I got the call from Julie around 4pm to meet her at Fred Meyer's so that I can help her grocery shop. She told me that she was concerned because she was leaking a little. I figured this might be "it" because she was having multiple contractions every day for the last few days.
The timing was, in my opinion, tough on me because I was working on an important, high stress project that needed all of my attention and focus. Not to mention, the guys were counting on me to be there. Regardless, if the baby was born this night, there was no way I'd go in to work, except to do a turnover.
We left Fred Meyer's in separate cars. Julie left without traffic resistance, while I got stuck. Now I was worried that something would happen to her on the drive home and I, stuck in traffic, could not catch up to her. Fortunately, when I pulled into our street, her car was already in the garage.
We got home at around 5pm. Julie told the kids to get ready as soon as they can and was very serious about it. Now I knew it was time. She indicated to me that her water broke. I had "the talk" with Brandon and Alex. They seemed to understand and mature in an instant. I quickly grabbed the sleeping bags, pajamas, and a change of clothes for each of the kids. We left some food out, but at this point, who cares. Our neighbors, the Harrisons, were great and accepted the kids in with no problems.
We got to the hospital at around 6:30pm. Julie's expressions indicated to me that we got there a little early, and if it weren't for the fact that her water broke, we'd still be laboring at home. The nurse told us that shift change was starting while she was setting up the external baby heart rate monitor. The nurse on the next shift would check to see how far along Julie was. Julie started to get settled in the room.
Now it was 7:30pm. The nurse finally showed up. She checked and found that Julie was about 4cm dilated. She also mentioned that Julie's water sack was not broken. Anyways, I thought we'll be laboring for at least another 3 hours before Julie gets checked again. Who knows when Julie will start pushing at this point! Julie was clearly not happy about this news. Her contractions were frequent and getting stronger by the minute. The nurse disconnected the monitors so that she can get up. Julie went to the bathroom for a few minutes. After she got out, she walked around the room a little while.
About 15 minutes later, Julie told me I needed to get the nurse. When the nurse checked, her report was, "We need to get the doctor in ASAP." I guess this meant that Julie was fully dilated. Within seconds, there were half a dozen nurses in the delivery room, trying to get Julie ready for delivery. One nurse was trying to put on the heplock so that they can set up Julie's IV. She was not having much success with that because the contractions were too frequent. Another nurse was saying, "Don't push until the doctor arrives." Okay, good luck with that! My experience with Julie is that when she's giving birth, she'll do it her way, with or without the doctor!
The one thing that I find very interesting about Julie is her resolve. She delivered each of our kids all natural. No medication. Each time, however, she told me that she can't do this and that she wants some sort of pain medication. Each time she mentions this, it's too late. And when she finally accepts this, she finds a way to dig deep within her and push through the pain.
I really don't know how long or how hard Julie was pushing, but the doctor finally arrives at around 8:25pm. The surprised look on his face was priceless. He must have known that Julie was ready to push, but I guess he didn't realize while on his way to the hospital that he'd be catching the baby within a few minutes of putting his rubber gloves on. It's a good thing he arrived. With the nurses hesitant to man the catcher's position, I was within a minute of telling Julie that I'm going to catch the baby. OK, so I don't know what I'm doing, but at least there are half a dozen nurses there to coach me if that time came.
Kyle came out at 8:38pm. Another little guy. Another early baby. After I cut the umbilical cord, I watched as the nurse cleaned him up and checked him out. The vitals on him were good in my opinion. He was alert, crying, and responsive. Julie was doing pretty well herself.
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