Thane's Birth Story

Warning: LONG & detailed and well, a birth story!
On Tuesday, May 18th, I went to my regularly scheduled 39-week appointment with my midwife. I checked out the same as I'd been the previous two weeks - 3 cm dilated, only 50% effaced, and the baby was still really, really high. I really wanted to give Thane the opportunity to come on his own, BUT I also was concerned about making sure I had child-care for Aubree and Bryce. Kira (one of my wonderful sisters) was coming to stay for a week and I didn't want to miss that window. So we set up an appointment for induction Thursday morning. "I have to warn you," my midwife cautioned, "if he's still so high on Thursday morning, I won't be able to break your water. We'd have to give you Pitocin." I responded, "no way, no how! I'd rather wait."
Wednesday night as I was getting ready for bed, I started having contractions. Nothing too extreme, but I did notice them and when I went to sleep they woke me up on occasion. I had dreams of contractions all night. I even had dreams of telling Mark about my contraction dreams..."I had Harry Potter contraction dreams, I had Twilight contraction dreams..." Very strange.
Thursday morning I continued to have contractions that were fairly regular and starting to actually hurt, so I called and canceled my induction. Kira braided my hair and hair-sprayed it well in anticipation of going into "real" labor. Around 10:30 am I called Mark home from work because I thought the contractions were getting closer together. Of course, as soon as he got home they slowed significantly and I even took a nap. This went on all afternoon. Finally, around 3 pm I decided it was time to go to the hospital. I'd wanted to wait until either my water broke or I was in serious pain, but I knew my midwife would only be at the hospital till 4 pm and I wanted to see her and maybe have her break my water.
Maddeningly, as soon as we got in the car to go to the hospital, my contractions all but stopped. I felt like a fool walking to the registration area and asking for labor and delivery. "Do you think you're in labor?" the admitting clerk asked. "Grrrrr," I thought. I'm sure by looking at me standing calmly and talking with her she thought I was some first time mom who didn't know what real labor was and would soon be sent home.
We finally did make it up to labor and delivery and when my midwife checked me I was 5-6 cm dilated and 100% effaced with a "bulging bag of water." "Yes," she affirmed, "you're definitely in labor."
They took the required preliminary heart-rate measurements of the baby, then had me walk the halls to see if the contractions would start back up. My amazing friend, Juliana, came at that point and she and Mark and I began our pacing of the hallways. The contractions did pick back up and as each flooded over me I found myself questioning, "I wanted to go into labor??? Remind me again why I wanted this?" I even asked Juliana if she wanted to trade with me. "Sure," she answered, "as long as it means I get to keep the baby."
Around 5 pm we headed back to the labor room hoping to move things along by getting my water broken. My midwife had said she would stay as long as she could, but had another engagement at 6 pm. Plus, the same nurse, Donna, I had when I was in labor with Bryce (and who is AWESOME with natural births) finished her shift at 7 pm. They broke my water sometime around 5:25 and in the process confirmed our previous prediction that Thane was Posterior. "Oh no!" I thought, remembering Aubree's (also posterior) birth that nearly ended in a c-section. My midwife suggested I labor on my hands and knees and seemed fairly confident that by so doing, Thane would turn.
I spent a while sitting on the bed trying to get up the courage to stand up and feel the nasty flow of amniotic fluid down my legs. During that time, my midwife brought in the on-call doctor so I could meet her. She seemed great and explained, "I'm only going to be on the second floor, so just give me enough time to run up here to catch him." We all laughed. I was still having contractions every 4-5 minutes and I'd have to stop talking and focus through them (and I didn't enjoy them at all), but when I wasn't in the midst of a contraction, everything was fine.
Sometime between 5:45 and 6 pm, I got down on my knees and draped myself over an exercise ball. The contractions started to come more frequently and got much more intense. As each one came I'd cry, "no, no, noooooo. I don't want to do this!" I remembered (perhaps too well) that this transition period from 6 or 7 cm to 8 cm was terrible. I told Mark and Juliana to have a bowl ready because "I always throw-up during transition." Soon I started shaking and getting a cold sweat and I anticipated another hour or so of the same misery. Mark and Juliana were great, the took turns putting pressure on my lower back or pushing my hips together, which helped (sometimes) to alleviate the pain.
I'd prepped Juliana before-hand that it was important that she force me to try to use the bathroom. "I'll fight you," I warned, "but it's important because it will help move things along." Soon, Juliana tried to convince me to get up and go. "No," I answered, "I can't, I just can't!" "After this next contraction," she prodded. With the next contraction, however, I got a huge surprise. "He's coming!!" I screamed, "call Donna, have her check me! Aauugggghhhhhh!!!!!" I think Mark and Juliana both jumped up, but Donna had heard me and came running into the room. "Okay, Erin," she soothed, "get up on the bed so I can check you." Mark and Juliana both grabbed an arm and helped me stand and start to crawl onto the bed. Mid-crawl, another contraction hit and again I was screaming, "he's coming OUT, he's coming OUT!!!!!!!" The nurse had to pull off my underwear and, sure enough, there was Thane's head. "Breath!," Donna commanded, "blow out the candle, Erin." Okay - I breathed long enough for the doctor to run in yelling, "gloves, I need gloves!" The doctor told me to roll over on my back. "I can't," I answered, but with help I flipped over and one push later, Thane's head was out. After another push, his body came out. I remember Juliana saying, "this is it! Open your eyes, Erin!" It hadn't occurred to me that I could open my eyes. When I complied, I saw my baby being lifted to my arms. It had all happened so fast it seemed totally surreal. The time on the clock was 6:24 pm.
Juliana was there to capture the following moments with her camera.
Thane weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. (my biggest baby yet) and was 21 inches long. He was born the day before his official due date. Also, apparently being on my hands and knees worked, because he was born in the "proper" anterior position (with no tearing!).
Kira came within the hour and brought Aubree and Bryce to meet their new little brother. Their reactions were priceless! While washing her hands, Aubree proclaimed, "this is the most exciting day EVER!" Later, while holding Thane for the first time, she gushed, "Oh! he's even cuter than I imagined!" Kira informed us that on the drive to the hospital, Bryce had been chanting, "Baby Thane! Kira, Kira - Baby THANE!" When he saw the baby, he immediately dubbed him, "MY baby and asked to hold him. He kept leaning over and kissing Thane's head.
So, that's Thane's climactic birth story. We decided it's probably a good thing I didn't wait till my water broke before going to the hospital. Otherwise, Kira might have been the one to deliver him with help from Nurse Aubree.