So, in case anyone is wondering, here are all (well, most) of the gory details about how Zach came into the world:
Bethany had been having contractions for quite a few days, so it's a little hard to say when labor "started." On Wednesday she woke up early (2:00 am) and lay there for about 5 hours with contractions coming about eight minutes apart. If you want to know what that's like, have someone kick you in the stomach every eight minutes while you're trying to sleep. It's fun!
We went about our lives on Wednesday, had a prenatal check-up (at which, ironically, we scheduled our induction date). The midwife said, "I think this baby's coming today or tomorrow." We said, "We're holding you to that." Lucky for her. Then we went and had a spicy lunch, because what's pregnancy without believing all kinds of ridiculous old wives tales about what induces labor? Then we came home and Bethany settled down to see where things would lead. Like a jerk, I went into work for the afternoon and evening. I got home around 7:00 and the contractions were about 6 minutes apart. It looked like we were in business! Here's a picture of Bethany laboring at home, with Maggie providing moral support:
We (and I use "we" here loosely) labored at home until about midnight, when the midwife said, "come on down!" So we packed up the car and drove to The Maternity Center in Bethesda, where the party was going to go down. Here's a picture of the birth center:
When we arrived, the midwife (Melody) said, "Wow, you guys look tired!" Since she was aware that the next few hours were not going to be a walk in the park, she had us crawl into bed to rest up for a few hours. We slept (well, I did) for a few hours and then got up around 7 to get the show on the road.
We had two midwives, Melody and Joey, for whom I would now take a bullet. They were wonderful; stayed with us the whole time, bringing encouragement, peace, and wisdom to the situation, which was great since neither Bethany nor I could be described as encouraged, peaceful, or wise.
So labor began in earnest. We did all kinds of stuff, walking around outside, walking up and down stairs, squatting, sitting in a Jacuzzi, laying in bed, etc. Intermittent fetal monitoring assured us that Zach was happy. Labor lasted a long friggin' time; but slowly and surely Bethany was progressing, though she was having a hard time believing it. One thing Bethany didn't do during the labor was take any pain medication, which was something we had really hoped for, and prepared for, beforehand. I drink my coffee black, and like whiskey straight up, but Bethany takes her labor without any chasers.
At about 10:30 in the morning, Joey told us that Bethany was "in transition," which is the part of labor where the mother says something like "I can't do this!" The contractions are coming right on top of each other, over and over. Usually, transition is a difficult but important moment, because the mother is "transitioning" to the pushing stage. Usually. For us, Bethany had not fully dilated yet, so the pushing was a little tricky. Suffice it to say that she pushed for about 4 hours. Which sucked. Finally, with a lot of help from Joey and Melody and their magical midwife wisdom, Bethany was full dilated. Then she pushed for another hour and half. All in all, the labor lasted a good 24 hours (at least). For much of it, Bethany was "in the zone," very relaxed and calm, albeit uncomfortable. I would say "You are doing so great! You're totally in control of this!" and Beth would nod and say quietly, "I know." Which is the maternal equivalent of popping your jersey in a college basketball game. At one point, however, she did tell me that we were definitely not having any more kids.
There were definitely some tense moments throughout, however. A couple times Bethany was ready to give up and needed a lot of cheering on. When her water broke, we learned that there was meconium in the fluid, which means that Zach had taken his first dump (not the medical term) and had swallowed some of it, so we knew he would need to be suctioned when he came out. Probably the toughest moment was closest to the end, when Zach was almost there, and Bethany was completely socked out. The monitoring showed that Zach's heart-rate was starting to drop, so Joey said to Bethany, "OK, I really need you to give it all you've got, and push the baby out!" That was pretty tense. But, throughout it all, we felt like we were in great hands, and there was never any panicky emergency situations.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Zach's head emerged. His cord was wrapped around his neck, but Melody and Joey skillfully slipped it over his shoulder and guided the rest of his body out. He went right up on to Bethany's tummy and we had him start to nurse, but he was a little bit busy screaming his head off, so I don't know how much food he got. Then I cut the cord (and yes, I cut the right cord). Here is a picture of Bethany and Zach soon after the birth (you can't tell, but Bethany's wearing a Broncos shirt, which I feel is important to highlight):
All in all, the labor was an incredible experience. I found that most of the cliche things people say about it were true, i.e. "You won't believe how strong your wife is," "You can't describe the feeling when you see the baby," "You won't believe how difficult labor is." All true. I was also surprised at how long labor lasted, and how much energy it took out of her, for sure, but out of me too. I still can't believe how long Bethany was able to keep at it. Of course, what do I know--when Bethany's not sleeping or feeding Zach, she'll post her experience. I may be wrong, but I suspect the word "excruciating" might be used.
I suppose this is the sort of thing that would only happen to a nerdy pastor, but throughout the labor a particular phrase kept popping into my head, which is from the Nicene Creed, which we recite on Sundays, and it was a great encouragement:
"...and we believe in the Holy Spirit; the Lord, and Giver of Life..."
Amen.
