For the rest of his life, Andan (and I) will have a story to tell about how he arrived in this world. However, this story is not for the faint of heart, so be forewarned before you read on. Andan's due date was April 23 and I had never delivered early with the other two kids so I fully expected to hang on 'til the bitter end. Life had been pretty hectic but I joked that as long as I could teach my Relief Society lesson on the 11th and finish doing my taxes by the 15th, then I would be good to have a baby. The 17th is one of my nephew's birthdays but when I didn't have any contractions by 10:30 in the morning I commented to Dallin, "Well, I guess I won't be having a baby today." His response was, "There's over 12 hours left in the day, that's plenty of time." We both ended up being right- I didn't have a baby on the 17th (barely), but 12 hours was way more than enough for me to still have a baby!
Dallin had to work the night shift (7pm-7am) that night, so I spent the evening relaxing- taking a bubble bath, painting my toenails (yeah, that was a feat-no pun intended), and preparing for church the next day. I went to bed sometime around midnight but woke up at 2:55 needing to use the bathroom. Nothing different that any other night, including the contraction (which up until now had just been Braxton-Hicks) that went with it. So I lay back down and had just fallen back asleep when I felt another contraction. OK. Maybe I should just check the time in case another one comes. Sure enough 11 minutes later came another one. Alright, that was just one interval. I'll have to see if it's consistent. Yup, another 11 minutes later. Let's just check one more. Yeah, about another 10 minutes. By now I can't really sleep any more even though I am wishing I could. I guess I'd better give Dallin the heads up. So, at 3:54 I texted him to call me (I didn't want to disturb him if he was with a patient). Dallin calls me back and I ask him if he has any back up plans for leaving work. He says he'll get the ball rolling. At this point I HAVE to use the bathroom again, but I took my phone with me so I could keep timing the contractions. The next one is down to 7 minutes and the very next one is only 3 minutes later! Meanwhile, Dallin has called back to let me know someone would be coming in to cover him and I let him know that things were progressing quickly. The next few minutes were a little fuzzy because now the contractions were right on top of each other and I was thinking to myself (while clutching the door frame), "Holy cow, give me just a second!" For some reason Dallin called back (yes I answered) and said that his replacement wasn't there yet. At which point I shakily responded that then maybe we ought to call the ambulance. Well, we never had time to because that's when I realized and informed Dallin that I could feel the head! Yeah, I was shocked and a little scared and had no idea what I should do next. Dallin realized the urgency so he let me know he wouldn't wait for his replacement and that he would be on his way. That eased my fears knowing that he would literally be home in 5 minutes. It also allowed me 1 second to think since I wasn't trying to talk on the phone anymore! Obviously at this point there was no turning back. All I could think was, "I certainly don't want to have a baby in the toilet" so I hurried and jumped in our huge bathtub just in time for 1 big contraction that delivered the head. Short breather, one more push and I delivered myself a baby!
What a relief, but now what? This is the point where all the nurses are supposed to take over and I can kick back and relax, right? Well no, I'm all alone with this baby that I have no idea what to do with. As long as he is still attached he should be fine right? (I found out later that a minute or two is OK, but too long isn't the greatest). So I guess we'll just start cleaning up. I turned on the water and luckily there was still a towel nearby from the bath I had taken earlier. Now don't fault me for not immediately scooping up my baby, holding him to my chest, and staring lovinly into his eyes. I was in a bit of a daze- I had just given birth- at home- in my bathtub- all by myself!
Andan was born sometime between 4:17 and 4:22am (I know because of my phone log). Yes, that is less than an hour and a half from first contraction to delivered and less than 30 minutes from when I first notified my poor husband! Thankfully, it was only about two minutes before Dallin (and his mom who had been called to come watch the other kiddos) came walking in. I can't even imagine what went through their heads when they walked in on me and our baby!
Dallin immediately went into Doctor Dallin mode and began quizzing me about how long the baby had been delivered. "Rude," I thought, "where's my welcome home kiss? Where's my smile and loving look at our newest addition?" Again, I was in a daze- I had just given birth- at home- in my bathtub- all by myself! He ran out of the room looking for things and came back to take care of business. He tied off and cut the cord and started working on baby and I was left for a minute to my own, nonexistant, thoughts. Poor guy. We obviously weren't prepared for the events of the evening so he had a hard time finding anything to use to tie off and cut the cord. A shoestring, right? Oooh, gross all of ours are used and therefore dirty. So when he saw the strings on a freshly washed and folded apron he took advantage and cut one off. Brings a whole new meaning to "cutting the apron strings" huh? Also, no suitable scissors could be found, so the kitchen boning knife just had to do. Is anyone still reading this, or have you all already run for cover?
After baby had been attended to and handed over to Grandma (who thus far had NEVER been so closely involved with the birth of one of her grandchildren) Dallin took care of delivering the placenta for me. He then called up the hospital to inform them that I had just given birth at home and that we were coming in. When I was still sitting there, he was a little confused why I wasn't getting dressed to go. "Oh, you mean I need to get up, and put something on, and we need to go, and I can't just sit here and rest?" I thought. Again, I was in a daze- I had just given birth- at home- in my bathtub- all by myself! Well, we made it to the hospital (just a little late) and of course we were the big, famous story. Funny thing, before baby was born I thought how nice it would be since we live less than two miles from the hospital. Little did I know that our shortest baby commute ever still wouldn't be short enough! Baby and I were both fine and I could finally lay back and let the nurses and Dallin take over. I guess my body knew what it was doing by the third time and the doctor who checked on me commented, "Gee, you do a good job delivering, so if you need a job you can come on down to our office."
Everyone keeps asking me if it was aweful, and how did I do it, and so on, but honestly, it wasn't bad. It was so fast and I didn't have time to think about anything other than doing what needed to be done. I could do it again, but mind you, next time around, we will PLAN on either doing it at home or inducing early.
Quite a story, huh? It's one of those things that you hear about somebody, somewhere who delivered unexpectedly at home or in a car, but never to someone you know and I never dreamed it could happen to me. I already know my story has spread far and wide so now I have become one of those somebodies, somewhere who delivered at home- in a bathtub- all by herself!
