Nathanael's Birth - the long version (Part 1)

As I was walking back from the grocery store and coffee shop this morning, I realized that I barely remember being pregnant. It has only been seven weeks; yet it feels as if those nine (plus) months were years ago... Thus I am ready to share about the transition from pregnancy to motherhood.

This is the story of Nathanael's birth.

He was due April 13th. He arrived (just barely) on April 22nd, Earth Day.

First, our doctor. We had an amazing doctor, Dr. Phil McCrary. He was recommended by MANY friends, and we could not have imagined a better fit for our first pregnancy and birth. He has years and years of experience (35?) and exudes calm and confidence. And most importantly, he is a man of great faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. What a testimony he is to Christ; every doctor's office we have visited and ever nurse with whom we have spoken speaks highly of this man.

Second, the last month. About midway through the pregnancy, I had a dream in which I was at a monthly appointment, and another doctor who was with Dr. McCrary and me in the room said, "Well, it looks like you'll deliver at 37 weeks." I looked at Dr. McCrary, and he smiled and knodded. I was ecstatic! When I awoke from the dream, I decided that I would try my hardest to be ready for our little boy at 37 weeks. I didn't really expect him to come that early, but I wanted to have all the necessary preparations out of the way so that Greg and I would be able to rest for however many days we would need to wait past 37 weeks. I'm so thankful that I did that, but I never could have imagined how long those last four and a half weeks would be!

At just past 38 weeks, I was 3-4cm dilated and told not to delay coming to the hospital when contractions began. The excitement began! On April 5th (almost 39 weeks), the contractions I had been having regularly for a couple weeks become more intense, and we began timing them. By nighttime, they were 5-6 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. After discussion with the doctor, we decided to head to the hospital and get things going -- due to my progression, my decision to have an epidural, and Dr. McCrary's schedule (he was going to be out of town for a few days). The plan was to get checked in and then help them along a little with some pitocin, get my epidural, and then meet the little guy! At the hospital, they determined I was 4-5cm dilated and 80% effaced. To give you perspective if you haven't walked through this crazy thing called pregnancy, many women do not reach 4-5cm dilation until they've been through hours and hours of intense, painful contractions. And often (though there are exceptions -- like me) once a woman reaches 4-5cm, she moves into active labor quite soon after which means that delivery is imminent. Interestingly though, the dilation of the cervix only tells us what has happened; it does not really give us any idea of what is going to happen.

The delays. So at 12:30am on April 6th, the nurses told me to walk for an hour so that they could see some progress. (Note: at this point, Greg and I had already walked about 5 miles in the afternoon and another hour or so in the evening; walking laps on the L&D floor for an hour was not our idea of exciting.) The result -- no change. Due to a really busy floor, they scheduled a 7:30am induction, and we were sent home at 2:30am to try and get some rest before the big event.

At 6am, the hospital called; they were too full to induce me at 7:30am. Go back to sleep and come in at 11am for the induction. At 10:30am, I called the hospital; they were too full to induce me. The head nurse said to talk to my doctor -- I would not be induced today. I spoke to Dr. McCrary at 12:30pm -- usually Mr. Calm, he was actually frustrated with the nurses as they were being extremely difficult about scheduling an induction again. He wasn't sure what the problem was but said that for now we'd just have to wait it out and see what happens. Greg and I struggled with the situation, though we tried to cling to our trust that God had the day chosen for Nathanael's birth and would not let the hospital's busy-ness upset that.

Two days later, the doctor tried to schedule us again -- no go. He had us "on call" for a couple days while he kept trying to get us scheduled, but it never worked out as the floor was always too full. He was out of town for a few days; nothing happened.

The due date - April 13 - came and went.

April 15 -- I had my regular weekly appointment with Dr. McCrary, and he scheduled (again) an induction - this time for Thursday, April 22nd. (Of course, by that point, Greg and I had zero confidence that it would actually happen and not be canceled like the previous times.) We were also scheduled for two non-stress tests and an ultrasound before the 22nd to make sure everything seemed to be okay since I was past the due date. All the tests were fine, and we got to see our little guy one last time in the womb.

April 22 -- The hospital called at 5am -- too full, go back to sleep. Come in at 1:30pm. We were so discouraged, thinking that we were going to get another call around noon telling us to forget about it. But this time, it was real. We made it to the hospital, and they checked us in to a labor room right away. It was completely surreal to actually carry our bags into the room and get settled for the big event.

The delivery. Part 2 coming soon.