The short version- 90 minutes after I woke up from the first contraction I had felt all night, Emma was born in the front seat of our car, half a mile from our house.
The long version- For my last four doctor's appointments, I had been progressing a little more each week. At my Tuesday appointment, we scheduled to meet at the hospital at 6:30 on Thursday morning to break my water and get her here! On Tuesday night Jason and I talked about the things we needed to do on Wednesday to be ready for Thursday. I sent the kids off with Jason to pick sweet corn, did some stretches and took a hot bath. For as much as the baby had been moving in the previous days, she was being unusually quiet that night. No contractions of note, no painful movements from her, either. The kids and Jason got home late and we got them into bed.
2:00 am- We all wake up from a thunder, lightening and hail storm that was raging outside. Leah gets into bed with me, Adam and Jason snuggle up together, and we wait until the storm passes. I was hungry enough to head downstairs and eat a bowl of Wheaties. We are all back to bed by 2:30, no contractions.
4:30 am- I wake up with the strongest contraction I had felt so far (keeping in mind I had been having them sporadically over the last few weeks). I note the time and try to go back to sleep.
4:40 am- Another contraction comes on, a solid 10 minutes after the last but just as strong.
4:50- Another contraction, and I can't go back to sleep. I start pacing between the bedroom, bathroom, and toy room. Jason sleeps on.
5:00- Another contraction, this time I find comfort in stretching out on the bathroom floor. Jason wakes up and finds me stretched out. I offered a sheepish "hello" and he asks me what I'm doing on the floor. I told him I'd had a few strong contractions and wasn't sure if we should go to the hospital just yet. At this point I was thinking the baby might be born sometime later in the morning, but I couldn't decide if I should call my friend Sarah to come over and be with the kids so we could leave just yet. It seems if I can just wait a few more hours, then no one would have to wake up so early.
5:28- The contractions are coming on quicker, and I'm starting to think we should probably get moving. I start packing up the last of our hospital bag and send Jason throughout the house with random last minute errands- start the dryer, put a pillow on the guest bed. We make our bed and I get dressed to go to the hospital.
I'm starting to feel a bit frantic at this point- not scared or in a lot of pain, just realizing that things are happening really fast. We need to get moving.
5:43- I send a text to Sarah- "I'm so sorry to wake you up. Can you come over?"
5:44- She texts me back- "I will be right there."
5:48- While Jason let's Sarah in, I have a contraction that drops me to my hands and knees. I call Jason upstairs to give me a blessing, and we are on our way.
5:50- I head downstairs to say hello to Sarah and give her a few instructions, then head to the car.
5:51- Another contraction sends me to my knees in the kitchen. I wait the 20 or so seconds for it to pass, then stand up, pick up my pillow and cell phone, and head to the garage. Jason has the car running and my door open, waiting for me to get in.
5:53- Another contraction finds me kneeling in the garage. This time I feel the urge to push, and tell Jason so. He tells me to hurry into the car so we can get going. Our hospital is a good 20 minutes away.
5:54- I climb into the car onto my knees, facing backwards, as if I'm helping someone in the back seat. Jason tells me I need to sit down as he's backing out of the driveway. I tell him this is the only comfortable way I can be in the car, and to just drive.
5:58- Another contraction comes, and I can't not push through it.
6:00- My water breaks, and I tell Jason to pull over. He parks in the parking lot of the gas station and gets out of the car. He calls 911.
6:01- The baby's head is out, the baby is out, Emma is born. Jason catches her and passes her over to me. She lets out a little cry, opens her eyes, and she latches on like a pro. Jason hands me his shirt to wrap her up.
The ambulance arrived 3 or 4 minutes later, and we were taken to the hospital. The volunteer paramedic was also a NICU nurse, and she gave me a big hug and told me I did all the right things. Emma and Jason went to the NICU while I went to labor and delivery.
The question we've been asked the most is if we were scared. In the moment? Not at all. We didn't have time to be scared, only time to greet our little girl who was so very eager to make her arrival into the world. After the fact? Of course. Especially in light of my labor with Leah, we are very aware of how quickly things can go wrong.
Amazingly, everything went just right. Emma is perfect, and I'm feeling pretty great, all things considered. No, the location wasn't ideal, but the trade off meant no epidural, episiotomy, stitches, or c-section. No fetal heart monitor, constant cervical checking or hours of laboring on a hospital bed amongst strangers.
It never occurred to Jason or I that we didn't HAVE to get to the hospital- that we should have just stayed home until she was born. Maybe next time (if there is a next time!) we'll have to take that into consideration. For now, we're just resting and enjoying each other as a party of 5.
