Ok... so we've run into many people to tell our birth story (which I promised was a good one), but for those we haven't seen yet, I suppose it is finally time to tell the tale. For the month leading up to Amita's birth, I was having contractions every day. They were at varying times of the day for varying durations, but they never amounted to anything (translation - no baby every day as I was reminded by EVERY single person that crossed my path, in person and virtually).
So Saturday, January 8th seemed no different. We went to Saturday night church specifically so I could avoid the many well-meaning folks on Sunday morning that were going to ask if I'd had the baby yet (which I clearly had not). I wasn't trying not to have the baby, so it was frustrating to have to keep answering that question. I was as excited as anyone (or more so) to meet our little smooch... but the time wasn't right yet. I had contractions throughout church, but they were the same as the ones I'd been having all month. Then, we went grocery shopping as we were running low on all the supplies we'd stocked up on weeks ago, expecting our baby to have arrived already. After our jaunt to the store, we went home to watch some playoff football games and eat some ice cream.
Around 9pm, the contractions were back and weren't going away. But they were still very erratic (we know, because Aaron started timing them). We decided to try one of our midwife's tips: to determine if you're in labor you can 1) take a bath OR 2) drink half a glass of wine. If either of these things makes the contractions go away, it was false labor. So we drew a bath and I climbed in. However, we like things to be very definitive and the phrase, "take a bath" isn't. We weren't sure how hot the water should be, if it should cover my entire tummy (no small feat!), etc., so when my contractions didn't go away, we were unconvinced that we had followed the right process. So we followed up the bath with a half a glass of wine (Prairie Fume from the Wollersheim winery). I was looking forward to that because I figured it would help me fall asleep once it got my contractions to subside.
But my contractions didn't subside! So we finally decided that I was in labor and called our midwife, Jan. It was around midnight by this time and we woke her up. Aaron spoke with her first and then I spoke with her and we decided that my contractions weren't particularly strong, so we would all try to get some sleep. We had also recorded the Colts/Jets playoff game and had about 2 minutes left in it, so Aaron and I decided we'd finish that up before turning in for the evening. As soon as we started watching it, I got uncomfortable and the intensity of my contractions increased several notches. But it had only been about 15 minutes since we'd spoken to Jan and I was embarrassed to call her back so soon. So Aaron started preparing our room for the birth while I sat on the toilet with my contractions. After another 15 minutes, we called Jan because I knew it was time for her to come to the house.
Aaron was a little amped up by this time and was hurrying around and as he was rearranging furniture in our bedroom, he smashed his head into the pendant light in the corner of our room. It knocked him to the ground and he got to briefly consider the possibility that he would black out and miss the entire birth! But he mustered his strength and got up and continued his chores while periodically checking in on me. Meanwhile, my contractions had escalated significantly and I was starting to feel like I had to push. Aaron called our midwife to ensure that she was close to our house, but she was still about 20 minutes out. After some concerned discussion with her (out of earshot of me!) it was decided that I should move to our bed and lay down in an attempt to slow down labor. Chances were increasing greatly that Aaron may have to deliver the baby alone! However, our bed had not yet been made, so Aaron needed to very quickly strip it of all the linens and add plastic sheets. I found it funny that as I was in the middle of a contraction, Aaron called out to me to ask where the sheets were! I let him know he'd need to locate those on his own!!
Once I moved to our bed, I was significantly more comfortable and able to wait for Jan to arrive. Aaron helped to carry in her supplies from the car and then asked if we needed to leave the door open for another midwife (they always try to have two midwives attending births). Jan let Aaron know that although Pam was on her way, she wouldn't make it before the baby did! Aaron was a bit surprised by this news and braced himself to become a father a little bit sooner than he anticipated.
About 40 minutes after Jan arrived, our baby was born. It was 2:27am on Sunday, January 9th. Jan handed the baby to me to discover if it was a boy or a girl. As soon as we saw that it was a girl (a bit of a surprise to me, but not to Aaron), we named her Amita Jeneva. Amita means limitless in Indian. Jeneva was my grandmother's name (although she spelled it Geneva). All told, the entire labor and delivery was about 5.5 hours - not typical for a first time mom. But I guess that since Amita had forced us to wait 10 extra days to meet her, the least she could do was speed up the process once she made up her mind to arrive!
The best part of having a home birth was the fact that there were no strangers in attendance at the birth. We were able to have a relaxed labor and delivery and then recover in our own house. It was a unique, personalized experience and there's nothing better than falling asleep in our own bed after an exciting adventure like that!
