Baby Race

Friday morning at 5:30 AM Julie’s water broke.  My first thought was “well, here’s the start of another loooong day,” since JI’s birth came 22 hours after his water broke.  But Caroline had a different plan.  I was on the phone with a friend at 8 AM, still thinking we had plenty of time, when Julie said “I think we’re having this baby today.”  Thirty minutes later the contractions were coming in waves, so we shipped John Isaac off to a friend’s house, assembled some belongings and prepared for the trip to the hospital.  In the midst of getting ready my brother in Kentucky calls and informs me they are at the hospital ready to deliver their baby!  The race was on – who would go first?  (Competition never gets old between brothers).

We were waiting for the Birthing Assistant (B.A. hereafter) to arrive before departing, but I wasn’t sure if we would be able to wait at this point – the contractions just kept coming, one after another, and Julie wasn’t getting any relief.  The B.A. arrived around 9:30 and knew right away that it WAS TIME TO GO.  We loaded Julie in the van and took off (though my driving was well controlled, as the B.A. commented afterwards).  I didn't know it at the time, but the B.A. was discretely calling another B.A. that was following behind us in a car, telling her to call the hospital and warn them that we were coming.  She told us later that she was for sure Julie would have the baby in the van!  

Julie was glad to be on the way, but not happy at all about the 47 speed bumps in the hospital parking lot.  When we parked at the entrance, I dashed off and retrieved a wheel chair, only to be informed by my wife that, “I can’t get out!”  Well, we’re not having this baby here – not when we're this close to having her nosocomial - so we all lifted various body parts and helped her into the chair.  We proceeded down the loooong hallway, up the elevator and pulled into the maternity ward at almost 10 AM.  Recognizing her condition, everyone jumped to attention and started helping right away.  A few minutes later she was in the delivery room and ready to go.  The Lord was so gracious to have some of the kindest, gentlest nurses in the room with us – they were so sensitive to her condition.  They immediately checked her and she was already fully dilated!!!!  Julie wasn’t kidding – we would be having a baby THAT DAY.

After many complications from delivering John Isaac with drugs, my amazing wife was dead set on having this baby o-natural.  Now, I’ve heard all the horror stories of women snapping at their husbands in this condition, so I was on my best behavior, not wanting to do anything to frustrate her.  I must have said a thousand times “you’re doing a great job!” and meant it every time.  She amazed me with her resilience and focus – I was truly inspired and became “choked up” many times just watching her endure the pain.  All the material we read beforehand  said there would come a point when she would say “I can’t do this – I can’t go on!”  but she blew right past that point, only hinting at it right at the very end.  She started pushing at 11:30 – and at 12:01, we had our girl!

The only down side of the entire morning was the flurry of messages that came in right before Julie started pushing: my brother’s daughter was just delivered.  They beat us by 37 minutes!  Oh well, you can’t win them all.  I guess it wasn’t a total loss, as Caroline was heavier by 3 ounces.

We spent the night in the hospital and made it home Saturday afternoon with no problems.  Please pray for a speedy recovery for my wife.