Birth Story - Part 2

Little did I know, selecting the birthing center and midwife was the easy part. Now I had to actually deliver this baby.

Saturday, July 26, I started having mild contractions. They seemed pretty intense, but for those of you who have had babies, they were nothing like they would end up being. I tried to sleep, and would get a little bit here in there. THey were not consistent which made me think maybe it was false. After 24 hours striahgt of this, I decided it was time to call the midwife. After talking to Ann, she told me to lay down, get in the bath, and take a benadryl. After I did that, the contractions stopped. I finally got to sleep a little bit and get at least a little bit of relief. I woke up the next morning and the contractions were starting again. I opted to stay home from church, and unfortunately missed my own surprise baby shower. Ellie Kate and Ben did a good job standing in for me though.

We had lifegroup that night and I just couldnt imagine myself sitting there wih all those couples, going in and out of contractions. So we all opted to stay home. We wanted to get Ellie Kate out of the house though. We decided to take Ellie to the Wimp's house (a couple that volunteers in our youth department, who have great teenagers that our great additions to our youth group). Ellie Kate, even though she was only 16 months old, had turned into quite the fish over the summer. She loves loves loves to go to "miss Sue's" to go swimming. Ellie and Ben got in the pool and swam for hours.Sue sat on the edge of the pool with me as I went in and out of contractions. She timed each of them and kept saying, Meredith, they are getting closer. Once we finished there, we went home and I spent another evening in the tub :-).

Monday was no different than the previous days with the exception that my contractions were finally showing some regularity and were getting stronger. Because they had been going on for so long, my midwife encouraged me to take another Benadryl (that is known to stop contractions tha are from false labor) so I could get some rest. I finally got some rest, and boy would I need it for the night ahead.

That Monday evening we had ouf good friends Nick and Bekah over for coffee and dessert. Looking back, it as a pretty interesting night. I sat in our recliner while the sat on the couch. About every five minutes I would close my eyes and breathe deep as I tried to get through the contraction. Nick and Bekah (who dont have any kids), kept saying, Meredith, are you sure you are alright. I usually didnt answer them until I had finished each contraction, at which time I would smile and say "yea, im fine, not to worry." It is so amazing how a woman in labor with every contraction seems to go inside themselves, unaware of the world around them, and then pop out of it like it was no big deal. That is exacty what was going on with me.

When they left, Ben and I went to bed, and I really wanted to stay at home as long as possible. I got in the tub and stayed in there or hours. I kept refilling it trying to keep hot water. After a while, the hot water seemed to be going out faster and faster. I probably exhausted all the hot water in our tank that would have usually lasted a good week. At about 2am, I couldnt take it anymore. I couldnt walk or talk through any of my contractions. I knew it was time to call Ann. Ben called her so that she could actually make out real words and understand what was going on. Ben told her my status and said that Meredith wanted to know what she should do. Ann responded by saying, well, I guess the only thing that is left to do is have this baby. I still wasnt sure I could do it, but I knew the time was growing closer.

We called our good friend Sue who came over and stayed at the house while Ellie Kate slept. (Thanks Sue for folding all our laundary while you were here :-)). She also brought over the high-tech camera for us to use. Too bad we forgot to get it out until the baby was born. We did get some really great shots of Peyton in her first few moments though.

So, we were off to the birthing center to finally meet our little Peyton...