Will's Grand Entrance

William August Stuemke was born today, Friday, July 2 at 8:40 am. He was 8lbs. 1oz. & 18 1/2 inches long.

I started to labor Wednesday afternoon. We had family coming in town for dinner and by the time we finished eating at Seamus McDaniels contractions had been coming every 3 to 5 minutes for about three hours. On the walk home we decided that we should probably venture to the hospital to see what was up. When we arrived at triage at 8pm I was almost 4cm and contractions were pretty steady so they admitted me. After being assessed, admitted, IV'd and placed in a delivery room everything stopped at midnight and his head went back up. Contractions started after an hour of walking, however, they sent me home after two hours for my cervix wasn't laboring - I was a 4 almost 5 at the time.

I was ready to go!

Chad and I returned home at 3:30am Thursday morning exhausted after our 5k hospital hallway marathon. Contractions continued steady for me until 6:45am, after that they eased up to a couple every hour. We were so confused at this point concerning what to do. The Dr had advised that we stay home until my water broke or until the contractions felt "different." Ian had camp so Chad took him there, dropped Ava at a MOPS park play date with friends and then ventured to work for a couple hours. This left me with a peaceful house and no excuse but to lay down and rest. That evening I took some Tylenol, over an hour long soak in my wonderful new tub and went to bed.

I actually slept through the night and woke up at 5:30am on Friday. I stayed in bed until 6:30am, and then decided that I should probably take a shower and prepare for whatever the day might bring. After my shower the contractions started back up again and this time they were 3 to 5 minutes again. Chad and I decided that we were going to prepare to head to triage to at least see what my progress was. We didn't care if they sent us home again. We just wanted to be reassured.

We called our neighbor to come stay with the kiddos and I requested some blueberry pancakes before leaving. Chad totally bawked at this request. I explained that I wasn't up for a full day of laboring on an empty stomach for I knew they'd give me nothing at the hospital. Well a little before 8 I ventured down to say goodbye to Ian who was still sleeping. After closing his bedroom door and turning down the hallway I was hit by a major contraction. I then told Chad that I thought we should probably go now and that I'd just grab a muffin. Our neighbor had just arrived and I quickly filled her in on details.

We then loaded up in the van. This was the point when everything immediately changed. Once in the van I found it impossible to sit or get comfortable. Chad started to drive and I begged him to stop moving until the contraction passed, however, it never ended. The drive through the park to the South garage felt like eternity. I spent it breathing, loudly praying, and trying to crawl out the window. The pain and discomfort was so intense. Once in the garage I thought standing would also help, but it didn't at all. I just wanted to buckle to the floor. I then started to walk towards the escalator and just couldn't. I had to pee! So, I squatted between the van and another car and peed* in the parking lot!! The whole time I'm moaning and apologizing to Chad for "not being lady like!" I then manage to make it to the escalator where we spotted a wheelchair. Chad gets us into the parking garage elevator, at which point I had a very strong urge to stand and when I did my water broke! I was in complete shock at this point and couldn't keep from moaning and groaning. I was a crazy screaming lady at this point, who was half sitting/half laying across the wheelchair.

Chad then raced me across the forever long parking garage bridge to the lobby and into the main corridor elevators. At this point we were so hopeful, for all we needed to do was get to the fifth floor. I'm thinking in my head, fifth floor, epideral, fifth floor, epideral....you can so do this Dana! Then a woman dressed in scrubs jumps on the elevator on the 2nd floor**. She assesses the situation, stops the elevator and begins screaming for someone to come and help. I immediately open my eyes, which I'm sure look like lasers of death at this point, and scream, "no, we need to get to the fifth floor!" I hear Chad also explaining that she's not helping us and that we just need the fifth floor. The woman then steps off the elevator to get someone, I think an angel forcefully pushed her actually, and Chad gets the elevator doors to close. We then stop at the 4th floor to listen to the elevator music, ugh, and then finally the doors open on the 5th floor. Chad then sprints me into triage.

When we enter triage someone is moving a very large bed across the entry. She stops and looks at me, the crazy preggo laying halfway out of the wheelchair, and I quickly blurt out that, "my water just broke in the elevator and I can feel his head!" They direct Chad to a room and ask that I get on the bed. I do quickly for in my head I'm still seeing the epideral on the 5th floor - by this time it has a halowed glow all around it - it's a shining beacon of comfort!! Anyhoo, they pull up my wet, water soaked dress and immediately say she's 100% we have to move this bed to delivery.

100% - I had to think about this for a minute. 100% that's a good thing right? Perfection, completeness, purity, wholeness...always this term, grade, level of accomplishment has been something I've strived for, but it didn't take me long to realize that 100% in this situation was not necessary a good thing for it meant NO EPIDERAL!! Let the moaning and yelling begin. Back to the bed ride...

I am now being wheeled by at least three nurses down the corrider (with Chad trying to keep up while lugging my 50lb "over-night" bag) into a delivery room . This is the room that has the big sign on it that says, "Stop, Do not enter, ready for use!" We noticed this room while walking the 5k on Wednesday night. It's the room that's ready for emergency births, and no one is allowed to take anything out of it. Wow - what an honor!

They somehow get me from the triage bed to the delivery bed and it is now 8:30am. At this point I am making all kinds of noise and there are people all over the room. I have my eyes closed to help block out the chaos and keep me focus. They are quickly asking me registration questions while running, which oddly enough I find relaxing for it gives me something to do rather than focus on what I'm about to do. I also remember saying several times, "I am so sorry, I didn't prepare for this! I prepared for an epideral!" I think they found this humorous for it always made them chuckle and reassure me that I was doing great. I then have a Dr tap me on the arm and ask that I open my eyes and look at him. He then kindly introduces himself, congratulates me on being a 100% and says "with a little help from you we are going to have a baby this morning." My response, "I guess this means I don't get an epideral?" His answer, or maybe another wild contraction, quickly shattered the glow.

I have hardly enough time to catch my breath before the finale begins. I quickly realize that even though I didn't prepare for this, I have no choice but be an active participant for I'm the only one that can make the pain end and get William out. So, I did what millions of women have done before me, I screamed with all my might, pushed as hard as I knew to push even after I didn't think I could push anymore, and our precious little William made a very Grand entrance at 8:40am. That's right everyone...I left the house at 8:10am and the final push was at 8:40am.

The three of us. William is about forty-five minutes old.

He was absolutely perfect and he did absolutely no damage to his Mommy. And, the icing on the cake was that the nurse found me an extra breakfast tray and I was eating french toast at 9:30am. What a morning!

*My Doctor said that peeing was the smartest thing I did, for it was most likely the only thing keeping the baby in, which explains why my water burst so quickly afterwards. If I would have moved forward with that pressure on my bladder I could have ruptured it, which would have meant recovering with a catheter for a couple weeks following.

**Our Doctor informed us about an hour later that the 2nd floor is the OR floor and she was informed that after seeing us they were prepping to birth a baby. When our elevator doors closed they sent people up the stairwell and another elevator looking for us. We had the OR and the Delivery floors hoppin.