Evan's Birth

I've been told that with each birth you have, the faster your labor goes. Some may remember how Isaac was born. He was born at the Andaluz Waterbirthing Center in Portland. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. And surprisingly fast. I had my first contraction at 1am and we had him at 3.05am. While I was pregnant with Isaac, I watched this documentary, "The Business of Being Born" and prayerfully considered an unmedicated birth. There were many different reasons why I wanted to have an unmedicated birth. But the main thing that I kept thinking about was why God would create women to give birth this way.. I wanted to fully experience the purpose of His design.

I wanted to keep the unmedicated tradition on with Evan. But I didn't want to keep my hopes up about having a fast and relatively uncomplicated birth. I just kept telling myself that each kid is different.. each birth is different.. You never know.. I could be in labor for 40+ hours like my close friend, Laurie! And.. Even though you've done it before, it doesn't mean you aren't as nervous about giving birth.. In fact, I was even more nervous! Sometimes waking up in the middle of the night wondering why women have to go through this! Another thing that added to the nervousness was having Evan at a hospital. It was something and somewhere different. I didn't know who would be in the delivery room with us since the practice we were with had a scheduled rotation of midwives.

At approximately 35-36 weeks, I went to see my midwife at the Vancouver Clinic. She checked me and I was at 4.5-5 cms already. She was convinced that I wouldn't make it a week without having Evan. But... I did! I made it to 38 weeks w/o any contractions and I was closer to 6 cms.

So at my 38 week visit, my midwife recommended that they break my water for several reasons:

1. They knew about Isaac's quick entry and wanted to make sure Evan wasn't born on the freeway or at home.
2. They felt that since Evan had a diagnosed cleft, if there was an emergency, I would already be in a controlled environment with specialists ready to help if needed.

It was kind of nice being able to "choose" your kid's birthday. One benefit is that we knew which midwife was working that day. We chose Sunday since the midwife I liked the most would be at the hospital that day. We came in at 7.30am, did paperwork and met our nurse.

The nurse was very sweet. She wasn't too pushy.. But when it came time to talk about doing an IV. She was very nervous about us declining the IV. She tried to convince me and say that it could help take the edge off if I really needed it. She asked several times and even said that she would have to check with the midwife to see if they were ok with me not having an IV. Then my midwife came in at 8.30. She was completely fine not having an IV and we broke my water around 9.00.

Tony and I were starting to settle in and started ustreaming church. Nerves were starting to calm down and reality was settng in. I would meet my lovely son face to face that day! Excitement abounded! Around 9.30, I decided to soak in the bathtub. No contractions yet.

My midwife came to talk to me when I was in the tub and she told me that she was going to be around checking on other patients. She asked me how I was feeling. As I was telling her that I was feeling fine.. I felt my first contraction. Gentle but firm. The midwife left.

The nurse came back in and told me that she thought it was very brave of me to not even have an IV and have an unmedicated birth. As she was telling me this, a contraction came on. She told me she was going to take a break and come back before the real action began..

All I remember next is having one contraction on top of another one. So fast that I could barely breathe. As I was thrashing around in the tub, Tony came into the bathroom with IPad in hand and the pastor talking on ustream, and asked me if we should get the nurse. I said, "Yes, please!!"

Around 10.20am-Another nurse came in as my nurse was on break and measured me at 8cms, she called the midwife immediately. The midwife came in to the side of the bathtub and asked how I was doing. I held her hand and could not speak. She immediately called people to help me out of the bathtub. Two nurses pulled me out of the bathtub and as I stood up and out of the bathtub, I was starting to deliver Evan right there in the bathroom. The two nurses were at my side and holding me up. I stood in the bathroom with my midwife yelling for gloves and with two pushes out came Evan Hien Nguyen. I then walked with the nurses to my bed with Evan in my arms and fell in love.

The pastor was still talking on the IPad.

And- Yes- I would do it again in a heartbeat.