said she was there to set up the delivery table and then I heard the nurse calling Dr. Najima telling her she needed to get there ASAP. Was this really happening? I had barely been pushing. The nurses were guiding me through the pushing because the back labor made it difficult to push. Pushing was definitely the most difficult time for me. There were multiple times I looked at Robert and told him I couldn't do it anymore. I had been looking forward to the small break between Trasition and pushing and it didn't come. I was so worn out and tired I just kept saying over and over "Robert, I've been lied to! I just wanted to rest before I started pushing. I am just so tired!" Dr. Najima got there a 10:00 and within 3 contractions our little boy was in my arms. On the last contraction she said his head would come out and she would suction his nose and then with the next contrition his shoulders would come out, etc, etc. With the last contraction, on the first push his head started to come out, the second push his head came half way out, and Dr. Najima said "I just need one more big push and his head will be out". I gave one big last push and even though no one was quite ready for his fast debut (our Dr. didn't really have time to catch him securely, haha), our little boy was born!

The nurse handed me our little boy immediately and I could hardly believe that after nine months I was finally getting to hold this precious little boy. I took him, looked at Robert and immediately started crying; I am not sure if it was because I was holding our little boy or due to relief from the pain. The nurses let me hold him for the hour that it took Dr. Najima to stitch me all up before they took him to weight him, bathe him, etc.

Giving birth to Calvin without any medical intervention was by far the most difficult thing I have ever done, but I would do it all over again in a heart beat. It truly was one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever gone through. Everything from our birthing classes to birthing books, Robert was always 100% supportive; he knew how to help me relax so I could progress and what to or not to say to calm me down.  I would definitely say I fell in love all over again with him during those 6 hours. It was the perfect day, and we are just overjoyed with our new addition.

We love you Calvin Wixom Davis!