Birth - A Man's Perspective (Part 3)

Finally!  The post on the actual labor and birth!  The only thing I thought I was going to blog about when I started what has turned into a little mini series...  I even skipped over the whole naming process, ultra-sounds, nursery prep, baby showers, pregnancy hormones, coping with a pregnant wife, etc. etc. etc.  May be my last post in this can be a quick one on all the points I missed in the previous posts...

ANYWAY...

Stage 3-A: Labor (Pre-Hospital)

You might want a cup of coffee, may be a light snack for this one. 

Tax season finally came to a close, our 3rd as a married couple.  It really wasn't that bad, especially considering Tiffany was 5-9 months pregnant during this period.  Our birthing class taught us that the average gestation ( is that right for a person?) is 41 1/7 weeks long.  So we weren't exactly expecting Zac to come on his due date.  We weren't freaking out when the due date came and went, after all, it's a shot in the dark and it's more surprising when they're right than wrong.  The doctors even tell you this.  Although, Tiffany was still hoping he would come soon.  After all, she's walking around with a 7 pound person inside of her!  You try it! :)  She was having some Braxton Hicks contractions for several days.  On Saturday, April 17 we decided we should get out and do something, it could be a while before we get another chance.  So we went to eat down at the beach with some friends.  The first restaurant in Emerald Isle had a long wait so we drove to Beaufort, nullifying any wait we would have had in Emerald Isle, and ate at Clawson's.  Where we also had a wait.  Tiffany and I started timing contractions on the drive to Beaufort.  It was when the check came after dinner when our companions first realized that we were doing this.  They were pretty shocked and a little nervous, but they got over that pretty quickly.  The contractions were pretty consistent anywhere from 8-10 minutes apart.  We continued to time them as we drove home and they were a little less consistent, but we were pretty sure this was it.

Our goal was to make it to the hospital as late as possible.  But after timing contractions and when they got about 4-5 minutes apart we decided to head out.  We did have to get to Greenville.  On the way the contractions became less consistent.  Which we knew could happen.  Excitement can stall and slow labor.  We went ahead to the hospital and were very disappointed when the dilation was only 2 cm.  We spent close to 2 hours I think getting information in, sitting in triage, and convincing the nurses we did in fact want to leave and not be checked in to the hospital.  The mid-wife, who was also great, helped in the process of convincing these nurses we were not crazy.  So we checked into the hotel across the street.  This actually was a great plan I think.  It gave us the confidence to wait as long as possible since the hospital was right across the street.

Things still didn't progress quite like we thought.  Sunday morning the contractions were getting much stronger and closer.  We were using everything we learned from our birthing class and things were going very well.  We waited and waited and then called our mid-wife.  She met us at her office, only about 2 miles away, so she could do another exam without the ordeal of going through triage again.  6 cm.  WHAT?!  That's it!  Back to the hotel.  Another few hours, I think around 2:00 pm now; back to the mid-wife.  7-8 cm.  You have got to be kidding me!  We decide to head to the hospital now because we are fairly far along and there is no predicting if the final few cm will be quick or slow... they were slow. 

At the hospital....