Evan James
McGilvary was born on February 19, 2014 at 7:57pm.
He weighed 10lbs 13oz, 22 inches long!
My official
due date was February 15th. By the
19th, I felt as though I had been in pre-labor for two weeks; I would have mild
discomfort off and on, mostly intermittently, late at night. On the 10th I had a little bloody show with
mild cramping and thought that maybe, just maybe, this baby would be coming in
early. My excitement about not being
pregnant anymore quickly turned to panic since my mom wouldn't be coming until
the 11th. Much to Shawn's dismay, I
pretty much pretended that nothing was happening. Finally, in the evening, I arranged for Shawn's niece to stay the
night so we'd have someone here to watch the other three kids, just in
case. That night I had a small
contraction about once an hour. The
next morning my mom arrived, and we were all ready!
The 11th
came and went. Then the 12th. My due date came, then went. The only thing happening were contractions
at night, again, once an hour or so.
During the day I was uncomfortable, which wasn't surprising considering
I was 40 weeks, and each day that passed, I was one more +1. I had an appointment with the midwives on
the 17th. We discussed checking if I
was dilated at all, but eventually we came to the same conclusion I have always
had in the past; what's the point of checking?
All it tells you is you're not in fact labor, and that you don't in fact
know when you'll go into labor. So we
went home.
On February
14th I felt like the babies movement had slowed way down and was worried. Shawn and I went over to the "Woman's
Center" at the hospital to have a nonstress test (NST) done just to make
sure. I kid you not, after feeling
hardly any movement all day, the moment I get onto the bed the baby starts
dancing. We passed the test with flying
colors all is well! It was after all
Valentine's Day, my mom was putting the kids to bed, so, we had a romantic meal
in the hospital cafeteria. Classy!
I can't explain
why, but on the 19th I was just over it.
I wanted answers. I was
40+4. I was tired. I was tired of having contractions at night
that disappeared during the day. I was
over it. That morning Shawn and I
headed to the birth center to talk with the midwives. I asked Vanessa to check me, knowing full well it didn't mean
anything, but I wanted answers! This
was the first check I ever had prior to being in labor, so, it was a big deal
for me. Vanessa informed me that I was
"dilated to 4cm, 50% effaced, with bulging waters." She was confident that I would be having a
baby "sometime today." The
news was great, but I was a little apprehensive because Shawn was supposed to
work that night for a coworker and it looked like I was ruining those
plans. I didn't want him to not work,
especially if I didn't go into labor.
Vanessa said that she could do a membrane sweep, which would bring me to
6cm, and would for sure put me in labor by nighttime. So, for the first time ever, I had an intervention and consented
to the sweep. If was a tough decision.
Shawn and I
left the birth center excited and decided to grab lunch since mom was at home
watching the kids. We ate, discuss what
the night would hold, trying to guess when I would go into labor. Northing progressed at lunch and I decided
I'd be more comfortable at home waiting for things to start. At 4:30 I was starting to get uncomfortable,
but contractions weren't consistent. At
5:00 we called the birth center. I
didn't want to "cry wolf" and waste the midwives time/evening, but
they said I should come in and "hang out, watch a movie."
Between 5:30 and 6:30 I had contractions
ranging from 6-10 minutes apart, and about 20 seconds long. Vanessa was going to be the midwife
assisting me, and I learned from a previous birth that she's pretty low key and
is more of an observer. I told her I
was sorry for wasting her time, and she reiterated that I was going to have a
baby, and with my past history, it would be that night. I expressed my worry that my labor with this
one could be totally different then the last two, and I would be in active
labor forever. She kindly smiled and
said she'd be back later.
Shawn and I
decided to watch, "The Amazing Spiderman," mostly because we were
going to watch, "Burn Notice," but we discovered he had brought the
wrong season. He had to keep pausing
the movie in-between my contractions so we wouldn't miss anything. After 35
minutes (movie time, not actual time) I got up to walk around and felt my water
break. I remember just standing there,
water running down my leg, me still wearing socks and pants. I didn't want to move because I felt a
puddle would be easier to clean up then a path. I'm so thoughtful I decided! Shawn went and got Vanessa then helped me
out of my wet clothes and I scooted to the bathroom over an absorbent pad. I
asked for the tub to be filled and told Shawn to turn the movie off, I wouldn't
be watching anymore for the time being.
After 10
minutes or so in the tub, I wasn't really in what I could count as active
labor, so I got out and moved around.
Vanessa put a path of absorbent pads on the floor, and I paced those,
stopping with each contraction at the tub, and had Shawn rub my back. I did this for awhile, I think. I'm not really sure. Time sort of morphs. I was in pain, but it wasn't keeping me down
or overwhelming me just yet. In between
contractions I was chatting with the midwife and with Shawn. Sometime later I got back in the tub and
remember asking Vanessa what the white stuff was that was floating in the tub,
she said it was vernex. I thought that
was pretty cool; I never noticed it before in my previous water births.
Labor got
intense at that point and Vanessa kept to herself in the corner, observing,
while Shawn rubbed my back. I started
to feel small urges to push, which I did, and I felt something bulging, it was
soft, but not like a head. At that
point Vanessa came over. The thing I
was touching broke: part of the amniotic sac was still intact. Later on Vanessa said that I had worried
her; by my description she thought I could have been feeling a butt! I spoke with Vanessa previously about my
ideas/hopes for this birth. The
requests were: when labor stalls after the head is delivered, please, please,
please do not let me freak out; this has happened with the previous two births,
and I think contributed to Colin being "stuck." Secondly, I wanted the baby to be passed
through my legs so that I could sit back more comfortably.
Within a
couple of pushes the head was delivered.
True to form, my labor stalled, and I started freaking out. I told Vanessa, "I need help, I need
your help!" She calmly reminded me
when knew this was going to happen and I just needed to wait for my body to
tell me it was time to push. I not so
calmly told her, "I changed my mind and you have to help me." She calmly responded that she wasn't going
to do anything and that I was fine.
Somehow, I found the strength to pull myself together, and when I felt
the urge to push I did, and our fourth baby was born! Just like I wanted the baby was passed to me, we looked, and we
saw that we had a boy! A fourth
boy! Four boys! I got out of the water and moved to the bed
where we settled on Evan James as a name.
A fourth boy! James is my
brother and father's middle name. He
was born at 7:57 a little over an hour after my water broke and real labor had
begun. Evan started nursing like a
champ. A little while later the cord
was cut and he was weighed. When I held
him the first time, I remember commenting on how small he was. I was sure he
weighed around 9 pounds. We all were
shocked, but not so much, when we discovered he actually weighed 10lbs
13oz! While big, he did weigh almost an
entire pound less than his older brother Colin! Vanessa later said that while I was in labor she looked at me and
thought for sure the baby would only be 9 pounds. I sure can pack them in!
Shawn and I settled in and watched more of
the movie. I took a shower, and at 12:30am we left the birth center 4.5 hours
after having a baby. This was a perfect birth, and I couldn't have asked for
anything better!
