Benjamin's Natural Birth (Precipitous)

I learned a new medical term while at the hospital with Benjamin! A "precipitous birth" is one lasting less than 3 hours. You'll see that technically, our labor was longer than that but according to what the hospital saw, it wasn't.

Benjamin Caleb was born naturally at 5:52p weighing 9lb, 21in long on March 21, 2009.

Because I did natural childbirth (planned) with my first child, Samuel, and it pretty much went the way the textbooks explain with a typical 18hr labor... I was expecting something similar but lasting a little less time since Benjamin was a second child. We only live 15min max from the hospital and understand the stages of labor and when to go to the hospital. This labor turned out to be quite a surprise!

I woke up Saturday, 21st, at 10am (the ONLY time Samuel has slept in that I can remember! THANK YOU!!!!) and when I woke up, it was with something that could have been Braxton Hicks (which I had been having a ton of throughout my 3rd trimester which is normal for 2nd pregnancies) but this had an edge to it is the best way to describe it...it didn't roll around my body the way contractions should and it later this same feeling was sometimes was in my back and sometimes not. These contractions - I wasn't even sure if that's what they were - were totally inconsistent and could almost be described as just uterine irritability.

All morning, random very unusual edgy feelings going on (like 3/hr max)...no water breaking, no show, no plug, notta. My midwife had been sure to mention that if my water breaks not to hang around the house too long so I kept that in mind. I was up and about most of the morning not doing a ton but just being around everyone. I was thinking they really might just fade off as can happen and then you pick up labor like the next day or that night so I didn't really want to say anything to anyone and get folks excited.

Around 2pm, I was thinking that these were contractions but I didn't think they were going to get consistent any time soon considering their irregularity so I didn't mention anything to our family visiting but Nathan and I were chatting about it.

At 3pm, I got Sammy down for a late nap and I laid down too and had Nathan time things as they were starting to seem more like the "easier" contractions I was used to from Samuel's labor but the strange part was that for Samuel's labor, they really were like waves with expected peaks in the middle that flowed away. In this case, it was like the contraction peaked near the front of the wave, hung on a bit and very slowly faded...maybe that should have been a tip off but the whole day was just weird! By that point these weird contrax were 6-7min apart but less than a min in length (you really want them over a minute to confirm it's doing something to put you in active labor). We figured I WAS in labor and I was just going to rest a bit and see how things progressed.

At 4pm, Nathan went in to check on Sammy during his nap as he was coughing and ended up staying there quite some time trying to soothe him and talk him into going back to sleep.

At around 4:30pm, I decided to go downstairs to the basement and tell my sister-in-law Robin who was visiting and planning to take care of Sammy that I thought we were in labor. While down there I had some smaller contrax closer together followed by a longer one. So, I head back upstairs, have another while I'm standing. I laid down ... and WAHM! TWO HARD STRONG contractions like back to back. I yelled into Nathan and said to let DS get up as it was almost 5 and that I needed him NOW! After doing that twice he finally heard me and when he showed up I was like, you have to put all our bags and stuff in the car NOW! NO wait, I'm having a contraction, help me breathe. Now, MOVE MOVE MOVE! After that contrax, he knew I was serious but I felt like he was moving in slow motion. My contrax were now 3min apart and extremely HARD!

We get in the car and I call ahead to let them know I'm coming. I have several contrax on the way there - one on the phone where I had to put the phone down - yea, the OB knew I was serious. Meanwhile, we get stuck at every light and behind cars seriously driving below the speed limit. UGHH!! I'm also starting to add a little bit of a pushy pushy element to my response to the contractions too which was making Nathan EXTREMELY nervous but I have to say that at that point, you can't stop yourself from responding to it.

When we got there, Nathan stopped in front of the doors and helped me in and we totally forgot the car was there. I walked past the wheelchairs only to realize halfway down the hall that I needed one. I was in triage for all of one min where they checked me and sent me to L&R. When I was switching from one table to the official one (they didnt even have time to break it down) the water broke. The OB checked me only to find out I wasn't QUITE ready to push physically but she was able to get rid of the edge so that I could push. She was like WAIT A MIN!

I pushed about 7 times and he was O.U.T.!!! CRAZY!!!! (I was totally about getting him out too though and pushed with all my might). After his birth, I was looking at him on my belly in relief that it was over and I was like WOW. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED!!!! I can't believe I have another kid!! Benjamin nursed almost right away so I didn't even need the pitocin shot afterwards - he's been nursing so much and so far is nursing well. Then, they called to the room and asked Nathan to move the car. It's so funny we totally forgot! He was in and out of the hospital a few times and from what he heard, apparently the story of Benjamin's birth spread around. Later one of my nurses said she was on dinner break and came back and they told her she missed "one" meaning she missed the whole labor and delivery. She said she thought they were joking at first but nope, I was the notorious one! How funny!! It was an intense whirlwind to say the least. I was planning on doing the natural thing again but was surprized at how different two births can be!

We are doing well and happy to be home with our new little fella and of course momma is happy the labor and delivery are over and that we made it to the hospital in time. :)

Professional Photography During Samuel's Pregnancy

Professional Photography of ME by our friend Vanessa

37Weeks


34 Weeks


Thanks Vanessa!!!
She's an amateur photographer with lots of experience!
Did I mention she's very very good?!! :) :) :)