We found out that we were pregnant March 11th 2011. As much as I complained and hated being pregnant, most of the time, I had a nice easy pregnancy. My due date was November 14th as I watched that day come and go I was crushed. My belly was huge and I was so ready to get my lil man out! Four long grueling days later my boyfriend and I were cleaning house with his Aunt and I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything but lay there on the couch and watch. We stopped at Capriotti’s around 6 and went home to relax for the weekend ahead. After dinner Jon and I were watching Steve Wilkos and all the sudden at 8:07 pm I noticed lower back pains coming and going every 30 seconds or so. I though nothing of them because everyone told me contractions are in the front of my belly. HA I will never listen to that again. Jon started to drift off and I let him around 9 and th ese ‘pains’ had regularly come every 30 sec and lasted anywhere from 15 to 30 sec. Around ten I figured I mine as well sleep because if these pains ended up being my contractions I was going to need sleep. I was playing my last few turns on Words With Friends when my Aunt called me. I stood up to go get a drink and though I peed myself. My water had broken at 10:57. I got so upset because I was wearing the sweat pants that I wanted to wear to TBC. So I hung up the phone and got a shower and let the water calm me down because I had been waiting for this for what seemed like forever and I was ready to go and those little pains were starting to get a little intense. I woke Jon up after the shower and he jumped into Dad mode. I sat on my ball and breathed through the contractions and called Sarah. She told me to wait for the contractions to get closer together and at that point I was still feeling pretty good, although tired since I had not slept yet. Jon’s Aunt Patti came up to the apartment and helped counter pressuring while I told Jon what else needed to be packed up before we left. Everything started to happen really fast, it felt as though we were calling Sarah and family every other minute. Finally we met Sarah at TBC at 2am. I just new my lil man was going to be a through the night baby. Shortly after we arrived my family did although my Aunt Sally had beat us there! Once in the center I plopped on my ball and just tried to breathe.
I can’t really remember any conversation or who was doing what just the ball and the intern Sara saying,”breathe him down”. As annoying as that was that’s how I thought about it. My lil man was coming down with every breath I took and as long I breathed I could handle the pain. Periodically they’d check the baby and he was fine and I was fine. All the sudden I couldn’t stand the ball or the bed or anything else but I wasn’t dilated enough to get into the tub. I was only three cent. But Sarah said I could get int o the shower. I stood in the shower for what felt like hours. Jon faithfully beside me sweating up a storm in the sauna I had created. I got of the shower once thinking I wanted to lay down, I just couldn’t hold myself up anymore.
But the contractions were so terrible to me that I had to get back in for what felt like hours. Then Sarah checked me and I was very quickly dilated to 7 cm!! Yay!! Tub time!! The relief of sliding into the tub was tremendous like the weight of the world was off my shoulders. At first I began crying during contractions and screaming. But Sarah told me that I had to calm down for my baby and relax in between contractions. My first thought was, “ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!” But she just looked at me and smiled and I knew I could do it. And I looked at Jon and the love I saw and how he was gonna be there for every scream and every pain I soon began falling asleep in between contractions in the water. All the sudden my body started pushing and Sarah was telling me that my baby’s head was coming. Everything started to move so slow until Sarah looked at me and got real serious and told me to stand up and get on the bed. She then told me to lay on my back then my knees then my back and back to my knees. I didn’t know what was happening but I’ve never moved so fast in my life. Jon was right there holding my hand and tell me how good I was doing and that he loved me. Little did we know that in the past five minutes we had risked out of the birth center because my son’s shoulder got stuck. But we were blessed with Sarah who knew what to do and pulled my son right out. Then I’m waiting and waiting, and my family is standing ears pressed to the door waiting and waiting, he wasn’t crying. He only cooed at first very faintly. Sarah gave him little oxygen and he cried!! But all that time was going by I couldn’t see! My glasses were where?!? I finally get them on and can lay eyes on my beautiful baby–who looks like a three month old!
Jonathan Michael was born Nov. 19th, 2011 7:50 am 9 lbs 7 oz 21″ long. He came right to me and latched right on like he’d been practicing his whole little life. Lindsay was there then and Sarah and her just kept telling me how cute he was how wonderful of a job I did. And I just kept thinking, “Wow, I just gave birth..with no pain killers, or medicine, It wasn’t that bad”. I am so happy that I chose The Birth Center! We can’t go back but I will refer anyone there and continue to get care there. I am so happy and feel so privileged to have given birth there.