I had thought about Collin's birth day since the moment I knew I was pregnant. I prayed for months for this baby to be healthy, for pregnancy to go well, and that God would give me the ability to have a natural birth. I knew some people would think I was crazy, but I did not love my first birth experience (I loved the birth of my child) just not the exact experience and was ever hopeful that this one would be different. My mom always spoke so fondly of her natural births as well as other friends, and I just wanted the opportunity to try. I chose Dr. Hardin because I knew he would be super supportive and encouraging of the birth I wanted. I researched using a doula and chose Micah to be part of our birth team. And we prayed. We prayed a lot and wow, was God ever so faithful.
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I guess the best place to start, is where I left off…I published that last blog post about 10:00pm Thursday night when contractions were just beginning . I had no idea at that time that I would be having a baby a few hours later.
We had such a normal day, Owen went to preschool, David and I had lunch, we cooked dinner at home, I bathed Owen and put him down to bed and we were just doing what we do most nights. I was watching Jay Leno while David was finishing up charting from work.
I told David I was feeling something, kind of like lower cramps and it was happening about every 2 to 3 minutes, he said it was probably nothing. But after about 2 hours of that, he decided that he might just check and get a baseline so we would know if something was going on. That was about midnight and I was a good 3 cm. I texted my mom that I was having some contractions, but nothing to get excited about, just have her phone with her. The contractions were getting stronger and I could no longer sit on the couch. So we walked around and I would wrap my arms around David's neck and sway during the contractions. We walked outside, it was a cool night. I thought getting in a warm bath might help, so I tried that for a little while. I texted our doula, Micah, to let her know I was having contractions, but was ok for now. The contractions were getting stronger and coming so close together that David decided to check me again at 12:45 and I was 6cm. It was evident on David's face that this was the real deal and we needed to get going to the hospital. I texted my mom to tell her to book a ticket and come. We started calling list of people that we planned to watch Owen if I went into labor. No one answered ; ) So we called one our friends in residency with David, Adrian, and she came straight over to stay with Owen. I texted Micah to meet us at the hospital that we were headed there.
(full moon, Mom took this picture that night)
If you could have seen us at this point, it would have been amusing. David was running around like crazy trying to get things together and loaded in our car. I was having strong contractions and telling him I needed him. Somehow we got loaded up and David called Labor and Delivery to let them know we were on our way and having a baby tonight. He was able to get us straight to our room after we checked in. We got checked in and it was 1:45 at that point. Micah got there and we met her in our room. She stroked my head as they put in a hep-lock and got 5 minutes of fetal heart monitoring. Our nurse Rebekah, was also very supportive of how we wanted to do things. We were able to do intermittent fetal heart monitoring and move around the room which was great. I labored through contractions standing up with my arms around David and at some point sat on the edge of the bed and breathed through them. I think what was hard and what I didn't expect is for my contractions to be so close together the entire time. I will also mention that David and I had been talking about the idea of him delivering our baby. He has had lots of experience and when else does one get this opportunity? He knew I wanted him to if he felt comfortable and things were going smoothly. Dr. Hardin was supportive of this decision as well.
My doctor had to go out of town, so Dr. Weaver was there as his backup. By the time she got in and checked me I was 9cm. Everyone in the room, was saying did she say 9cm? Things were moving quickly. But he was still high at this point so she left me to labor some more. Micah suggested I lay on my side to get Collin moving down. The first contraction was one of the toughest. She really helped me with my breathing, reminding me to breathe and breathing with me. It's funny you would think one would be able to think to breathe, but at that moment it can be hard to remember. I then got on me knees and labored through some contractions and heard and felt something different. My water broke and they called back in Dr. Weaver. She checked me again and said I could start pushing. After two series of pushes, David counting to 10 during a contraction, he quickly realized this baby was coming now and hurried to grab some gloves. I think he went into doctor mode at this point. Of course Collin couldn't give dad an easy delivery. He came out with his hand by his face, something called a compound presentation apparently in the doctor world and luckily dad knew just what to do. He was able to reach in and deliver the posterior shoulder first to help ease him into the world. His daddy was the first person to lay hands on him as he delivered him in the bed. David cut the cord and laid him immediatley on my chest. I couldn't believe he was here and was so thankful to be holding him. I held him and loved on him a few minutes and then they took him over to get him cleaned up and weighed. Collin Riley Johnson was born January 17th at 4:14 a.m.
Healthy baby boy 8 pounds 6 ounces, 21 inches long.
He did have some fluid in his lungs, so they did CPAP on him a few minutes. Dad even got put to work with that. But he was fine and never taken away. Some skin to skin time with Mama works wonders. I was able to nurse him soon after. He immediately latched on and nursed for about 20 minutes the first time.
The whole experience was surreal. I just couldn't believe what had happened and that it happened so quickly. We were grateful to have Micah there as part of our team.
Proud Daddy
Throughout the whole night David continued to remind me how proud he was of me. After Collin was born he continually reminded me over and over with a big grin on his face how proud he was of me. That is just something I never want to forget. His words and kindness and support meant so much to me and still do.
The whole experience will be one I never forget and one of my favorite moments of all time. I loved his birth, I loved that David delivered him and am so thankful to a God who is ever faithful.
