Our Little Pumpkin was born on October 19, 2018, at 8:01 in the morning. He weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz and measured 19.5 inches.
I, begrudgingly, went to work on Thursday, October 18. Our team was a bit short staffed, and I was co-facilitating a presentation about spirituality in medical assessment for a group of physician residents in the morning. What helped me show up was the knowledge it was my last day of work for a while, as induction was scheduled on our Little Pumpkin’s due date (October 22). I was having fairly regular contractions when I woke up on the 18th, though I knew they were not strong enough or close enough together to justify calling our midwifery group. However, the physician I was presenting with (and the room full of residents) did express doubts I would make it through the presentation, let alone the workday.
I made it through the presentation just fine, and while there were plenty of situations in need of a chaplain throughout the hospital, my colleague was gracious and let me focus primarily on one family instead of going all around the hospital. I did tell the nurse who was also caring for the patient and family that I thought I was in the beginning of labor, and she jokingly said a man in a similar situation would certainly not be working. After noon, I ran into the physician I presented with and she was surprised to see me still there. And, I made it all the way to the end of the day.
I started timing contractions while I waited for Nick to pick me up from work to go home. They were still consistent, and getting stronger, yet they remained six or so minutes apart. When Nick picked me up, I told him I thought I was in labor, but still thought it was too soon to call or go in.
We picked up LT from daycare, went home, and let our people who would look after LT know we might end up going in to the hospital at some point. We ate dinner as a family (leftovers, very glamorous), and I drank a giant smoothie with the pineapple I had left in the fridge. After dinner, I finally called in to the midwifery unit, with contractions every 4-5 minutes, only to be told my contractions were still a little too far apart to go in. So, we put LT to bed (after telling him we might not be home in the morning), and I lay on the couch while Nick did some work things and we watched the Broncos beat the Cardinals. At some point during the game, I decided to take a shower. When the game was over, I called in again with contractions closer to three minutes apart, and they agreed it was time to come to the hospital. Our awesome neighbor came to sleep at our house, so we wouldn’t have to disturb LT and we grabbed our bags and went to the hospital at around 10:30 pm. We texted my parents and our doula as we left, knowing we would need our doula sometime soon and my parents would need to prepare for a long drive to meet the new grandchild.
Upon arrival at the hospital, we learned it had already been a busy night for our midwives, so we did wait awhile before being first checked by a midwife. While waiting, our nurse hooked me up to the monitors so we could hear LP’s heartbeat and confirm the timing of my contractions. When the backup midwife arrived, we learned I was 3.5 centimeters dilated. She said sometimes they would have people go walk around and come back in an hour or two, but it was up to us if we would rather be admitted right away, being the middle of the night. We opted to be admitted around midnight.
Our nurse brought us to our delivery room, and it was the same room LT was born in. I was encouraged to keep moving around, to keep labor going, so we unpacked some things in our suitcase, moved one of the giant chairs-that-become-“beds” for Nick, and generally moved around our room. Eventually, I decided to just lay down and rest, not knowing what the rest of the night would bring.
The scheduled midwife came to do another check at 2:15am and said I was now at 5 centimeters. She offered to break my water to get things moving even more, and suggested we start the epidural. I agreed to have her break my water, and things really did pick up. It was then we texted our doula to come to the hospital and join us. We also started the IV fluids in preparation for the epidural.
I was extremely thankful for the many hours I’d spent doing prenatal yoga at Everyday Miracles as labor continued to pick up. When doing challenging moves, one of the yoga instructors said to “put your mind on a shelf,” and I certainly did so in the midst of strong contractions. Another instructed us in three-part breathing; I started doing those breaths even at home, and knew if I breathed slowly and deeply enough, each contraction lasted only the duration of 10 deep breaths… I can do anything for 10 breaths!
Our doula arrived and tried to encourage me to get out of bed, instead of saying on my side, gripping the bed rails with every contraction. I wanted to stay in bed until our nurse said I should get up to go to the restroom before having the epidural, and I obliged. Then, the anesthesiologist arrived to place the epidural – glory, hallelujah! Nick had been with me for my other two epidurals, with Rayna and LT, but for some reason found this one a bit more difficult. But, he was a trooper and stayed upright the whole time. While a part of me hoped to labor and deliver without an epidural, I am thankful I had one again. And, this was a PERFECT epidural. It helped take away the intensity of the contractions, but I could still feel and use my legs.
Once the epidural was placed, I again rested a bit with a peanut ball between my legs. I maybe slept 30-45 minutes, otherwise I was just chatting away with our doula. At some point, our midwife came back in and checked again – I was at 10! However, I wasn’t feeling a strong urge to push just yet. The midwife was so kind and comforting – speaking words of encouragement and rubbing my head between contractions. I really loved her! Nick was also being great and rubbing my back when I asked and supplying me with the endless Gatorade we had packed in our hospital bag for energy.
As seems to be tradition in our deliveries, it was approaching change of shift; so another midwife and a student midwife joined us around 6 or 7 am, as did our new nurse (who was also one of our nurses when LT was born). It was a full room when it was time to start pushing, but I really didn’t mind or notice. I had put my mind on a shelf, and while I could hear LP’s heart rate decelerating with some of my strong contractions, and listened as the midwives discussed this with one another, I was not overly worried and knew I just needed to push. Because of my awesome epidural, I was able to labor and push in many different positions, which felt great for my body. Eventually, in the midst of the intermittent pushing, our first midwife and nurse needed to leave as their shift was more than over. I so wanted to have them there for delivery but couldn’t quite pull it off.
When we finally found a really great position for pushing, it was truly go time. During one strong contraction, LP’s head came out, then the rest followed during the next contraction. Our Little Pumpkin was here and safe and alive!
Nick was able to announce we had a boy, and then the baby was placed in my arms for skin-to-skin time while Nick cut the umbilical cord. We snuggled and enjoyed some sweet time with our new little human while our team cleaned up the room.
Everything truly went well! I didn’t need any stitches, our baby was healthy and lovely, and we were overjoyed. It again took us an absurdly long time to feel confident enough in a name to write it down on paper and turn it over to receive his birth certificate and other legal forms. I also experienced an intense itching reaction, likely to the epidural, lasting about 24 hours after delivery. (Only one, very short-term, medication even helped a little bit, but I managed okay despite feeling a bit crazy.) And, because we are “experienced parents,” we were offered the chance to leave the hospital as soon as our baby was 24 hours old, but we opted to stay an extra night for additional rest and time to settle in. This worked out for the best, as LP was too wiggly to pass his first hearing test, took some extra time to pass a cardiac test, and his circumcision ended up being a bit delayed.
LT’s first visit to the hospital went well. By then, he was staying with his big cousins (Nick’s brothers family) and he really loves being with them. He came into the room and took a peek at his new sibling in the little bassinet. Then, we together counted baby’s fingers and toes and he opened his new big sibling books. LT played in the room for a while, and when he was ready to go he broke my heart a bit when he said, “Bye, Mom,” and walked toward the door. Our other visitors at the hospital included our parents and my sister with her children.
We left the hospital just after lunchtime on Sunday, October 21, and began our new adventure with two little ones at home.
Rayna's Sunset 
2 thoughts on “Little Pumpkin’s Arrival”