Brady's Birthday Story Part 1

 Brady's Birth Story Part 1

 Before I begin telling about Brady‘s birth story, it’s important to understand that every single birth experience I have impacts the next birth experience.  Tracey‘s birth, and the twins births, are kind of their own stand-alone experiences. Tracey‘s birth being the first time I gave birth, and the twins being the only time I’ve given birth to twins. But my experience having Lee Lee, dictated how I handled my labor with Hunter. And, my experience having Hunter dictated how I handled my labor with Brady. I am entirely grateful that Brady is our final baby, because I know my experience birthing Brady would impact the next birth experience... and, frankly, I don't want to have any more.

When Addallee Marigold was born, I went to the hospital shortly after midnight on my due date because I had been timing contractions for a few hours, and things seemed to be picking up. I was still in early labor, but, everyone told me after having twins, my single baby would be born very quickly. They were wrong!  I labored at the hospital for nearly 8 hours before Lee Lee was born.

So with Hunter, I was determined to delay going to the hospital as long as possible because laboring at the hospital is no fun. Laboring away from the hospital is not fun either... but one is better than the other. As a result, when my husband finally insisted on taking me to the hospital after I had been in active labor with Hunter for most of the day, Hunter was born less than 90 minutes after I walked through the hospital doors.  He was actually born within about 5 minutes of my husband arriving at the hospital.

And while laboring at the hospital with Hunter, I went from 6 cm, to delivering him in about 15 minutes.  In many ways, Hunter’s birth was an ideal hospital birth scenario for me. I basically arrived to have the baby.  The downside was, there was of course the fear, what if I hadn’t made it to the hospital.

So with Brady, both of those birth experiences impacted how we handled my labor.

Hubby and I went away for a Babymoon getaway the weekend before my due date. My due date was Wednesday, May 19, so we headed to Grand Junction on Friday, May 14 for an overnight. We planed to return home the next day, on Saturday, May 15. We had pedicures, enjoyed going to dinner, and I started having regular contractions as the night went on. I could talk through them, and we were not panicking, but we thought there was a good chance that I would wake up in active labor.  

We made it through the night without incident, but I woke up the next morning having consistent contractions and not wanting to go to breakfast -- I just wanted to get home. For our baby moon weekend, it was abnormal for me to pass up a breakfast out. Both Chris and I agreed that we should head home with the thought that we might be going to the hospital later that day, if not sooner.

To Be Continued...