The birth story

The day was Thursday the 1st, April Fools, and I suppose I should note that April 1 is the birthday of both Shawn's brother and my uncle Peter. So there were at least two people pulling for Maeve to be born on the 1st, (and she almost made it).

I spent Thursday at work, expecting and yet not expecting to have Shawn call and tell me that she was in labor.

Shawn spent the day with Reilly, who was on spring break. She called me later in the day to tell me that Reilly had asked her, "How come Daddy doesn't get to have any fun?" Shawn and I do this a lot--calling to tell each other the funny or cute thing that Reilly has said that day.

We all met up at 4:00pm in downtown St. Pete with a photographer who was going to document prego Shawn (and what turned out to be our last day as a family of three).

Shawn began to realize that she was in labor at 8:00pm. While she ensured all the appropriate items were packed in her hospital bag, she put me to work doing important things like putting the car seat in the car and charging the camera and cell phone.

Oh, and in a last ditch act of nesting, she asked me to dust the blades of all the fans in the house and to vacuum under all the cushions of the couch.

We spent the next hour or so watching an episode of "The Office" on TV. It was the one where Jim and Pam have a baby. How appropriate.

At 10:00pm, I filled out our census form. Though Shawn was progressing, it was clear that we would have three in our household on April 1st. Sorry Danny and Uncle Pete! With contractions at 10 minutes apart for 2 hrs, Shawn called her mom, Donna, to tell her that this was the night.

At 10:30pm, Donna arrived, and at 11:00pm, my dad arrived. Shawn's contractions were 7-10 minutes apart and she was laboring bent over and on hands and knees. By midnight, Shawn had had three contractions in a row spaced at 5 minutes, so we grabbed our stuff and headed to the hospital with Donna. My dad stayed at the house to watch over Reilly.

We were checked in at Bayfront Baby Place 12:30am. I remember the receptionist asking Shawn if she was there to be induced.

"Um, no. I'm in labor."

Next stop was triage, where Shawn was monitored by a mean old nurse who promised us we would only be there twenty minutes. An hour later, Shawn's water broke. When I told the nurse, she said, "I doubt it."

When Shawn's water broke at 1:45am, I told the mean old nurse that Shawn needed to have an antibiotic drip started (doctor's orders) and she said, "Oh we've got plenty of time for that. You got lucky with your first daughter, having her in 45 minutes" At this point I was pretty pissed off, but in my last act of diplomacy, said, "I mean, we're going to have this baby today, so can we just get out of triage and be admitted?"

I don't remember what she said, but it was, in general, and for all intents and purposes, "When I get to it, buddy."

In the meantime, she did start Shawn's heplock, but after taking a few vials of blood, the vein stopped producing blood. Rather than try another spot immediately, she instead proceeded to jab the needle deeper and deeper into the vein. (I should note that of the whole birthing process, it was at this moment that I was the closest to fainting.)

Eventually the IV was started and Shawn was ushered to the birthing suite where Donna was waiting. The time was 2:30am.

We were assigned a new nurse, Julie, who was pretty green (had just graduated 6th months prior) but who turned out to be just fine as a nurse and a pretty awesome birthing coach. At this point, Shawn's contractions were getting pretty fierce, but she would just groan through them and direct me where to rub her back.

I guess I should mention at this point that Shawn had decided beforehand that she wanted to have a totally natural birth and hadn't even had so much as a Tylenol. It was fascinating to me to see how her body sheltered her naturally from the pain, not that it wasn't hurting her--it was!--but her mind had gone elsewhere. Or perhaps it was just the yoga music playing from the ipod.

Shawn was two centimeters dilated going into the birthing suite. On nurse Julie's first check of her, she was five centimeters. Julie stopped doing the admitting paperwork and went to call the doctor to come. Quickly.

Because the baby was coming.

Quickly.

It was maybe ten minutes later that Shawn said that she needed to push. Nurse Julie, husband Brian, and momma Donna all got a wee bit nervous at this point. There was a lot of hustle and bustle going on in the room now, with five nurses getting everything set up for the birth. Nurse Julie checked Shawn and she was at ten centimeters. Time to go.

But.

No doctor.

Shawn was a little out of it at this point, and kept repeating, "I'm trying really hard. I'm trying really hard. I'm trying really hard." Frankly, I was trying really hard too. To not shit my pants.

It was at about that moment that Shawn's doctor burst in the room, barked a few orders at the nurses, and got into baby catching position. Shawn couldn't be more relieved to see her, "Thank you for coming!"

"Okay, Shawn, time to push."

On her first push, the baby came out to the shoulders. The doctor said, "Whoa! Hold on!" She moved the umbilical cord out of the way, then told Shawn to push again and Maeve came flying out.

The doctor said, "Open your eyes, Shawn, your baby is here."

Shawn opened her eyes and said, "Oh! Hiiiii!"

I have to pause here and say, look: there is nothing, and I mean nothing, like seeing someone you love give birth to someone you love.

Time: 3:05am.

Total time spent in labor and delivery room: 31 minutes.

Total labor time: 7 hours, 5 minutes.